852 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



gests a story in wagon improvement since then. It was 

 made in sections, each section being fastened to the 

 felloes with iron bolts, the heads of the bolts protrudmg 

 through the tire, like cogs on a wheel, but spaced farther 

 apart. In wagons of that kind the felloes were made 

 thick and strong and they supported the tire; but the 

 modern tire supports the felloe. The change in con- 

 struction shows a great improvement in wagon wheel 

 building in one hundred and fifty years. 



The most famous wagon ever made in the United 

 States or in the world was the Conestoga. It had its 

 name from the name of the town in Pennsylvania where 

 the earliest were manufactured about the time of the 

 Revolution. The name appears to have been applied 

 later to wagons of the same type made elsewhere, notably 

 those manufactured at Newton, Virginia. During the 

 westward movement, when families trekked to new homes 

 beyond the Mississippi, wagons of that kind carried them, 

 and were known as "prairie schooners," and still further 

 west they were sometimes designated as "ships of the 

 desert," though that name was a borrowed term rightly 

 belonging to the camel in eastern lands. 



The Conestoga wagon was a really important agent in 

 American history and romance. Its front wheels were 

 small, rear wheels high; the hubs were enormous; the 

 body 'was high in front and behind and projected far 

 over the running gear fore and aft ; a white cover was 

 stretched over the bows, providing a waterproof roof, 

 lynch pins held the wheels on; brakes, commonly then 

 called "rubbers," checked the wagon's speed descending 

 steep hills; and the inevitable tar bucket swung from 

 the rear axle. The tar was the lubricant for the "thimble- 

 skeins"— the metal-covered wooden spindles on which 

 the wheels turned. It was pine tar and it had an odor 

 which has been described as "enduring from everlasting 

 unto everlasting." The highways along which those old 

 Conestogas traveled smelled perpetually of the pine tar 

 dripping from the hubs of passing vehicles. 



The Conestogas were the freight carriers overland be- 

 fore the days of railroads, and convoys of them made 

 ambitious journeys. A famous route led from Phila- 

 delphia and Baltimore to Nashville, Tennessee ; but that 

 was not the longest route. One led from the Mississippi 

 River through New Mexico to Chihuahua in Mexico. 

 Over that long route the wagons carried merchandise, 

 and those who drove the wagon trains across the Indian 

 country always went prepared to fight the redskins. It 

 was the same with the long emigrant trains which jour- 

 neyed to the Pacific Coast from the Mississippi or the 

 Missouri Rivers. Writings relating to the frontiers of 

 that time are filled with references to the Conestoga 

 wagons. Among those who recorded the perils and 

 romances of the overland pilgramages were John James 

 Audubon ; Francis Parkman ; James, Prince of Weid, and 

 Zebulon Pike, names famous in frontier history and 

 travel. 



Of the horse-drawn vehicles those used for pleas- 

 ure were the first to yield to the automobile. Between 

 1906 and 1916 the manufacture of horse vehicles, other 



than farm wagons, declined sixty per cent. The auto- 

 mobile's inroad upon farm wagons has not been so great, 

 but it has been considerable. The total number of vehi- 

 cles of all kinds has probably not decreased, and it cannot 

 be positively stated that the quantity of wood required 

 in their manufacture has declined. Automobiles require 

 considerable amounts of wood in their construction, but 

 they also use much metal. Some of the best automobiles 

 are built with wooden frames, and practically all motor 

 vehicles are trimmed with high class woods. 



FREE TREES FOR PLANTING IN 

 PENNSYLVANIA 



A LARGE supply of extra fine forest tree seedlings 

 will be available for free distribution this spring, 

 has been stated by Commissioner of Forestry, Robert 

 S. Conklin. This is a real opportunity. Anyone who 

 wants to plant forest trees this spring may have them 

 for the asking. There are no strings to the offer, the 

 only condition being that applicants plant not fewer than 

 500 trees, pay for the packing and transportation, and 

 actually set out the trees in Pennsylvania for reforesta- 

 tion. The trees may not be sold and no orders for orna- 

 mental stock will be filled. 



The stock available for free distribution is almost all 

 three years old and includes white pine, red pine, Norway 

 spruce, European larch. Arbor Vitae, and a limited quan- 

 tity of Japanese larch and white ash. 



Last year over two million trees were planted by 

 private owners of forest land in Pennsylvania. Appli- 

 cations for almost one million trees have already been 

 received for the spring planting of 1919. Hence orders 

 should be sent early for the supply of certain trees will 

 surely be exhausted, and the number available in subse- 

 quent years will be considerably reduced on account of 

 the difficulties experienced during the past few years in 

 purchasing forest tree seed. Application for these trees 

 should be made to the Commissioner of Forestry, Harris- 

 burgh, Pennsylvania. 



w 



BEWARE THE ASH-WOOD BORER! 



ODD boring insects were responsible for the loss 

 to a Mississippi lumber company of more than a 

 million feet of ash logs, according to reports of investi- 

 gators of the Bureau of Entomology recently. It was 

 during the manufacturing operations to meet the war 

 time demand for ash oars, ash handles and other sup- 

 plies. 



The company had failed to provide for prompt utiliza- 

 tion of the logs after the trees were cut, and the destruc- 

 tive ash-wood borers got busy in regiments and divi- 

 sions. 



The bureau lately has been devoting its energies to 

 advising lumbermen and others interested in successful 

 methods of combating the pest, in the hope of pre- 

 venting a spread to other sections of the country. 



