MEMOKLAL OF JOSEPH AUSTIN HOLMES 27 



leaf pine, and an actual demonstration in planting of seed proved the 

 feasibility of such reproduction. 



Doctor Holmes also started the "good roads" movement in North Caro- 

 lina, and one of the first publications of the State Survey was a report on 

 "Eoad materials and road construction in North Carolina." While his 

 work in connection with the roads was almost entirely from the educa- 

 tional standpoint, yet it was this work that made it possible for his suc- 

 cessor to obtain, through the North Carolina General Assembly, the cre- 

 ation of, first, a Highway Division of the Survey, and later of a State 

 Highway Commission. 



In the State work Doctor Holmes also began investigations in relation 

 to the water powers, mineral waters, underground water supplies, timber 

 resources, mineral resources, and fisheries of the State; but a limited 

 treasury and lack of time prevented him from carrying these out as rap- 

 idly as he desired, and it was left to his successor to complete some of 

 them. 



During his term of office as State Geologist, 1891 to 1905, the Survey 

 published twenty bulletins and economic papers, giving the results of 

 investigations that he had started. In 1905 the act creating the Survey 

 was repealed and a new act, which was prepared by Doctor Holmes, was 

 passed by the General Assembly of 1905. This created the North Caro- 

 lina Geological and Economic Survey. 



Doctor Holmes brought geology to this people and made them realize its 

 value and application in the arts. 



In connection with the investigation of the fisheries of the State, Doc- 

 tor Holmes was the leading spirit in the establishment of the Biological 

 Laboratory at Beaufort. In June, 1897, after consultation with Doctor 

 Holmes and Prof. H. V. Wilson, of the University of North Carolina, the 

 United States Commissioner of Fisheries established at Beaufort. North 

 Carolina, a temporary station for the investigation of the marine fauna 

 and flora of the Southern coast. Professor Wilson was appointed director, 

 and for the next three years he and Doctor Holmes devoted much time 

 and thought to its development. Congress finally made an appropriation 

 for the establishment of a permanent laboratory, but made no appropria- 

 tion for the purchase of a site. Doctor Holmes recommended a site and 

 arranged for its private purchase and its donation to the government. 

 He, with Professor Wilson, drew up the outline plans for the laboratory 

 buildings, and he remained in close touch with the work of the laboratory 

 until his resignation as State Geologist. This work of Doctor Holmes 

 had an important bearing on the fisheries of the State of North Carolina, 

 as it started the interest of the people of the State in the value of the 

 III — Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., Vol. 27, 1915 



