938 JOURNAL OP FORESTRY 



location of fires. The telephone system will be the next aid in the work 

 of fire protection in the State. 



The forest-fire law prepared by the California lumber and timber in- 

 terests, and following closely the provisions of the Oregon forest-fire 

 law, which provides for compulsory patrol and which was passed by 

 the California legislature, died by the pocket veto route. 



The Laurentian Forest Protective Association was added to the pro- 

 tective association of Quebec this summer, some 15,000 square miles 

 in the Lake John and Saguenay district being involved, including the 

 greater portion of the Laurentides Park. There are now altogether 

 70,000 square miles under such protection. The provincial government 

 is a partner to the arrangement, which involves a large area of licensed 

 and unlicensed lands. 



Farm Bulletin No. 4, published by the Trade Extension Department 

 of the National Lumber Manufacturers' Association, deals with hog 

 houses, portable and permanent. It is, of course, a bona fide adverti:- 

 ing scheme. In commenting on the use of wood in general, the fol- 

 lowing reasons for the use of wood are given : Wood remains the most 

 universal, most adaptable building material in the world. The supply 

 is ample for all requirements, and the kinds and grades best suited for 

 all purposes are obtainable everywhere. In cost it remains one of the 

 cheapest materials. It is the lightest building material known and the 

 strongest, weight for weight. Its qualities are known ; it is easy to 

 work; it can be cut and shaped by any one into the myriad uses re- 

 quired for the shelter and comfort of man. There is no material more 

 beautiful in appearance, more susceptible to artistic finish, nor which 

 is as productive of sentiment and satisfaction for home building. 

 Wood is a non-conductor of heat — cool in summer and warm in winter. 



Mr. R. O. Sweezey, in the Canadian Forestry Journal (June), cor- 

 recting the false impression regarding the development of black spruce, 

 states that though black spruce does grow as "a small and straggling 

 tree" on "semi-barren hill-tops and swamps," there are also thousands 

 of square miles of black-spruce forests running anywhere from 4 to 40 

 cords per acre. In the clay belt and flat lands of northern Ontario and 

 Quebec probably 60 to 75 per cent of the spruce is black spruce — a vast 



