1908 



NEWS AND NOTES 



195 



Kentucky Kentucky is making 



Headed good progress in the 



^ movement for the pres- 



ervation of the forests of the State. 

 In 1906 the Legislature enacted the 

 laMT providing for the State Board of 

 Agriculture, Forestry and Immigra- 

 tion. During the following winter the 

 Board asked and received the co-oper- 

 ation of the United States Forest Ser- 

 vice in a study of the forest conditions 

 of the state. The work was begun 

 last summer and the investigations of 

 a considerable area of land in the east- 

 ern part of the State completed. At 

 the third annual meeting of the Ken- 

 tucky Farmers' Institute, at Frank- 

 fort, in February, the subject of for- 

 estry was discussed with an interest 

 which promises for Kentucky a high 

 place among the other progressive 

 states which are looking to the care- 

 ful use and conservation of forest re- 

 sources. 



The manner in which the forestry 

 problem has been approached indicates 

 that the people of Kentucky realize 

 that the ultimate solution of the im- 

 pending timber scarcity must, for the 

 farmer, depend largely on how he 

 handles his individual timber resourc- 

 es, and that there is no better way 

 than for him to consider the woodlot 

 as a bank account, using the interest 

 which is constantly accruing, but leav- 

 ing the capital undiminished. Much 

 education work, however, will be 

 needed to secure this desirable end. 



A bill has been introduced in the 

 legislature providing for the appoint- 

 ment of a State Forester. 



Deforestation Replying to an inquiry, 

 fnMkWgan Mr. C F. Schneider, 



section director of the 

 Climatological Service of the Weather 

 Bureau, at Grand Rapids, Michigan, 

 writing February 24, says : 



"Regarding the connection between 

 ' deforestation and floods in Grand 

 River, my experience along this line 

 confirms the oft repeated claims of the 

 friends of reforestation — that the cut- 

 ting down of trees destroys one of 



Nature's savings banks. Not only do 

 the deforested slopes of the Grand 

 River shed the heavy rains of the sum- 

 mer very quickly, but they yield up 

 all the water content of the winter's 

 snow in a remarkably short time when 

 the warm sun and Warm rains of 

 spring come on. The rapid conges- 

 tion of the water into creeks and riv- 

 ers is also forwarded by the extensive 

 network of county drains, farm drains 

 and tilled land." 



Speaking of rivers in the same sec- 

 tion, the Huron and Raisin, the U. S. 

 Geological Survey bulletin says : "The 

 location of the cities and nearly all of 

 the villages on the banks of streams 

 was determined by the water power 

 they afforded for grist mills and saw- 

 mills." This suggests a similarity of 

 conditions in Michigan and New Eng- 

 land, and a corresponding interest in 

 forest conservation. 



Uses of 



Excelsior seems to the 

 usesot average man a trifling 



product that cannot rep- 

 resent a large consumption of timber, 

 yet there are so many uses for it that 

 the total annual production for this 

 country requires sixty million feet of 

 timber. 



Besides the constant use in general 

 packing, excelsior is in demand by up- 

 holsterers of furniture and carriages, 

 by mattress makers occasionally, for 

 stable bedding, and by steamships to 

 filter sea water. A richly upholstered 

 chair and a mattress which a customer 

 fondly supposes to be filled with hair 

 may contain nothing but excelsior be- 

 neath, with possibly a layer of cotton. 

 Thus, we sit and sleep on wood as well 

 as read wood pulp newspapers, and at 

 the mortal end of things we are likely 

 to repose in a coffin upholstered with 

 a choice grade of excelsior. The New 

 York mattress factory uses a carload 

 a day. Teddy bears owe their rotund- 

 ity to a special quality of fine excelsior. 



There is not much wood left on ten 

 thousand acres of land when the ex- 

 celsior machines have had their year's 

 rations. — N. Y. Tribune. 



