The Farmers of the United States 



45 



in using extremely dilute solutions of 

 copper sulphate. Numerous tests have 

 been made in cooperation with boards 

 of health and water engineers, and the 

 method has been proved remarkably 

 efficient. The fact that one part of 

 copper sulphate to 100,000 parts of 

 water will at ordinary temperature com- 

 pletely destroy the bacteria causing ty- 

 phoid fever and Asiatic cholera suggests 

 the great usefulness of copper in fight- 

 ing these and other diseases. 



PRESENT FORESTRY SITUATION 



The present situation as regards for- 

 estry in the United States the Secretary 

 regards as exceedingly hopeful. The 

 lumber industry seems to be awakening 

 to the fact that lumbering with refer- 

 ence to future as well as present profits 

 may be good business. The general 

 adoption of forestry as an established 

 policy now depends primarily on busi- 

 ness conditions. Extensive investiga- 

 tions of forest conditions are still ur- 

 gently needed. Studies which individ- 

 uals cannot undertake, but which must 

 be made if the wealth-producing power 

 of the country as a whole is to be brought 

 to the highest point, need to be prose- 

 cuted in the public interest. The fur- 

 therance of that part of this depart- 

 ment's work which is directed toward 

 informing the small owner how he can 

 to advantage practice forestry on his 

 own account is of the first importance. 



IMPORTANCE OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY 

 OF FOREST CONDITIONS 



There is now no considerable portion 

 of the United States for which the Bu- 

 reau of Forestry has not at hand special 

 knowledge bearing directly on questions 

 pertaining to the use of the forests. In 

 the work of building up a sound perma- 

 nent policy for the forests of the na- 

 tional domain, this department contin- 

 ues to render important service, and it 

 is plain that the ultimate function of 

 the Bureau of Forestry as a part of the 



government administrative equipment 

 is gradually defining itself. The work 

 to which the bureau must hereafter 

 chiefly devote itself includes scientific 

 study of problems having a practical 

 bearing on forest utilization ; coopera- 

 tion with states seeking advice concern- 

 ing forest legislation, administration, or 

 the formulation of a state forest policy ; 

 and, finally, the discharge of any duties 

 assigned to it by the national govern- 

 ment in connection with the administra- 

 tion of public lands. The forester is at 

 present the official adviser in technical 

 matters of those departments having in 

 charge forested lands. The greatest 

 need of the West, says the Secretary, 

 is water, and in many states future set- 

 tlement and prosperity depend abso- 

 lutely upon its conservation, and this 

 again largely, in many cases wholly, 

 depends upon the preservation of the 

 forests. 



The work of planting on forest re- 

 serves has been begun in California, 

 Colorado, and Nebraska. 



He expresses gratification at the recog- 

 nition by Congress of the work of the 

 bureau which has enabled it to increase 

 its force within six years 16-fold, and 

 its expenditures 12-fold. That this lib- 

 erality is true economy is demonstrated 

 by the fact that a single discovery now 

 commo?ily applied to the prodnctio?i of tur- 

 pentine is effecting a savi?ig annually equal 

 to the total expenditures of the Bureau for 

 six years. 



FOREIGN PLANTS IMPORTED 



No less than 1,429 selected kinds of 

 seeds and plants were introduced from 

 foreign countries and established in the 

 United States. These included 350 date 

 suckers representing 42 varieties, 19 va- 

 rieties of grapes from Russian Caucasus, 

 33 varieties of mangoes of recognized 

 superiority from central India, 157 bush- 

 els of berseem from the valley of the 

 Nile, 2,000 pounds of the famous new 

 barley from Moravia, 200 trees of the 



