356 The National Geographic Magazine 



of cyclonic storms passing across the 

 country from east to west to east, viz., 

 the watershed of the Great Lakes, the 

 St. Lawrence Valley, and northern New 

 England. The climate of this region is 

 characterized by a fairly uniform dis- 

 tribution of precipitation throughout 



the year, a high percentage of humid- 

 ity, much cloudiness, and the absence 

 of droughts and hot, dry winds. Al- 

 though vast tracts of timber have been 

 removed from the forests of this region, 

 no appreciable effect appears to have 

 been produced in its climate. 



THE SHIFTING-SAND QUESTION 

 BY DR JOHN C. GIFFORD, 



CORNELL UNIVERSITY 



Dr Gifford, who has visited most of 

 the shifting-sand districts both of this 

 country and of Europe, pointed out that 

 the forest performed simultaneously two 

 very important functions in this connec- 

 tion — soil betterment and soil fixation. 

 He explained the necessity of cutting 

 off the supply of sand from the sea by 

 the use of wattle fences, beach grass, 

 bay berry, etc. Many instances were 

 cited to show how sand soil had been 

 both chemically and physically im- 

 proved by the forest and how it had 

 been thus prevented from doing serious 

 damage to other more valuable prop- 

 erty. The reclamation of these sandy 

 lands is of importance because the} 7 are 

 usuall}' located in places along the sea 

 where the land is valuable. All these 



sand lands demand a treatment peculiar 

 to each locality, depending upon the 

 wind, the climate, the nature of the 

 sand, etc. Shifting sands may be di- 

 vided into two great classes — those along 

 the sea and large bodies of water and 

 those inland. There is less trouble with 

 these sands in this country than in 

 Europe, because, with the exception of 

 some sands in the Great Lakes territory 

 and along the Pacific coast, the prevail- 

 ing winds are from the west. He de- 

 scribed the methods employed in south- 

 western France and along the Baltic 

 and North Seas. He spoke of the dunes 

 of Michigan and Florida and the sand 

 hills of Nebraska, and described the 

 work done in various sand districts at 

 home and abroad. 



THE PERIODICITY OF TREE-GROWTH 

 BY PROF. E. E. ROGUE, 



PROFESSOR OF FORESTRY, MICHIGAN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



Professor Bogue presented the results 

 of an investigation of the time as well 

 as the amount of growth of twenty-nine 

 young trees during a period of thirty- 



five months. The relations of tree- 

 growth to rainfall, frost, and other 

 meteorological conditions were also ex- 

 plained. 



THE TRESPASS PROBLEM 

 BY ERNEST BRUNCKEN 



Mr Ernest Bruncken, of Milwaukee, 

 the secretary of the late Wisconsin State 

 Forestrv Commission and a well-known 



writer on forest matters, read a paper 

 on "The Trespass Problem." Public 

 sentiment, he said, did not look on 



