THE SOUTH'S FORESTRY AND WATER RES' >URCKS 



379 



a beginning to meet this problem. No 

 State is doing its full duty in forestry. 

 The Federal Government is giving as- 

 i sistance to the different States in the 

 work of fire protection on the water- 

 sheds of navigable streams. Approxi- 

 mately $100,000 a year is expended in 



j giving such assistance. It is a require- 

 ment, however, that no money can be 

 expended for this purpose unless the 

 State has established a system of fire 

 protection and is appropriating for the 

 actual work of protecting those lands 



! an amount equal to what the Federal 

 Government is prepared to allot. It has 

 been the earnest wish of the Forest 

 Service that more of the Southern 

 States could secure advantage of this 

 Government aid. 



CONTROL OF WATER RESOURCES 



Without any question, the problem of 

 control of our water resources is one 

 of the most important problems of in- 

 ternal development of the country. In 

 many instances, streams are becoming 

 more irregular every year. In nearly 

 every part of the country the use of 

 water resources is becoming more and 

 more intensive. 



A good deal of work has already been 

 done upon our rivers. One of the 

 greatest needs today is that the different 

 activities essential for permanent im- 

 provement of rivers be brought into 

 correlation and be conducted in accord- 

 ance with a comprehensive plan. There 

 have been enthusiasts who have asserted 

 that the protection of forests would be 

 sufficient to control floods. In my opin- 

 ion, those persons who assert that any 

 one method will meet the situation are 

 wrong. Conditions necessarily vary, 

 the needs of the different streams neces- 



sarily vary ; but in any case a real con- 

 trol of stream flow can be secured only 

 by a comprehensive plan which makes 

 use of all the different influences which 

 affect control of water, levees where 

 these are necessary, reservoirs where 

 these are necessary, the protection of 

 forests at the headwaters of streams, etc. 



It is as ridiculous for a forester to 

 claim that reforestation alone would 

 prevent floods and bring about improve- 

 ment of the rivers as it is for an engi- 

 neer to claim that levees and drainage 

 by themselves can work permanent im- 

 provement in our rivers. The engineer 

 and the forester must work hand in 

 hand if our river system is to be con- 

 verted from a source of danger and 

 expense to one of the highest useful- 

 ness. 



There are some engineers, and very 

 prominent ones, in this country who 

 claim that neither the construction of 

 reservoirs nor forestation can have any 

 effect whatever upon the navigation of 

 the river. They claim that navigation 

 can be effectively regulated by channel 

 improvement only. Yet history all over 

 the world and experience in our own 

 country shows how futile this method 

 is to bring about permanent improve- 

 ment in our rivers. Regulation of flood 

 waters by channel improvement has 

 been so far the only method used in 

 the attempt to control our rivers ; and 

 the results speak for themselves. In the 

 older countries it was found out many 

 years ago that improvement of naviga- 

 tion near the mouth of the river is 

 merely a temporary expedient. If per- 

 manent improvement is to be accom- 

 plished work must begin up the stream, 

 not down. Regulation must begin at 

 the source. Floods must be prevented, 

 not cured. 



* From an address before the Tri-State Water and Lie;ht Association, at Atlanta, Ga., 

 April if,. 



Importing Norfolk Island Pine 



Ghent, Belgium, furnishes practically all of the potted specimens of the symmetrical 

 Araucaria, or Norfolk island pine, used as an ornamental foliage house plant, in Europe and 

 America. The United States imports at least 250,000 of these plants in 5 or 6 inch pots 

 each year. 



