istic of such diseases. I refer particularly to the disease known as "Mastitis," an inflammation of the udder accompanied by the presence of certain bacteria largely of the pus-forming type which are discharged with the milk in enormous numbers.

While possibly a smaller number of cows suffer from this disease than from tuberculosis (and herein probably lies the reason why this important source of infantile mortality has been overlooked), many cows not only suffer from repeated acute attacks in which far greater numbers of these bacteria are eliminated with the milk than tubercular germs in pulmonary tuberculosis or even tuberculosis of the udder, but not a few suffer from a more or less intractable, chronic type of this malady which renders them a never-failing fountain of mischief.

Probably the major portion of the grave intestinal disturbances of children are due directly or indirectly to the presence in milk of the bacteria characteristic of this disease and the ptomains, toxins and kindred substances which always accompany certain types of bacteria activity. And notably is this true of milk, for it is a most excellent example of what is known technically as a culture medium, meaning a substance favoring in a high degree bacteria development and growth. Some one says: "Yes, while this is all very bad we can protect ourselves by pasteurizing or sterilizing our milk." While either of these processes properly carried out will destroy the germs or for a few hours. prevent their activity they can not destroy the ptomains or like highly organized poisons already present, and as dangerous to human life as they are crafty in eluding chemical analysis.

Pasteurization, then, the proper execution of which requires much. skill and training, removes from contaminated milk but part of the danger while its palatability has been impaired and its nutritive properties somewhat altered, and we are obliged to drink the carcass of millions of bacteria still suspended in it. The tendency, moreover, of pasteurization is to put a premium upon dirt, which gains entrance to milk chiefly through careless methods in milking and caring for milk after it leaves the cow which carries with it a great multitude of bacteria and is the most important source of bacteria contamination of milk.

It has been computed that the people of the City of Berlin drink in one year many hundred pounds of cow-barn filth suspended in milk.

Milk so produced as to be free from dirt (unhappily not the milk of commerce) may be considered also comparatively free from bacterial growth.

Pure milk, fresh milk produced free from germ and dirt contamination in the stable and during handling and transportation, is the birthright of our children, is what we all desire and is the goal toward which the various boards of health, cattle inspection bureaus and

similar agencies of our commonwealths are striving for against heavy odds.

Two great obstacles stand in the path:

1. The difficulty, even under repeated inspection of premises on which milk is produced (inspection in some instances emanating from four or five separate sources) to induce the producer to adopt cleanly methods of production.

2. The increased cost to the consumer of milk so produced, a cost which the poor man can not and the well-to-do are disinclined to meet. For in many of our states it is doubtful if such milk as we would all like to use could be delivered at our doors, under the conditions of increased cost which prevails to-day, at 15 cents a quart and allow the farmer and the retailer each a reasonable profit thereon; for in farming, as in other lines of business, cost of production must include interest on investment, taxes, depreciation, labor, raw material (hay, grain and the like) insurance, and similar charges.

But what remedy may we hope to apply to extricate ourselves from the present dilemma? Rather than fritter away the money and energies of the various states in trying to maintain standards for fat and solids not fat which are not only impossible of attainment, but a constant menace to the farmer and a prolific source of irritation and discontent to all concerned in the milk industry. Let us now concentrate our efforts upon an endeavor to insure a pure milk supply for the children. This can best be done by taking the machinery of the state boards of health and kindred agencies now employed in cattle and milk inspections and direct their activities along the lines of a certified milk supply which has been applied with measurable success in connection with certain cities-the plan being to enlarge the scope of the work, as at present conducted, so as to include all the dairies supplying the commonwealth with milk whether situated within or without the state.

Certified milk means that a dairy has been properly inspected by trained and competent officials who give to the owner thereof a certificate allowing him to place upon the containers of milk leaving his farm (for a certain period until a subsequent inspection is made) a label indicating that the milk is absolutely clean and produced under sanitary conditions by a healthy herd.

This plan minimizes the technicalities and red tape ordinarily attending work of this nature and promises to vouchsafe to us and our children a milk supply in character consonant with the demands of the civilization in which we live, but it can not be secured unless a majority of us demand it and are willing to pay for the additional expense which it entails.

SHALL OUR FOREST WEALTH BE DESTROYED?

BY THOMAS ELMER WILL

SECRETARY OF THE AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION

IN

IN the sunny southland, stretching from Pennsylvania in the northeast to Alabama in the southwest, are the Southern Appalachian Mountains. These constitute not a single ridge or chain, but a zone or belt composed of numerous parallel ridges, as the Alleghenies, Blue Ridge, Black, Unakas, Smoky, etc. Connecting these ridges, often, are cross ridges equaling in cases and even exceeding the longitudinal ranges.

Surmounting these ranges at many points are lofty peaks. Of these the chief, Mt. Mitchell, is 6,711 feet high; 46 more, a mile or more apart, with 41 miles of divide, rise to an altitude of 6,000 feet, while 288 others, with 300 miles of divide, reach a height of 5,000 feet above the sea. Among these may be mentioned, in the Blue Ridge, Grandfather Mountain, 5,964 feet, Pinnacle, 5,693 feet and Standing Indian, 5,562 feet high. In the Smoky Mountains, Mount Guyot reaches a height of 6,636 feet, and Clingmans Dome, 6,619 feet.

"Between these groups of mountains and far below them, though still at an elevation of 2,000 feet or more above the sea, are the numerous narrow valleys of this region." Many of them are marked by great fertility and beauty.

Save on the highest peaks, or on the slopes where man has interfered, these mountains are clad with a magnificent growth of forest. Near the bases are found oaks, hickories, maples, chestnuts and tulip poplars, suggesting in size the great trees of the Pacific coast. Higher, one passes through forests of great hemlocks, chestnut oaks, beeches. and birches, and, still higher, through groves of spruce and balsam. Near the tops, the balsams become dwarfed and are succeeded, largely, by clusters of rhododendron and patches of grass fringed with flowers.

In this region, ranging from 60 inches in Georgia to 71 inches in North Carolina, occurs the heaviest annual rainfall in the United States, save on the Pacific coast. The water thus precipitated finds its way to the sea, east, west, southeast or southwest, through practically all the important rivers of the south. The Southern Appalachians thus constitute the watershed for, practically, the entire region below the Potomac and Ohio and east of the Mississippi. The descent of the water from the mountainsides is marked by some of the most beautiful cascades and waterfalls that ever gladdened human sight. Among

these may be named the Falls of Elk Creek, near Cranberry, N. C., the Upper Falls of the Whitewater River, the Lower Cullasaja Falls of Macon County, N. C., and the Toccoa Falls of Habersham County, Ga. Thus, with infinite variety of mountain and valley, forest and stream, cascade and waterfall, beetling crag, bold precipice and dizzy gorge, this entire region presents a scene of transcendent natural beauty and sublimity.

As a national park and recreation ground this area has no equal in the United States. Unlike the splendid but remote Yosemite, it is within twenty-four hours' ride of 60,000,000 people. With modern transportation facilities the cities of the east-New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington; of the south-Charleston, Atlanta, New Orleans, Nashville, Louisville; of the middle west-Cincinnati, Cleveland, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City and Chicagoare almost at its doors.