FOREST NOTES 



223 



the latter have thrived there. Like 

 the eucalypts, too, they are not resist- 

 ant to frost. 



With so many species of acacias 

 there is naturally no form and no rate 

 of growth that is common to the whole 

 group. Some acacias are mere herba- 

 ceous plants; some are towering trees; 

 most are shrubs, and some, in fact, are 

 vines or climbers. The largest acacia 

 grows more than 160 feet high, with 

 a trunk clear of branches for 50 or 60 

 feet and a diameter of from 2 to 4 feet. 



That the Federal Government assume 

 jurisdiction over th^ Glacier National 

 Park is one of the recommendations 

 made by the superintendent of the 

 Glacier National Park, in his annual 

 report to Secretary Lane. Jurisdiction 

 over the park has been ceded by the 

 State of Montana but has never been 

 accepted by the United States, although 

 a bill providing for th acceptance of 

 the jurisdiction has passed the Senate 

 and is now pending in the House of 

 Representatives. "Until such juris- 

 diction is accepted by Congress," says 

 the Superintendent, "and laws made 

 governing the park reservation, serious 

 and endless confusion and annoyance 

 will be encountered in administering 

 the park rules and regulations." 



A large class of students taking work 

 in the forestry department at the 

 Michigan Agricultural College spent 

 their Christmas vacation in the lumber- 

 ing districts of West Virginia studying 

 the logging and milling operations of 

 hemlock and spruce. The students 

 were accompanied by Prof. F. H. San- 

 ford and Instructor L W. Gilson. 



The headquarters were made in 

 Davis and the operations on the hold- 

 ings of the Babcock Lumber and Boom 

 Company were studied very intensively. 

 The timber being cut was some fifteen 

 or eighteen miles from the mill and was 

 mostly hemlock with some spruce, 

 the remaining stand being maple, pop- 

 lar, beech, birch, and a few gums. The 

 company owns many thousand acres 

 and has about six years cut standing. 

 The stands average 25,000 to 30,000 

 board feet per acre and their mills 



(hardwood and softwood) handle 

 30,000 to 100,000 board feet per day 

 respectively. 



The students had a train at their 

 disposal and took trips to the woods 

 every day where power skidding, animal 

 skidding, felling, bucking, steam load- 

 ing, road building, and track laying 

 operations were studied. A ivdl week 

 was spent in the woods on the above- 

 mentioned operations and then a trip 

 was made over the whole area with the 

 supply train. This completed the 

 woods work. 



The second week was spent in the 

 mills. The work here comprised mill 

 tallying, cost of materials and cost per 

 thousand feet of the different opera- 

 tions, sawyers were checked, mills and 

 the yards were mapped, and the planing, 

 lath, and kindling mill operations were 

 carefully studied. After completing the 

 work the West Virginia Pulp and Paper 

 Mill was visited and a whole day was 

 spent studying the different operations 

 there. The last day was spent in the 

 Independent Tannery and some very 

 interesting data were obtained in regard 

 to the tannin content of different tree 

 barks and nuts. 



Other studies were planned but the 

 time allowed was up and the boys 

 packed up and left for Lansing, Michi- 

 gan, and reached there at the beginning 

 of the second week of school. 



Arrangements have just been com- 

 pleted between several Granges and 

 Schools in Rensselaer and Columbia 

 counties. New York, and The New York 

 State College of Forestry at Syracuse 

 University for a number of illustrated lec- 

 tures upon Forestry. Professor Russell 

 T. Gheen, a graduate of the Department 

 of Forestry of the Pennsylvania State 

 College and now instructor in the College 

 of Forestry, will speak before several 

 granges in New York during March. 

 Professor Gheen will have with him 

 several sets of attractive lantern slides 

 and will talk on such subjects as "The 

 Reforestation of the Idle Lands of New 

 York," "The Forests of New York Past 

 and Present," "The Improvement of the 

 Farm Woodlot" and "The UtiHzation of 

 Waste Portions of the Farm by the 

 Planting of Forest Trees." 



