The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 25, 1895, Page 37

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 25, 1895. 37 How To Preserve The Great Forests of California. Their Value. Written for “The Cail’” | | By Henry W. Kruckeberg, Professor Runnebeaum, the eminent for- ester of Berlin who recenily made a tour of observation on this coast, is quoted as predicting the end of American forests in the near future unlk protected from the :u:‘h‘ess advance of the ax and dangers of fire. While the enlightened nations of | Europe endeavoring to protect and en- | }nr;e their forest areas, it seems to be the ! inberent policy of the American Nation to y the virgin forestin its greed *to get all'there isin it.” “If nothing is done by your Government,” said the professor, | generation may live to see the day that lumber is shipped from Germany to Puget Sound.” Starthing as the statement may appear to the ordinary reader, the student of forestry conditions in this country realizes | that it s not an impos! ty. A careful | survey of all the facts bearing on the pres- | ent reckless destrudion of our arboreal | wealth reveals a’ condition of things that | is appalling. Reliable data concerning the annual consumption of lumber in this country are not available except in general terms. In round figures i put at from 22,000,000,000 to 24,000,000,000 feet, or about 350 feet per capita. | The rapid disappearance of the timber is forcibly shown by the fact that in Michi- £an in 1887, 217,104,985 feet of white pine | was cut, as against 505,134,656 feet in 1893—a decrease of standing white pine trees of 80 per cent. The same relative de- | crease holds good of the finer soft woods | in California; of the firs and sprucesin Oregon and Washington; and in fact of the visible supply of merchantable timher generally. The annual cut of lumberis | put at a money value of over $1,000,000,000, | exceeding the total vilues oi the leading | agricultural staples of the country. At the present rate of destruction, in less than fifty years this country—and that includes California—will bave to adopt scientific forestry methods in order to supply its needs of forest products. But the commercial value of forests and their products is only a forestry question, and to of the most importance. i conditions of sand cl of ail the ates in Uncle S8am’s in, is one of horticulture and agricul- Here the kingly orange and the aking prune in yielding owers. The three great sub- of our lands are desert or open lands, brush lands and for nds. All toid, the State comp: 99,827,000 acres. Of this number possibly 13,000,000, or about 1 per cent, are more or less | improved; per cent may be classed as | brush. forest and open lands. More ac- curately stated, 18 per cent is true forest land, 26 per cent brush and 43 per cent oper country., The forest and brush land equals the desert or open land. In other | lands may be classified as | iumid and arid. The first in- ts comprising the | the second those | s > protitably grown tificial application of water le the third comprises the areas where irrigation is uce~ssful practice of horti- iture. The timber belt ally acts as a store- : for the precious waters which are te the lower lands aligning it dur- the Jong and dry summers. Hence we see that the conservation of f California is more essential e progress than in any of " the of the Rocky Mountains. For it goes without saying that horticulture is our basic industry, which necessarily de- pends for its greatest perfection upon the artiticial apphcation of water to the soil. | To insure an even and abundant supply of water for our orchards and vineyards from | the mountain streams fed by melting | snows demands the protection and main- tenance of the forest covering along our mountain ranges. The conservation of the California forests | thus presents economic considerationsthat | do not so foreibly apply tc prevailing con- ditious in a huwmid region. The carpet of annuals, perennials and shrubs with which she covers her forest areas build up a soil and environment pe- culiarly adapted to the production of for- est growth. 5 Another reason for forest conservation has to do with climate and our attractions to people from all parts of the world. Cali- fornia ie essentially a country for tourists and health and pleasure seekers. Beyond their value for lumber and as conservers of our water sources, the forests of California have a purely commercial valus as attractions to the strangers always within our gates. Possibly an idea of what this horde of pleasure and health seekers means to the country in cold American dollars may be learned from the iact that ho less than some 10,000 strangers are now In and about Los Angeles, who to her futt States east ! hi spend on an average $30,000 per day, | or say $600,000 per month. A good percent- age of this finds its way to the mountain resorts, because trees ‘do attract people. To Cdlifornians forests have this additiona! interest which must not” be overlooked in estimating their value to the State. Before suggesting ways and means for forest protection, a brief paragraph must be .devoted to the subject of fire. Pri- marily the disappearance of large num- bers of our forest trees: is due to the ax of the lumberman, but in its wake has been the ever present danger of fire. Under the present system—or rather lack of sys- tem—no mill owner or timber cutter buras W Chips, bits of bark, limbs and twigsare aliowed to dry and become the nucleus of a forest fire that shall be more destruciive in its course than saw orax. | It has been said that every fire among the Sierra pines, every wasteful logging camp n the redwoods is like ruining miilions of grape vines and millions of fruir trees. No one single agency has been so destructive of forest values and forest growth ascon- | flagrations, In 1880 the forest fires swent over 10,274,089 acres in the United States, causing a loss of $25,462,250. That these oceur to a greater or less extent annually | for the reason that the people are as yet indifferent to forest protection, and fail to | demand suflicient means to prevent them, is admitted by all familiar with the sub- ject. The damages from this source to California is very pronounced during the dry summer months, and many acres have been so destroyed. The foregoing reasons for forest con- servation are recognized by all thinking people—nevertheless the student of the forestry problem must admit that the question 1s a knotty one. It will do mo good to style the lumberman a “rnthless” destroyer of our fore ; neither will it avail to compile sta s on the wanton waste of our arboreal wealth. The lumber | business is not conducted on sentimental lines any more than any otber class of business, Indeed, it is one of the most in- tense and’ pusbing lines of activity, com- manding the brain, brawn and bank of the restiess American. The lumberman is as much the result of American condi- tions as is the wheat-grower, the cotton- planter or the cattleman. A rich and virgin soil to be had ata nominal price from the Government has made it possible for the American wheat-grower to produce that staple crop at a price to compete with the world. Had it been necessary to keep up the fertility of his soil in place of mov. ing cnto new land as hausted, this could not have been done. e. i The same holds good of the cotton-planter The re- bas and the Western cattle industry It has been that the ‘“‘go West”’ ide; become almost synomynous with soil hanstion as population advanced te where the white foam of the Pacific fringesthe shore line of the Golden State. The same cond ition is noticeable in the approaching sappearance of our best forest areas. he lumber: and his methods are but an integral part of the material development of materiai America. As an individual be cannot afford to eather the debris of his logging camp and burn it—it would entail an expense that when added to b of cost put him out of competition with his neighb Were he te observe the methods of scien- tific forestry, they would only add to his present expense—since he ngures on only one crop of timber from his land—which in turn would necrssitate an increase of price to the consumers of his product. In the new West and in California these are largely represented by the new settiersand farmers. Thus in our present condition cheap iumber has had a saiutary influence in building up the State, it is ques- tionable if this transitory eain will ever offset the losses of the future resuliting from the present m:thods of treating the forests. The fact that nearly all of the forest iands are now in the hands ot pri- vate owners makes the operation of a forestry system still more difficult. In some of the New England States it is doubtful if the Government now owns a single forest acre. In others the holdings areso small and often scattered that a general forestry system is of doubtful ex- pediency unless it be drastic legisiation com pelling private ownership to harvest a wood crop under forestry supervision. Buch an invasion of private rights would lead to some interesting points of law. Asin the case of its agricultural lands, it has been the policy of this Government to dispose of its forest lands to the people at a nominal price. As population in- creased these naturally increased in value, and in many caces in the hands of shrewd operators became the nucleus of giant for- tunes. Obviously the time to have estab- lished a comprehensive National forestry system, that should maintain the Amer- ican forests, was before they had so largely disapoeared. To lock the stable door after the horse has been stolen is hardly wise statesmanship. Many. of the States still own school lands, swamp lands, indetanity lands and other lands which the General Govern- ment has given them or which they have owned otherwise, but which have never yielded an income except by their sale. In cases where these lands sustain a forest growth they might be reserved from sale and submitted to forestry regulations. This would insure at least a partial con- servation of our foresi areas. In States where large areas have been denuded the his became ex- | acres of forest lands have been set aside. The areas so set aside in California are as follows: San Gabriel timber-land reserve in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, containing 555,520 acres; Sierra forest in Mono, Mariposa, Fresno, Tulare, Inyo and Kern counties 4,096,000, acres; San Bernardino forest reserve, 737,280 acres; Trebuca Canyon forest reserve in Orange County, 49,920 acres. To these should be added the Yosemite (State prop- erty) National Park 960,000 acres and Se- quoia National Park 100,000 acres, making a grand total of 6,498,720 acres. Of the above all but the Yosemite arz under Fed- eral control. Primarily the forest reser- vations are to insure favorable water con- ditions to those regions depending on jrri- gation. To insure their protection ffom unlawful timber cutting, wood poachers, sheep and cattle, and from fire, it has been advocated to turn their care over to the | army. Thisin turn has suggested a de- partment of forestry in the National Mil- itary School at West Point to teach the science of forestry, and to assign to those taking the course the care and pretection of these National parks and forest reserva- tions. This pla; Professor 8. 8. rgent of Harvard Univer- sity, and the editor of Garden and Forest. It has met with cordial support from all quarters. In his last report Secretary of the Interior Hoke Smith calls attention to the fact that the 17,006,000 acres now in- cluded in forest reserves practically have no care. Thereare but thirty special agents is strongly advocated by | The Science of Viticulture and Olive Culture In California. | Written for “The Call” By Arthur P, Hayne. The capital invested in this State in viti- culture and olive culture amounts {o over $25020,000, being distributed approxi- mately as follows: Viticulture, $20,000,000, | and olive culture somewhat over $5,000,000. | | This is a very conservative estimate, and | does not take into account the very young olive orchards that’ are being rapidly set out in all parts of the State. The rapid development of these two in- dustries in a comparatively short time is worthy of noté, showing as it does the wonderful inteliigence and enterprise of | the peopie. In other countries it took | centuries of experiment and flooas of bad wine before any real progress was made. I haphazard fermentation, waslittle thought of. To-day it 1s the keystone of good vini- fication. There wasa class of men who thought that because the best wine of the world had been made in the Medoc, Burguvdy, on the Rhine, etc., . the method there in vogue should be copied blindly here. It was to Bordeaux that they went for ideas. To-day it is chiefly from Algeria that scientific practicians araw their inspirations. The differences of soil and climate—especially the latter— between the Medoc and California were overlooked. Dry wines were attempted in countries that nature only intended for the production of sweet, heavy wines. Hot country varieties were planted in the coldest parts of the State, while Rhine va- rieties, accustomed to ice and snow, werc planted in the very hottest parts of the wine-producing regions. Because Bur- gunazes were fermented in open tanks, in a climate where during the vintage there is ice and snow on the gronnd, Burgundies were fermented in the same kind of tanks in a chmate where the outside tempera- ture is over 85 degrees Fahrenheit, That *‘vinegar-sour” wine was the result is not now surprising. Unsound wine was the rule. To keep this from going utteriy to pieces before it could be disposed of to the un- suspecting customer “chemieals” (really poisons) wereadded to the already unsound liquid. Al who spoke of avoiding the use of these antiseptics were laughed at. It will be remembered by those who are at SCENE IN THE BILTMORE FOREST, AFTER LUMBERING UNDER FOREST MANAGEMENT. [Drawn by a “Call’ artist from a photograph.] to protect the tin lic domain, examine s tigate frandulent land iitles. Here is an opportunity for the California repre- sentatives at W ington to do the cause of forestry, not only in the State but else- where, a real service in securing the enact- ment of wise legislation to introduce for- r upon the entire pub- amp lands and in- estry methods in the care and protection | of these reservations. Bat will they do it? Now that the Washinzton Government bas a dircct interest in the National parks and forest reservations in California the co-operation of State and Federal antiior- ity in an endeavor to secure a forestry tem that shall be of service is made more feasible. In a general way the State should deal in an educational way with | the introduction of desirable forest trees from other countries calculated to do well under the varying conditions prevailing here, while the National authority should be exercised in conserving and protecting the forest lands still in its possession. "he chief points in maintaining ¢ nia’s native forests and extending tree planting generally may be briefly sum- | marized as follows: First—The preserva- tion of our water sources in the coast range and the Bierras; second, the intro- duction of valuable hard woods; third, the growing of forests on alkaii soils not gen- erally useful for agriculture, and fourth, the maintenance of our coniferous forests. Our superb climates and soils make possi- ble the production of forests and planta- tions valuable for their medicinal proper- ties, essential oils, tannic acids, and in fact | a large percentage of the many articles used in the arts and sciences. The State enjoys two forestry stations, nne at Chico and one at Santa Monica, that are doinz a good work on the lines above indicated and will undoubtedly form the nucleus of California’s future forestry system. Many new varieties of forest trees are being experimented with and much of value to the tree-planter has al- ready been accomplished. These two sta- land could be bought by the Government for a nominal sum—in some cases by a re- mittance of taxes—and might be re- forested by the State to good advantage. In 1891 Congress passed a law empower- ing the President to reserve forest areas for permanent ownership by the Govern- ment. Under this law some 17,000,000 ARTHUR P. HAVYNE. . [Drown by a «Call” artizt from a photograph.] tions being in direct touch with the United States Experiment Station and the State University, form an interesting link be- tween Federal and State authority when scientific forestry sball became an estab- lished fact. In the way of private enterprises in forest-plenting and forest management mention must be made.of the Biltmore forest of George W. Vanderbilt, in North Caroline. The results so far attained (under much more adverse conditions than prevail in the wooded and brush lands of this State), after three years’ work, have been satisfactory as regards the forest itself and the returnsand ex- penses in money. Its area comprises 7282 acres, 3831 of which are wood land. The accompanying illustrations are-sug- gestive as giving an 1nsight to the ordi- nary reader asto what is meant by forest management and forest maintenance. There are already strong indications that the public conscience is being awakened on this impertant question, and that be- fore the close of the'nineteenth century we may witness the inauguration of a wise system of forestry in California, wherein the National and State interests shall be linked together,to the end that our forests shall be maintained and our arboreal wealth enhanced and enlarged in every way. Everyone that has read the #Heart of Mid Lothian” will remember the following sentence: ‘‘Jock, when ye hae nothing else to do ye may be aye sticking in a tree, it will be growing, Jock, when ye're sleeping.”’y Let us all empha- size the advice to Jock to ““be stickin’ in a tree,” for in California we do not have to wait, for posterity to reap a benefit there- from—our eucalyptus are giants when but 8 to 10 years old. g lifor- | { In this State we have had our experi- | mental period and our floods of wine of a | doubtful character, but we have attained comparative excellence in an incredibly short time. In all cases it is the art that precedes the science. Inthe case of itare this has | vroved to be true. Daring the infancy of | the indusiry it was th- hammer-and- | tongs, go-as-you-please rule that pre- ! vailed. There was a demand for wine, and wine was made regardless of quality in many cases by people who had not the ! slightest elementary knowledge. So iong | |asit was quantity regardless of quality | that was wanted all went well; but from | one cause or another quality took a more | important place, and quantity gradually | | was forced into & position somewhat near | | its proper one. Itis tobe noted with re- | gret that even now there is not sufficient | | premium offered for quality. This is| {one of the greatest drawbacks that the | | wine industry has to contend with. The | growing demand for better wine caused | science to be invoked. At first science, sneeringly calied book-learning by the self-styled “practical men,” could do but little, so firmly bad irrational practices | | fixed themselves in the minds of the peo- | | ple. The few intelligent winemakers who first realized the importance of improving made such progress by the application of | | scientitic methods that slowly the mass of | the plodders began to fall into line. | There was a hard strugzle between the so- called ‘“‘practical men” who had wade | wine in the good cld go-as-you-please way and those who advocated reform. Indeed, there is still a large number of the old- timers who insist that what was good | enough twenty-five vears ago is good i | enough to-day. Their voices are from time to time heard in the land lamenting | the ignorance of buyers who will not have | their wines. I suppose that it will take another quarter of a century to rid the State of this class. They are certainly doomed to be forced out of business, for so long as good, sound wine is to be had buy- ers will not give them piices that will en- able them to exist. Itis the old story of the survival of the fittest over again. To illustrate the progress made in wine- making let me call attention to the subject of fermentation. This was at first sup- posed to be a mysterious, spontaneous, un- controllable process—a sort of providential affair that could be regulated in no way whatever. Ideas on the subject were of the crudest sort. Disregarding the prac- tices of the brewers, who had been con- troiling, with more or less success, the fermentation of beers for centuries, the winemakers trusted to luck, and were not always lucky. To-day they know that fermentation is due to microscopic yeast plants, functioning according to general laws governing plant growth; that as we can control the growth and development or fractification of plants, just so can we regulate that of yeast. These yeasts have been studied and classified. There are probably as many varieties of microscopic yeasts as there are varieties of vines, if not more. Each hasitsspecial characteristics, and produces results that differ from those of other varieties as radically as the grape of a Zinfandel differs from that of a Muscat. Science has taught the winemaker to se- lect the best varieties of these yeasts and give them the conditions most suited for their maximum development and func- tioning. With the rational use of selected fermentis the Algerians have improved the quality of their wines from 5 to 50 per cent, as shown by the prices obtained on the market. In California this has been al- ready recognized by some of the most pro- gressive, who have obtained through the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of California various of the best selections made abroad. The reports thus received from those who have tried them are most encouraging. . Temperature, in the gooa old days of all familiar with the subject that at one time some years past physical metho.s were recommended to take the place of hemical methods in the preservation of wines. It was shown that all the ills that wine is heir to are caused by minute micro- orgaunisms; that in order to have a wine “keep’’ these micro-orggnisms must be gotten rid of, not merely paralyzed tem- porarily by some poison more or less dangerous to the human system. This dea was scouted, and he who proposed it was held up to the scorn of the public. Yet as the years passed it was found physi- cal methods were the only safe ones—safe as regards the keeping qualities of the wine as well as being safe for the con- sumer. ‘When it was found that by simpiy heat- ing wine to 60 degrees centizrade it was practically sterilized, and that no further changes for the worse could take place unless the whole was reinoculated with the disease germs, the problem of keeping wine from spoiling was solved. Still the self-styled *practical men” re. sisted; but to-day there is as much wine ‘‘pasteurized” in- a single year in a city like Cette or Bordeaux as the entire State of California produces, and moreover this pasteurized wine competes successfully in our own markets with the non-pasteurized product of this State. Appreciating this many of our best winemakers are now equipping their cellars with heating appa- ratus, so that we can uafely say that the reign of unsound wine is approaching an end., it was natural that at first little atten- tion should nave been paid to the scientific side of viticulture, yet from the first the State and the United States, throug . the College of Agriculture and the experiment station of the University of California, turned their attention to systematic scientific investigation. It is pleaging to note that the results of our experiments publisiied eight years ago (ridiculed by the practical men at the time) have been sub- sequently fully confirmed by the scientific institutions of the old world. From a small beginning, and in spite of bitter op- position, the university has built up a viti- cultural department that is unique in that it makes the State University the only institution of of learning in America pos- sessing such a department. Our results are accepted abroad, and what is more pleasing to contemplate, the vineyardists and wine-makers of the State have come to regard it as a sure guide on all problems of ‘a practical or scientific nature. Aside from this outside teaching, the university is fully equipped to do in the future as it has done in-the past, namely, to give instruction to students fitting tnem to occupy any sort of a posi- tion on a vineyard or in a wine cellar. The increased facilities consequent to the abolishing of the late Viticultural Com- mission gives us the finest viticultural library in America, and some splendid ap- paratus, thus bringing the department up to the standard of the finest institutions of the kind in the world. For labor-saving macbinery and meth- ods of culture and cellar equipment Cali- fornia easily passes the rest .of the world. This has been acknowledged by experts sent out by foreign. Governments for the purpose of investigation. There is, how- ever, in many cases, a lamentable failing as regards methods. While we, have littie to learn in the way of machinery and such like, we have a great deal to learn about the care and handling of wine, and in this, respect we are bebind the other wine-|* making countries of the world, though it is doubtful if any other country is sv gen- erally and rapidly improving and pro- gressing as we are. Perbaps one of the gravest faults isa want of care in attend- ing to the small dstails, such as cleanli- ness of vessels, ventilation, cellar manipu- | lation, etc. While these may seem to the go-abead American of little importance, | yet bacteriology has taught us that they are of the greatest value. With the genersl intelligence thus far manifested, the splendid equipments of our institutions, guided by such a dis- tinguished scientist as Prof. Hilgard, the future for the rapid spread of viticulture in California is assured, OLIVE CULTURE. From the time the first missionary fathers landed on this coast the olive has | found a more or less' prominent place in our orchards. To-day a very cons ive estimate places the vaiue of the olive or- chards at more than five millions of dol- lars. The rapid planting out of new orchards each year indicates that in a few years the value will not be five millions but twenty. It is to be noted that the in- vestigations made by the experiment station of the university have proved that, | other things being equal, the olive thrives better in California than in the old world fFom where we obtained it. This is shown not only by the more rapid and perfect development of the tree, but the heavier crops of olives that are larger and richerin oil. I bave noted that th normal development of an olive tree of fifteen years in this State was fully equal to that of a tree of forty-five years in the O!d World. The drupes are, variety for variety, of larger size here than in the country from which the variety in question was originally created. Moreover the European olive has more pit and less flesh than the California olive, while the flesh contains weight for weight more oil, which, when properly made from proper varieties grown on good soils, is, I think, of far superior quality to BEu- ropean ocils. Of course I mean when mutual adaptability of varieties and soils | is taken into proper account. People are fast becoming accustomed to the taste of nounshing ripe olives ana I am glad tonote that there is decided ten- dency to give up the use of that form of concentrated dyspepsia known as the green pickle olive for the most wholesome of all foods, the ripe pickled olive. As 1n the case of viticulture the first attempts at olive culture were more or less crude at- tempts on the part of unskilied men to | make oil or pickles by guesswork. There soon developed a class of men led by such eminent men as Elwood Cooper, who rap- idly raised the indusiry to 2 higher plane. While there is still a quantity of oil an- nually spoiled by careless handling of either the olives before the oil is made, or the oil after the pressing, yet on the whole we have every reason to be proud of the results cobtained. California oil has al- ready wrested gold medals from foreign nations and will continue to do so in a more striking way in the future. Investigations made at the university experiment station have shown that, as with wine, a proper appreciation of the laws governing the growth and develop- ment of micro-organisms is necessary in olive culture, either as regards oii-making or pickling. The reports published by the university on this subject are more com- plete and scientific than those found in any other language. They are certainly more modern. We are now growing in California over fifty of the finest vari- eties of olives the entire world could supply. As soon as these are properly adapted California will become the most important olive-growing country of the world, for our soil, climates and methods are vastly superior to those of the Ola World, and the great food value of the products of the oil will win for it an un-| limited market throughout America. Per- | haps the greatest lessons learned in the science of nandling the olive and its products have been from bacteriology. The whole may be summed up in toe sin- | gle word “cleantiness.” This has so many | bearings that have been revealed by science that it would take too much space to enter into details. Scientitic olive culture is cer- tainly more developed in California than abroad. Cinderellss of Odessa. There are in Odessa at the present time three young Russian ladies of great wealth who are engaged in the useiul calling of selling coals, washiny linen and serving on a farm, and the charbonniere, the washerwomen and the farm servant have received and divided among them during the last few Weeks 363 oifers of marriage. They have been called the Cinderellas of Ouessa, because their strange fate found them out in that town. ‘T think tiatvery few have sighed when fate at last has found them,” writ s Praed, and though these ladies have some cause to sigh, their trouble is a passing one. A wealthy Russian had lately died at Odessa, and Jeft them a fortune of many million rubles, but on condition that each | and all should take their turn at fifteen months’ servile labor in the conditions al- ready specified, “to the end that, having known the life of the poor, they- may rightly emorace the life of the rich.” They may, if they think well, afterward form a league of Leiresses, who chall follow the same course, to matriculate as miilion aires. An amusing feature is the noble self-renanciation of the 863 suitors, who, one and all, agree to overlook the fifteen months’ hard labor, in consideration of the sunny years whick they, the heiresses, will enjoy and share ever aiter. “Your experience,”’ writes one, *‘will be invalu- able to me. You will not only be my part- ner, but my charge d’affaires.” As a French minister once said, *‘Mes charges d’affaires sont charge de m’eviter les af- faires.”—Pall Mall Gazette. Scientific Experiments in the World of Agriculture— Forage Wanted. Written for ¢The Call’”” by Arthur J. Pillsbury. ' This old world of ours is shriveling. like a pickled peach. By virtue of what we are pleased to. call “‘extension of commerce,"” we are bringing all parts of the world into juxtaposition, and with tne result that competition between countries and peoples 1s being greatly intensified. Already the American farmer is the discontented vic- tim, not . primarily of the ‘“money power,” but of rapid transit, and yet the world, or great parts. of it, is apparently only upon the eve of itercommunication both speedy and cheap. Electrical transmission promises much. Eighteen hundred men are now at work on the Panama canal and 2000 more are ex- pected to fall to work upon it in the early part of the year. Tt will be compieted. The Nicaragua canal enterprise has gone quite teo far to permit of its being aban- doned and the early part of the century will see its construction accomplished. Russia is pushing a great railroad across Siberia and will bring it to an end at some port upon 2n open sea. The same power is soon to undertake the union of the Black Sea with the Baltic by 1000 miles of canal and canalized rivers. Chicago and the magnificent empire at its back is deter- mined to load ships of the first class upon the great American lakes and not unload them until they have reached their ports of destination in the uttermost parts of the earth, and Chicago will not rest until the feat has been accomplished. A desperate hunger for gold 1s pushing railroads into and will push them across the Dark Conti- nent. | Argentine and Brazil are opening up their vast interiors to settlement and development by FEuropean enterprise. Plucky little Japan, profiting by the lesson she learned forty-two years ago at the mouths of the guns of our Commodore M. C. Perry, and .inspired by a racial pride that will not die, has compelled great, hulking China to open up her vast and densely peopled realms to Western civili- zatvion. Eighteen thousand miles of rail- road already constructed in India are pumping the product of 250,000,000 toilers into the lap of the world, and the work of railroad construction in that country is only fairly begun. The great interior desert of Australia, like that of America, is vanishing before a rapidly advancing civilization, and now that tie energies of that Soutbern continent have been diverted from spending money to acquir- ing it, its contributions of foods and fibers to the world’s supply will be enormous. Argentine is one-third as large as the Unired States, India is balf the size, Aus- tralia falls but little short of being as large as our country, and Brazil quite equals it, and Siberia is a half larger, while the area of arable land in Africa is untoid. Ifthese peoples and countries were to be left to their own resources for development, we would have little to fear from their com- petition, but they are not to be. The most attractive fields for American and European enterprise during the next generation will be Asia and Africa, and the business in hand will be the organizing of their tireless bordes into effective in- dustrialism and their equipment with all the instruments of our industrial life; for the Orient, like the tropics, 1s to be de- veloped by native labor under the superin- tendence of Caucasian enterprise and executive ability, and thus organized and officered, the productive power of these 1ands and laborers is beyond comprehen- sion. ‘What does all this signify? That the American farmer, who, until recently, has been the granary of the world, is to come into relentless competition with the hahit- able earth. The American and European artisan will, in many ways, have to com- pete with Asiatic cheap labor, and must therefore have cheap bread. Itisidle to say that the power of these densely peo- pled countries to consume will keep pace with their power to produce, for do these people, when they come to our country, adopt our standard of living or maintain their own? The wheat farmerof the Pun- jaub has already demoralized the prices of American wheat in English markets, yet he cofitents himself with rice and pulses and seldom knows the taste of bread. The balance of trade is always in India’s favor, and under British superintendence her productive power has been tremendously augmented. Why will it not be so with China? Industrially the Mongols are not an inferigr people, for their dogged per- sistency counterbalances our greater virility, and if our workers cannot compete with them upon our own ground, how can they be successfuily competed with on their own ground ? The home market is unquestionably the more profitable market for the farmer, but it is not adequate to his requirements. The capacity of the people to consume does not require anything like the area of land already under cultivation in this country, and several generations will have passed away before a balance will be 7k /A ARTHUR J. PILLSBURY. PATRON OF [Drawn by a “Call" artist from a photograph.] ’I‘ULARB EXPERIMENTAL SECTION.