806 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



the mountain forests and the extensive 

 water-powers upon which New Eng- 

 land's industry largely depends. To be 

 sure, the Act as passed was not intended 

 to protect industry, but only, under the 

 Constitution, to protect navigation. 

 While all of New England's rivers are 

 navigable for short distances, and the 

 Connecticut River for a distance of 

 50 miles, with a fleet of thirty-five 

 vessels between Hartford and New 

 York, we have not the navigation 

 interests that are found in other parts 

 of the country. The bill provides, 

 however, for the purchase of forest 

 lands at the head waters not only of 

 navigable streams, but also of streams 

 that may become navigable. In view 

 of the efforts on the part of important 

 commercial organizations in Massa- 

 chusetts and Connecticut to extend 

 navigation on ' the Connecticut River 

 from Hartford to Springfield and Holy- 

 oke, and of the efforts by State Com- 

 missions, both in Massachusetts and 

 New Hampshire to extend navigation 

 on the Merrimac River to Lawrence 

 and Lowell, and even to Manchester, 

 the purely navigation interests on New 

 England Rivers assume an importance 

 that cannot be overlooked, and that 

 warrant an ample and more generous 

 policy of forest protection. This is a 

 piece of work that New England cannot 

 legally accomplish for itself. This is a 

 task that only the Federal Government 

 can accomplish. The disproportion 

 mentioned above is still further apparent 

 in the purchase areas that have been 

 designated. An area at the North has 

 been set apart to include, unwisely we 

 believe, only a little more than 600,000 

 acres, as against 5,000,000 acres that 

 have been set aside for purchase at the 

 South. 



In the White Mountains a large 

 proportion of the land that has been 

 purchased is cut-over land. Many 

 persons believe that to have acquired a 

 larger proportion of the standing timber 

 that still remains in broken patches 

 upon the high slopes of the White 

 Mountains, would have more fully 

 carried out the purpose and intention of 

 the Weeks Act. These forests at high 

 elevations are composed almost exclu- 

 sively of spruce and fir, because these 



shallow-rooted species can spread out 

 in thin soils, and find subsistence where 

 other trees fail. The mountain soils, 

 composed largely of vegetable mould, 

 and their products, the forest, are both 

 inflammable. Forest fires seriously crip- 

 ple these soils and not infrequently 

 reduce considerable areas to bare rock, 

 from which flood waters only can 

 descend. The ordinary method of lum- 

 bering on these high slopes is that of 

 clean cutting, for the reason that what- 

 ever the lumbermen leave the wind 

 destroys. It is a dead loss to the operator 

 to leave anything. Following this 

 method fire and erosion do their worst, 

 and if they do not render the soil 

 permanently barren, a condition far 

 more frequent than the casual observer 

 would believe, they so cripple it that 

 two or three centuries are necessary, 

 in our cold northern mountains, to 

 reproduce a commercial forest. It was 

 to prevent this Chinese treatment of 

 our American mountains that the Weeks 

 Act was passed. 



The method of logging pursued by 

 the Federal Government on the National 

 Forests provides for removing the 

 mature trees, clearing up the debris, 

 protection from fire, and preservation of 

 the crown-cover of the forest so that 

 the sun does not beat upon and dry 

 out the soil, protection of the forest 

 trees from wind, insects, and fungous 

 diseases, regard for water flow, for 

 reforestation, and last but not least, 

 for the beauty of trails and roadsides 

 in much traveled places. 



All who know and love the White 

 Mountains, in whatever part of the 

 country, will be glad to learn what 

 land has been acquired. The ten year's 

 struggle to secure the Act at the hands 

 of Congress has resulted in keen interest 

 in each individual purchase. Of the 

 265,000 acres acquired, the first purchase 

 that was made included the spruce 

 forests on the north slopes of the 

 Presidential Range. By good fortune, 

 but not by design, these woods were 

 the favorite haunts of the Appalachian 

 Mountain Club, and contained their 

 most numerous trails. Unfortunately 

 this tract was not acquired until after 

 heavy operations by the old lumbering 

 methods had robbed many of its ridges 



