258 Philosophy of Botany. 



I have adjoined below the message of the President to Con- 

 gress, January i6, 1901, in relation to the Appalachian Moun- 

 tain Reservation, Secretary Wilson's report on the contem- 

 plated National Park, and Senator Pritchard's bill for the ap- 

 propriation of $5,000,000 for the execution of the Appalachian 

 Park Bill: 



To the Senate and House of Representatives: 



T transmit herewith, for the members of the Congress, a letter from 

 the Secretary of Agriculture, in which he presents a preliminary report 

 of investigations upon the forests of the Southern Appalachian Moun- 

 tain region. Upon the basis of facts established by this investigation 

 the Secretary of Agriculture recommends the purchase of land for a 

 national forest reserve in Western North Carolina, Eastern Tennessee, 

 and adjacent States. I recommend to the favorable consideration of 

 Congress the reasons upon which this recommendation rests. 



WILLIAM M'KINLEY. 



Washington. D. C, January 3, 1901. 

 T'le President: 



The bill making appropriations for the Department of Agriculture 

 for the fiscal year ending on June 30, 1901, provides that a " sum rot to 

 exceed five thousand dollars may, in the discretion of the Secretary of 

 Agi icultiire, be used to investigate the forest conditions in the Southern 

 Appalachian Mountain region of Western North Carolina and adjacent 

 States." In ficcordance with this provision, I have made a thorough in- 

 > estigation of the forests in a portion of the Southern Appalachian 

 Mountains, as directed above, including an estimate of the amount and 

 condition of the standing timber, an inquiry as to the suitability of this 

 region tor a national park as proposed by the Appalachian National 

 Pai-k Association, and an examination of the validity of the reasons 

 advanced by Its advocates for the creation of such u park. In this task 

 I have received gen-r-rous and effective cooperation and assistance, 

 through the United States Geological Survey, from the Department of 

 the Interior, which recognized in this May the deep and widely-diffused 

 public interest in the plan. 



The forest inveltigation was made to include a study of the charac- 

 ter and distribution of the species of timber trees, the density and value 

 of forest growth, the extent to which the timber has been cut or dam- 

 aged by fire, the size and nature of the present holdings, the prices at 

 which these forest lands can now be purchased, and the general and 

 special conditions that affect the prosecution or conservative forestry 

 on a large scale. 



The hydrographic survey of the region conducted by the United 

 States Geological Survey includes a general study of its topographic 

 features; of the relation of the soils, forest cover, and rainfall; of the 



