1 62 The West American Scientist. 



EDITORAL. 



The development of a system for the utilization of the arid 

 lands of the west is one of the most promising of. numerous pro- 

 jects now under consideration for the material improvement of 

 the condition of mankind. Not only is the west interested in the 

 numerous discussions and actions taken on this subject, but the 

 whole nation is becoming awakened to the necessity of rendering 

 this vast area capable of sustaining human life. 



It has been estimated that within historic times some seven 

 millions of square miles along the shores of the Mediterranean, 

 once highly fertile, have been changed into worthless deserts, and 

 for nearly 2 ,000 years the inhabitable portion of the earth has 

 decreased at the average rate of 3,500 square miles. This has 

 been produced by the direct agency of man, the evil being chiefly 

 due to river floods caused almost exclusively by the destruction 

 of land-protecting forests. 



It is right that America should set the example of reclaiming 

 desert lands and thus increase earth's capacity for supporting the 

 human race. Irrigation and tree -culture must go hand and hand 

 in this work. 



The value of irrigation has been abundantly proved by the 

 past experience of the human race and is to-day sufficiently 

 demonstrated in Southern California to convince the most 

 skeptic. Not only is irrigation recognized in the west as the 

 solution of the arid lands question, but agricultural papers are 

 already pointing out the desirability of the system for the eastern 

 States, where it is much less vital and was long considered need- 

 less. 



The necessity for tree-culture is equally imperative with irriga- 

 tion, and the arid lands question will never be satisfactorily set- 

 tled without the recognition of this principle in its solution. The 

 men who advocate the construction of a vast system of storage 

 reservoirs for irrigation purposes, refuse to recognize the value 

 of mountain forests as natural storage reservoirs and 

 distributors of the water supply, and hold that it would be 

 just as well to destroy them entirely, are not the men needed 

 in this exigency of our country. The system of irrigation pro- 

 posed is well, but if left to their own devices in the latter respect, 

 the country will have reason for regret. America can ill afford to 

 ignore the experience of other nations in this respect and 

 forestry should receive equal consideration with irrigation, 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



An event anticipated in Plymouth for more than fifty years took 

 place there on the 1st of August. It was the dedication of the 



