Items of Interest February 10, 1917 Issue

Items of Interest

One of the principla measures taken by the Japanese Government authorities for the improvement of the agricultural returns of Korea has been the work of afforestation. An extract from "Economic Chosen" says: "Those who have known Chosen as a treeless country will be pleasantly surprised to find that many of the hills and mountains once bare and barren now present a refreshing greenness. Since the establishment of the protectorate regime in 1906 much has been done for the conservation and extension of forests. Young trees have been planted on various hills and mountains at Government expense, while seedlings have been supplied gratis to people engaged in afforestation. For these purposes nurseries have been established in order to meet the increased demand for seedlings. Provisions have also been made in the forestry law by which Government forest lands, lying idle, may be rented or sold at a nominal price on condition that they are turned into forests. Every possible opportunity is taken by the Government to arouse the interest of the people in afforestation and a liking for trees, as in this the native people seem to be singularly lacking. The full number of trees planted in the spring of 1914 by the Government and people is estimated at 40,200,000."

The first large scheme for water conservation purposes in New South Wales is now nearing completion. Burrinjuck Dam, as it is named, is being placed in a narrow rocky gorge between hills 2000 feet high. It will hold up the Murrumbidgee River for forty-one miles and the Goodradigbee and Yass Rivers for fifteen and twenty-five miles, respectively. All these rivers were subject to floods and running dry previously. The catchment area is 5000 square miles in extent. Some of the peaks in the mountain ranges are 5000 feet high and are covered with snow in winter. The average rainfall is sixty to seventy inches. The dam will be 240 feet high and the length across at the crest 780 feet. It will be possible to store 33,380,000,000 gallons of water. It is already being used to irrigate an area 200 miles away.

The Forest Service finds that the main problem of the lumber industry has grown out of the hundreds of billions of feet of timber acquired at a low cost a few years ago from the public domain. A national mistake was made in such rapid and wholesale passing of title to timberlands in the public domain, beyond all immediate needs for local or industrial development. Private ownership, hard pressed to carry these staggering quantities of timber during the long periods which must necessarily elapse before they can be converted into lumber, is now sacrificing them in part by wasteful use because of its own financial exigencies. The report urges that this situation be faced frankly and the obvious remedy applied, that of taking back part of the western timberlands.

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