NOTES AND COMMENTS 1069 



concerns have installed on their donkey engines burners and the ap- 

 paratus necessary for the use of crude oil instead of wood as a fuel. 

 It was evident that oil costing less than $i per barrel was a very much 

 safer, cheaper, and more efficient fuel than wood. Now, however, that 

 crude oil has doubled in cost and, due to the enormous demand for 

 gasoline in Europe, is practically impossible to obtain, wood will again 

 have to be used and the oil-burner equipment discarded. The high-lead 

 system of logging is being adopted very widely, but whether it is a 

 method which will replace ground logging or overhead cableway log- 

 ging, under all conditions, remains to be seen. However, it is far better 

 that an industry be progressive and alive to new ideas rather than stag- 

 nant and ultra-conservative, for it is only through experiments and 

 failures that feasibility of innovations can be tested. 



E. T. C. 



FoRESTATION OF THE ViRGIN ISLANDS OF THE UNITED STATES 



The island of St. Thomas, which is about 12 miles long and three 

 to four in width, has practically no trees that could be used as saw 

 timber. It is said that at one time the island was heavily forested with 

 tropical hardwoods, but that these were burned off in order to make 

 room for crops. The island was cultivated until 1848, when slavery 

 was abolished. Since then it has not been profitable to produce crops 

 there, because its mountainous character makes the use of modern 

 farm machinery impossible, while the unlimited labor supply is no 

 longer available. The island is also now subject to droughts. 



I rode all over the island on horseback. It is a mountain top rising 

 steeply out of the sea. The western slope was swept almost clear of 

 vegetation by the hurricane of last October and looks somewhat like the 

 hill country of New Mexico. The eastern slope is covered with a very 

 dense growth from 6 to 20 feet in height. Along the watercourses a 

 few trees 30 feet high are seen, and I found one grove of such trees a 

 few acres in extent near the highest part of the island. The opens sup- 

 port a rich forage of guinea-grass and a few cattle are raised. Culti- 

 vation is limited to a few scattering patches of yams, a few banana 

 trees, and cocoanut palms. Wild life includes deer and goats, both 

 introduced, parrots, wild pigeons, and the Indian mongoose. 



St. Johns is the best watered of the three islands ; but it, too, is al- 

 most entirely uncultivated because of its mountainous character. It is 

 distinguished by its groves of sweet bay trees, from which the West 

 Indian bay rum is made. There are a few lime orchards. The rest of 



