520 Forestry Quarterly. 



most of our western states, the public schools are supported 

 largely by the sale of timber from state forest lands. 



"Although not always as serious as they were last year, forest 

 fires in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and California 

 annually destroy timber which, if saved for manufacture, would 

 bring in $40,000,000. We not only lose this income, but we 

 have to pay higher taxes on the rest of our property and higher 

 prices for the forest material which escapes. These fires kill the 

 young trees, so new forests cannot follow the old ones, and, by 

 leaving the ground bare, also hasten the rapid run-off of snow 

 and rain and make our streams low in summer. Other losses 

 are human lives and the destruction of buildings and stock. 



"Primarily, our chief work is to encourage legislation to pro- 

 tect our forests and secure the appropriation of state funds to 

 carry out the laws, also to provide for fire patrols, and to teach 

 men, women and children the value of knowing what to do, not 

 so much in the way of fighting fires as in preventing them. We 

 need the support of the National Irrigation Congress to assist 

 us in spreading the gospel of fire prevention, and with that end 

 in view hope to bring the matter to the attention of the Congress 

 in a formal way at the Chicago convention. 



"Forests are necessary to successful irrigation, as the trees 

 retain the rain and snowfall and thus assure sufficient moisture 

 for crop purposes during the dry season. Irrigation, which 

 makes intensive farming possible, is largely responsible for the 

 well developed country districts in the Northwest, where the 

 rural communities are so thickly populated they resemble suburbs 

 of cities." 



Consul General Thackara has reported from Berlin another 

 tree felling machine, in part as follows : 



"A machine for felling trees has been invented by Hugo 

 Gantke, of Berlin. The principle of the invention is that by pull- 

 ing an ordinary steel wire rapidly back and forth around the 

 tree to be felled, sufficient heat is developed by the friction to 

 burn a smooth groove through the stem of the tree. The ma- 

 chine has been patented in Germany, Great Britain, Austria, and 

 a number of other countries, and a patent has been applied for 

 in the United States. 



"The inventor illustrates his invention by means of an ordi- 



