REVIEWS 233 



report shows that the Bureau continues to maintain the high standards 

 of previous years, even though hampered by a lack of sufficient tech- 

 nical force. 



R. C. B. 



The Red Spruce: Its Grozvth and Management. By Louis S. Mur- 

 phy, Forest Examiner. Bulletin 544, United States Department of 

 Agriculture, Washington, D. C, October 31, 1917. 



In common with many Eastern foresters, the reviewer had wondered 

 why the Forest Service apparently neglected its first love — the Eastern 

 spruce. This bulletin makes ample amends for any apparent neglect 

 and fills a long-felt want. Whether or not it fulfills its avowed "chief 

 purpose, ... to formulate definite systems of forest management 

 for various conditions," is another question. 



The bulletin opens with an admirable exposition of the uses of spruce, 

 amount and value cut and imported, present stand, and value of spruce 

 and spruce stumpage. 



From this we learn that spruce ranked sixth in 1909 in the amount 

 of lumber produced. In pulp production it ranked first, ninth in slack 

 stave production, twelfth in slack heading production, and ninth in 

 slack hoop production. In 1910, 1,449,912,000 feet of spruce lumber 

 were produced; in 1914, 1,245,614,000 feet, and in 1916, 1,129,750,000 

 feet. In 1916, 3,143,793 cords of spruce were consumed for pulp, of 

 which 2,399,993 cords were domestic spruce. For lumber and pulp the 

 total production in 1916 was 2,329,747,000 feet, of which lumber was 

 48 per cent and pulp 52 per cent. In 1909 lumber constituted 63 per 

 cent of the 2,575,172,000 feet produced that year. 



The present stand of spruce in the Eastern region is estimated to be 

 56.3 billion board feet, of which 46.2 per cent is in Maine, 23.6 per cent 

 in New York, 15.3 per cent in West Virginia, and 10.5 per cent in New 

 Hampshire. The average stumpage value of red spruce in 1912, based 

 on estimates, was $6.11 per thousand feet board measure. In the 

 Northeastern States it was $6.50 per thousand feet board measure, New 

 York leading, with a value of $7.25 per thousand feet board measure. 



The second part of the bulletin deals with the silvical aspects — range 

 and distribution, forest types, second-growth stands of spruce, soil and 

 moisture requirements, light requirements, windfinnness, reproduction, 

 form, length of life, susce])til)ility to injury, growth, and stands and 

 yields. This portion of the bulletin is altogether admirable; in fact, it 

 is masterly. lM)r special praise the description of forest tvpes nn'ght 



