No. 380.) REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 603 
lands. A few efforts to grow truck and oranges are known to have 
been failures. It is generally believed that the scrub is colder 
at night, and that frosts are liable to occur over these areas when 
they do not occur over the high pine land. There is no apparent 
reason for this, however, in the topography of the country.” 
Professor Whitney finds no chemical or physical difference in the 
soils which would account for the diverse vegetation, and is driven to 
the conclusion that “the only explanation for the difference in the 
character of the vegetation is that it is accidental, and that the one 
kind of crop or the other received a start and simply spread, the two 
kinds of vegetation not being capable of growing together.” This 
is an explanation which does not explain, and we are not inclined to 
accept it as a final word. Erwin F Smits. 
Forests of Wisconsin.! — Those who are interested in the forestry 
problems of this country will desire to read this report from cover 
to cover. It is written by a competent forester. It deals with the 
past and present forest conditions of the so-called pineries of Wis- 
consin, że., the northern half of the state. It is based on personal 
explorations and on data furnished by trustworthy lumbermen. To 
obtain the materials for this report Mr. Roth visited every county in 
the district, making a careful study of its forest cover. When one 
Considers the infinitude of details involved in such a survey, the 
wonder is that the author has been able to represent things so clearly. 
No one can read this report without feeling that the work has been well 
done, or without wishing that Michigan and other pine-woods states 
might set on foot similar surveys. Unless something of this kind is 
done, either by the states or by the general government, we shall 
never know where we are in the matter of timber supply, or fully 
realize the necessity of forest care and conservation, until we are 
brought face to face with a scarcity of timber and all its resultant 
evils, 
This survey shows that of the original 17,000,000 acres of forest 
in northern Wisconsin, 8,000,000 have been cut over by lumbermen; 
that 40% of this vast area is practically a desert; and that the 
remaining 60% is now producing nothing better than firewood. 
Much of this land is worthless for farming purposes and should be 
1 Forestry Conditions and Interests of Wisconsin. By Filibert Roth, Special 
Agent, with a discussion by B. E. Fernow, Chief of Division of Forestry. Bulletin 
o. 16, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Division of Forestry. Washington, Gov. 
Printing Office, 1898. 73 pp., 1 map. ` 
