118 
FOREST AND STREAM 
March, 1921 
FOR EST and STREAM 
FORTY-NINTH YEAR 
FOUNDERS OF THE AUDUBON SOCIETY 
ADVISORY BOARD 
GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL, NEW YORK, N. Y. 
CARL E. AKELEY, American Museum of Natural History, New York. 
EDM UND HELLER, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. 
WILFRED H. OSGOOD, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, 111. 
JOHN M. PHILLIPS, Pennsylvania Game Commission, Pittsburgh, Pa. 
CHARLES SHELDON. Washington, D. C. 
GEORGE SHIRAS, 3d, Washingon, D. C. 
JOHN T. NICHOLS, American Museum of Natural History, New York. 
WILLIAM BRUETTE, Editor 
JOHN P, HOLMAN, Managing Editor 
TOM WOOD, Business Manager 
Nine East Fortieth Street, New York City 
THE OBJECT OF THIS JOURNAL WILL BE TO 
studiously promote a healthful interest in outdoor rec- 
reation, and a refined taste for natural objects. 
August 14, 1873. 
A HINT FOR SPRING 
M 0 one can mark the invisible line which sepa- 
A rates winter from spring — and for a very good 
reason. It does not exist. 
Winter is not a season of death as it is often 
called. Rather is it a period of rest and recupera- 
tion — of the earth’s sleep; a period during which 
hidden forces are at work in preparation for a 
future awakening. Just as the wearied body and 
mind of man are renewed and refreshed by sleep, 
so the plants having bloomed and fruited through 
the summer begin to rest in autumn and winter, 
storing up meanwhile a reserve of energy against 
the time when the strengthening sun, the warm 
rains and the mild winds of spring shall rouse 
them from their quiet and call them into renewed 
activity above the ground. 
One must look sharply to see the first signs of 
reviving plant life, but if looked for they will be 
seen. Already over much of the land, where the 
winter has been mild, skunk cabbage and snow- 
drop are in bloom, and the pendant catkins of 
alders sway in the soft breeze. The twigs of the 
trees are full of sap and ere long the buds will be- 
gin to swell. Their opening may be hastened and 
brought close under the observers’ eye if some day, 
when he is abroad, he will cut a few twigs from the 
trees and bringing them home will place them in a 
jar of clean water and put them in the window, 
where the sun may shine on them. Then, in a short 
time, the buds will begin to open, and day by day 
may be seen a beautiful process of nature which 
might never be observed did it take place in the 
tree far above us. 
Cut the twigs with a smooth slanting stroke of 
the knife, and keep the water in which they stand 
clean. Do not put twigs of different sorts in the 
same jar, but have a vessel for each species. Try 
the soft maple, the cottonwood or poplar, the elm 
and the beech. Their opening will be a revelation 
to one who has never watched the buds swell and 
burst, and seen the perfect flower and the following 
leaves. Try also, if convenient, some twigs of fruit 
trees, cherry, plum and peach. At no cost and with 
no trouble you may have a window garden of tree 
flowers blooming under your own eye, long before 
the trees themselves have opened their buds. 
Spring is the time to be out-of-doors, for then he 
who has taught himself how to use his eyes may 
make all sorts of interesting discoveries. He should 
start his walks abroad betimes — the earlier the bet- 
ter. Already many things are growing, many birds 
arriving. Before long the spring wonders will 
crowd so fast upon us that no single pair of eyes 
can see them all. Get out, then, into the open. 
STREAM POLLUTION 
HTO freely use the light of the sun, the pure air 
of heaven and the uncontaminated waters that 
flow from the earth is supposed to be the birthright 
of American citizens, present and prospective. Yet 
the man, woman or child who lives in thickly clus- 
tered communities receives but little of the first 
two, while citizens all over the land have to take 
their chances of getting any of the third. Those 
who go without light and air do so of their own 
free will, but it is not so with the water. 
As a result of increasing population the streams 
are more and more used as sewers and troughs to 
carry away refuse, and with two results; one that 
the native life of the waters is measurably de- 
stroyed, the other that the health of those who 
drink the water from these streams is endangered. 
The matter is one of development and increased 
population. In England, France and other old 
world countries it long ago assumed importance, 
with the result that steps were taken to dispose 
in some other way of sewage, waste from factories 
and other refuse heretofore turned into streams. 
This, while calling at first for the expenditure of 
considerable capital, in the end is cheaper, for it 
saves the life in the waters and protects the health 
of the dwellers along the streams. In France there 
exists a league, whose work is educational, to com- 
bat the pollution of rivers. 
Scarcely any subject demands more study than 
this by the Commission for the Conservation of 
National Resources. Present methods are causing 
more and more deaths and have destroyed or 
driven away the fish and other life from many 
streams, thus destroying profitable industries and 
depriving the public of a cheap and wholesome food 
that they formerly enjoyed. 
The fresh water fauna constitutes a part of the 
country’s natural resources. Fishes, turtles, mus- 
sels and other fresh water animals have an eco- 
nomic value, and since all creatures found in the 
fresh water are mutually dependent upon each 
other, the causes which lead to the destruction of 
any of them should be removed. Of these causes 
the most serious are direct destruction by man, 
pollution of the streams, and the so-called improve- 
ment of the rivers — the building of dams, prevent- 
ing the ascent of fish, or the taking away of the 
water for various purposes. The most important 
cause of destruction is the pollution of the water. 
The matter is one of supreme importance and 
must be considered by all classes of citizens. In 
some localities it is merely a nuisance; in others 
an economic injury; in others an actual menace to 
life. Sooner or later the country must reckon with 
and provide for it. The work of studying the sub- 
ject and learning how to remedy the danger 
should not be too long postponed. 
