NOTES 757 



ber — can be produced in a shorter time if the tract is treated so as to 

 remove crowding and inferior trees, leaving just enough of the best 

 trees to fully stock the stand. The work can be done so as to utilize 

 idle labor in the slack winter season and at little or no expense. In 

 fact, at the present demand and prices of wood products, such a thin- 

 ning and cleaning will usually yield considerable profit of itself, in 

 addition to the gain in the final crop. If an owner is not able to give 

 his entire tract such an improvement cutting, he can accomplish the 

 same thing gradually while cutting his supply of cordwood. The State 

 Forester is ready to help any one interested in such a project. 



The Osborne Fire-finder 



The Osborne fire-finder, now in use by the Dominion Forestry 

 Branch at Kamloops, was invented by W. B. Osborne, of the U. S. 

 Forest Service at Portland, Oregon. It consists of a heavy circular 

 metal base graduated near the outer edge. This base is supported below 

 on four short metal legs, or points, which rest on two solid metal rods. 

 The rods are screwed to a board and act as a track or guide upon 

 which the points can slide back and forth. This sliding device is for 

 the purpose of overcoming any near-by obstruction which may be in 

 the line of sight, as, for instance, an upright or a window-frame in the 

 lookout station itself. 



Attached to the graduated circular base and lying flat upon it is a 

 detachable circular disk of sheet metal. Alounted on the surface of this 

 metal disk is the map of the country surrounding the lookout station. 

 The map is so mounted that the position of the lookout station on the 

 map is exactly in the center of the disk. The whole map and disk are 

 covered with a transparent shellac, or varnish, to preserve it and pre- 

 vent it becoming marked or weathered. 



Fitting on top of the graduated base piece is a sliding metal ring of 

 a slightly smaller diameter than the base and which may be turned 

 through 360 degrees in either direction. To this sliding ring are at- 

 tached two upright sighting pieces; also a handle, or grip, for the pur- 

 pose of turning or sliding the ring. The sighting is done through a 

 small slit, or a peep-hole, in the eyepiece upon a vertical horse-hair in 

 the object-piece. A horizontal horse-hair is also stretched between the 

 two sighting pieces. Stretched with edge up between the two uprights 

 and just above the map is a flexible metal tape. It is graduated into 

 inches and fractions of inches from the middle toward the ends, and 

 by means of it the distance from the lookout station to any point on the 



