'322 A TEXT-BOOK OF BOTANY 



* seedlings to develop; so that in a forest properly managed 



there are trees in every stage of development, from seed- 

 lings to those ready to be cut. Such management is being 

 adopted not only in large forests that are prominent sources 

 of wood-supply, but also on individual farms, where the 

 wood-lot is as carefully managed as the grain-field. De- 

 tailed plans for such management can now be obtained from 

 the Bureau of Forestry or from State foresters, so that 

 ignorance is no longer any excuse for mismanagement. 



184. Protective forests. This name has been suggested 

 for those forests that are used primarily as a soil cover. 

 Such forests are used also as supply forests, but their chief 

 purpose is to cover the soil. Forests are great regulators 

 of water-flow, retaining the water of rains and letting it 

 pass gradually into the streams. When they are removed, 

 streams that formerly contained a steady supply of water 

 are subject to alternations of flood and extremely low water. 

 When forests are removed from water-sheds and the head- 

 waters of rivers, this result becomes disastrous. The head- 

 waters of prominent rivers are generally in mountainous 

 regions; and the removal of forests there results not only 

 in flooded rivers, but also in slopes stripped of their soil and 

 deeply gullied. In such regions, therefore, the forest both 

 regulates the water-flow and protects the soil. 



In consequence of these facts, the Government has set 

 apart certain forest areas upon the head-waters of the prin- 

 cipal rivers as forest reservations. These reservations are 

 guarded from fire and from ruthless cutting, but are cut for 

 timber under proper forestry management. Especially are 

 such reservations imperative in the West where irrigation 

 is necessary, which must depend upon a steady supply of 

 water from the mountains. On January 1, 1905, there were 

 sixty-two such reservations in various parts of the West, 

 including over sixty-three million acres. States also have 

 established forest reservations, most prominent among 



