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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



The tenth annual meeting of the Ohio 

 State Forestry Society was held in 

 Coltunbus, Ohio, recently. A niimber 

 of interesting addresses were given and 

 all present were enthusiastic and felt 

 they were doing a good work. The 

 officers of last year were reelected: 

 President, Wm. R. Lazenby, Columbus, 

 Vice President, W. J. Green, Wooster; 

 Secretary, J. J. Crumley, Wooster; 

 Treasurer, H. C. Rogers, Mechanics- 

 burg. 



Three thousand acres of public tim- 

 ber land valued at nearly $170,000 have 

 been recovered by the Department of 

 the Interior from those who had made 

 fraudulent entries thereon. A long 

 litigation was involved in this suit, 

 which ended in favor of the Government 

 in the Circuit Court of Appeals having 

 jurisdiction of the Lewiston, Idaho, 

 land district. This suit and six others 



which were won in Idaho, Montana, 

 and Oklahoma restored to the public 

 domain a total of over four thousand 

 acres. This culmination is in line with 

 the announced policy of Secretrry Lane, 

 which is that of no compromise for those 

 charged with public-land frauds. 



Other suits brought by the Depart- 

 ment of the Interior, in cooperation 

 with the Department of Justice, diuing 

 the month of December, 1913, were 

 recommended for timber depredations 

 on the public domain in Alabama, 

 Florida and Mississippi, involving dam- 

 ages to the extent of over $5,000. 



Two judgments in favor of the Gov- 

 ernment in timber depredation cases 

 were secured in Arkansas and Idaho. 

 Two suits were recommended to set 

 aside patents fraudeulntly acquired in 

 Mississippi and Washington. 



IMPORTANT FORESTRY LEGISLATION 



IN VIRGINIA 



VIRGINIANS are making a de- 

 termined effort to seciire the 

 passage of a bill looking toward 

 the better protection and de- 

 velopment of the forest interests of the 

 State and the American Forestry Asso- 

 ciation is endeavoring to arouse interest 

 throughout the State in the measure. 

 Probably the first State in the Union to 

 begin exploiting the forests and still 

 ranking sixth as a lumber producing 

 State, Virginia has never given any 

 special care to the conservation and 

 improvement of her forest resources. 

 The best available information shows 

 that fifteen million acres, or half of the 

 State, are in forest, and no other State 

 has more magnificent forests, yet few 

 States have done less to preserve this 

 great resoiirce, that stands next to 

 agriculture in value of products and 

 labor, in the State. 



The agricultural bill has provided in 

 the past that the Commissioner of 

 Agriculture shall investigate the forest 

 resoiirces of the State and recommend 



measures' for the' better development of 

 the forests. Under this act, $10,000 

 has been spent in the past two years in 

 fighting the chestnut blight, and two 

 bulletins in cooperation with the Forest 

 Service have recently been published 

 on the wood using industries of the 

 State, and on the management of short- 

 leaf pine. 



A bill to create the office of State 

 Forester imder the direction of the 

 State Geological Commission was re- 

 cently introduced into the Virginia 

 legislature by Hon. J. G. Blackburn 

 Smith, patron of the bill in the Senate. 

 The bill has received much favorable 

 comment from all parts of the State, 

 from timber owners, lumbermen and 

 allied interests. A public hearing was 

 held in the Hall of the House of Dele- 

 gates on Wednesday evening, February 

 25, before a joint session of the Com- 

 mittees on Mining and Agriculture of 

 both houses. The hearing was well 

 attended and much interest was shown. 

 Among those who spoke in favor of 



