118 PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 
remote consequences are considered. The diesease is ignored while applying 
nostrums in an attempt to cure the symptoms. For irrigation it is important 
that much water may be stored, or held back in order to prolong the season of 
flow. There is no method by which this can be accomplished so easily and 
so economically as by refrigeration, that is, by retaining the snow in a frozen 
condition. When released by heat it at once begins its downward flow, but so 
long as it remains solid it is held in storage. 
It will thus be seen that the forests upon the mountain slopes perform a 
most important function in the economy of nature, and that their removal, 
unless they shall be again restored, affects very many people and interests, 
besides the few individuals who, for the sake of gain, destroy the timber. It 
affects the entire Nation, and so many important interests and industries, that 
the Nation, rather than one individual State or small group of States, should 
be concerned in their perpetuity. The State of Louisiana, with a long line of 
levees to maintain, is far more than Colorado herself an interested party to the 
forest growths upon the Rocky Mountain slopes which are situated in the 
latter State. 
Missouri, whose citizens own and operate a majority of the steamers 
which navigate the Mississippi River and its tributaries, has a greater interest 
than has Colorado, whose citizens are not engaged in water transportation. 
Nebraska and Kansas, whose lands are so dependent upon the flow of the 
Platte, Republican, Kansas, Arkansas and other streams, are equally inter- 
ested with Colorado from an irrigation standpoint, and instead of appealing 
to the courts to determine how much of the water is owned by either State, 
the appeal should be made to Congress to reclothe the mountains with forests 
so that an ample supply of water may be secured for all. 
The Mississippi River, a few years ago, overflowed its banks, burst 
through the strongest levees, and spread over the State of Arkansas, forming 
a lake forty miles in width, drowning people and stock, and causing great 
distress to the people of that State. It seems very plain that the State of 
Arkansas has a very great interest in any method by which similar floods may 
be prevented in the future. 
When the snow and ice have melted and flowed away to the sea, their 
usefulness for irrigation purposes has ceased, and the benefits which may be 
realized will always be gauged by the time consumed in melting, and it is 
evident that with the direct rays of the sun, unsheltered by forests, this will 
be most rapidly accomplished. 
The seed collection and sowing should be performed by the Colorado 
State Forestry Society, and funds provided by the Legislature to enable the 
Society to carry out generous plans. 
