178 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Forest Fire-bugs Prosecuted 



Setting forest fires in Pennsylvania is no 

 longer the pleasant pastime it used to be. 

 Since the legislature of 1915 put teeth into 

 the forest fire law and provided for the 

 establishment of a bureau of forest protec- 

 tion within the Department of Forestry, 

 more prosecutions and investigations in 

 connection with forest fires have been 

 started than in all the previous years since 

 the creation of the Department. In all, thir- 

 ty-six cases were referred to the Attorney 

 General's Department by the Commissioner 

 of Forestry during the past year. Legal 

 action was authorized in nineteen of these 

 cases. Four convictions have been secured 

 to date, thirteen cases are still pending, and 

 there have been but two acquittals. In sev- 

 eral additional cases criminal action was 

 not directed by the Attorney General be- 

 cause of the extreme poverty of the defend- 

 ants and the absence of evidence of criminal 

 intent in setting forest fires. 



Red-rot in Arizona and New Mexico 



A recent survey of the forests in Arizona 

 and New Mexico, conducted by the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, indicates 

 that the existence of what is known as 

 Western red-rot causes a considerable 

 amount of loss to lumbermen in these states 

 each year. It is said that the percentage 

 of trees found to be infected with this dis- 

 ease varies. No external signs were found 

 which could be relied upon to inform the 

 observer whether or not a given tree was 

 attacked by the disease. It was found, how- 

 ever, that trees growing on very thin soils 

 on steep south or east slopes where growth 

 conditions are poor, appear to be more 

 likely to have the disease than pine situated 

 where growth conditions are good. 



Furthermore, it was ascertained that the 

 disease was much more prevalent among the 

 mature yellow pines than among the younger 

 trees or black jacks. Any system of cut- 

 ting, says the new publication, that will take 

 out most of the older trees (yellow pine) 

 and many of the larger black jacks, as well 

 as all suppressed trees, will do much to rid 

 the future forests of this serious heart-rot. 

 From this point of view, a short rotation is 

 better for the future healtli of the forest 

 than a longer one. 



Tree Service for Houston 

 The Public Parks Department of the City 

 of Houston, Texas, is rapidly awakening to 

 the need of more trees and of better tree 

 service for the city. The result is that many 

 trees are being planted, not only in the parks 

 but on the streets and boulevards. This 

 city recently planted one vista in the new 

 Hermann Park with a bordering of Bald 

 Cypress (Taxodium distirhum). The plant- 

 ing required 41. S V,:M Cypress, ranging in 



size from 5 to 16 feet and from one inch 

 to two and a half inch caliper. A planta- 

 tion of this kind of tree, even in the South, 

 is somewhat unusual. 



The Parks Department is now receiving 

 500 live oaks, 1 inch caliper, 5 to 7 feet, and 

 V/2 inch caliper, 7 to 9 feet, which are being 

 planted in a double tree line on the new 

 Main Boulevard along the Hermann Park 

 front. The Board of Park Commissioners 

 decreed tliat nothing but live oaks should 

 be used for the entire length of this boule- 

 vard, and this action has caused a greater 

 activity in the planting of trees on this 

 boulevard. 



During May, June and July, 1916, more 

 than 200 large oak trees were moved back, 

 to allow a widening of this boulevard and 

 up to the present time less than 5 per cent 

 of these trees have died, though they were 

 removed at an unseasonable time, and it is 

 considered somewhat remarkable that so 

 many of them have lived. 



The Public Parks Department of the city 

 has recently started a nursery, in which will 

 be grown all the trees, shrubs and plants 

 that will be used in all the parks in the city, 

 including the new Exposition grounds. A 

 city tree warden will be appointed this year 

 to care for all of the trees under the direc- 

 tion of Park Superintendent C. L. Brock, 

 and steps will immediately be taken to map 

 and inde.x every street in the city, showing 

 all trees. 



Forests as Playgrounds 



Devoting much space to the importance 

 of National Forests as playgrounds. The 

 Railroad Red Book for January has special 

 articles with several pictures by Smith 

 Riley, district forester, U. S. Forest Ser- 

 vice, W. B. Fraser, state game and fish 

 commissioner of Colorado, and T. J. 

 Ehrhart, state highway commissioner. In 

 the article on National Forest playgrounds 

 accessible by the Denver & Rio Grande 

 railroad, Mr. Riley writes: 



" The popularity of the National Forests 

 as summer playgrounds is increasing by 

 leaps and bounds each year. These vaca- 

 tion wonderlands were visited by over 

 2,000,000 people in 1916. Of this number 

 Colorado received 605,000 or 30 per cent 

 of the total."' 



Hunters Get 618 Bucks 



Six hundred and eighteen deer, 549 tur- 

 keys, 37 bears, 1084 coyotes, 117 wolves, and 

 48 mountain lions were killed by hunters in 

 the New Mexico National Forests during 

 the season just passed, according to the Dis- 

 trict Forester's annual report on game con- 

 ditions just submitted to the State Game 

 Warden. 



"The number of deer killed is 5 per cent 

 less than in 1915, 4 per cent less than in 

 1914, and 7 per cent less tlian in 1913," says 



District Forester Redington. " It is safe to 

 assume that the number of hunters has in- 

 creased. It would seem, therefore, that 

 these figures indicate a steady decrease in 

 the supply of deer. The number of turkeys 

 killed also shows a decrease as compared 

 with 1915. Some people still believe that 

 the game protectionists are alarmists, but 

 these figures speak for themselves, and to 

 the contrary. They emphasize the need for 

 game refuges, better laws, and above all 

 better law enforcement." 



The report shows that the number of pred- 

 atory animals killed has more than doubled 

 as compared with 1915. Forest officers 

 attribute this to the work of the Gov- 

 ernment trappers employed by the United 

 States Biological Survey, and regard it as 

 about the only encouraging feature of the 

 report. 



BOOK REVIEWS 



The latest publication of the Bureau of 

 Forestry of the Philippine Islands, Bulletin 

 14, entitled " Commercial Woods of the 

 Philippines : Their Preparation and Uses," 

 is just out. This is by far the most com- 

 prehensive work so far published on the 

 subject and, from the point of view of the 

 wood-user, also the most practical. The 

 book consists of five parts dealing with dif- 

 ferent phases of the subject. Part I is a 

 concise description of the forests and of 

 lumbering conditions in the Islands; Part 

 II, a discussion in popular language of the 

 physical and mechanical properties and the 

 structure of wood; Part HI, a very com- 

 prehensive discussion of uses, the different 

 purposes to which wood is put being ar- 

 ranged in alphabetical order, with frequent 

 cross-references; Part IV gives, also in the 

 least possible technical form, directions for 

 the identification of wood; and Part V, 

 which occupies more than half of the book, 

 gives detailed descriptions of about 360 

 Philippine woods, with notes on their me- 

 chanical properties and workability, their 

 distribution in the Islands, local names, 

 uses, supply and approximate prices. There 

 is also a general index, one of scientific 

 names and one of all the official, commercial 

 and local names. 



Lumberjack Bob, by Lewis H. Theiss. 

 W. A. Wilde Company, Boston, Massa- 

 chusetts. $1.25. 



This is a book which describes the experi- 

 ences and the adventures of a young lum- 

 1)erman and forester in the woods, and, with 

 a style of narrative which carries the reader 

 along in a manner which sustains the in- 

 terest throughout, manages to convey lesson 

 after lesson of the trees and the woods. 

 It is enticing to young people as well as 

 adults, and instructive to both. The author 

 is to be complimented upon his ability in 

 presenting so much valuable information in 

 so attractive a manner. 



