Current Literature and Reviews. 



99 



reliable surveys are inaugurated they will be likely to do more 

 harm than good. 



In addition to these statistics Mr. Ring describes briefly a few 

 of the great fires and gales that have in times past ravaged the state, 

 and Mr. Austin Gary contributes an article on the timber beetles 

 that have killed spruce in large quantities in Maine. The same 

 writer describes a system of topographical timber maps adapted 

 to the needs of the lumber business, and Prof. W. M. Munson 

 writes on the distribution of forest trees. I^astly we may mention 

 a study of the spruce in Maine by Ralph S. Hosmer of the U. S. 

 Bureau of Forestry containing recommendations for the manage- 

 ment of a tract studied ; and a report* by Austin Gary, forester 

 of the Berlin Mills Gompany, of five years' experience, in the 

 actual management of spruce land. These two articles are worthy 

 of careful perusal by any Maine firms who are trying to introduce 

 the principles of forestry into their lumbering business. 



Mr. Hosmer' s report is of the high type that we have learned 

 to expect from agents of the forestry bureau, dealing thoroughly 

 with the stand of timber, with waste in logging, with the condi- 

 tions essential to growth and reproduction of desirable trees. 

 His main conclusion is that on such land as he had studied 

 "practical forestry may with advantage be introduced." This 

 term "practical forestry" whether intentionally u.sed or not is 

 one admitting a great latitude of interpretation. Many acquainted 

 with Maine lands, the financial returns from them and their 

 present value and condition, might query if it had not already 

 in many cases been secured. However with Mr. Hosmer it evi- 

 dently means something more carefully regulated. Gonservative 

 cutting carefully adapted to the land and to the timber, and with 

 marking as an essential point of the system is the practical 

 forestry he refers to. There is furthermore to be noted in his re- 

 port, what seems to be a distinct advance in the practical acquire- 

 ments of the government foresters, namely a recognition of the 

 necessity of a more generous allowance for wind throw, and of 

 the fact that large portions of spruce woods must be cut clean. 



Mr. Gary, on the other hand, after five years experience finds 

 he has not been able as yet to accomplish some things laid out in 



*The Management of Pulpwood Forests ; See Forestry Quarterly Vol. I, 

 No. 2, Page 67. 



