460 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



perennials, or permitting the grass to grow among the trees. This would hold the 

 fallen leaves and snow, and form a blanket which would prevent the frost from going 

 deep into the ground, as well as protect it against excessive evaporation during the 

 winter. 



The plane trees, W. J. Bean {(ianl. Chron., 3. ser., 29 {1901), No. 754, pp. 363, 

 364, fg. 1). — Notes are given on some of the plane trees, which are said to include 

 the most useful and important town and street trees. Of the siiecies of Platanus the 

 author describes 3, P. orientalis, P. acerifolia, and P. cuneata as of European and 

 Asiatic origin, and* P. occidenlnlis as of American origin. 



Studies concerning the genus Platanus, F. Jaennicke {AbhandL K. Leopold. 

 CaroUn. Dent. Akad. Nainrf., 77, No. 2, pp. 111-226, pis. 10; abs. in Bot. Centbl., 85 

 { 1901) , No. S, pp. 2.57-259) . — The author gives results of 5 years' study on the genus 

 Platanus, and among his conclusions he states that there are 6 species and 11 varieties, 

 as follows: P. orientali.^, with 4 varieties; P. occidcnUdii, with 6 varieties; P. acerifolia, 

 which he believes may prove to be either a variety of occidentali.^ or possibly a 

 hybrid l)etween P. occideutalis and P. orientalii<; P. racemosa; P. mccicana, with 1 

 variety, and P. trriglilii. The second and last 3 species are of American origin. 



The conversion of home-grown timber for estate and other purposes, I). F. 

 Mackenzie {Trans. Highland and Agr. Soc. Scotland, 5. .ter., 13 {1901), pp. 134-14^', 

 figs. 8). — Suggestions are given for the conversion of timber into various manufac- 

 tured products, by which the value of the forest produtits may be increased. Lists 

 are given of the more common forms and purposes for which different kinds of wood 

 are utilized, together with the average price that the material bringy in the markets. 

 Suggestions are also given for the utilization of the so-called waste products, derived 

 during the manufacture of the timber, into different forms of luml)er, etc. 



Improvement felling as a financial success, F. E. Olmsted {Fore.'<ter, 7 {1901), 

 No. 4, pp. S.5-SS, Jigs. 2). — The value of imin-ovement cuttings in forest management 

 is slK)wn by examples drawn from the management of the Sal and Sain forests of 

 India, in which crowded groups have been thinned out and a better quality of tim- 

 ber secured. 



Colorado forest fires in 1900, H. Miciiklsen { Forester, 7 {1901), No. 3, pp. 56-61, 

 fi'l. 1) . — During the season covered by this report the forests of Colorado suffered 

 severely by reason of fires. A cold spring was followed by a hot summer, almost 

 rainless, and the first heavy snow fell on October 30. Between May 15 and the mid- 

 dle of September numerous fires swept over jx)rtif)hs of the State. While no actual 

 measurements were made of the losses, estimates are given, })ased upon statements of 

 forest rangers, surveyors, and others, from which it appears that about one-tenth of 

 the timber lands of the State were destroyed by forest fires during the sumn'ier 

 of 1900. A list is given of the area of forest and brush lands, l)y counties, together 

 with an estimate of the burned-over tracts. The area covered by the fires is esti- 

 mated at 758 S(juare miles, and the timber lands remaining at the end of 1900 at 

 6,407 square miles. The effect of this serious destruction of forests is expecte<l to be 

 shown in the coming season in the reduced amount of water for irrigation purposes 

 late in the season, as some of these tracts were situated upon the headwaters of some 

 of the imj)ortant streams of the State. 



Destruction of timber by the Galveston storm, W. L. Bkay {Forester, 7 {1901), 

 No. 3, pp. 53-56, figs. 3). — The author gives an account of the extensive damage done 

 to forests of Texas at the time of the famous Galveston storm. The forests which 

 sustained the heaviest damage constituted an area of about 2,000 square miles, and 

 were composed mostly of pines and oaks, the most valuable so far as lumbering is 

 concerned being the white oak and loblolly pine. The effect of the storm was to 

 prostrate at least 50 per cent of the merchantal)le pine and oak and in many cases all 

 of the merchantable timber was overthrown. Of this amount of timber, it is esti- 

 mated that not more than 10 per cent will l)e saved on account of the absence of 

 mills, inaccessibility of forest tracts, etc. 



