The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-07-21
FOR PROTECTION
OF THE FORESTS
Congress Asked to Make
New Laws.
FIRE A VERY GRAVE DANGER
MORE STRINGENT REGULATIONS
ARE DESIRED.
Some Interesting Papers by Experts
Are Read During the Sessions
of the Convention at
Los Angeles.
MORE STRINGENT REGULATIONS
ARE DESIRED.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

LOS ANGELES, July 20.-The theo-
retical and sentimental ideas of forest
preservation were to-day cOmbated
by practical and matter-Of-fact prop
osition at the session of the American
Forestry Convention, being held in
this city.
Abbott Kinney. first president
for California. presided. Upon the
desk before the chairman and on the
table of Secretaries George w. Whit
tlesey and w. H. Knight, were large
bouquets of eucalyptus blossoms in
many varieties of red, white, yellow
and green, notable exhibits of one
branch of the local association.
s. H Woodbridge, Phi. D., read a
paper on Water Conservation in
Soils" The speaker related the result
of his own experiments to show that
some varieties of soil absorb moisture
much more rapidly than do others, and
the natural mold of an old forest is the
best in every respect. Inc op1ect OF
the paper was to show the absolute
necessity of preserving forests that
protect the absorbent soil which serves
such a useful purpose in storing water.
The principal address of the sessions
was made by Ellwood Mead, formerly
State engineer of Wyoming recently
Amounted irrigation expert for the De-
partment of Agriculture, on The Flu
fire Policy for Irrigation in the West,
He prefaced his remarks by saying he
had intended making his address APP
plicable to conditions here, but found
that he could do that only after max
ing a personal investigation. Inc tenor
of the address was an unquallhed IN
dorsement of a proposal to lease for
GRAZ ine purposes all the public lands
and to use the money thus obtained in
the construction of storage reservoirs
and irrigating canals. He argued that
in regions where high freight rates
prevail it is folly to expect private en-
terprise to engage in the great work of
storage reservoirs anu Irrigation S4S-
TENS.
The morning session was opened by
the paper of A. Campbell Johnson on
"a Forest Experiment Station" read
by Secretary Whittlesey. The author
of this paper urged the establishment
of experimental stations and the sys-
tematic planting of trees.
H Hawgood, a well-known civil en-
gineer, followed with a paper, En-
gineering Problems in Forestry and
Water Storage"
Wallace w. Everett, associate editor
of Wood and Iron, a San Francisco
publication, presented a paper on The
PraCtlCal IN fCEeSlTy.
At the afternoon meeting John Nc
Laren. spoke on Reclamation of Drift
ing Sand Dunes in Golden Gate Park, u
and showed how those erratic despoil-
ers of landscape gardening were
brought into subsection by skillful
management, which could be as sue
cessful in other localities where infer
tile sand predominates.
Professor w. r. Dudley read a paper
on THE Sequoia of the Slerras and
Their Distribution"
James D. Schuyler, civil engineer,
read a paper on Storage Reservoirs
as Affected by Forests"
At to-night's session a resolution was
passed asking that the next Congress
be requested to pass a law substan-
TALLY as follows:
Whoever kindles, uses, or leaves
after using, any fire, whether made by
himself or others, that does any damage
to grass, brush, timber OF other vegeta-
ton on land of the United States be-
yond a circle of six feet radius from
the center of such fire shall pay fine
of 800, without regard to the amount
of care used to prevent such damage"
The purport of this resolution is to
do away with the present law, which
requires proof of negligence or care
lessness before conviction can be Sc
cured. The convention, instead or
waiting until the next Congress. will
ask the Secretary of the Interior tic
adopt at once a regulation covering the
point.