T THE Hon. David F. Houston, Secretary of Agriculture, in his Annual Report for the year ending June 30th, 1916, has dealt at length with the National Forests, and the following excerpts will be of interest : "The value of the National Forests to the public and the use made of them increased steadily. Their returns to the Treasury last year, exceeding $2,800,000-an advance of more than $340,000 over the previous year-are only a partial indication of their service. "Through successful administration the permanence of the National Forests is becoming more and more assured. They are now a vital part of the economic life of the regions which use their resources. It is increasingly clear that National supervision and control of them is necessary and that they could not be abandoned without disastrous consequences to western industries and to local welfare. "By making provision for the continued purchase of forest lands in the East, Congress once more has recognized the permanence of the National Forest policy. Three million dollars, expendable during the fiscal years 1917 and 1918, has been made available for this work. The purchase of lands in the Appalachian and White Mountains, with a view primarily to the control of stream flow affecting the navigability of rivers, began in 1911. Under the provisions of the Weeks Forestry Act there have been approved for purchase 1,396,367 acres, at an average cost of $5.22 per acre. lands are in excellent condition and have been secured at very reasonable prices. These newly established forests already are rendering important public service and are being used extensively. There is a marked demand for the timber upon them. The timber is cut in accordance with sound forestry practice. The White Mountain forests in a short time should return to the Government as much as it costs to protect and administer it. The "Millions of dollars, appropriated by Congress for the improvement, development, and consolidation of the forest holdings have gone into the properties. Only on the assumption that the forests are to be permanent would expenditures of this character be justifiable. Abandonment of the work after it has been carried to its present point would be a stultifying course. Nevertheless, repeated efforts in this direction still are made. Measures of various kinds, which, if adopted, seriously would injure or even render ineffective the whole National Forest enterprise, are urged. The proposal that the properties be turned over in their entirety to the several States has a waning support and no longer needs to be taken seriously. On the other hand, efforts frequently are made to secure the abolition of individual forests. "A more serious danger to the National Forest system lies in the repeated efforts to open them to the action of some general land grant or to the laws applicable to the unreserved public domain. One measure of this character passed both Houses of Congress during the last session and failed to become law only through the presidential veto. In his veto message, after explaining that the measure was entirely unnecessary and would have unfortunate public consequences, the President said: "But the most serious objection to the bill is that it subjects the National Forests to disposition under a general grant. At the very time while provision is being made for purchase by the Government of forested lands in the East for the protection of watersheds it is proposed to permit similar lands in the West to be permanently alienated. I would respectfully urge that it is unwise to permit alienation of the National Forests under general legislation of this sort. If the process of peacemeal distribution is begun, independently of any oversight or control of the National Government, there is manifest danger that the forests will be so disintegrated as to make their efficient administration impossible and the purposes for which they were established unattainable. Against such a process the National Forests should be carefully protected.' "The use of the National Forests for recreation purposes continues to extend. Thousands of local recreation centers, public picnic and camping grounds, excursion points, and amusement resorts are being developed. "The handling of the National Forest recreation resources inevitably raises the question of the relation of the National Forests and the National Parks. At present there is no clear distinction in the public mind between the two. They differ chiefly in the fact that the attractions of the National Parks from the recreational standpoint are more notable. Yet this is not always true. "A National Park should be created only where there are scenic features of such outstanding importance for beauty or as natural marvels that they merit national recognition and protection and, on this account, have a public value transcending that of any material resources on the same land—such areas, for example, as those now comprised in the Yellowstone and Yosemite Parks and in the Grand Canyon National Monument. "The protection of the scenic features and the development of the recreational use of the lands is being taken care of in the National Forests. Some of the most unusual scenic areas in the forests are best suited to a full park administration. The One of Our Highlands. bulk of the forest areas, however, should continue TRETCHING across the State from, Clinton protected and developed for recreation purposes as a part of the forest administration. The extensive road building, made possible by the $10,000,000 recently appropriated, will open them up rapidly. "An added cause of confusion is the fact that National Parks and National Forests are administered by two executive departments. "Whether the National Park Service should be transferred to the Department of Agriculture is a matter for consideration. If the transfer should be made, it would be unnecessary and, in my judgment, unwise to consolidate the work of the two services." HE fiscal year of the Pennsylvania Forestry Association ends December 1, 1916, and the statement of finances on that date was DR. 15 00 78 97 423 81 250 00 75 1,024 67 $3,836 54 CR. $ 479 07 600 00 cluding the southwestern quarter of Wyoming and the adjacent portion of Luzerne Counties, is a plateau varying in elevation from 1,800 feet above tide to 2,500 feet. The top of it, in a general way, may be said to be just below the productive coal measures which, by natural forces, have been stripped off :—except where the strata dipped downward and were protected against erosion in a basin, as at Bernice in Sullivan County, where the coal remained at the height above tide of about 1,850 feet. Geologically the region is in the Pocono sandstone, number X of our State reports. The whole region is, more or less, intersected by deep ravines, which in the west would be dignified by the name of "canyons." These ravines are water-worn channels cut down, say, on the average from 800 to 1,200 feet into a lower geological formation, known as the Catskill red sandstone, number IX. We are naturally inclined to look upon our highlands as the result of upheaval. But the region we are considering is one in which the strata are in a horizontal position, just, in other words, as they were deposited. High as the top of the plateau is above the stream bed in the depth of the ravines, it is merely what is left after strata thousands of feet in depth had been worn down and carried away. It has been estimated that at least 99 per cent. of the original coal deposit has been washed out of the country :-that what coal remained for mining is not more than 1 per cent. of the original deposit. Eaglesmere, Laporte, Bernice, Ganoga Lake are all located on this plateau. Indeed the name, North Mountain, applied to the portions in Wyoming and Luzerne Counties, might well be taken to 88 45 designate the whole of this highland region. 121 41 250 00 1,000 00 25 00 188 44 $3,836 54 $2,119 42 260 00 $2,379 42 $3,885 00 $5,783 28 CHARLES E. PANCOAST, Treasurer. Originally, that is when first invaded by whites, it was covered with a glorious growth of white pine, hemlock, beech, birch, maple and wild cherry. A considerable portion of the primeval forest still remains near Ganoga Lake. It is protected and cared for by the owner, Col. R. B. Ricketts, as a specimen of the forests that once covered the whole plateau. Owing to its altitude, the climate of this plateau is about that of New Hampshire. The soil is cold and thin; yet there are crops that, no doubt, can be safely and advantageously cultivated there. Here and there over the plateau, one sees old farms, mostly impoverished and abandoned. Among its many other useful activities, our State |