FORESTRY. 



309 



there is no virtue in leaving a crop unused. 

 The sole aim of forestry is to replace the 

 used crop. The only difference between 

 forester and lumberman is in that one con- 

 dition, that the forester is obliged to re- 

 place, to reproduce the forest. 



In a forested country there are only 2 

 ways of reproducing a forest, namely, to 

 remove the existing one and plant or sow 

 the new one as the farmer does, or to let 

 the old trees first sow the ground and then 

 remove them to give light, air and water 

 to the young crop. The first method may 

 be applied only on open ground and re- 

 quires a direct money outlay, which the 

 law does not, at present at least, provide. 

 The other method requires the cutting not 

 only of dead but of live trees, which the 

 law does not permit. In forestry all experi- 

 ments require a long time on account of 

 the slow growth of trees. 



This is, of course, only a beginning, and 

 for the first year the superintendent will 

 have his hands full with organizing and 

 studying his surroundings and possibilities, 

 for which the provisions are perhaps suffi- 

 cient. When he has studied the problems 

 and made his recommendations to an in- 

 telligent and interested commission and 

 Legislature, the needed changes in the law 

 or the better appropriations can probably 

 be brought about. 



The facts to be emphasized are that for- 

 estry is, in its last analysis, nothing more 

 nor less than the reproduction of wood 

 crops — silviculture ; that it does not pre- 

 vent but necessitates the harvesting of the 

 old crop ; that the methods of silviculture 

 are well known and not any more in the 

 experimental stage, where professional 

 knowledge exists. At least there are only 

 few experiments that could be carried on 

 in the manner which the law permits. 



FORESTRY IN HAWAII. 

 The Legislature of the Territory of Ha- 

 waii has passed an act providing for a 

 Board of Commissioners of Agriculture 

 and Forestry, in which provision is made 

 for a forest policy for the islands. This 

 act provides for a superintendent of the 

 Forest Department, who will have charge 

 of all matters relating to forestry, and will 

 be assisted by a corps of foresters and 

 rangers. The matters particularly specified 

 by the act as coming under the jurisdiction 

 of the Forest Department include the cus- 

 tody and regulation of all lands to be set 

 aside under the provisions of the act, and 

 to protect the forests for the purpose of 

 conserving and regulating the water sup- 

 ply. Ways and means are to be devised 

 for making the forests self supporting, and 

 measures are to be taken for the exclusion 



of trespassers, stock, and fires from the 

 public forest domain. 



The Governor is authorized, by and with 

 the consent of the Board of Commissioners 

 of Agriculture and Forestry, to set aside 

 lands for forest reservations and to accept 

 the care and control of private lands for 

 forest purposes. 



The Territorial Senate has passed a bill 

 which appropriates about $23,500 a year for 

 2 years for the Department of Forestry, and 

 provides for the salary of a chief forester 

 at $3,000. He will have full and direct con- 

 trol of the forest work, being independent 

 of the experiment station and answerable 

 only to the Board of Commissioners, whose 

 members are appointed by the Governor, 

 by and with the advice and consent of the 

 territorial Senate. 



Mr. William L. Hall, Chief of the Divi- 

 sion of Forest Extension of the Federal 

 Forestry Bureau, will start for Honolulu 

 in August to assist in organizing the forest 

 work. — Forestry and Irrigation. 



OREGON AND CALIFORNIA. 



Fifty-four townships in Southwestern 

 Oregon and a tract of similar area on the 

 California side of the State line have been 

 withdrawn from entry by the General Land 

 Office for a forest reserve, although previ- 

 ous reports that that section of Oregon 

 would be withdrawn from entry have al- 

 ways met with strong protest. About 

 1,500,000 acres, extending from townships 

 31-39 West in Douglas county to the State 

 line and from about 6 miles West of 

 Grant's Pass down to within 6 miles of the 

 coast are included. 



The first large forest reservation made by 

 a railroad company has also been estab- 

 lished in California. The Southern Pacific 

 Company has reserved 2 bodies of land in 

 Oregon as a permanent railroad reservation 

 of timber. One is located on the McKenzie 

 and the Mohawk rivers, comprising 27,000 

 acres of railroad land, which does not in- 

 clude the intervening even numbered sec- 

 tions. Including the Government section 

 the area would be 54,000 acres. The second 

 and still larger reservation is in the hydro- 

 graphic district comprising the headwa- 

 ters of the Siuslaw. The latter reservation 

 comprises 105,000 acres of railroad land, 

 making, by inclusion of the accompanying 

 Government land, 210,000 acres within the 

 limits of the railroad reservation. 



These reservations are the first that have 

 ever been made by any railroad company as 

 permanent forest reservations. The object 

 is not to reserve the timber from use, but 

 to apply to these forests a scientific system 

 of forestry ; that is, to cut the ripened tim- 

 ber in such a manner as not to interfere 

 with the growth of the young timber, so 



