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wardens for the proper care of the State Forestry
Reservation lands, the said instruction not to cost
a sum exceeding ten thousand dollars for the two
fiscal years ending June 1st, one thousand nine
hundred and five; and the sum of sixteen thousand
dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is
hereby appropriated out of moneys not otherwise
appropriated for said purposes, to be paid by war-
rant drawn by the Auditor-General upon resolution
of the State Forestry Reservation Commission.
[This bill passed second reading and was re-
committed to the Committee on Appropriations.
-ED.]

House Bill No. 44.

and it shall be their duty, immediately upon any such arrest, to take and convey the offender or offenders before a justice of the peace or other magistrate having jurisdiction for hearing and trial, or other due process of law; Provided, That this act shall extend only to the case of offences committed upon said Forestry Reservations and lands adjacent thereto; and the powers herein conferred upon said officers shall not be exercised beyond the limits thereof, except where necessary for the purpose of pursuing and arresting such offenders, or of conveying them into the proper legal custody for punishment as aforesaid. SECTION 2.-All acts or parts of acts inconsistent

Mr. A. R. Moore, of Potter County, in Place, Jan- herewith be and the same are hereby repealed.

uary 26, 1903.

An act conferring upon persons employed under existing laws by the Commissioner of Forestry for the protection of State Forestry Reservations, after taking the proper oath of office, the same powers as are by law conferred upon constables and other peace officers to arrest, without first procuring a warrant, persons reasonably suspected by them of offending against the laws protecting timber lands; also conferring upon them similar powers for the enforcement of the laws and rules and regulations for the protection of the State Forestry Reservations, and for the protection of the game and fish contained therein, and further conferring upon them power to convey said offenders into the proper legal custody for punishment; this act to apply only to offences committed upon said reservations and lands adjacent thereto.

SECTION 1.-Be it enacted, etc., That the persons employed under existing laws by the Commissioner of Forestry for the protection of State Forestry Reservations shall, after taking the proper official oath before the Clerk of the Court of Quarter Sessions of any county of the Commonwealth, be vested with the same powers as are by existing laws conferred upon constables and other peace officers to arrest on view, without first procuring a warrant therefor, persons detected by them in the act of trespassing upon any forest or timber land within this Commonwealth under such circumstances as to warrant the reasonable suspicion that such person or persons have committed, are committing or are about to commit some offence or offences against any of the laws now enacted or hereafter to be enacted for the protection of forests and timber lands. Such officers shall likewise be vested with similar powers of arrest in the case of offences against the laws or the rules and regulations enacted or to be enacted for the protection of the State Forestry Reservations, or for the protection of the fish and game contained therein. Said officers shall further be empowered,

[This bill is now on second reading.-ED.]

House Bill No. 47·

Mr. Z. T. Moore, of Philadelphia, in Place,
January 20, 1903.

An act authorizing the Governor to appoint a Deputy Commissioner of Forestry and an additional clerk in the office of the Commissioner of Forestry.

SECTION 1.-Be it enacted, etc., That on and after the passage of this act the Governor be and he is hereby authorized to appoint a Deputy Commissioner of Forestry at a salary of twenty-five hundred dollars per annum, and an additional clerk in the office of the Commissioner of Forestry at a salary of fifteen hundred dollars per annum. [This bill is now on second reading—ED.]

mile

Last autumn, on October 28th, Mr. E. O. Paul, of the United States Geological Survey, measured the water flow of the Bushkill Creek, near the home of Mr. Edwin Peters, which is about above where the stream enters the Delaware River that is, in an air-line about seventy miles north of the City of Philadelphia.

The month of October was chosen for the work, because the flow of the stream was then rather below than above the average. It was found that the quantity of water passing that point in twenty-four hours was 76,260,096 gallons. In other words, the Bushkill Creek was furnishing enough pure mountain water to supply a city of 762,600 inhabitants.

The possible future importance of this to the City of Philadelphia may be realized when we recognize the fact that the Bushkill is one of several streams, all with pure water, which might be united into a water supply for our greatest city— when Philadelphia, disgusted with filtering dirty water, will demand, as none too good, filtered pure water.

THE

New Hampshire's Forests.

HE forests of New Hampshire have a special interest to the people of the whole country. They are not so extensive as the Maine forests; but they are nearer, and are more in the sight of a great number of tourists and summer dwellers in the State, who feel a kind of proprietary interest in them.

The first annual report of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests has just appeared. The society was organized in January last, and is hardly a year old, but it has been active and energetic, and has accomplished a good bit of useful work.

The society has had under advisement plans for a national park and forest reservation in the White Mountains, and has drafted a bill providing for such preliminary examination by the State as is necessary before Congress can be asked to take action. But already the Berlin Timber Land Company has purchased the tract desired, and has this winter begun operations.

It is feared that, if action of Congress must be waited for, the wood will be cut and used before it can be obtained; but New Hampshire might secure this park by State action.

This particular tract is not the only one that the society desires to have preserved, but it is the most extensive and is now imminently threatened. Descriptions of some of the other valuable virgin forests are given.

There are in the report many things of practical value to persons who are contemplating the making of plantations, as well as to those who have forest-covered land, and do not know how to deal with it in the best way. More than a million and a half acres of New Hampshire farms have reverted from improved to unimproved land since 1850. It is largely coming up to white pine. The problem is how to manage this crop in the best way; for the value of the forest crop of the State, it is estimated, can be quadrupled with intelligent care. It is a difference to the owner whether forest land is worth $2 or $200 an

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"The definition, Forestry is the proper handling of forest investments,' implies a revenue of some sort. It may be money, sport, or protection to mountains.

"The idea back of private investments is usually a pecuniary one. There must be some assurance of the safety of the investment and of a comparatively high rate of interest. Forestry, under existing conditions, promises neither; consequently, a forest owner takes both interest and capital from his forest as soon as possible. This rapid destruction of the forest results in waste land, floods and droughts, and in extreme changes of the local climate.

"The State's duty is to provide for its own welfare; and when private individuals bring about conditions which result in inconvenience to other individuals and a loss to the State, it is time for interference. This is the case in regard to forests. Either individuals must be restricted in their rights, or conditions must be made making another course of action preferable to individuals, or the State itself must manage the forests, or a part of them. It is to the advantage of the State that each acre of ground yields its maximum return, and its policy must have this ideal in view at all times.

"After two centuries of disregard for the policy of William Penn, which was that one-sixth of the Province should be left in woodland, the people of the State awoke to the fact that their forests were being destroyed at an alarming pace. Under the direction of the present Commissioner of Forestry, Dr. J. T. Rothrock, Pennsylvania. has made strides in the forestry movement. It is safe to say that this State is in the lead of those taking up forestry work, for there are no laws to | impede the necessary progress, and public opinion demands that the work be pressed forward.

"What has been accomplished in the last quarter-century has been done with a very small appropriation and at a comparatively small expense to the State. Laws giving protection from fires and rebates of taxes on forest land make private forestry more profitable, and the State's control of a considerable area of forest will insure

The

a continued industry to the State, purer water to the cities, and better health to the citizens, as well as a money return to the treasury. State has purchased in the past two years 400,000 acres of land at an average price of about $1.90 per acre, and there is about as much more under consideration.

"Forestry is a business, and the perpetuation and utilization of our forests must be done on a practical, business basis.

"Of utmost importance is the continued education of the people. The children can be reached by making Arbor Day popular; and if the children of to-day realize the value of the forests, the forests of the future are safe. The farmers and older people can be reached by the Farmers' Institutes. The farmers must be instructed not only in managing their wood lots, but also in making profitable their waste land by re-forestation. It is estimated that 4,000,000 acres of waste land are attached to the farms of Pennsyl

vania.

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(The cords are each 160 cubic feet, as the pulp companies cut 5-foot sticks and count the cord 4 ft. x 8 ft. x 5 ft.)

If the rate of growth had kept up for 5 years longer, the last figure would have increased to at least $175; but, as stated above, the trees were nearly branchless, and so would doubtless have stopped rapid growth. They were too old to recuperate. The ground is now thickly covered with young trees of the same species, some seedlings, mostly root suckers, not stool shoots, which will undoubtedly fill the openings in a short period with a new crop of pulp-wood. A. S. H.

"For the management of the reserves it is very important that forest surveys should be made at once, showing the location, kind and quality of the timber, the boundaries, contours, roads, streams, open fields, houses, etc. On each reserve there must be a trained forester, and on each 5000 acres there must be a ranger or warden, California Desires a School of Forestry. who should know every detail of his district. times a superintendent, acquainted with local con

At

ditions, is necessary to aid the forester in plan

ning for and carrying out his work. Men for such positions are difficult to find. The State already has a reserve at Mont Alto, where work has begun, and which is an ideal place to train men. A school of forestry has been proposed, and it should be established by the State on its own land, where young men of the State can study the conditions under which they will have

to work."

о

A Note on Cottonwood.

NLY a weed; not worth the cutting. This represents the opinion of many concerning the cottonwood, as the choppers call it, Populus grandidentata. And it was truly a weed, a comparatively valueless species before the development of the wood-pulp industry.

A group of these trees was left in our woods (near Westtown, Pa.,) last spring by the sleet, almost destitute of branches, so we decided to cut them out. Some tulip poplar was cut, too, to make even carloads, but the account of Populus was kept separate. The stand was unevenly dis

the

HE women of the California Club are agitating the question of preventing destructive

forest fires in this State, and providing for reforesting of the great tracts of land that have been robbed of their trees by reason of fire or by the inroads of commerce. They believe that much good may be done by educating men to a scientific knowledge of forestry, and to this end they are soliciting support of the following bill, which will be presented to the Legislature during the coming session:

Section 1. The sum of $25,000 is hereby appropriated out of any money in the State Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be used for the establishment and support of a school of forestry in the State University of California ; $10,000 of said sum must be paid on the 1st day of July, 1903, and $15,000 on the 1st day of July, 1904.

Section 2. The Controller is authorized and directed to draw his warrants for the sums mentioned in the preceding section, payable to the order of the Treasurer of the University of California, and the Treasurer of the State is directed to pay such warrants.

Section 3. This act shall be in effect from and after its passage.-San Francisco Chronicle.

M

Forest Meteorology.

R. R. DE DROUIN DE BOUVILLE (see Bul. Min. Agr. (France), 201 (1901), No. 2, states that at the National School of Forestry, observations have been continually made since 1867 to ascertain the effect exerted by forests on rainfall and upon a supply of subterranean water. Three stations were maintained, one selected to represent a dense forest of deciduous trees, the second a less heavily-timbered region, while the third was an agricultural region of considerable extent, taken to represent an area free from the influence of forests. While there was considerable variation in the total rainfall from

year to year, the relative proportion measured at the different stations was about the same. For thirty-three years the relative proportion of water on the three different areas above described was 100, 93.9, and 76.7, showing that, in general, forests increase the rainfall over a given area, and this increase seems to be about in proportion to the extent and density of the forest.

In order to ascertain whether the winds exerted any appreciable effect on the amount of rain falling, records for eleven years show that practically the same proportion stated above is shown for the rainfall of the different stations, no matter what the direction of the wind.

The effects of cold and hot seasons, of great and small rainfall, are shown, but practically the same relative quantity of water fell at the different stations. With slight variation there was no appreciable difference in the action of the forest in winter or summer, the average precipitation being about the same for each season. In dry seasons the relative precipitation over forested areas was little, if any, greater than during periods of heavy rain.

Investigations were conducted to determine the amount of rain-water intercepted by the forests for thirty-two years. In the densely-covered forest, small areas were cleared of trees and comparisons made between the amount of water reaching the soil in these areas and those where the timber was not removed. In the dense forest the amount of water intercepted by the trees varied from a minimum in winter to a maximum of 14.3 per cent. of the total rainfall. At the second station the amount of water intercepted attained a maximum of 16.6 per cent.

The evaporation taking place from the soil in wooded and cleared areas was investigated by means of atmidometers, by which it was found that the evaporation was considerably greater in open areas than in those under forest cover.

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The State has been buying forest lands in large tracts at reasonable prices as rapidly as they could be secured. As a result, it now owns or has under contract 572,722 acres. The average cost for all this land will not exceed $2 per acre, and, if it desired to do so, the State could dispose of its holdings at a large advance. These forests are scattered over the State, and will in time be the source of considerable revenue. As fast as the timber becomes marketable, it should be sold on the stump. Not only have lands been acquired, but scientific reforestation. has been commenced. Within two years onehalf million white pine trees will be ready for transplanting. These reservations will have an influence upon the water supply, and incidentally benefit agriculture in every locality. They will preserve the forest streams, and afford places of recreation and amusement to those who desire to hunt, camp and fish. Many millions of dollars are spent for parks in large cities of the State. These reservations are nature's parks, belonging to the people, far preferable in my judgment to artificial parks. They are provided for their recreation at a very small expense. The reservations have also been opened up, under certain restrictions, as outing grounds for indigent sufferers from pulmonary tuberculosis and other diseases, where they can live in cabins as economically as they choose. This plan has been eminently successful and has attracted wide attention.

If the reservations are to receive proper care and the unwooded areas are to be redeemed as forests, it is important that early steps be taken in this direction. The recommendation of the Commissioner that a School of Forestry be located at Mont Alto, where all the conditions are favorable, is entitled to your serious consideration. Such a school would, in my judgment, yield many times its cost in benefit to the State. The students could combine study with actual labor upon the reservations, and become in the best sense practical foresters to be later placed in charge of the State lands in other sections of the Commonwealth. In no other way could the work be done so cheaply and so thoroughly.

Our Waning Water-Power.

THE recent coal strike, however unfortunate it has been in some respects, has not been wholly bad. In fact if we heed its lessons it may prove to have been a great blessing in disguise. It at least has opened our eyes to the fact that it is exceedingly hard at present to get on without anthracite coal. Our vision is shortsighted, indeed, if the present scarcity of anthracite does not lead us to look forward and ask "What are we to do when the supply shall have been exhausted?" It is nothing to the purpose to reply that it may be a century before this will happen. The citizen who, having none of the cares of public life to be responsible for, can console himself thus, has surely so little regard for posterity that he is hardly entitled to the bless ings which have reached him by inheritance. The publicist or the statesman who fails to anticipate and provide, in advance, for this contingency in the life of the State or the Nation can hardly be considered a safe man to trust with public interests, because the very first duty of the State is to insure its own perpetuity. If government fails, the hope of the individual is gone. There can be but little incentive to private thrift when there is no assurance that the fruits of our industry and economy will be surely and safely transmitted to those who are our natural or lawful heirs.

Indeed, it is no stretch of the imagination to recognize that even the supply of bituminous coal will be exhausted eventually, and that the time to provide for any economic strain which may result therefrom is in advance.

Whether the exhaustion of either or both (anthracite or bituminous coal) is near or remote, the fact must be clear that henceforth both will command higher prices than hitherto, and by just so much must those power-requiring industries in which there is a narrow margin of profit look in some other direction for the power which they need.

This problem has already presented itself to some of the great manufacturing interests of New England. Their ultimatum is, "Protect our water-power, or we must move to where we can obtain it."

The reason that hitherto this alternative has not presented itself to the people of this State is because we have lived within easy reach of the cheap power abundance of coal furnished. it will never present itself no one believes!

That

The time has come in which we must husband our resources! Young nations all pass through a period of prodigality (if they have the resources

to be prodigal upon), and we have been an eminent example of the law. There may be, there doubtless are, many unknown forces surrounding us, with which we have not to-day the slightest acquaintance. But we have no right to assume that we can avail ourselves of these when they are needed, because we know nothing of their nature and they may prove wholly intractable. Light is intangible. It is about us everywhere. We live in it. We can wave our hand through it and recognize no resistance from it. Yet this same ray of light can pass almost undimmed through a block of glass which is solid enough to resist the passage of a modern high-powered bullet. But we need force in some such form that it can be used to furnish motion and power for the manufacturer. We do not know that we can ever do this with light. This is an illustration of the principle that we can only count on certainties. We can only bank on what we have!

We know we have power everywhere present in water, whether it be the slow-flowing, placid stream, the mountain torrent, or the waterfall. We know that we once used it when it was abundant and coal was not available. We may readily anticipate that we shall again have to use what remains of it when coal becomes too expensive for general use in production of power.

There seems to be no possibility that we can increase the rainfall, for we have no control of the sun's heat, by which the invisible vapor is lifted from the water surfaces of the earth to the clouds, to be condensed and to fall again as rain. It is true that we may hoard our water-power in vast reservoirs against a time of need, but that involves an incredible cost, and also a subsequent loss of available power by evaporation from the water surface so produced.

Nature's storehouse in the ground is not only the best place to hoard sufficient water-power, but it is practically the only place. It is well for us to remember the surest guide to conduct the largest quantity of water into the ground (where it is secure against waste by immediate "run-off" and by evaporation) is the forest. There are many points in regard to rainfall and conservation of the water that reaches the earth's surface which are uncertain; but there is no doubt about the statement that the forest is the very best protection for our water-power.

Sad indeed will be the condition of Pennsylvania if we delay restoration of our timber areas until the demand for water-power is actually upon us. It would mean a period of at least from a quarter to half a century of depression of our industries until this forest cover could be placed upon the ground. The only wise policy is one

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