igoS 



WITH MEMBERS AND CORRESPONDENTS 



10 = 



finest hard timber to be found any- 

 where. 



"The people who have always made 

 a living by making ties cannot give 

 up tie making We see hundreds of 

 thousands of ties made and hauled 

 to each station every year. Some land 

 owners claim the land is worth more 

 to them when cleared, even if rough 

 in its lay, and that they receive very 

 little or nothing from the land if they 

 let the timber stand, and have to pay 

 taxes on it, and timber land is gener- 

 ally appraised higher, making the tax 

 his-her than that on cultivated land. 



"I have been studying the matter 

 for some time, and believe that the 

 Government should not tax timber 

 land. If the tax was taken off such 

 land it would induce a great many 

 farmers to let their timber stand." 



The Governor of Ohio, in his mess- 

 age to the Legislature, reported in 

 News and Notes of this issue, recom- 

 mends of the tax evil, and other steps 

 to encourage tree culture. 



The Federal Government, of course, 

 does not tax any lands ; and its power 

 to do anything for the forests in a 

 State is very limited. It is all the 

 more important that the States do 

 their part, and work out their own 

 salvation. 



Another A member of the Ameri- 



Source of can Forestry Associa- 

 Tan Bark ^j^^^ ^j^_ g §_ QqIH^^^ 



of Ostrander, Wash., writes: 



"I notice in the November issue, 

 page 567, that a famine in tan bark 

 oak on the Pacific Coast is threatened. 

 I believe this statement to be substan- 

 tially true, from investigations made 

 in the tan-bark oak region of Califor- 

 nia. However, you might call the at- 

 tention of your readers to a practic- 

 ally untouched source of tannin in 

 Avestern Oregon and Washington. I 

 refer to the western hemlock, a fine 

 forest tree, which exists in quite large 

 quantities in the region referred to. 

 "The meat of the bark of the west- 



ern hemlock is thicker, and the ross or 

 dry part thinner, than the bark of 

 eastern hemlock. It is quite rich in 

 tannin. The bark of the western hem- 

 lock has been used at various times 

 for tanning, but at present it is large- 

 ly wasted. 



"Owing to the wetness of the sea- 

 son when the bark is peeled, and the 

 rough ground on which the forests 

 are found, together with the cost of 

 transporting the bark to market, it 

 could not be produced cheaply ; but at 

 a fair price the output would be very 

 large. It is safe to say the supply of 

 western hemlock is many times greater 

 than that of tan-bark oak." 



Are Ameri- 

 cans Very 

 Intelligent? 



Mr. Charles Welsh 

 writes from Winthrop, 

 Mass. : 



"To any one who has lived in Ger- 

 many, and who knows with what sys- 

 tem the welfare of woods and forests 

 are looked after, some of the sights 

 in this country are positively a dis- 

 grace to the intelligence of its people.'' 



An Eminent This office recently had 

 European ^j^g pleasure of receiving 

 Member through a New York 



agent the application for membership 

 and the annual dues of Mr. William 

 Forbes, who is vice-president of the 

 Royal English Arboricultural Society, 

 gold, silver and bronze medalist, and 

 forestry expert of the Estates Ga- 

 zette, London. Mr. Forbes' residence 

 is at Blairgowrie, Scotland. 



This office recently had 

 In South ^ ^^^1 £^yj^ ^jr. Bertram 



Atnca D'Alton, of the Forest 



Department of South Africa. Mr. 

 D'Alton says forest conservation and 

 extension is given large atention 

 there. It is necessary, for the south- 

 ern country is lacking • in timber. 

 Further north in the interior there are 

 large forests, but these are not avail- 

 able on account of their distance and 

 the lack of transportation facilities. 



