446 



CONSERVATION 



Overton W. Price, associate forester, Gov- 

 ernor Swanson says : 



"I am deeply interested in encouraging the 

 preservation of the present forests and the 

 growth of new forests within this state. 

 From observation it seems to me that this 

 state, if properly and scientifically treated, 

 would very rapidly reforest itself, much to 

 the advantage of the entire state and to 

 the profit of the owners of the soil. I am 

 desirous of having a scientific examination 

 to ascertain the best means of accomplish- 

 ing this ; the best places where the new- 

 forests should be permitted to grow ; the 

 best means of preserving them and sugges- 

 tions as to general scientific treatment. I 

 believe incalculable good could be done in 

 this state if this subject was taken up in a 

 broad and scientific way." 



Arrangements have been made for coop- 

 eration between the state and the Forest 

 Service. The governor will incorporate in 

 his message to the general assembly sugges- 

 tions of legislation looking to the end whicli 

 he desires to see accomplished, and will 

 strongly urge that attention be given to the 

 matter by the lawmakers. 



♦^ Mr' «? 

 Afforestation by Newark 



With a view of protecting its water supply 

 and at the same time preserving its forests, 

 the city of Newark is now spending consid- 

 erable money and labor in forestry work at 

 the Newark watershed at Charlottesburg and 

 Oak Ridge. It may be fifty or sixty 3'ears 

 before the city reaps a harvest from this 

 sowing; that is, getting financial returns 

 for the lumber to be derived from the for- 

 ests, but in the meantime the miles of trees 

 will aid in the preservation of the water in 

 the watershed. 



Since the nursery work was begun the 

 assistant engineer and his force of men have 

 planted 40,000 young trees and thousands 

 more will be planted in the seed next fall. — 

 Pdtersoii Guardian. 



Jt' «i )^ 

 Forestry Work in Vermont 



Vermont is vigorously addressing herself 

 to the forest question. At its last session the 

 state legislature abolished the office of for- 

 estry commissioner and chose a board of 

 agriculture and forestry, empowering it to 

 secure a trained man to investigate condi- 

 tions, promote reforestation on a scientific 

 basis, and act as the state fire warden. The 

 board selected as its first state forester Mr. 

 A. F. Hawes. In 1903 Mr. Hawes was 

 graduated from the Yale Forestry School 

 and became state forester of Connecticut. 

 He studied the forestry situation in France 

 and Germany and, after some additional 

 service in Connecticut, accepted the offer 

 made him by Vermont. 



Mr. Hawes figures that the total annual 



product of the forests of the Green Moun- 

 tain state is worth $10,000,000, and that the 

 total area of forest and waste lands is 

 3,719,000 acres, about sixty-four per cent of 

 the total area of the state. Mr. Hawes says 

 also that since 1880 the total lumber cut of 

 the state has reached about 2,000,000,000 feet 

 and that this amount has been drawn largely 

 from the principal or capital, and not from 

 the annual growth of the forests. 



A campaign of education will be waged 

 throughout the state, partly through public 

 meetings held under the auspices of the 

 board and partly through the bulletins which 

 will be issued from time to time. By inter- 

 esting the teachers in forest problems, it is 

 hoped that they will talk up the subject in 

 their schools, awaken the interest of the 

 pupils therein, and cause them to become 

 thoroughly alive to the forestry probleins 

 of the sate. 



"One of the most important functions of 

 the office of state forester," says Mr. Hawes, 

 "is that of fire warden. The fire warden in 

 each town is the local warden, and they are 

 all under the direction of the state forester, 

 who, with two assistants, will next summer 

 make a thorough investigation throughout 

 Vermont as to forest fires, causes, amount 

 of damage, and means of protection. 



"The state forester will cooperate with 

 lumbermen and farmers desiring to improve 

 iheir lands and prevent them from going to 

 waste. * * * The best farmers, who are 

 continually bringing up the productive ca- 

 pacity of their fields, have entirely over- 

 looked the fact that their wood lots are 

 producing only a small portion of the income 

 which they could produce." 



>« «r' )^ 



A Chair of Silviculture at Yale 



The Yale Forest School in particular, and 

 the cause of conservation in general, are to 

 lie congratulated upon the gift of $100,000 by 

 Mrs. Morris K. Jesup for the establishment 

 in that institution of a chair of silviculture, 

 to be known as the Morris K. Jesup Pro- 

 fessorship of Silviculture. 



Because of the present unfortunate lack of 

 authoritative, scientific information in regard 

 to the reproduction, either natural or arti- 

 ficial, of American forests, of their growth, 

 and of the best time and methods of cutting 

 them, such an endowment as this by Mrs. 

 Jesup will aid materially toward actual con- 

 servation of our wooded areas and the re- 

 foresting of those already laid waste. 



>^ «r' «? 



Annual Meeting of Connecticut Forestry 

 Association 



The annual meeting of the Connecticut 

 ['orestry Association was held in May in 

 West Hartford, with about fifty of the lead- 

 ing forestry men of the state in attendance. 

 At the business meeting preceding the ad- 



