NEWS AND NOTES 



Instruction in Forestry 



The recently established department of 

 forestry in the New York State College of 

 Agriculture at Cornell University is finding 

 that forestry is a subject of genuine interest 

 to the students of the university. The de- 

 partment will now be able to increase the 

 scope of its work because of the addition of 

 an assistant professor to the staff. Mr. John 

 Bentley, Jr., a graduate of the Yale Forest 

 School in the class of 1907, and_ at present 

 in charge of the planting in District 2 of the 

 United States Forest Service, has been ap- 

 pointed to the assistant professorship, and 

 will enter on his new duties on January first. 

 The department is ready to supply a lecture 

 on forestry to meetings of any kind in New 

 York State. 



Canada's Forestry Problem 



Speaking of the need of arousing pressing 

 interest in the reforestation of hard wood 

 areas in Eastern Canada, H. R. MacMillan, in 

 The Canadian Century, says: "There are two 

 points to be made; first, that the supply of 

 wood suitable for manufacturing purposes in 

 Eastern Canada is practically exhausted; the 

 other, that large Canadian industries, depend- 

 ent upon valuable hard woods, are forced 

 to import their raw material from the United 

 States at high prices, and are, therefore, at 

 a disadvantage in competing with United 

 States manufacturers. The remedy for the 

 manufacturer lies, not in using less wood, 

 but in using his influence to see that cities, 

 counties or provinces take steps to reforest 

 with valuable woods the many areas of waste 

 land, now lying unproductive, which may be 

 found in every county in Eastern Canada. 

 The German cities own forests, the munici- 

 palities corresponding to counties and prov- 

 inces in Switzerland and France own forests, 

 managing them for the production of timber 

 for industrial purposes, and for revenue. 

 Several of the Eastern States — New York, 

 Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, 

 Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey 

 — have purchased waste land for reforestation. 

 Finding that work was not proceeding rapidly 

 enough, and that the administration of these 

 hard wood lands could be better managed by 

 the Federal Government than through several 

 State Governments, Congress has appropri- 

 ated for the purchase of lands in the Eastern 

 States, to be managed by the Forest Service 

 ts a perpetual source of high grade hard wood 

 timber. The appropriation of this money was 

 secured largely through the support of manu- 

 facturers. 



"There is no record that, with the exception 

 of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, 

 any private corporations in Canada have 

 undertaken to grow on their own lands the 

 timber they will require. The Canadian Pa- 

 cific Railway Company employs several 

 trained foresters, and is at present making an 

 examination of its timber lands in British 

 Columbia with the idea of managing them 

 for the perpetual production of ties and other 

 construction material." 



Some Plain Facts 



Prof. Hugo Winkenwerder, of the Univer- 

 sity of Washington, in a recent talk on the 

 present status and future problems of 

 forestry gave some plain facts and statistics 

 of particular interest to any new student of 

 forestry. He said: "There are problems of 

 great economic and national importance 

 which can only be solved by forestry. 



"Our national idea of forestry did not take 

 root until 1891 when Congress authorized the 

 President to set apart forest reserves. We 

 have now 150 national forests, which em- 

 brace 195 million acres. Twelve states have 

 adopted the policy of owning forests within 

 the State. A score of universities and col- 

 leges are offering courses in forestry. 



"The practice of forestry in the United 

 States as yet consists of little more than fire 

 protection. It is important that we have re- 

 production, rapid growth and a large yield." 



The means employed to prevent fires Pro- 

 fessor \yinkenwerder said, were broad trails 

 free of inflammable materials, telephones in- 

 stalled and fire patrols. 



"The forests of the United States average 

 only 12 cubic feet growth per acre per year. 

 The forests of Europe average 36 feet per 

 year. It has been estimated that about 80 

 per cent of our forests are only half stocked 

 with trees. 



"A great many of our forests are over 

 mature and ought to be cut out. A great 

 part of the forest area has lost its fertility, 

 because the water has washed off the fertile 

 soil or the sun has dried up the soil." 



Reforestation Legislation 



State Senator George F. Argetsinger, of 

 New York State, with a view for providing 

 forest revenues for future generations has 

 prepared a bill which he will introduce early 

 in January which will encourage farmers to 

 plant trees on land that is not tillable. 

 Senator Argetsinger has found that there 

 is considerable such land on a large number 



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