490 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



spent with wedges and block and tackle, until at last, just 

 as the effort was being abandoned, a slight breeze sprang 

 up, and with apparent ease toppled over the big tree. Its 

 dimensions are reported as being 25 feet in diameter, meas- 

 ured on the six-foot stump, exclusive of bark, which was 

 fifteen to eighteen inches in thickness, and 302 feet high. 

 That locality, diameter and height of stump should agree 

 with those of the stem analysis seems more than a coinci- 

 dence, particularly since it is improbable that another 

 tree of such size should have been felled before 1865. the 

 date the measurements were taken. 



The age of this tree is far below the figures generally 

 quoted for specimens of the sequoia of that size. Even 

 allowing for the considerable exaggerations wdiicli are 

 current as to the longevity of the species, this individual 

 was undoubtedly one of exceptionally rapid growth. The 

 accompanying diagram illustrates this, being in interest- 

 ing contrast to the typical growth curves with which the 

 forester is familiar. On this chart are plotted two lines, 

 one (broken) showing the average rate of increase in 

 diameter for each ten-year period, and the other (solid) 

 indicating the average rate of increase during the tree's 

 whole life to each given date. 



Several points will strike the forester as remarkable. 

 First, the mean growth rises very rapidly to its crest by 

 the end of the first century and yet falls off very gradually 

 after that point so that 1100 years later its average was 

 still within 25 per cent of its maximum. Moreover, its 

 decrease within the last half century is almost imper- 

 ceptible. Its current growth rate also shows remarkable 

 fluctuations. That the next to the greatest growth dur- 

 ing its whole life should have come when the tree was 

 1000 years old, and some 400 years after its smallest 

 growth, is a striking index of its undaunted vitalitv. A 

 careful study of the alternating periods of rapid and slow 

 growth lends distinct weight to the impression that climatic 

 cycles rather than the effect of age have dominated 

 the tree's development. 



ROADSIDE TREES NEEDED 



BY INVESTIGATIONS just completed by the New 

 York State College of Forestry at Syracuse, it has 

 been found that nine-tenths of the roadsides in the 

 rural districts of New York State are entirely void of 

 shade trees. When this is considered along with the fact 

 that last year New York State paid out of the State Treas- 

 ury about $30,000,000 for the construction and main- 

 tenance of roadbeds, it shows that the State is not yet 

 awake to the great need and the great possibilities in rural 

 roadside im[)rovement. 



The preliminary survey which has just been made by 

 H. R. Francis in charge of the Landscape Extension work 

 of the College of Forestry, covered nearly 3000 miles of 

 the main lines of liighways passing through such impor- 

 tant points as Rochester, Buffalo. Jamestown, Olean, 

 Corning, Ithaca. Elmira, Binghamton, Kingston. Albany, 

 Lake Placid, Watertown, Utica. Rome and Syracuse. 



During the survey studies were made of such impor- 



tant features in rural roadside improvement and beautifi- 

 cation as good and bad varieties of trees found along the 

 highways, views and vistas obtained from the highways, 

 the effects of the shade trees on crops in adjacent fields, 

 the possibilities of the covering of barren embankments 

 and the ])lanting of some desirable sort of vegetation 

 where overhead wires are in large numbers. One of the 

 principal features studied was the condition of the road- 

 bed as affected by the presence or absence of shade trees. 



ITALY'S FORESTS SUFFER 



A REPORT from Rome says ocean freights on 

 American lumber have increased tenfold since the 

 war began and the Italian Government is begin- 

 ning to make inroads on its own precious reserve stocks 

 of standing timber. 



There are about 16.000 square miles of forest area in 

 Italy, or one-seventh of the total area of the country. 

 Most of the timber wood is found in the Apennine Moun- 

 tains, which follow the entire length of Italv. begin- 

 ning north of Genoa and rising out of the fertile 

 plains of Piedmont. 



The wood is being used by the Government in large 

 quantities for the construction of soldier barracks at the 

 front, for strengthening trenches, for railroad and foot or 

 wagon bridges along the countless new roads built at the 

 front as a part of the army's transportation system. ^luch 

 of this lumber is carried jiiece by piece far above the 

 timber line of the mountains where the soldiers are 

 fighting on barren glaciers. 



The kinds of wood being cut in Italy's forests are fir, 

 oak and sycamore, woods formerly imjiorted from .\ustria. 

 L'ntil recently many shiploads of pitch pine, mostlv from 

 the Gulf ports of the United States, were delivered into 

 Italy. But the freight and handling cost has made 

 the price prohibitive. 



SELLING BIRCH BARK 



A X application to buy all of the bark of black birch 

 / \ '»n a large water-shed in one of the National For- 

 ^ *• ests in the Southern Appalachians has been re- 

 ceived by officers in charge, who say that the bark will 

 be used by the mountaineers to make sweet-birch oil, a 

 substitute for oil of wintergreen. Because of the higher 

 price of birch oil and oil of wintergreen, a synthetic oil 

 is wi(lel\- used in their stead. The rise in price of 

 salicylic acid, which is the base of the synthetic oil, is 

 reported to have increased the demand for the birch oil 

 manufactured in this country. The oil is largely used for 

 medicinal purposes and for flavoring, and a good demand 

 is said to exist. So-called rheumatism cures in particular 

 contain comparatively large amounts. 



The forests in the East purchased by the Govern- 

 ment are reported to contain large quantities of birch 

 and are expected to become an important source of supply. 



The foresters sav that the birch is not a verv desirable 



