456 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



teaching of the rudiments of formal knowledge; and it ought to be 

 as great a reproach to a man not to be able to read the open pages of 

 the world about him as not to be able to read the open page of the 

 book before him." 



If litterateurs have reasons to think and talk in that way about 

 existing educational conditions, how should school men, who profess 

 to study school problems and the highest interests of children, be 

 affected by similar conditions and what should those who appro- 

 priate money for school purposes do to establish proper relationship 

 between school children and Nature? The most promising thing 

 would be to establish school gardens, and see that teachers should be 

 in suitable condition educationally to make the best use of them. 



The great enrichments in the educational system of Sweden are 

 gymnastics, sloyd, and school gardens. We have adopted the first 

 two, and they have proved to be very helpful in our system of educa- 

 tion; now let us adopt the last and best, and line up with France, 

 Austria, and Russia in establishing school gardens as an essential 

 means of educating children properly. 



THE UNITED STATES FOREST RESERVES. 



By Hon. CHARLES D. WALCOTT, 



DIRECTOR, UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



HISTORICAL. The movement in favor of Government forest 

 reserves in the United States began soon after it became ap- 

 parent that unless some restriction was placed upon the wasteful cut- 

 ting and destruction of the forests of the continent the timber supply 

 would soon be exhausted. The country would then become de- 

 pendent upon other nations for its timber supply, and would suffer as 

 do many European states, where great efforts have been made during 

 the last thirty years to restore the forests which had been so wantonly 

 destroyed. One of the most influential agencies in bringing about 

 the establishment of the forest reserves was the agitation carried on 

 by the American Forestry Association and the Division of Forestry 

 of the Department of Agriculture, under the leadership of Dr. B. E. 

 Fernow. The many reports and essays published and lectures de- 

 livered had a strong influence in creating a public sentiment that at 

 last manifested itself in the passage, on March 3, 1891, of an act 

 granting authority to the President to set aside as public reservations 

 public lands bearing forests, wholly or in part covered with timber or 

 undergrowth. (Statutes at Large., vol. xxvi, p. 1103, sec. 24.) 



Under this act seventeen forest reservations were established 

 prior to September 28, 1893, aggregating in area 17,564,800 acres. 



