HARnwOOD RECORD 



37 



wood to hinder decay is supposed to date a good while back of the 

 Roman empire ; but it began to assume modern form about two hundred 

 and fifty years ago. However, the use of treated wood on a large scale 

 began when the increased cost of ties forced the railroads to adopt 

 methods of prolonging the service of the ties. Forty-seven different 

 methods of timber treating had been discovered and put into use up to 

 1846. Most of these were based on the principle of poisoning the wood, 

 either on the surface or within, to prevent attacks upon it. Some of 

 these treatments were directed against boring worms and other insects 

 rather than against decay-producing fungi. 



H. L. Collier's paper on the efficiency of yellow pine paving blocks 

 proved a strong argument in favor of that material. The argument was 

 backed up with facts collected in many cities where the pine blocks had 

 been put to severe tests. A dozen or more points of superiority were 

 claimed for the oavement, among which were these : It is sanitary and 

 durable : is reasonable as to first cost ; can be repaired easily and eco- 

 nomically ; it offers the least resistance to traffic ; furnishes good foothold 

 for horses and takes care of the automobile ; it is easily cleaned and is 

 nearly noiseless ; it possesses elasticity ; is nearly dustless ; the surface 

 wears uniformly smooth ; the material is not easily affected by climatic 

 changes. 



The author of the paper suggested a number of improvements by which 

 the block pavement may be made more efficient. The chief of these are, 

 better foundations ; better spaced joints between the blocks ; more careful 

 fittings around openings and next to the curbing ; and several other im- 

 provements in mechanical devices for laying and adjusting the blocks. 



David Allerton's paper advocated preliminary treatment of certain 

 timber to insure a more uniform and satisfactory impregnation with 

 creosote. 



Dr. Hermann von Schrenk's paper on the requirements for successful 

 timber treatment pointed out a number of matters which should be care- 

 fully considered. The first was that none but perfectly sound timber must 

 be treated. It was said that it not infrequently happens that timber is 

 already in incipient or even advanced stages of decay when it reaches 

 the treating plants, and of course no process can make such wood sound. 

 Other points to be considered are, that none but properly seasoned timber 

 be treated ; a good preservative is essential to long life ; and proper in- 

 jection is essential as to quantity and penetration. Proper subsequent 

 handling of the timber is essentia! also. 



A paper presented by James A. Lounsbury considered the advisability 

 of adzing and boring railroad ties before they are given preservative 

 treatment. It was shown that most ties are somewhat out of true, and 

 must be cut and pared to give the rails a fiat surface to rest on. This 

 adzing of a treated tie cuts through a part or the whole treated shell 

 and exposes untreated wood to the elements of decay. The same thing 

 occurs when the tie is bored for the spike. By boring and adzing first 

 and treating afterwards, no raw wood is exposed. 



It is stated that of the 150.000,000 ties used annually in the United 

 States, 74 per cent are hewed, and 24 per cent are sawed. The spike 

 holds with more firmness if driven into a bored hole a little smaller 

 than the spike, than if driven directly into the wood, hence the reason 

 for boring. 



The efficiency of piecework in handling ties and timbers was discussed 

 by W. W. Eldridge of the Burlington & Quincy Railroad, who claimed 

 that one-third of the men can be dispensed with, in converting a per 

 diem crew into a piecework crew. 



A technical paper was presented by F. JI. Bond, of the Forest Products 

 Laboratory of Madison. Wis., giving the result of tests made to determine 

 the effect upon absorption and penetration of mixing tar with creosote. 

 The conclusion was that tar hindered the penetration of the creosote. 



Annual of American Forestry Association 



The proposed placing of control of the national forests in the hands of 

 the states was the question which commanded the greatest interest of 

 the thirty-second annual convention of the American Forestry Associa- 

 tion, which took place at the New Willard hotel, Washington, D. C, on 

 Jan. 8. Gifford Pinchot, ex-chief forester of the United States, delivered 

 an earnest address in which he attributed the movement to the various 

 interests that, before the activities of the Forest Service were felt, reaped 

 great personal aggrandizement from exploiting illegally the timber, mineral 

 and grazing resources on the areas now within the forest reserves. Mr. 

 Pinchot said that one of the greatest evils has come through the illegal 

 acquisition of such lands by capitalists who operated under the timber 

 and stone act. The method was to employ crews who took up quarter 

 sections of land and after thus securing the title to the land conveyed it 

 to the various people in question. Under the present supervision of the 

 Forest Service the lands are sold outright and at figures commensurate 

 with their real value. The real reason for the agitation in favor of 

 state control is the fact that the Forest Service has been found Incor- 

 ruptible in its policy of houest administration and the interests in ques- 

 tion have come to realize that they stand a better chance of securing 

 their desired ends through the various state administrations if It can be 

 arranged that the states have control of these vast resources. 



Chief Forester Henry Solon Graves advocated a thorough educational 

 campaign with the purpose of educating the public to the features of the 

 government's land policy. The same education is necessary In connection 

 with familiarizing the American public with the policy regarding the 

 forest administration. He said : 



I am impressed every day by the confusion that exists in the public 

 mind relative to forestry and conservation. The greatest misconceptions 

 exist regardiDg our alms and methods. Manv sec nothing In forestry 

 .iside Irom the protection from fire : another group regards forestry 

 altogether as reforestation; others conceive of forestrv as identlca'l 

 \yith park administration for scenic purposes : others would conserve 

 lorestj only for watershed protection ; another class will not concede 



J »■ ''''^'•■''' ™eans anything but good logging and good utilization: 

 and there are a large number of persons — and thev make themselves 

 prominently heard — who believe, or pretend to believe, that forestry 

 means locking up our timber resources, without present use, for future 

 generations. In other branches of conservation there Is even greater 

 Ignorance than in forestry. In fact it would not surprise me much if a 

 certain amount of educational work would not be altogether lost on 

 many per.<ions right in this room. I wonder, for Instance, how many 

 appreciate the significance of the problem of regulating the public range 

 and its relation to everyday life : how manv have an adequate Idea of 

 the fundamental questions underlying the present efforts to secure a right 

 plan for the regulation of the use of waternower sites on public lands and 

 on navigable rivers. 



President Henry S. Drinker of Lehigh University, the newly elected 

 president of the forestry association, said that forestry has been styled 

 "the keystone of conservation" but that in his opinion a more apt desig- 

 nation would be "the foundation or beginning of the conservation move- 

 ment." Mr. Drinker outlined the work on conservation in Pennsylvania 

 and more specifically at Lehigh University in the way of teaching forestry. 

 He outlined the course of conservation from its infancy and showed the 

 means through which its principles had been exploited. He said that the 

 two enemies of forestry had been forest fires and unwise taxation. The 

 country, however, has been awakened to the fire danger and there is 

 no question, according to the speaker, but that an intelligent appreciation 

 of the taxation evil is also growing. He recommended that the associa- 

 tion consider the feasibility of devising a plan whereby a reasonable 

 annual tax may be imposed upon timberland witn a preferred tax upon 

 timber to be assessed and paid when cut, in order to prevent the early 

 cutting of timber by owners who claim that they cannot afford to conserve 

 it under present taxation. 



Walter L. Fisher, secretary of the Interior, spoke on the electrification 

 of transcontinental railroads. He said that the grant of the Great Falls 

 Power Company, a company which will supply power to electrify a sec- 

 tion of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad, is really the begin- 

 ning of a policy to electrify 20,000 miles of transcontinental railroads. 



In closing, the association elected new vice-presidents and directors. 



A smoker was held in the evening, at which Itepresentative Lamb of 

 Virginia, chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, said that 

 there is no sentiment in Congress which would indicate that that body 

 contemplates in any way turning over the control of national forests to 

 the state. The speaker said that he personally opposed any measures 

 that would act in opposition to the conservation policies of the govern- 

 ment. Representative Lamb was followed by Representative Lever of 

 South Carolina, who Is the logical successor to the chairmanship of the 

 committee on agriculture beginning with March 4 next Mr. Lever ex- 

 pressed himself as having sentiments very similar to those of Mr. Lamb. 

 He said that a liberal policy in connection with conservation movement 

 would undoubtedly be followed out. 



PMladelphia 'WTiolesalers in Annual 



The annual meeting and banquet of the Philadelphia Wholesale Lum- 

 ber Dealers' Association came off at the Union League Club House on the 

 evening of Jan. 9. Forty members and two guests, E. F. Perry, secre- 

 tary of the National Wholesale Lumber Dealers' Association, New York, 

 and Edward H. Coane of Philadelphia, were present. The banquet hall 

 presented an attractive appearance with its lavish decoration of flowers 

 and ferns, and the menu of the banquet suggested the famed Lucullus. 

 A flashlight photograph was taken after all were seated. 



Following the banquet, the meeting was opened by Horace A. Reeves, 

 Jr., president, but nothing beyond the routine business and the election 

 of officers came up. 



Mr. Perry in a solicited speech touched upon the recent Judgment of 

 the United States circuit court In connection with the retailers' associa- 

 tions. He looks upon the verdict as given in a large measure to restrain 

 the association from issuing or publishing a black list. Mr. Coane, a 

 charter member of the association and now with the Pennsylvania Mutual 

 Fire Insurance Company, In a short speech expressed himself as much 

 surprised at the growth and advancement of the association— "the child 

 had grown so big he hardly knew It." 



There was no elaborate entertainment for the occasion, but In various 

 groups much agreeable conversation was engaged In ; pleasant reminis- 

 cences of the past year which had used them all well, and glittering 

 prognostications as to what the year just entered upon held In store, 

 furnishing the chief material. It was truly a social and good fellowship 

 gathering and profoundly enjoyed It is declared by one and all. 



New York State Forestry Association Meets 

 The Onondaga Hotel, Syracuse, N. T.. was the meeting place of the 

 New York State Forestry Association, which met In annual session on 

 .Ian. 16. Following the address of welcome and a few Introductory talks, 

 Gifford Pinchot of Washington delivered a talk on "Forestry and the 

 Nation," and Clifford R. Pettis, superintendent of forests of New York, 

 talked on the subject of "The Administration of State Forests." 



H. K. Bristol, superintendent of woodlands lor the Delaware and 

 Hudson Company, gave a talk on the subject of "Forest Mapping in New 

 York." 



