Transcription:
ARNOLD ARBORETUM, HARVARD UNIOVERSITY, Jamaica Plain, Plain, Mass,January 2, 1899 My dear Muir: I am mailing you,at
the request of General Abbot,a copy of The Engineering Magazine,published in England,which contains an article on Pacific
coast trees, etc.To my mind it has no value, but I am only too glad to comply with any request or suggestion of the General's.
I suppose you have read Eliot1's article In the last Atlantic. You see that even he gives some countenance to the pasturage
of sheep,probably by the talk of Bliss's agent.I think it would be a pretty good Idea if you would write him and call him
down on this point.I thought of doing it but a letter from you would have more influence. In the first place,as you know,only
a small part of Washington and Oregon enjoy a humid climate,while the principal sheep-herding is confined to the drier portions
of these states, like the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains and the Blue Mountains.The greatest injury I have seen from
pasturage I think was on the north side of Mt.Hood. And then the more humid the region the more temptation there is to shepherds
to set fires to clear off the undergrowth which interferes with the grasses.I am glad we are rid of Bliss with his dry goods'
methods, but I fear the new man is no better and that there is nothing02524