788 



CHIPS. 



[ArniL 1886. 



Ghips. 



In the arctic region there are 762 

 kinds of flowers. Fifty of these are 

 confined to the arctic region. 



Br washing a pine floor with a 

 sohition of one pound of copperas in 

 one gallon of strong lye, the ap]iearance 

 of oak flooring may be produced. 



Eecent surveys show that Russian 

 forests generally reach their northern 

 limit at 71° of latitude, but near the 

 Lena they extend nearly to 72°. 



SoMEBODT has taken the pains to 

 calculate that the United States pro- 

 duce enough lumber each year to load 

 1,428,581 railroad cars, each carrying 

 7000 feet. It is also said that this 

 would make a train 8500 miles long, 

 or about one-third around the world. 



Evidence of the decay of forests in 

 Australia is found in the present exist- 

 ence of a few trees far exceeding in 

 size any of those about them, and 

 supposed to be survivors of a departed 

 race of giants. A tree twenty-five feet 

 in circumference at a height of thirty 

 feet above the ground was described at 

 a late meeting of the Eoyal Society of 

 New South Wales. 



The relative value of wood or steel 

 for railway sleepers is a matter of very 

 general discussion in Europe. As 

 England j^ays to Russia, Norway, and 

 Sweden nearly 1,500,000 dols. annually 

 for wooden ties, she is naturally anxious 

 to keep her money at home in the 

 encouragement of the steel industries. 

 With the present low cost of wooden 

 sleepers in most parts of the United 

 States, it will be many years before the 

 steel tie comes into general use. The 

 adoption of the steel tie, however, in 

 foreign countries, now large importei'S 

 of wood, is of interest to lumbermen 

 everv where. 



Chlorophyll. — Mr. Gilbert showed 

 in some experiments that pure nitrogen 

 manures produced more chlorophyll 

 than nitrogen and ash manures mixed, 

 but that under the latter far more 

 carbon was assimilated than under the 

 former treatment. Potash is as essen- 

 tial for the assimilating power of 

 chlorophyll as iron is for its formation. 



For many years it has been one of 

 my constant regrets that no schoolmaster 

 of mine had a knowledge of natural 

 history, so far, at least, as to have 

 taught me the grasses that grow by the 

 wayside, and the little, wingless neigh- 

 bours that are continually meeting 

 me with a salutation which I cannot 

 answer, as things are. — Thomas Car- 

 lyle. 



The inner bark of Pinus contorta, a 

 species of British Columbia, contains a 

 sugary substance which, although not 

 manufactured in any way, is used by 

 the natives largely. They j)ull long 

 strips of it oft' the trees, and dry them 

 forfuture use, chewing it like tobacco. 



The quantity of sugar manufactured 

 annually in the several provinces of 

 Canada from the sap of the sugar- 

 maple and other species of the same 

 genus which yield sugar, is said to be 

 20,556,049 pounds, and it averages from 

 10 to \'2h cents per pound. 



The barking of oak has become a 

 rather uiu-emunerative work of late, 

 leaving but a small margin after the 

 cost of removing, harvesting, and send- 

 ing it to its destination is incurred. 

 Nor is all bark of the same quality, as 

 is well known ; certainly that fi'om the 

 most valuable trees is not always the 

 best appreciated in the market. On 

 the contrary, a higher ])rice is generally 

 obtained from that which is obtained 

 from small trees and coppice poles than 

 from heavier and older trees. 



