reached their fullest development. There is, furthermore, an impor- 

 tant relation of the forests to agriculture : every particle of soil upon 

 our highlands is slowly moving toward the tide water. It is merely a 

 matter of time before the productive fertility of our hillsides will have 

 taken its place in some stream, and be on its way to the ocean. This 

 tendency we counteract by constant use of fertilizers. The forests on 

 higher grounds may be regarded as important factors in breaking up 

 rock and furnishing decaying vegetable matter to restore the fertility 

 which has been washed out of our fields, and whilst they do this, they 

 themselves are seldom much gullied or washed. 



In the near future water will figure much more conspicuously than it 

 does now as a source of power. The time will come when the use of 

 coal will be limited because of an increasing scarcity, and we shall then 

 be driven to utilise the weight and velocity of our flowing water, as a 

 source of power, either directly or through the electricity which it may 

 be made to generate and transmit, it may be, to a distant point, for use. 

 Looked at in this light the value of the forest to the future can hardly 

 be overestimated. But associated with this fact is the other fact that 

 to produce these forests, which are necessary to gather and hoard the 

 water required for the production of power, hardly less than half of a 

 century will be required. Every hour of delay now is a mortgage with 

 which the present is to burden the developments of the future. 



Thoughtful persons who have noted the trend of agricultural thought 

 cannot fail to recognize that the climatic vicissitudes of recent years 

 have caused the problem of irrigation for crops, even in this country, 

 to be warmly discussed. An abundant supply of water at the proper times 

 means not only a more certain crop, but a larger and more perfect crop 

 from the same acreage, and as our population doubles and our tillable 

 areas decrease, the necessity for some method of increasing the yield on 

 a given area will be more and more apparent and pressing. 



In fact, it may be stated boldly at once, that the interests of the 

 State at large demand that not less than twenty-five per cent, of the 

 area of an average state should be under its own control. Water is an 

 article of prime necessity, and no private interest should be allowed to 

 control or hinder or interfere with its proper distribution to every citizen 

 of the Commonwealth, whether it be for drinking, for production of 

 power, for farming or for navigation. It would be a wise piece of legis- 

 lation by which a state should become the possessor of every acre within 

 its limits sold for taxes, and either retain it for the purpose of main- 

 taining the timber growth or, if better suited for some other purpose, 

 then to sell it under such restrictions as would never allow the pur- 

 chaser to use it to the injury of the Commonwealth. — The Forester. 



TOBACCO SEED FOR DISTRIBUTION. 



Havana Tobacco Seed of the best quality has been obtained from 

 Cuba, from the Vuelta Aba jo district, for distribution. 



Those who wish to have a small quantity of this seed, are requested 

 to apply at once to the Director of Public Gardens, Gordon Town P.O., 

 stating how much land they are prepared to plant out. 



