averaging 72,899 second-feet, for a period of over 21 days, or a flow of 1,000,000 second-feet for over 37 hours. The resulting effect of mechanically retarding run-off would be very much greater.

We have also to consider the possibilities of forest planting on eroding farm lands as a check to erosion. Experiments conducted by the Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station showed that six plots having a gradient of only 3.71 to the hundred handled under different conditions-not cultivated; plowed 4 inches; plowed 8 inches; planted in wheat annually; planted in corn annually; rotating corn, wheat, and clover-lost soil at an average rate of 23 tons per acre a year over a 6-year period, as compared with an average annual loss of about 562 pounds on a seventh plot under sod. The farm lands in the Mississippi Valley which should be planted to forests are waste lands and lands which can not be cultivated or retained in sod as pasture or meadow land without excessive erosion. Such lands are usually much steeper than those employed in the Missouri experiment. Gradients in excess of 5 per cent and up to 15 per cent or even 20 per cent are not uncommon. Under such conditions even heavier erosion might properly be expected. Successful forest planting would in 5 to 10 years reduce the average annual loss by erosion to a negligible factor. The present appropriation of $75,000 a year for aiding timber planting on farms, under the Clarke-McNary Act, can be credited with stimulating the planting on farms of 30,000 acres during 1926, which would not have been reforested without this contribution. If half of this expenditure and half the acreage is in the Mississippi Valley on sloping land similar to that in the Missouri soil-erosion experiment, this would mean eventually the withholding of about 345,000 tons of silt burden from our streams each year as a result of this 1926 expenditure, or slightly more than 9 tons of silt for each dollar originally expended. This would make the cost to the Federal Government of a single year's service less than 11 cents a ton. Spread over a period of 11 years it would be 1 cent per ton.

But it should not be forgotten that the appropriation for planting farm wood lots was not made primarily for flood-control purposes. It was made for farm-land betterment and to help safeguard the Nation's future timber supply. Therefore, in estimating the importance of this work it must be given credit for the soil fertility which is saved from being irrecoverably lost and for the value of the wood crops, as well as for the increase in the moisture-holding capacity of the land by leaf-litter accumulation, for the greater permeability of the soil, and for the prevention of siltage in streams.

From the standpoint of the public benefits realized for each dollar of Federal money expended on flood-prevention forests, the greatest returns may be expected from that part of the Federal funds authorized to be appropriated under section 4 of the Clarke-McNary law which is used in the stimulation of planting on eroding or other waste lands in private ownership. The owner furnishes the land, plants the trees, and continues to look after them entirely at his own expense, while the most the Federal Government and State do is to help furnish the planting stock and give advice. The landowner, of course, owns the timber when it grows up, but his timber protects the watershed of the great river just as effectively as though the public had paid the entire bill.

Along with this activity must go cooperation under section 5 of the Clarke-McNary law, which authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to cooperate with the States in assisting "the owners of farms in establishing, improving, and renewing wood lots, shelter belts, windbreaks, and other valuable forest growth and in growing and renewing useful timber crops." The close relationship between these two sections is shown by the fact that 23 States in the Mississippi drainage basin are now cooperating with the Federal Government under section 4 and 21 under section 5. Under section 4 the farmer is aided in securing suitable forest-planting stock at a cost which makes planting a practical business venture. Under section 5 he is given. expert advice in caring for his wood lots and other forest growth. Planting stock and tree seeds must be provided to restore forests on the 10,000 square miles of idle or waste lands in farm ownership in the Mississippi Basin. The farmers also need advice in managing the 105,000 square miles of farm woodlands which do not require planting but whose improvement will add greatly to the protective forest cover on the drainage.

It is desirable that additional funds be provided for Federal encouragement of forest planting on lands in private ownership in the Mississippi watershed as rapidly as the States are organized to extend this work and the owners can be induced to plant up their waste and idle land or eroding slopes. The increase in funds for giving advice on the care of farm wood lots should keep pace with the needs for such service.

This is undoubtedly the most practical method of solving the forest-watershed problem on lands best suited for forest purposes in farm wood lots and regions predominantly agricultural. The expenditures by the cooperating States in this work are already more than double that of the Federal Government, although the section 4 expenditures are usually returned to them in the form of receipts from sales of planting stock. The private cooperator is enabled through the operation of this law to secure his planting stock at actual cost of production. Without such a provision the costs of planting farm wood lots are usually prohibitive.

By this arrangement the expense to the private owner of forest planting in small areas is greatly reduced and progress in this improvement of stream-flow conditions correspondingly accelerated. It is estimated that there is a total of 22,400,000 acres of waste land in the Mississippi Basin requiring reforestation, of which 6,400,000 acres are in farm ownership. While much of this land is not eroding, none of it is in a satisfactory condition from a water-storage viewpoint. In the long run it is certain that the reforestation of this land would be a splendid economic investment from a national standpoint, particularly under a policy whereby the private owner bears four-fifths of the costs. On the basis of 1926 figures, the present arrangement works out as equivalent to a Federal subsidy of about $2.50 per acre for every acre planted. However, owing to the necessity of purchasing land and starting new nurseries, the present unit costs are high. With a larger acreage and well-established nurseries, equivalent service can be furnished in the future at lower cost.

All the waste or wasting land in the basin should be reforested within 20 or 25 years. It will not be done unless strong public assistance and backing are given. Under the existing conditions the Nation appears to face a $56,000,000 task if the Government must contribute $2.50 per acre for every acre needing reforestation. It is believed, however, that with experience in planting and in managing and marketing forest products, and with the realization of the resulting benefits, the private owners will take sufficient interest in putting their lands in condition to grow steadily in value without further effort except protection from fire, so that further planting subsidy will be unnecessary. The final cost to the Federal Government of securing the restoration of the 22,400,000 acres of waste lands to forests should not exceed a total of $5,000,000 or less than 25 cents per acre. Doubtless technical advice under section 5 of the Clarke-McNary law will always be necessary, since there is always a new generation of landowners growing up and since better methods of forest management will doubtless be worked out as time goes on.

PLOWLAND ALSO NEEDS ATTENTION

Extension activities in forest planting and forest management should be coordinated with extension activities in promoting better practices in farming slope lands, such as contour plowing, crop rotation, keeping steep lands in sod for hay or pasturage, and terracing according to the degree of slope and danger of washing. Wiser selection of lands for cultivation should be urged so that on lands agriculturally submarginal, and hence more productive for forest than farm crops, agriculture should not be attempted. County agents everywhere should advise against clearing slopes for cultivation unless the owner of the land is prepared to take whatever action may be required to prevent erosion and preserve the fertility of the soil. Owners should be encouraged to check further damage to their fields not only in order to prevent soil depletion but to secure the advantage of heavier crop production which follows effective terracing and the more productive use of rainfall.

There should be no conflict between the campaign for better farm practice and that for better forest practice on farm lands. The general aim should be to protect soil fertility from being destroyed by either unwise use or neglect. Unless the farmer is prepared to prevent the rich topsoil from washing away on sloping land, he should keep it in trees. However, the forest may properly be displaced whenever the productive value of the land for other purposes makes it more profitable to so use it, taking into account the expense of terracing or other soil conservation costs, if such protective work actually follows clearing.

There will always be some erosion from farm lands and some loss of soil fertility which is avoidable only at unreasonable cost. The practical application of the remedies herein proposed would not be a burden on agriculture. Upon the other hand, heavier crops under terracing and contour plowing and through prevention of land destruction and soil impoverishment by reforestation or sodding of slopes will offset the original cost of the necessary protective measures many times over. It is estimated that within 20 years it should be possible by an aggressive campaign of education and extension

to bring about a general application of the principles stated in the two preceding paragraphs, which in turn should reduce the total silt burden now coming from cultivated fields in the Mississippi Valley to not more than 25 per cent of its present volume. Present practices would have to be changed on a very great acreage of farm land in the aggregate although on a relatively small part of the total area under cultivation. Such an extension campaign seems to be justified by its direct economic advantages. At the same time, without additional costs it would make a very material contribution to flood prevention by reducing the burden of silt and by increasing the absorptive and storage capacity of lands now most subject to rapid run-off.

No recommendations are made as to legislation, organization, or appropriations for such a campaign of extension, since it does not come within the jurisdiction of the Forest Service. It has, however, appeared necessary to consider this feature of the flood and forest problem at some length in order to determine fairly the relative importance of forestry in conserving soils and moisture on farm lands. Such a campaign of rural education falls within the field of jurisdiction of the extension service of the Department of Agriculture.

THE PLACE OF PROTECTION FORESTS IN REGIONS PREDOMINANTLY
AGRICULTURAL

However, the fact must be reckoned with that there are some agricultural regions in which the problem can not be solved by the resident owners with assistance of the kind mentioned above. In some regions the broken topography and large extent of forest lands on slopes which are subject to erosion present a difficult problem, too difficult for satisfactory solution under diversified private ownership. In such places the only final answer seems to be public ownership and management in blocks of several thousand acres. Examples of this kind are not uncommon in the unglaciated region east of the Mississippi River from the mouth of the St. Croix River south to the vicinity of Beloit, Wis. Again, in the southern part of Illinois forest lands form a continuous belt stretching for many miles along the bluffs. Timbered bluffs are also not uncommon in southern Minnesota and in Iowa and Missouri. In the latter State, in regions largely devoted to agriculture, large blocks of true forest lands, rough and unsuited for cultivation, are not uncommon, particularly in the southern half of the State. Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee also furnish many examples of similar conditions outside the rougher mountainous region.

In all the States named, from Wisconsin to Tennessee, practically continuous areas of forest lands in rough country, in tracts ranging from 5,000 to 50,000 acres in extent, are not unusual. Such forest lands are not within the territory which the National Forest Reservation Commission has under existing policies considered for Federal purchases. However, these rough timbered regions appear admirably suited for public forests, probably under county, city, or State ownership, and the individual States appear well able financially to assume this burden with ultimate public profit. Such enterprises, well and profitably managed locally, should go far toward stimulating local 35085-H. Doc. 573, 70-2- 4

pride and self-reliance. This, in turn, would increase local initiative, self-confidence, and self-help, which it is in every way desirable to stimulate in preference to dependence upon Federal aid and leadership. In addition there are considerable areas of bottom lands now in forests which these States might well purchase and retain for timber production, recreation, and overflow purposes. At present high waters are allowed to spread out on such bottom lands, the current is slowed down, and the sediment settles and is kept out of the main channels. Under private ownership there is always danger of such land being diked or leveed, thereby accentuating both the local and general flood problem. The Federal Government is making a good start in purchasing bottom lands for wild-life refuge purposes along the middle reaches of the Mississippi River, as indicated in Figure 8. The purchase of critical areas of overflow lands on the tributary streams should not place an unreasonable burden on each State directly concerned.

NATIONAL FORESTS, NATIONAL PARKS, PUBLIC DOMAIN AND GAME REFUGE FORESTS

In the interest of simplicity it is desirable to deal with the national forests, national parks, and public domain and game refuge timbered lands as a separate problem from non-Federal forests. Table 6 shows by square miles the gross area of national forests within the Mississippi drainage basin by States and major basins.

TABLE 6.-Gross areas of national forest land, by basins

Alabama..

Square miles Square miles Square miles Square miles Square miles Square miles 57.3

57.3 2,449.6 6, 568. 1

498.6

16.7

35.3

464.2

14, 013. 6

323.6

107.0

107.0 1,890. 3

96.3

96.3

1, 155. 1

1,986. 6

On the Mississippi drainage there are also three large national parks having important bodies of timber-the Glacier, having an area of 160 square miles in Montana; the Rocky Mountain, 208 square miles in Colorado; and the Yellowstone, 2,864 square miles in Wyoming and Montana.

For the total area in the national forests and parks the general statement can be made that the continuance of existing policies will meet watershed protection requirements in a satisfactory degree.