NEWS AND PERSONAL NOTES 137 



The Forestry Club of the University of CaHfornia proposes to 

 publish a monthly magazine similar to the California Journal of Agri- 

 culture, but devoted to forestry subjects and the work of the Forest 

 Service in California. Five hundred odd subscriptions at $1 per year 

 to the proposed journal were promised by the men in attendance at a 

 ranger meeting in Berkeley the latter part of December. 



The forest academy at Eisenach, in the Grand Duchy of Saxony, 

 ceased to exist on January 1, 1916. The academy was founded by Dr. 

 Konig as a private institution but, in 1830, became the official forestry 

 institution of the Grand Duchy. Dr. Matthes was the last director of 

 the academy. The course covered two years. 



Mr. H. M. Curran, now instructor in the department of tropical 

 forestry at the Yale School of Forestry, is planning for a tropical 

 experiment station and research laboratory in continental South 

 America. The lines of research are to be tropical diseases ; a system 

 of colonization and education suitable to tropical lands ; the produc- 

 tivity of the soil and most suitable crop, the mineral wealth, water 

 powers, and other resources. Mr. Curran has great confidence in the 

 possibility of developing forest resources for northern markets satis- 

 factorily, and especially in their reproduction under low rotation. 



A fund of $500,000 a year for 20 years is to be the ambitious basis 

 for this enterprise. 



Dr. Joseph A. Holmes, who died in July, 1915, wa,s a man to whom 

 the cause of forestry has been indebted in more than one way. As 

 director of the Geological Survey of North Carolina, he was responsible 

 for making forestry a part of that Survey, and those who were pressing 

 for the Appalachian National Forest will remember him as a staunch 

 and active supporter. His special field, however, finally became the 

 movement to secure greater safety in the working of mines. In appre- 

 ciation of the great importance of this work, to which he devoted his 

 last years with such devotion and signal success, his friends have 

 organized The Joseph A. Holmes Safety Association, the object of 

 which is to stimulate efifort in this direction by awarding medals and 

 honorariums to those originating, developing, and installing the most 

 efficient safety-first devices each year. Contributions toward the fund 

 needed are solicited by Dr. David T. Day, 1333 F Street N. W., 

 Washington. 



