FORESTRY OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 33 
It has expended millions in warring with the hostile savages who have 
roamed over it. It has a second mortgage on the great railroads which 
traverse it. The Government of the United States, being the greatest 
land holder, also has a paramount interest in reclaiming this empire 
and converting it from a wilderness to fields, gardens, orchards, forests, - 
and pastures. That the government should actually do the work is not 
to be expected, but it seems to be reasonable to expect that it should 
aid in doing it. Knowledge is power; and let the government furnish 
the knowledge. The government owns the land; it can set apart any 
amount of it which may be required; it can place the work in the hands 
of the best practical talent of the country; it can do on a large scale 
what individuals are doing on a small seale. As the government is im- 
personal and can be accused of no sinister or selfish interest, the state- 
ments put forth under the sanction of the government officers and agents 
will be received as the truth. It will be shown what trees can and 
what cannot be grown ov the plains; what are the effects of copious 
and limited irrigation; what is the actual amount of water required for 
given areas; what is the result of irrigation on the same land for a 
series of years; and, most important of all, what is the effect of plant- 
ing large bodies of trees—actual forests. 
AMENDMENT OF THE TIMBER-CULTURE ACT. 
So far the only legislation by Congress intended directly for the en- 
couragement of practical forestry is what is known as the timber-cul- 
ture act. It has been several times amended, and needs further amend- 
ment. It has been so long in existence that its faults are well known, 
and there should be no hesitation in remedying the law, that its original 
purpose should be carried out as far as the intention of any law is 
attainable. . 
The law contemplated that when a quarter section was taken as a 
timber claim, it should be held as such until the terms of the law had 
been fully complied with, and acertain number of trees had been added 
to the forest area of the country. The intention of the act, according 
to the testimony of government officers and other competent witnesses, 
has been avoided; non-residents and speculators have taken claims un- 
der the timber-culture act merely forthe purpose of selling them to 
persons who wished to take them as homesteads or pre-emptions. It 
will be readily seen that this is an absolute avoidance. It works a 
failure of the object of the act. The remedy for this seems to be the 
adoption of the principle, ‘‘ Once a timber claim, always a timber claim.” 
By this is meant that when a filing has been made under the timber- 
culture act, the land should be withdrawn from entry under either the 
homestead or pre-emption acts, so that the title shall never be perfected 
except in compliance with the letter and spirit of the timber-culture 
act. 
The law is defective in allowing trees to be planted as far apart as 
7465——3 
