Maech 26, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



491 



same, was reported from that committee but 

 remained on the calender without action. 



In the fall of 1895, finding that the argu- 

 ments for legislation did not procure its 

 enactment, the Secretary of the Interior 

 was induced by the Executive Committee 

 of the Forestry Asssciation to call upon the 

 National Academy of Science for an ex- 

 pression of advice as to the need and 

 methods of a proper administration of the 

 public timber lands, in order to secure the 

 weight of authority of that body to the 

 proposition. The Academy, as customary, 

 appointed a committee, asked an appro- 

 priation of $25,000 for the purpose of field 

 examination, and members of this commit- 

 tee visited the regions where public timber 

 lands are situated. As a result of this 

 journey a report was made to Hon. D. E. 

 Francis, Secretary of the Interior, advising 

 the reservation of some 20,000,000 acres. 

 On February 22d President Cleveland, fol- 

 lowing the suggestion of Mr. Francis, pro- 

 claimed the reservations asked for. 



This sudden withdrawal from use of such 

 a vast area, some of which was occupied by 

 mining and lumbering industries dependent 

 upon wood supplies, created strenuous op- 

 position in the Senate and led to the adop- 

 tion of a clause in the Sundry Civil Appro- 

 priation Bill at once restoring these 

 reservations to the public domain. The 

 House members of the Conference Com- 

 mittee, however, succeeded in substituting 

 an amendment by which practically the 

 main provisions of the McEae Bill were in- 

 corporated, namely, empowering the Secre- 

 tary of the Interior to regulate their use 

 and occupancy by miners, herders, etc., and 

 for the sale of timber as needed under proper 

 forestry regulations. This amendment failed 

 of acceptance, except that part which em- 

 powers the President to restore all or parts 

 of the reservations. The bill did not be- 

 come a law, not being signed by the Presi- 

 dent. 



REASONS FOE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF FOREST 

 RESERVATIONS. 



The forest and brush cover of the moun- 

 tains in the country west of the 100th me- 

 ridian occupies a small proportion of the 

 total area, probably not more than 35 per 

 cent. The timber of useful kinds occupies 

 hardlj' 15 per cent, of the whole. The dis- 

 tribution and character of this growth is 

 extremely variable, from the chapparal and 

 stunted growth of southern California and 

 the open pine, cedar and spruce of the lower 

 Eocky Mountains to the magnificent world- 

 famed giants of the Sierras and the dense 

 unmatched forest growth of the Cascade and 

 Coast Eanges in northern California, Oregon 

 and Washington. Corresponding to the 

 difierence in distribution and development 

 of forest growth, the climate, especially with 

 reference to moisture conditions, varies. 

 The northwestern portion of the Pacific 

 coast has an abundance of rainfull and high 

 relative humidity; the southern portions and 

 lower Eocky Mountains are more or less 

 arid. In either section a forest cover of the 

 higher elevations and slopes is needful ; in 

 the one case to hold back the snow and 

 rain waters from inundating agricultural 

 lands below ; in the other case to preserve 

 the scanty water supply by impeding 

 evaporation. In both cases the wood sup- 

 ply needs careful husbanding, for, in the ab- 

 sence of something better, even the poor 

 material of the southern areas is needed for 

 domestic uses. The magnificent timber of 

 the Northwest, most wastefully lumbered 

 and shipped away while the home consump- 

 tion is limited, will ere long be needed at 

 home and should be cut with due regard to 

 the future and to reproduction. 



The attempts of the goverment to pro- 

 tect its own property have been inefiectual 

 and futile. The laws enacted in 1878 ap- 

 pear to make legal a systematic plundering 

 of this property. Hundreds of square miles 

 have been absolutely destroyed by un- 



