370 JOURNAL Ol" I'OKKSTRV 



"Honorable mention" should not be withheld from the admirable, 

 aggressive peace work of the secretary of the Canadian Forestr)' Asso- 

 ciation, Mr. Robson Black, who, in spite of the distractions of the war, 

 is carrying on a most active educational propaganda with all the means 

 which an accomplished, active newspaper man can command. He does 

 not only keep the newspapers supplied by liberal sending out of car- 

 toons, pictures, and articles, by giving free lectures through the country 

 towns, by tackling boards of trade and other public bodies, but he is 

 doing, what most secretaries neglect — he is keeping his directors con- 

 tinuously informed of what he is doing and what is going on. Nay. if 

 a definite proposition, as a legislative amendment to the prairie and 

 forest fires act in Alberta, is under discussion, he keeps the 700 Alberta 

 members stirred up with follow-up literature, so that they feel their 

 active participation in the association's work and exercise their mem- 

 bership function. 



From the secretary's report to the directors of the association, sub- 

 mitted at the meeting of the Association and Conference on Forest 

 Problems, held February 6, 7, and 8, 191 8, at Montreal, we learn that 

 the public-meeting method of publicity is most favored, some 32 such 

 meetings having been held, the secretary's mileage being in excess of 

 17,000. Other speakers, both English and French, with illustrated lec- 

 tures, are employed ; school teachers are engaged to talk on forestry 

 subjects and are supplied with material, and printed literature of all 

 kinds is disseminated. Legislators and ministers have been interviewed 

 as regards permit systems for setting fires in clearing lands, the aboli- 

 tion of the patronage system, the organization of a New Brunswick 

 forest service, etc. — an endless variety of activities has characterized 

 the work of the year. 



We advise all those who are engaged in similar propagandist work 

 to watch the secretary of the Canadian Forestry Association. 



An article on the Arnold Arboretum and its work in the Chicago 

 Post of November 26 contains the following interesting statement re- 

 garding Norway spruce: "Professor Sargent writes: 'Western China 

 alone has furnished the arboretum with more species of spruce trees 

 than were known twenty years ago in the whole world.' Some of these, 

 because of the climatic relations, may be expected to take the place of 

 the Norway spruce, now unfortunately largely planted in the United 

 States, though Professor Sargent long since pointed out that it could 

 not become' a permanently satisfactory tree here because of its origin 

 in the lower temperature range of Europe." 



