The herald., 1896-11-29

| The government or state forest reserva-
tions and future forest pslicy is not re-
ferred to. These officers have intro
duced no useful tree, studied no native
tree. and apparently never even thought
about ctr destructive forss. Ares. Tn
| fact their two reports demonstrate the
fact that they may have had the politi-
| cal capacity to seize the property and
| funds of the forestry board, but that they
have not even a remote conception of
| forestry itself. We may call their lobby
work to obtain property without the
knowledge or capacity to administer 1t
the third objection.
The fourth is that these extraordinary
political adopts treat everyone here who
has an interest In these public questions
as an enemy. The forest station has
been twice closed to botanical and forest
students. 1t is closed now by scheme
of ingenious insult, and this, too In
spite of the fact that every public body
In Southern California has respectfully
asked for impersonal rules that would
permit botanists and foresters to avail
themselves Of the trees at this station.
The two most prominent men suffering
under this extraordinary and disgrace
ful policy at present are Prof. A. ]. Nc
Claiche, distinguished biologist and
botanical author, now at work on a book
on local plant forms. and Hon. Abbot
Kinney, author of the first forestry bill
introduced into congress, of numerous
forestry works. and recently of a large
and valuable volume on The Eucalyp-
tus and vice president for California of
the American Forestry association. Mr..
Kinney initiated the forestry station at
Santa Monica and imported the seeds of
the trees now sought to be studied. 1t
adds insult to injury to treat our public
spirited men from Santa Barbara to San
Diego in such black list way.
Fifth-They make no farmers. They
have an average of one or two graduates
a year, and even these are mostly city
men from the San Francisco bay dis
trict.
Sixth-That no person in Southern Cal
ifornia in agriculture has been found
who has received tangible benefit from
this College of Agriculture. We have re-
peatedly opened our columns and re-
quested anyone to state benefit that
they had obtained. We received not one
favorable reply-not one. We then sent
our reporters to leading men, such as
Mr.. Richard Gird, the great sugar beet
grower; c. c. Bichowsky, one of our
largest and most intelligent vineyard
lists, and inquired right and left, both
in this and other counties, amongst
farmers. vine growers, wine makers,
forestry men and fruit men. with
out finding one single person who
had a direct benefit to mention.
On, the contrary we found the col
lege either unknown altogether or else
unfavorably commented on.
The Chino station is entirely useless,
and the Santa Monica forestry station
would be far more valuable II these
Berkeley men had never gone near it.
They dug forest trees out and allowed
some of the most valuable to die The
Berkeley forester takes up his report in
congratulating himself on his own abil-
ity and on the fact that he is very good
and replaces men, officially dead these
four years, who were very bad.
His idea of forestry Is planting corn
and barley which he thinks he can keep
up on the forestry station by judicious
fertilization.
We have valuable botanical garden
growing up at Los Angeles, but 1t is not
under this Berkeley college. 1t was
made and is growing under private en-
terprise in the Elysian hills.
Seventh-All this lack Of result and
petty personalities costs more than any
other department in the University of
California. The Agricultural college
spends the most and does the least of
any department of Berkeley.
This college now has the property and
appropriations of the board of viticul-
ture, of the board of forestry and some
$4,000 annually from the federal govern
ment, besides it's direct land bounty and
appropriations. The College of Agri-
culture has not one full-fedged profess
sor. yet it's salary list is five times that
of the fine school of law and double that
of the department next as expensive as
itself. When we consider this cost and.
as far as Southern California is con-
cerned, the total lack of beneficial re-
suit, and then add the insults, injuries
and black lists under which our local
men suffer, we feel that a change is es-
sential. The regents do not supervise
the work here. They have refused to
open the forest station at Santa Monica,
although requested to do so respectfully
by every public body in this section
What then is best? 1t seems clear that
the thing to do is to put this local work
and these local stations in local control
THE COLORED VOTE