October i8, 1894] 



NA TURE 



609 



clas^ of informntion to which so much space is at present 

 devoted in the puhlic press of America. 



More than 10,000 crop CDrre^pundents are to day co-operaiing 

 with the National Weather Service through the Slate organisa- 

 tions ; 3000 voluntary observers are furnishini; monthly reports 

 of daily observations of temperaiure and rainfall ; and over 

 11,000 persons assist in the work of distributing the weather 

 forecasts of the National Weather Service. This latier work 

 has been more rapidly pushed during the past year than any 

 other feature of State Weather Service w ^rk, and it is expected 

 that during the ensuing year the already large number of com- 

 munities receivingthe (Government weather forecasts will be 

 further increased Irom 5000 to 6000. With a continuation of 

 the present liberal policy of the Secretary of Agriculture 

 and the Chief of the Weather Bureau towards these services, 

 there will be in a comparatively .short time no important 

 agricultural community in the United States, with the 

 proper mail facilities, that will not receive the benefits of the 

 forecasts. 



The monthly reports of many of the States are model pub- 

 lications of their kind. It is to be hoped that in those Stales 

 where as yet the more approved methods of publishing meteor- 

 ological data are not practised, means may be improved and 

 raised to the standard attained where better facilities have been 

 available. Uniformity in size, as far as practicable, and strict- 

 ness as lo tabular data, is very desirable. A daily ; ecord of 

 temperature and rainfall for purposes of detailed investigation 

 is most essential, and these should, if possible, form a part of 

 each repori. 



The following papers were read before the American 

 Forestry Association : — The forests of Alaska, by W illiam H. 

 Dall ; the fore-ts of the Shenandoah Valley, their origin and 

 present condition, f )re-ial areas in West Virginia, by Major Jed 

 Hoichkiss ; forests in New Jersey, by Prof. John C. Smock; 

 the petrified forests of Arizona, by Horace C. Hovey ; the 

 Adirondack Forests, by Vcrplanck Colvin ; the condition of our 

 public timber-lands and forest reservations, by B. E. Fetnow ; 

 what the people should learn about forestry, by Prof. Selden J. 

 Coffin ; tree-planting, by George H. .Minier ; forest fires in New 

 Jersey, and some notes in methods of protection, by John 

 Gilford ; the pieveniion of forest fires, by General C. C. 

 .\ndrews ; prairie forr>.try, by Prof. I^. H. Pammel ; observ- 

 ations on the destructive effects of drying winds and the pro- 

 tection afforded by woodlands an<l wind breaks, by Prof. V. II. 

 King ; Does the rain-gauge settle the problem ? by J. O. Barrett ; 

 the conservation of soil and water supply of hill countries in 

 cultivated areas, by Thomas |. McKie ; black walnut for 

 economic tree-planting, by B. G. Northrup ; Western pine 

 timber-lands, by ii. C. Putnam ; economics in railway ties, by 

 E. E. Russell Traiman ; forest fungi and an anthracnose of 'he 

 poplars, by Prof. Byron D. Halsted ; the relation of insects and 

 birds to certain forest conditions, by A. D. Hopkins. 



B, E. Fernow called attention to the necessity of following 

 up the policy begun through the efforts of the Association of 

 reserving forest tracts of put)lic timber-land with measures for a 

 rational use of the same. Considerable discussion followed, 

 resulting in the unanim us adoption of the subjoined resolution ; 



*' Resolved, that the Amt-rican Forestry Association desires 

 to express again emphatically its approval of the efforts of the 

 Public Lands Commiitee of the H.juseof Representatives, and 

 its chairman, the Hon. Thomas C. McRae, for the enactment 

 of a law providing for the care and protection, not only, but for 

 the rational use also, of the timber and other resources in the 

 forest reservation, and on all public timber-lands. The policy 

 of reserving can hardly be considered an advantage to the 

 forestry interests unless followed up by an intelligent and 

 efficient administration of the reservations, since deprived of the 

 incidental protection. This Association emphatically denies 

 that it advocates in the policy of forest reservations the un- 

 intelligent exclusion of large territories from actual use of the 

 resources contained therein ; but on the contrary, it reiterates 

 that it conceives that by the reservations made for the purpose 

 of their use — rational use — under restrictions and control which 

 come from private interests in expectation of possible occu- 

 pancy and uncared for by the rightful owner, the Government, 

 the door is opened to greater destruction and depredation than 

 before. We iherefore desire to impress upon our representatives 

 in Congress the urgency of making provisions for the 

 better care of the publ.c timber and other resources, as urged 

 heretofore by this A.'-sociation." 



NO. 1303. VOL. 50] 



RECENT EXPLORATION IN BRITISH 

 NEW GUINEA. 



AT the ordinary monthly meeting of the Royal Geographical 

 ■^ Society of Oueensland, on August 20, the President (Mr. 

 J. P. Thomson) read a paper tn recent exp)o ation in British 

 New Guinea. The paper » as a continuation of one read by the 

 Governor at the Hobart meeting of the .-Australasian .Association 

 for tile Advancement of Science in January, 1892. Since then 

 several tracts of new country have been visited, and geographical 

 knowledge of it has been increased by the detailed examination 

 made by Sir William MicGregor of the extensive river systems 

 of the Papuan Gulf, and his more recent exploration of the 

 hitherto unknown parts of the noith-east coast. The following 

 extracts from Mr. Thomson's paper ate reprinted from the 

 Brisbane Courier. 



For nearly half-a century it had I een known to geographers 

 that several rivers existed in the neighbourhood of the Papuan 

 Gulf. The Aird, esjecially, was noticed by the officers of 

 H.M.S. Fi'y some foriy-scven years ago, and more recently 

 several channels were opened up by .Mr. Theodore Bevan, 

 whose inve>tigations in British New Guinea were chiefly con- 

 fined to this part of the country, .\lthough these were nothing 

 more than superficial surveys of a mere coastal fringe of the 

 Gulf district they were the means of drawing attention to an 

 exceedingly interesting and important part of the Possession. 

 Here we are made acquainted with a tract of country north of 

 the Fly estuary, cut up by almost bewildering labyrinths of 

 tidal channels that constitute ihe mouths of several important 

 rivers, which traverse enormous areas of rich agricultural 

 as well as low, swampy, land. To intending settlers 

 in British New Guinea this easily accessible region 

 offers many inducements not readily met with in 

 o:her parts of the Posse5>ion. .\mple facilities for inland com- 

 munication exist in several of Ihe deep-water channels along the 

 coast, while the recently explored Purari River flows through a 

 region possessed of many attractive features of hilly and mojn- 

 tainous country. Along most of the watercourses native villages 

 are thickly scattered, and these are inhabited by numerous 

 tribes of powerful and warlike natives, who on several occasions 

 have opposed the friendly advances of Europeans with formid- 

 able hostility. The houses, too, are truly remarkable for their 

 large dimensions and massive a'chilectural structure ; dwellings 

 of liom 300 fr. to 400 ft. in length and over lOO ft. high being 

 by no means uncommon. Next to the Fly the Purari is the 

 largest river in the Possession. It enters the sea by several large 

 channels. In the inland reaches above tidal influence it traverses 

 some rough, liilly country, flowing almost parallel to and skirt- 

 ing the base of a mountain range 1500 ft. to 2500 ft. above sea 

 level. This river was explored by Sir W. .McGregor in January 

 and December 1S93. Its average width is about 250 yards. 

 To the north lie a range of mountains 3000 ft. to 4000 ft. high, 

 and southerly the country is greatly broken up by low rugged 

 hills. To the westward the main range is visible at a distance 

 of from fifteen to twenty miles, with its bold serrated perpen- 

 dicular peaks. There is very little flat land here between the 

 hills and the mountain spurs, although sago palms are more 

 numerous than in some parts of the country lower down the 

 river. The geological formation consists of sandstone associ- 

 ated with nodules of gray limestone. M the .-Vure junction, 

 some eighty miles from the sea, the Purari receives its first con- 

 siderable tributary. The width of this branch is from 80 to 

 100 yards, with a depth of one to two fathoms, .\bove its 

 junction witii the tributary the Purari maintains a general 

 course along the main mountain range, the southern spursof which 

 it skirts very closely. Here the general character of the country, 

 on the south side of the river, is a continuous succession of low 

 sandstone hills, little more than 800 ft. high. These are 

 rugged and precipitous, covered by dense forest. There are, 

 however, no large trees. There was no appearance of any 

 permanent native occupation in this district, and owing to its 

 rugged nature the country did not seem adapted for European 

 settlement. Several specks of gold were found in the bed of 

 the river, and an important discovery of coal was also made 

 neat the island of Abukiru, in the main channel of the Purari 

 River. As it is thought that the presence of coal in this dis- 

 trict may greatly influence the future of the country, it 

 has been proposed to arrange for a detailed examination 

 of the locality. The people are bronze coloured, a few 

 being lighter than the Port Moresby natives, and all lighter 



