FORESTRY. 



14; 



covering itself with vegetation, the results 

 might indeed be disastrous. But these con- 

 ditions are rare. 



Indirectly, however, they may be in- 

 duced by the fires which are so likely to fol- 

 low the lumberman. These destroy the 

 forest floor, which is the most essential 

 factor in the problem of water conserva- 

 tion, and, if recurring, prevent the reestab- 

 lishment of a vegetable cover ; soil washes 

 begin and accumulate, and finally absolute 

 denudation and its evil consequences are 

 the result. 



The main argument, then, against lum- 

 bering of any kind is not rationally be- 

 cause of the cutting and utilizing of the 

 wood materials, but because of the leaving 

 of debris and the increased danger of fire, 

 the one being supposed to be a necessary 

 concomitant of the other. 



If this danger could be avoided — and it 

 really can be at least minimized — there 

 would in most cases be no objection to the 

 harvesting of the merchantable trees from 

 consideration of the needs of water protec- 

 tion. Without change in the methods of 

 logging and in the manner of administering 

 protection against forest fires, we agree that 

 it is practically best to defer logging on 

 State lands until these changes and this 

 protection can be assured, and until a com- 

 prehensive plan, including the whole State 

 property, in its scope on the lines indicated, 

 can be proposed. 



When that time shall arrive, when a ra- 

 tional forest management is to be inaugu- 

 rated, the sixth reason, which appears 

 rather specious, namely, that the State is 

 impliedly under obligation to keep its 

 property for ever in a wild state to please 

 adjoiners, will probably not even be raised. 



TREE PLANTING IN THE ARID REGIONS. 



Port Arthur, Texas. 

 Editor Recreation : 



After a perusal of the article by Mr. Geo. 

 E. Walsh, reprinted from Harper's Weekly 

 in February Recreation, I feel constrained 

 to add my mite to the discussion by saying 

 a few words touching "Trees for the 

 Prairies." I lived for 12 years in South- 

 west Kansas, and the efforts made by the 

 settlers to grow forest trees under the tim- 

 ber culture laws then in force showed how 

 futile any further experimentation along 

 those lines is likely to prove, even though 

 conducted by skilled arboriculturists in 

 scientific ways. That the efforts of the 

 settlers were in most instances made in 

 good faith, carried on through years of 

 disappointing toil, is beyond question. 

 That they failed in every instance to grow 

 trees of any size is equally patent. After 

 giving the matter some thought, I arrived 

 at the conclusion that the main trouble lay 



in the fact that no attempt was ever made 

 to grow trees in the places that were most 

 likely to make the effort successful. 

 Throughout that countrv there are thou- 

 sands of acres, as Mr. Walsh says, among 

 the sand hills that are absolutely worth- 

 less. If tree culture could be made to 

 succeed at all, and I believe it could if at- 

 tempted on a large enough scale, it would 

 be in those regions. The principal draw- 

 back is the lack of sufficient moisture. By 

 planting the trees in the valleys that lie be- 

 tween these hills every inch of rainfall on 

 the level will be augmented 10 to 12 

 inches by the wash from the hillsides. 

 After the ground has been broken by the 

 plow, even so great an amount of moisture 

 as this will be absorbed in a few hours, 

 to be drawn on for weeks and months 

 by the growing trees. With these nuclei 

 the forest could be made to climb the hill- 

 sides gradually and creep out on the level 

 plains themselves ; and by holding and con- 

 serving the moisture, bring about such 

 conditions as would increase the rainfall 

 and drive the arid region back to the 

 foothills of the Rockies. If the govern- 

 ment will profit by the mistakes made by 

 the settlers and try tree culture where 

 30 to 40 inches of water can be counted on 

 every year as a helper I see no reason why 

 success should not crown its efforts. To 

 plant trees, of any variety, elsewhere will 

 be a waste of time and labor. 



Once the trees are started in the valleys, 

 and they should be planted thickly, they 

 would catch and hold the. snows of winter 

 as well as the rains of spring and sum- 

 mer. I had a garden in one of these val- 

 leys with a solid board fence on the North. 

 I have seen the snow drifted in until 

 the garden was filled to the height of the 

 fence, and if it had been 12 feet high the 

 drifted snow would have been of that 

 depth. I have not infrequently seen the 

 water standing a foot deep in that garden 

 from a rain that could not have exceeded 

 one inch on the level, and the valley was 

 like many others in that locality. 



One of the principal reasons why tim- 

 ber culture has always failed in the plains 

 country is that there is no moisture in the 

 subsoil. It is bone dry from the surface 

 clear down to the water-bearing strata, 

 one foot to 200 feet below the surface, 

 and in many places much more. It is 

 this lack of sub-surface moisture that 

 brings death to trees that attain any size. 

 While the trees are small and the roots 

 are confined to the surface, the ordinary 

 rainfall will be ample to keep the little tree 

 living; but as soon as it becomes a tree, and 

 attempts to draw from a greater depth for 

 its moisture, it succumbs to starvation. 



C. M. Davis.. 



