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32 AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS ‘ sponge”’ consists not only of the tree tops which form a close roof to keep out sun and wind, nor only of the layers of vines, brush, ferns, moss, dead leaves and humus on the ground (Fig. 24), but especially of the ground itself, which to a depth of many feet is a tangled interlacing of tree roots and of channels where formerly tree roots have been. Through such a forest sponge the water from winter snows and spring rains cannot penetrate rapidly but must gradually find its way to springs and brooks, producing a more or less equalized water supply to the surrounding region (Figs. 25 and 26). On the other hand, if the heads of watercourses are deprived of their forests, they allow the water to rush down the slopes, washing out the fertile constituents of the soil and producing floods in the lowlands,—a_ prodigality of water followed by lack in summer.
These facts are well illustrated in many places in the Appalachian region. Denuded slopes cleared for agriculture have yielded a profitable return fora few years; then decreasingly valuable because of the rapid eroding of the sloping fields, they served for pasturage a few years longer, then became wholly infertile (Fig. 27). This result in itself seems unfortunate enough, but consider the after-work of the rains that swept down these hillside farms (Fig. 28). It is said that in 1907 the floods from the onrush of one stream of this region (the Catawba River) caused a loss of a million and a half dollars’ worth of farm buildings and stock.
Examine reports concerning the region of the Ohio Valley which, like the Appalachian region, possessed some of the finest broad-leaved woodlands of the country. Here farmers fought the forest for generations, regarding it wholly in the light of an enemy because the soil is fertile for agriculture. They cut the chestnuts, the walnut and hickory, the sycamore, elm and poplar, built log houses of the most perfect trees and burned the others. When demands for tanbark came they cut the oaks, sold the stripped bark and burned the logs in festival “‘log-rollings.”” At last they have produced a district well-nigh without woodlands, but at what cost! There are “‘mysteriously heaven-sent”’ blizzards and spring freshets; streams run almost dry in summer, and hot, drying winds scorch the crops; fruit-growing is continually more difficult. The price of timber has risen in unprecedented manner, while the tanbark supply is decreasing at such a rate, not only in the Ohio region but also throughout the country, that the total product in 1907 was 156,941 cords less than that of 1906.
Fortunately the damage to the nation’s forests is not irreparable. - Now that the country is known throughout its extent and careful estimates of its timber land have been made, now that the imperative necessity of forested uplands to control water supply is understood, there has come about a
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TREES AND FORESTRY x8) sentiment for united effort in two directions: (1) conservation of remaining forests so that they will be made to vield a product without exhaustion to themselves; (2) reforestation of the heads of watercourses. CONSERVATION OF EXISTING FORESTS LONG step was taken toward the conservation of forests when an act of Congress of March 3, 1891, authorized the President of the United States to set aside from time to time pieces of woodland for the benefit of the American people. Such reserves (Fig. 23), covering an aggregate of about 196,000,000 acres have been made by Presidents Cleveland, Harrison, McKinley, Roosevelt and ‘Taft, and on February 1, 1905, the administration of these reserves was transferred to the United States Department of Agriculture, so that they are now under the care of experts in forestry. That the formation of national reserves is not a sufficient action, that the saving of the forests of the country still depends directly on individual and corporation owners rather than upon the nation, is seen by a comparison of acreage: the total extent of the reserves is one-third of the farm woodland of the country; it is insignificant when listed beside the millions upon millions of acres owned by railroads and by leaders in forest industries. The work in conservation must be brought about by a coéperation that will result in legislation to bind the Nation, the States, all corporations and individuals. A move in the right direction was made when the Maine Supreme Court decided (March 10, 1908) that a state had the right to restrict the cutting of trees on private land, if the welfare of the general public was endangered by such cutting; also when Louisiana brought before the legislature a similar law, even more definite in its restrictions. By far the most important event in the movement in 1908 was the meeting of the Governors’ Conference in May, followed by the joint Conservation Conference in December. Results cannot be obtained except through a L union of the States;' the forests in Wyoming must be conserved to give 1TheWeeksBill:
ToenableanystatetocoOperatewithanyotherstateorstates,orwiththeUnited Statesfortheprotectionofthewatershedsofnavigablestreams,andtoappoint acommissionfortheacquisitionoflandsforthepurposeofconservingthenavigabilityofnavigablerivers.
Thisbill,theproductofthecombinedstudyofsomeoftheablestmeninCongress,isa generalconservationbillforthecreationofnationalforests.Theimmediateinterest,however, liesintheAppalachianandWhiteMountainregionscontrollingthewatershedsofthemost importantriversoftheEastandtheSouthandcontainingagreatpartofthetimbersupply. The question of reserves for the East has been under discussion for ten years. The WeeksBillitselfhaspreviouslypassedtheSenatethreetimesandtheHouseonce.Inthe sixty-firstCongressitagainpassedtheHouse,June24,1910;itwasfilibusteredintheSenate, however, so that Congress adjourned without a passage of the bill. The Weeks Bill is scheduledtocomeupforSenatevoteonFebruary15,1911.
36 AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS FIG. 30 A TRAP FOR FIRE Clean out dead brush and dead trees and put into a condition to withstand fire water to the dry plains of Idaho; forests in Colorado equalize the water supply in Kansas; the success of the great irrigation project in Nevada depends on the extent and condition of forests in California. Changes that may come in the near future, wholly to transform the situation, to encourage tree planting and to protect our forests, concern technical points such as taxation of forested land and trade relations with foreign countr-es. A question comes from forest owners, “Is the fact that a forest is an investment consistent with conservation?’ In answer, experts hold that there are common-sense forestry methods which, if employed in the management of any given woodland, will allow a man to cut his timber now, yet save or grow a better crop for a later harvest; that the value of his investment is increased, for it yields almost the usual immediate profit and a greater deferred gain. That the deferred profit will be great is due in part of course, to the annually decreasing supply of timber and the increasing demand, the yearly consumption at present being more than three times the yearly forest growth. One lumber company estimates that if, when a longleaf pine forest is cut, twenty per cent of the stand be left, this will yield nearly half the original cut in twenty vears,—a two per cent investment if there be no increase in value of timber in the twenty years, a ten per cent investment with the probable rise in value. Many lumbermen who bought long-leaf forests at fifty cents per thousand feet believe that in twenty years these forests will have a value of ten dollars per thousand at least. Dr. C. A. Schenck, formerly forester of the 125,000-acre Biltmore estate in
TREES AND FORESTRY a4 North Carolina, is quoted as selling white oak at fiftv cents per thousand board feet in 1896 and receiving offers of eight dollars per thousand in 1904. The care and reconstruction which will mean large pecuniary profit to forest owners, varies in different parts of the country and also in different woodlands of the same region, depending on the kinds of trees present, the condition of the forest and the proximity to market. In many cases the advice of a trained forester should be obtained (see p. 67). SOME FORESTRY METHODS F we enter a tract of forest in the East we are likely to find closelygrowing second growths, sometimes chestnut! but as often sassafras, ironwood, dogwood, gray birch, red maple and other species of rela- FIG.31.LODGEPOLEPINES,20TO25YEARSOLD A young forest in need of thinning and cleaning. Bitter Root National Forest, Idaho 1Since1905greatravageshavebeenmadeamongchestnuttreesbyablightorfungus, Diaportheparasitica.TheforestsofsouthernNewEngland,ofNewYorkandNewJersey have suffered most, the estimate of loss being $10,000,000. So far the fungus yields its holdneithertoknownremediesnortothosenewlytriedandthreatenstodestroyallchestnut treesintheEast.
358 AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS tively small commercial value. ‘There is little sign of the primeval growth of elm, hickory, hard maple, white oak, ash and white pine. Moreover many of these second growths are bent or broken, insect-infested, or burned and decaying at the base. The reforesting has been according to a wasteful and slow struggle for existence. It is possible that eventually the trees FIG.32,FORESTATNEMOSOUTHDAKOTA Cut stumps low and obliquely to shed rain. This will do much toward ridding the forest of breeding places for insects.
Americans no longer cut off an entire crop of 100 to 200 years’ growth with no care for future crops. The problem is to bring a forest to its fullest producing capacity dominant in the original forest might creep in and displace these, but the result would be a matter of many years. To turn such woodlands into profitable investments is the problem of their owners. Yet scientific forestry to-day is reported in practice on only seventy per cent of publicly owned forests of the United States, and probably on less than one per cent of those privately owned.
Certain fundamental suggestions are applicable to woodlands of any kind or size in any part of the country.
1. Clean out dead brush and dead trees, utilizing this material before it is wholly wasted, and also leaving the forest in a condition better to withstand fire (Fig. 20). Cut out insect-infested trees.