804 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



The U. S. Secretary of Agriculture has amended the white-pine 

 bhster rust quarantine promulgated April 21, 1917. This amendment 

 is made effective May i, and prohibits the movement of white pines 

 and black-currant plants from the New England States to points out- 

 side of New England. This action was necessitated by the consider- 

 able movement now under way of possibly infected white pines, and 

 to a less extent black currants, from New England to States lying west 

 and south. Both of these plants are important carriers of the blister- 

 rust disease, and most of the States to which these shipments were 

 being made have State quarantines prohibiting the entry of such stock. 



Because of a possibility of a coal shortage in the West next winter, 

 by reason of the increased demand for coal by industrial plants and 

 the lack of sufficient means of transportation, the Government is urg- 

 ing, through its foresters, more extensive use of fuelwood by ranchers 

 and town dwellers. The supervisors of the 153 National Forests will 

 be instructed to afford all possible facilities to local residents wishing 

 to obtain cordwood. The material thus utilized being mainly dead 

 timber, insect-infested, or old and deteriorating, its use by settlers will 

 help clear the forest; but where fuelwood of this character is not ob- 

 tainable the cutting of mature living trees will be permitted to the ex- 

 tent necessary to meet the demands. 



During the last fiscal year over 30,000 permits for the free use of 

 National Forest timber, mainly in the form of fuelwood, were taken 

 out by local residents. The amount of timber involved approximated 

 250,000 cords, additional supplies of cordwood being obtained at a 

 nominal price by others not entitled under the law to the free use of 

 timber. 



The U. S. Forest Products Laboratory, according to a news item in 

 a recent issue of the American Lumberman, has been investigating the 

 suitability of several species of wood as separators in electric batteries. 

 The essential requirements are that the wood have mechanical strength 

 and porosity to sulphuric acid, and that it must not liberate organic 

 acids, which would attack lead. Basswood, longleaf pine, cherry, 

 maple, and cypress have been tried without great success. The most 

 satisfactory woods are Douglas fir, redwood, and Port Orford cedar. 

 It is believed that Alaska cedar would also prove satisfactory. 



In order to facilitate the purchase of war material and supplies, the 

 Federal Trade Commission has been directed to determine the actual 



