NEWS AND NOTES 



505 



The Pennsylvania Railroad and Reforestation 



The forester of the Pennsylvania Rail- 

 road has issued his report for the year 1910, 

 and it shows that since the company under- 

 took forestry work on a comprehensive 

 scale, 4,000,000 trees have been set out. Last 

 year 617,338 trees were set in permanent 

 locations on tracts of land adjacent to the 

 company's right of way. 



The forestry operations of the company 

 extend to all points on the lines east of 

 Pittsburg and Erie. During last year 650 

 acres of idle land were set out in hard- 

 wood and evergreen seedling trees sup- 

 plied by the company's own nursery at 

 Morrisville, Pa. There were 200,000 trees 

 planted on several of the company's prop- 

 erties at Altoona, 49,189 in the vicinity 

 of Mount Union, 93,700 near Martic Forge, 

 65,500 at Newton Hamilton, 62,249 at 

 Petersburg, 36,100 near Middletown. 12,000 

 at Vineyard, 10,000 at Ryde. 27,750 at Ram- 

 bo, 5,000 at Conewago, 3,500 at Kinzer, 

 17,250 at New Brunswick, N. J., and 25 100 

 at Parkton, Md, 



There were 3214 acres of land at Morrls- 

 Tille. Pa., devoted to nursery purposes, 

 which afford a capacity of one million 

 trees per year. To replace the seedling 

 trees transferred last year to their perma- 

 nent locations required the planting of 269 

 bushels of acorns and 116 pounds of seeds 

 from coniferous trees. The total output of 

 the company's nursery during the year was 

 766,924 trees. The stock on hand at the 

 nursery at the close of the year was nearly 

 one and one-half million forest trees, vary- 

 ing in age from eight months to four years, 

 and 137,200 ornamental plants. 



With a view to beautifying the lawns 

 around stations and unoccupied places 

 along the roadway much attention has been 

 paid to the growing of ornamental plants 

 and trees at the company's nursery. To 

 save much of the time required to grow 

 these from seed, there were imported from 

 Prance during the year 41,696 deciduous 

 ornamental plants, 5,480 coniferous orna- 

 mental trees and 107,935 coniferous forest 

 seedlings. These were placed in beds at 

 the nursery and will be ready for trans- 

 planting this year. 



In addition to growing ornamental shrub- 

 bery and trees with a view to future re- 

 quirements for ties and lumber, the Penn- 

 sylvania has established two large tie and 

 timber treating plants, both using the pres- 

 sure treatment, one at Mt. Union and the 

 other at Greenwich Point, Philadelphia. 

 These plants have a combined capacity per 

 year of one and one-half million ties or 

 their equivalent. The Mt. Union plant was 

 in operation the entire year, while the one 

 at Greenwich Point was placed in service 

 July 1. In 1910 there were treated 671,369 



ties, as well as four and one-half million 

 feet of lumber and switch timbers, 5,432 

 fence posts, 10,592 cross-arms, 55,212 lineal 

 feet of poles, and 90,306 paving blocks. To 

 do this required 2,866,513 gallons of creo- 

 sote, all of which was imported from 

 Europe. 



Old-Time Forest Waste 



A remarkably shrewd forecast of the 

 course of events In the United States for 

 more than a century is to be found in the 

 notes of the German traveler Johann David 

 Schoepf, who visited the United States in 

 1783-1784, beginning his travels, indeed, be- 

 fore peace with England was ratified 

 Schoepf was a highly intelligent and well- 

 educated man. with a sound scientific equip- 

 ment, who held many posts of public trust 

 and at his death in ISOO he was president 

 of the United Medical College of Ansbach 

 and Bayreuth. Perhaps none of the dis- 

 tinguished Europeans who traveled In the 

 United States in those first years was bet- 

 ter equipped to form an intelligent opinion 

 and the book which he published upon his 

 return is of uncommon Interest and value. 

 Probably few Americans have ever seen It 

 and Willis J. Campbell of Philadelphia 

 has done a useful service by publishing it in 

 an English translation by Alfred J. Morri- 

 son. 



Schoepf was a trained student of for- 

 estry, and he was shocked at the waste of 

 valuable timber in America: "Not the 

 least economy la observed with regard to 

 forests." The owners of foundries, which 

 then burned wood, usually held great tracts 

 of timber, which was cut without any sys- 

 tem or order. The Union, a high furnace in 

 onTr,/^''^®^' exhausted a forest of nearly 

 20,000 acres In about twelve to fifteen years 

 and the works had to be abandoned for lack 

 of wood: "If It does not fortunately hap- 

 pen that rich coal mines are discovered 

 enabling such works to be carried on, as in 

 England, with coal. It will go 111 with them 

 later on. Wherever he went, his eyes 

 were on the forests; as he says: "What I 

 saw every day and in the greatest number 

 was trees." But while most Americans of 

 that day were convinced of the inexhausti- 

 bility of the natural resources of the coun- 

 try, Schoepf. with the longer views which 

 his scientific education gave him, looked 

 less at the total mass than at the rate of 

 waste. The destructiveness and Improvi- 

 dence of the Americans appalled him yet 

 he was quite able to comprehend it and ex- 

 plain It to his European readers— his book 

 Indeed, is admirably just and friendly in 

 tone, resembling Humboldt's books in this 

 respect though he has not Humboldt's fin- 

 ished style. 



