Septejibee 27, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



389 



in National forestry legislation and re- 

 viewed the liistory of attempts made in the 

 past to secure passage of bills endorsed bj^ 

 this Association. 



Mr. E.. U. Johnson, of the Century Maga- 

 zine, then spoke of the action of the New 

 York Board of Trade and Chamber of Com- 

 merce, and urged the advisability of en- 

 dorsing the resolution of that body calling 

 for the creation by Congress of a Forestry 

 Commission, consisting of three persons em- 

 powered to examine into the forest condi- 

 tions of the country. 



Mr. Gilford Pinchot then read a paper 

 upon the present condition of the National 

 forests and the necessity of action in pro- 

 tecting these. He held that since past ef- 

 forts of this Assoaiation had been in a 

 large degree ineffectual, that the proper 

 method of procedure was through a Forest 

 Commission such as that proposed by Mr. 

 Johnson. His views were strongly contro- 

 verted by Mr. B. E. Fernow on the ground 

 that the time was ripe for action rather 

 than for investigation, and that Congress 

 would be more likely to consider legislation 

 already discussed during the past session 

 rather than to take a backward step in the 

 appointment of a Commission. The matter 

 was urged by Messrs. Johnson and Pinchot, 

 and under a suspension of the rules the 

 following resolution was adopted : 



Resolved, That we, this Association, join 

 with the New York Chamber of Commerce 

 and Board of Trade in hearty advocacy of 

 the establishment of a Forestry Commission 

 of three members to make a thorough in- 

 vestigation of the public forest lands and 

 to make recommendations concerning their 

 disposition and treatment, and the Execu- 

 tive Committee is hereby directed to repre- 

 sent the Association in support of such 

 legislation. 



Prof Dwight Porter, of the Massachusetts 

 Institute of Technology, read a paper upon 

 the fluctuations of water supply in Con- 



necticut river and the possible connection 

 between these and forest removal. His 

 general conclusion was' that as far as the 

 flow of the lower river is concerned there 

 is no proof of permanent injury through 

 cutting of the forests at the head waters. 

 Mr. Talbot called attention to the fact that 

 taking the basin as a whole there might be 

 at present as much growing timber as form- 

 erly since on this point there are no statis- 

 tics available. 



Mr. Leonard "VV. Ross, of Boston, read a 

 paper upon seacoast planting as practiced on 

 the Province lands of Cape Cod, and described 

 the attempts being made to prevent the shift- 

 ing sands at the extremity of Cape Cod from 

 injviring the settlements and harbor. He 

 spoke of the various kinds of grasses and 

 shrubs which have been planted to hold 

 the sands, and of the results attained, and 

 exhibited specimens showing the cutting of 

 the twigs due to the sand cari-ied by the 

 wind. 



Mr. H. C. Bliss, of Springfield, Massachu- 

 setts, read a description of methods of plant- 

 ing trees in the vicinity of his city. He 

 has planted an average of 100 trees a year 

 for over twelve years, and has had great 

 success in thus adding to the beauty of the 

 various streets. He described his methods 

 and offered many practical suggestions. 



Mr. John M. Woods, of Boston, Mass., 

 described the changes in the hard wood 

 trade during the past thirty years, and 

 spoke of the uses of the more valuable of 

 the ornamental woods native in the eastern 

 and southern parts of the United States. 



Hon. G. F. Talbot presented a formal 

 invitation from the Governor of Maine and 

 the Mayor of Portland, inviting the Associa- 

 tion to hold a meeting at Portland, Maine, 

 during the next summer. Invitations were 

 referred to the Executive Committee for 

 action. 



The Committee on Eesolutions then made 

 its formal report, and the following resolu- 



