FORESTRY. 



EDITED BY DR. B. E. FERNOW, 



Forestry, Cornell University, assisted 

 institution. 



It takes 30 years to grow a tree and 30 minutes to cut it down and destroy it. 



Director of the New York School of Forestry, Cornell University, assisted by Dr. John C. Gifford of the same 



institution. 



FOREST AND STREAM FLOW. 



One of the recent important investigations 

 undertaken by the Bureau of Forestry, U. 

 S. Department of Agriculture, is a study 

 of the relationship of forests to stream- 

 flow in the Rock river watershed of Illi- 

 nois and Southeastern Wisconsin. 



The study of the forest conditions of 

 the Rock river basin is interesting because 

 it constitutes one of the few cases in this 

 country in which such an investigation has 

 been made to apply directly to a given 

 stream and locality. 



For some years a marked decrease has 

 been noticed in the flow of this river, es- 

 pecially during the more critical parts of 

 the summer and autumn. The investigation 

 which the Bureau of Forestry made of this 

 watershed shows that the diminished flow 

 of the river could be traced to several dis- 

 tinct causes. The most important of these 

 are the changes that have taken place in 

 the area and condition of the forests. 



The present wooded areas of the Rock 

 river watershed have been considerably re- 

 duced in their effectiveness as regulators and 

 distributors of the water supply. This has 

 been brought about by the improper treat- 

 ment of the forest. The resulting changes 

 in the composition of the woodlands and the 

 unwise reduction of the wooded areas are 

 in part accountable for the marked fluctua- 

 tions in the river flow. The annual water 

 supply has thus been unevenly distributed, 

 both as to area and periods during suc- 

 ceeding years. The artificial drainage of 

 swamps and other lands throughout a large 

 part of this region has contributed to the 

 same result. It is also shown that there 

 was an actual decrease in the quantity of 

 rainfall in the Rock river watershed during 

 the last 16 years, and this has caused a 

 slight diminution in the actual volume of 

 the river flow, aside from its distribution. 



On the other side it may be said, how- 

 ever, that the topographic features and 

 geologic conditions of the Rock river wa- 

 tershed are exceptionally conducive to a 

 sustained water supply, so that the agen- 

 cies referred to as diminishing the flow 

 did not produce as serious results during 

 the season of drought as might otherwise 

 have occurred. 



The result of the investigation is note- 

 worthy for the emphasis it places on the 

 various effects of forests as protective cov- 

 ers for the soil, reducing evaporation, and 

 improving the chemical and physical con- 



ditions of the soil through the influence of 

 leaf-litter and mold. The regulation and 

 even distribution of the water supply is 

 thereby greatly improved. 



The investigation shows, however, that 

 on account of the favorable topographic and 

 geologic conditions of the region, there is 

 but little cause for serious apprehension for 

 the industrial and agricultural interests of 

 the region, at least in seasons with a normal 

 rainfall. Nevertheless, attention is called to 

 the great value of a more conservative man- 

 agement of the forested areas in the Rock 

 river watershed. The proper treatment of 

 the wooded areas will be briefly and simply 

 described in a report and will be exceed- 

 ingly helpful to land owners in the re- 

 gion. — Exchange. 



FORESTRY IN THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 



A press bulletin of the Bureau of For- 

 estry says that the Hawaiian islands are in 

 need of foresters, and eager to secure them. 

 Governor Dole, who sees the immediate ne- 

 cessity of caring for the island forests, has 

 applied to the Bureau of Forestry for ex- 

 pert men, to be sent as soon as they can be 

 spared. The mountains are overrun by both 

 wild and tame cattle, which graze and 

 trample on young* trees and destroy the 

 ferns that protect the ground. When this 

 ground cover is removed, the soil rapidly 

 loses its moisture and the forest dies. Great 

 areas of Hawaiian forest have been utterly 

 destroyed in this way. The disappearance 

 of so much forest on the island of Hawaii 

 has caused remarkable changes in the flow 

 of the streams. There are freshets and 

 floods now, followed by long, dry seasons 

 when the water does not run. Since much 

 of the sugar crop depends entirely on irri- 

 gation, and since the irrigating ditches 

 must draw their water from the mountain 

 streams, the damage done the forest affects 

 the prosperity of the whole island. For- 

 estry in Hawaii has never been attempted 

 by the Government, and the field will be an 

 entirely new one. It will have the support 

 and confidence of the people, who are eager 

 for relief from the harm done them by the 

 failure of their irrigating ditches to supply 

 the sugar crops. 



On the island of Molokai — the leper is- 

 land — still more remarkable conditions pre- 

 vail in the forest. There the timber is 

 grazed and trampled to death not by wild 

 cattle alone, but by herds of red deer, de- 

 scended from a few that were imported 



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