54 Proceedings oe the 



Second, substitute therefor a . rational system of 

 timber cutting; and, 



Third, reforest and afiforest lands where the value 

 of the increased water supply will warrant this most 

 advanced and expensive feature of the American forest 

 plan. 



The first of these should receive immediate consid- 

 eration; the present tremendous waste should be 

 checked and the second part of the plan promptly 

 adopted before it is too late, and the third and most 

 expensive part becomes the only remedy. 



So far as the Government timber lands are con- 

 cerned, aggregating many millions of acres outside 

 of the national forest reserves, for every thousand 

 dollars now expended in carrying out the first two 

 provisions of the plan — ^where all- that is required is 

 to properly direct timber cutting to husband the re- 

 sources of nature, new growth — it is probably a con- 

 servative estimate to make that a million dollars, and 

 much time will be required to attain the same results 

 through forest planting. 



This latter creative plan while less pressing and 

 vital than the need of conserving what we already 

 have, holds out wonderful eventual possibilities. The 

 statement of Mr. Gifford Pinchot, Forester, United 

 States Department of Agriculture, at the Twelfth Na- 

 tional Irrigation Congress, at El Paso, Texas, Novem- 

 ber, 1904, that experiments and the observations of 

 years have proven that enormous areas of the West 

 can, by systematic planting, be made into forests with 

 the effect of restoring streams which have disappeared, 

 possibly thousands of years ago, and of creating en- 

 tirely new streams, holds out startling and almost 

 unrealizable probabilities for future agricultural devel- 

 opment to the forest and water student. 



