1 Fes., 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 157 
It may not be without interest to take a glance at the administration of 
the forests of the public domain in the United States, although the system 
there adopted is not suited to the conditions obtaining in Queensland. 
In that part of the United States lying to the east of the Great Plains, 
the Government has practically disposed of all its surplus land. 
In the States of the Cordillera Range, according to the Bulletin of the 
American Geographical Society, the situation is entirely different; the pro- 
portion still owned by the State being much larger, ranging from 49 per cent. 
in Washington to 95:3 per cent. in Nevada. In these States, the areas which 
have been alienated by the Government consist in the main of valley lands, 
which, as a rule, are not afforested. The forests of the Cordillera Range are 
eaucipally found on the mountains and high plateaux, the valleys and plains 
eing without forest covering. 
The use and application of the word “ forest’ in this connection requires 
explanation. It is here applied only to timber of merchantable size, such 
timber as is suitable for saw logs. It does not include such as is only useful 
for firewood, fence rails, posts, &c. The influences which dominate this dis- 
tribution of forest over the western country are of course climatic, and consist 
mainly in the rainfall; indeed, the rainfall map is a forest map. The heavy 
timber growth in the north-west accompanies the well-known heavy rainfall, 
and the presence of timber on the high mountains and plateaux accompanies 
the heavy rainfall on these ranges. : 
In those parts of the arid region which are now timbered, the amount of 
rainfall is barely sufficient to induce tree-growth, and if the timber were 
destroyed it is doubtful whether, with the present supply of moisture, it would 
ever restore itself without artificial encouragement. In the North-west and 
in the Eastern States, where the rainfall is ample for tree-growth, such growth 
restores itself promptly when the forests, either by burning or cutting, 
are destroyed; but such is not the case in the arid regions. If it is 
desirable, therefore, that forests be perpetuated in these regions, they must be 
protected. 
Forests should be maintained chiefly to provide continuous local supplies 
of timber. Now, timber is too bulky and cheap a commodity to bear long 
carriage. or this reason, if for no other, the forests of the west should be 
protected from all sources of waste, and perpetuated if possible, while at the 
same time supplying local needs. ‘The physical and climatic aspects of the 
forest are little known. ‘The influence of rainfall, humidity, temperature, and 
the flow and regimen of streams have been widely discussed, but most of the 
discussion has been purely theoretical, and, as we have indicated, there is doubt 
whether forests have any appreciable climatic influence. 
In Queensland we see vast stretches of magnificent grass country abso- 
lutely destitute of trees, where yet there is a copious annual rainfall. Again, 
we find barren, rocky hills with scarcely a vestige of herbage, yet studded 
thickly with trees of great height and girth, notably as seen in stringy bark 
country. In order to check the rapid destruction of timberin the far west of 
the United States, a Bill was passed in 1890, providing that the Government 
should own or hold in perpetuity certain lands designated as “ forest lands,’’ 
but there was no provision made for administering these lands or for regulating 
the cutting of timber on them. 
Under this authority, the Presidents Harris and Cleveland had from time 
to time declared certain areas reserved, by proclamation, the whole of such 
reserves amounting then to some 17,500,000 acres; and in 1897, 20,000,000 
more were reserved. : 
