NEWS AND NOTES 



441 



ing of scrip for lands in the forest reserves 

 was made optional is looked upon by the 

 Tax Commission as conclusive that the grant 

 from the Government was absolute. This 

 theory is further strengthened by the deeding 

 of unsurveyed railroad lands within the for- 

 est reserves by the company to individuals. 

 The area of timber land involved, it is 

 said, will be enormous, and if the Tax Com- 

 mission is successful the result will be a big 

 addition to the assessed valuation of prop- 

 erty owned by railway companies in Wash- 

 ington. — Portland Orcgonian. 



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Government Encouraging Willow Culture 



The Government is right in the midst of 

 the harvest of a most unique crop at its 

 experimental farm near Arlington, just 

 across the Potomac from this city, where a 

 corps of laborers in charge of trained forest- 

 ers are preparing for the annual free distri- 

 bution of 100,000 basket willow cuttings. 



Uncle Sam is encouraging the growing of 

 high-grade willow rods in this country, and 

 in the five years since the establishment of 

 the holts at Arlington approximately a half 

 million select cuttings have been distributed 

 among farmers, with directions for planting 

 and preparing for market. Particular atten- 

 tion is given to selecting the varieties and 

 strains best suited to the soil where the plant- 

 ings will be made. 



Willow craft is an industry which is con- 

 stantly growing in importance in this coun- 

 try, yet the culture of basket willow in the 

 United States made very little progress until 

 five or six years ago. Even now, practi- 

 cally all of the best grades of basket willow 

 are imported from Europe, chiefly from 

 France. Experiments have shown that the 

 best grades of willow can be grown in this 

 country at a good profit. 



This year's harvest began early in March. 

 Four approved varieties are being sent out, 

 and only the best and most thrifty rods are 

 selected for distribution. The management 

 of the holts and work of free distribution of 

 cuttings is charged to the United States^ For- 

 est Service. Cuttings for experimental plant- 

 iuT and information on management of the 

 willow holts are furnished those who make 

 the request of the Forester at Washington. 



The Government recognizes the import- 

 ance of good cuttings, a point more com- 

 monly overlooked than the matter of culti- 

 vation. Only the best and most thrifty rods 

 are selected for each season's distribution. 



Cuttings of new and untried basket willows 

 were obtained from Europe a year ago and 

 planted in the Service's experimental ground. 



The Forest Service is receiving a con- 

 stantly increasing number of requests for 

 basket-willow cuttings. These requests come 

 from farmers all over the country, many of 

 them coming through members of Congress. 



The Service is endeavoring to stimulate the 

 basket-willow industry in this country by 

 distributing cuttings of the most approved 

 varieties of willow and the four varieties 

 tested for the last five years in the experi- 

 mental holt at Arlington, Va., can now be 

 confidently distributed. 



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Seasoning Eucalyptus Poles 



The Government has undertaken a study 

 to determine the proper method of season- 

 ing eucalyptus poles, particularly those cut 

 from trees which, owing to a large number 

 of knots, will not make clear lumber. Such 

 poles have shown a tendency to check and 

 warp after being cut, probably due to im- 

 proper methods of seasoning, which has been 

 a great obstacle to their more extensive 

 utilization. 



Experiments will be carried on by the 

 United States Forest Service to determine 

 the method of seasoning which will prevent 

 this checking and warping. One series will 

 be conducted on the Sutro Estate which is 

 in the fog belt, and another on the Pacific 

 Land Investment Company's holdings at 

 Newark, which is out of the fog belt. 



Fortv-eight growing trees, thirteen inches 

 in diameter and having a clear length of 

 thirty-four feet, will be selected and marked 

 by an officer of the Forest Service. These 

 two groups will be handled in the same way. 

 twelve trees of each group are to be girdled 

 and allowed to die and season standing, with 

 the bark on. and the other twelve will be 

 felled and laid on skids in the open and sea- 

 soned in this manner. Six of the twelve 

 felled trees of each group will be peeled, and 

 the other six, will be left with the bark on. 



The skids will be so constructed that the 

 poles will be at least one foot_ from the 

 ground to allow a free circulation of air. 

 The poles will be left on the skids for from 

 six to eight months, and observations taken 

 as to checking, warping, shrinkage, and loss 

 of weight. The same observaMons will be 

 obtained from the standing poles, with the 

 exception of the weight. 



When a sufficient period of seasonmg has 

 elapsed, determined by the weight of the 

 skidded poles, the standing poles will be cut 

 and their weights found. The condition of 

 these poles will then be compared with the 

 condition of the skidded polos, and a proper 

 method of seasoning outlined which will be 

 available to all interested in the use of eu- 

 calvptus timber. 



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Forest Resources of South America 



The forests of South America are princi- 

 pally tropical, but in the Andes Mountams 

 and the southern end of the continent are 

 found forests of a temperate and sub-arctic 



