XEWS AND NOTES 



313 



Government Helps Grazing 



Mexico's Supply of Longleaf Pine 



The beneficial results of regulated grazing 

 were shown in a decided betterment of much 

 of the National Forest range, during the fis- 

 cal year 1908. At the same time investiga- 

 tions in range improvements through reseed- 

 ing, new methods of handling stock, the 

 eradication of poisonous plants, and the de- 

 struction of prairie dogs brought important 

 progress toward still better future use of 

 the forests by stockmen. 



The development of watering places is an- 

 other means that is being pursued to the 

 same end, while the killing of predatory wild 

 animals by United States Forest Service 

 hunters saved the stockmen losses probably 

 greater than the entire amount paid in graz- 

 ing fees. This amount was over $960,000. 

 Through the enforcement of quarantine 

 regulations and the distribution of blackleg 

 vaccine other losses from disease were pre- 

 vented. 



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South Dakota Preserves Wood 



During the past summer the Forest Service 

 installed an experimental wood-preserving 

 plant at Englewood, S. Dak., in the Black 

 Hills National Forest. The first treatments 

 were made in August, but regular work did 

 not begin until the middle of September. The 

 plant has a twent3'-four-hour capacity of 

 9,000 feet of timber B. M., and most of the 

 treatments have been carried on in coopera- 

 tion with the Homestake Mining Company. 



The company now considers that the prac- 

 ticability of the process and of the type of 

 plant have been demonstrated, and has ex- 

 pressed a wish to take over the plant and 

 operate it independently on a commercial 

 basis. Arrangements have accordingly been 

 made to turn over the plant to the Home- 

 stake Company. An expert in wood 

 preservation will be detailed to supervise the 

 operation of the plant for several months, in 

 order to complete the working out of the 

 best details of the process and to assist the 

 cooperating company in training its own em- 

 ployees to continue the work independently. 



The objects of the Forest Service in estab- 

 lishing treating plants on the National For- 

 ests are two-fold — to investigate the cheapest 

 and most efficient preservatives, processes and 

 types of plants for the treatment of timber 

 on the National Forests, and to encourage 

 a more conservative use of timber. by pre- 

 servative methods. The arrangements which 

 have been made with the Homestake Min- 

 ing Company, it is believed, will insure the 

 most satisfactory attainment of both of these 

 objects. Other companies in the same region 

 are strongly considering the establishment of 

 similar plants for their own purposes. 

 6 



At: aggregate area of 6,000,000 to 

 7,000,000 acres of longleaf pine, in every way 

 suited to turpentining, briefly indicates the 

 extent of the only partially developed naval 

 stores resources of Mexico. 



A peculiar and interesting feature of the 

 Mexican turpentine belt is that the turpen- 

 tine producing trees are found only in the 

 mountains at high altitudes, a condition 

 directly reverse to that existing in the United 

 States, where trees at an altitude of 2,000 

 feet are unproductive so far as turpentine 

 is concerned. 



Carey B. Townsend, of New Orleans, who 

 has spent some time investigating naval 

 stores conditions in Mexico, has given an 

 interesting account of his observations. 

 Speaking of the characteristics of the Mexi- 

 can tree, he says : 



"The Mexican turpentine pines present a 

 -dififerent appearance from our trees in the 

 United States. The bark is thicker, nature 

 providing this as a protection against the 

 cool nights of the high altitudes. The need- 

 les, too, are shorter and coarser than those 

 of our southern pines. The appearance of 

 the Mexican pines differs materially in the 

 altitude in which they are found, the trees 

 at 8,000 to 9,000 feet presenting a sharp con- 

 trast to those at 5,000 or 6,000 feet. A close 

 investigation with proper tests convinced me 

 that there is no difference in the yield or 

 quality of the gum. 



"Turpentine runs freely in Mexico when 

 the temperature is sixty degrees or above. 

 W'hile there is little or no flow at night, the 

 first rays of the morning sun striking the 

 trees start the gum running freely and this 

 only lets up when darkness comes. I have 

 never seen better running pines in my entire 

 observation, which has extended from Cape 

 Fear to the Sabine River. Owing to the 

 cool nights it is proper to estimate the yield 

 of the Mexican pines at twenty-five per cent, 

 less than the best output of our southern 

 pines. 



"The atmosphere evidently affects the 

 quality of the crude gum, as I noticed that 

 the rosin produced from the old and high 

 faces was of an unusually good quality, 

 grading form "F' to "M," instead of "D" 

 to "G." as in the United States. As to the 

 relative yield of turpentine from a given 

 quantity of crude, it is about the same in 

 Mexico as in the United States." 



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Why Wood Decays 



Piles driven by the hut dwellers of the 

 Baltic centuries ago are as sound to-day as 

 when first placed. The wooden coffins in 

 whieh the Egyptians buried their dead are 



