28 



green colour (chlorophyll), or when the shoot has rested and is ready 

 to continue its growth. 



In a matured growth the green colouring matter has been succeeded 

 by a brown colour which varies considerably with age. (Queensland 

 .Agricultural Journal.) 



IRRIGATION. 



Letter from Governor Roosevelt. 



Albany, N. Y. Nov. 16, 1900. 



To the National Irrigation Congress, 

 Chicago, Illinois. 



'Gentlemen : 



It is with very real regret that I find my engagements here prevent 

 my attending the meeting of your body. I believe to the last point 

 in the vital necessity of storing the floods and preserving the forests, 

 especially throughout the plains and Rocky Mountain regions. The 

 problem of the development of the greater West is in large part a prob- 

 lem of irrigation. I earnestly believe in the national government 

 giving generous aid to the movement, for it is not possible, and if it 

 were possible, it would not be wise to have this storage work done 

 merely through private ownership ; and owing to the peculiar neces- 

 sities of the case, much of the work must be done by the National and 

 not by any State government. 



Moreover, it is not only necessary to establish a great system of 

 storage reservoirs to prevent the flood waste of the waters ; it is also 

 necssary to preserve the forests on the mountains and among the 

 foothills. This means that, in the first place, there must be a wide 

 extension of the existin ? system of forests reserves, and, in the second 

 place, that these forests reserves must be managed aright. They can- 

 not be so managed while there is the present division among federal 

 departments of the duties, and, therefore, of the responsibilities of their 

 management. 



We are just getting to understand what is involved in the preser- 

 vation of our forests. Not only is an industry at stake which employs 

 more than half a million of men, the lumbar industry, but the whole 

 prosperity and development of the West, and indeed ultimately of the 

 entire country, is bound up with the preservation of the forests. 

 Right use of the forests means the perpetuation of our supply both of 

 wood and of water. Therefore we cannot afford to be satisfied with 

 anything short of expert and responsible management of the national 

 forest reserves and other national forest interests. The forest reserves 

 must be cared for by the best trained foresters to be had, just as the 

 storage reservoirs must be built and maintained by the best engineers. 

 There is the same need of trained skill in handling the forests in your 

 best interests as there is in building the great dams which will some 

 day bring population and abounding prosperity to vast stretches of 

 so-called desert in the West. 



Any man who has ever dwelt on the great plains knows what a se- 

 rious matter not only the water supply but the wood supply is to the 



