NOTES AND COMMENTS 683 



water proved preferable (70-75°), and for Mimosa invisa germination 

 was easiest after treatment with water at 60 to 70°C. 



A bulletin of Kew Gardens cites not fewer than 24 species of 

 Juniperus as of economic importance, but on more closely examining 

 the list, we find /. calif ornica and communis, macrocarpa, rigida, and 

 sahina, which are only shrubs and hardly to be classed of economic 

 value. 



An experiment made by the Railway Company of San Paolo in it: 

 engines, to determine the relative value as fuel of different species ot 

 E'ucalyptus, brought out the fact that practically there was little differ- 

 ence and that ordinary mixed but well seasoned wood was as valuable 

 as any. 



A special director of timber supplies has been appointed by the 

 British Government to regulate the wood trade. A special license for 

 each importation is needed for handling foreign softwood (other than 

 mine props). The merchant may buy at any price, but may not sell 

 at a price higher than those current in the week ending January 31, 

 1917. 



A new organization to control forest-fire protection has come into 

 existence in British Columbia. Two boards of control of five members 

 each have been organized, one for territory west, the other east of the 

 Cascades. These boards consist of two lumbermen from each of the 

 two districts, selected by the Lumber Manufacturers' Association, and 

 three officials, the Deputy IMinister of Lands, chairman, the Chief 

 Forester, and the forester in charge of fire protection acting on both 

 boards. Changes in personnel and in carrying on patrols have already 

 been inaugurated. One change is the replacement of 163 temporary 

 forest guards by 65 assistant rangers, who are not only employed for 

 6 months at $100, but are to be reengaged, and have prospects of ad- 

 vancement according to merit. 



Another important association has been formed lately in Quebec, 

 whose object is to assure the protection of the forest against the disas- 

 trous fires which ruined each year, since a period of at least fifteen 

 years, many thousand dollars worth of timber. This association, which 

 bears the name of The Southern St. Lawrence Forest Protective Asso- 



