14 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIII. No. 1358 



pastures. Millions of dollars worth of the 

 very best soil in this great agricultural region 

 are annually carried down the Mississippi, 

 finally helping to increase the area of Louisi- 

 ana, or to fill up the channel of the Mississippi 

 River. The government to prevent disastrous 

 floods builds levees. The water, under our 

 present system of intensive agriculture, is 

 rushed off as rapidly as possible, the little 

 lakes are filled up with silt from the neighbor- 

 ing drainage area or they are drained. Drain- 

 age no doubt does help crop production but 

 the water table has dropped twelve feet, ac- 

 cording to McGee, in fifty years in Iowa. 

 Now if the water table will show a further 

 drop it is a question of vital concern to the 

 agriculture of Iowa. Have we any plant 

 physiological data to show how this has in- 

 fluenced crop production or the growth of 

 trees? The botanist can do a real service by 

 making a study of the movement of water in 

 the soil and its relation to plant growth. We 

 know that the climatic and edaphic relations 

 of forests are important. Zon has given us a 

 comparative study of the problem in his pajper 

 on " Forests and Water in the Light of Scien- 

 tific Investigation." Then we may also re- 

 call the work of Pearson on the " A Meteoro- 

 logical Study of Parks and Timbered Areas 

 in the Western Yellow Pine Forests of Ari- 

 zona and New Mexico." and the work of Hall 

 and Maxwell, Bray and Schwartz on forests 

 and streams flow. 



In order to determine the problem of water 

 conservation and forest conservation, I. T. 

 Bode made an investigation in one of our 

 park areas in Iowa. The results are interest- 

 ing, as showing the close relationship between 

 forest cover and soil moisture. The results 

 show immistakably, even in a small area, that 

 the forest cover keeps greater quantities of 

 water in the upper soil layers, that these 

 forest areas maintain a higher water level in 

 the soil. 



The conclusion to be drawn from the work 

 and some done by others of the Forest Service 

 is that all hills subject to erosion should be 

 covered with timber. 



AQUATIC FARMING 



I have been more or less interested in the 

 preservation of our lakes, not only because 

 the community and state will receive the 

 benefit of recreation, but our lakes and 

 streams should furnish an important source 

 of food, and also a source of income from 

 the fur-bearing animals. The botanist should 

 make more study of the food for fish and 

 game. It is said that the little muskrat in 

 Iowa has become so depleted that it will be 

 necessary to have a closed season. Much of 

 this depletion is no doubt due to trapping, but 

 may not the food supply have some bearing 

 on the problem ? Take for instance the water- 

 lily, which has become a somewhat rare plant 

 in Iowa. How far does this plant and the 

 lotus minister to the food of this little rodent? 

 Sportsmen are agreed that wild rice and wild 

 celery are very important food plants for the 

 wild duck. Schofield has given us a practical 

 method of germinating wild rice, yet we know 

 almost nothing about the maximum yield of 

 this plant and how it might be increased. 

 There are millions of acres of land suitable 

 for the growing of wild rice in the United 

 States, especially in the northern Mississippi 

 valley. It should be used more extensively 

 for human food than it is to-day. We know 

 little about the uses of aquatic plants by 

 animals. May we not breed a variety of wild 

 rice which will cling somewhat more tenaci- 

 ously to the raehis? Some plant breeder 

 should imdertake the selection of plants with 

 this in mind. 



COOPERATIVE WORK 



We have never in the history of the world 

 had as much productive research work as now, 

 although there may be a slight curtailment 

 since the war. Our various journals, like the 

 Botanical Gazette, American Journal of 

 Botany, Bulletin Torrey Botanical Ciuh, 

 Journal of Agricultural Research and various 

 publications from experiment stations, na- 

 tional government and academies of science 

 are publishing an enormous amount of good 

 material. All state, national and private 

 agencies are working to increase the amount 



