News and Notes 131 



ence to extending the protection against fire along railroad tracks 

 to the Government-owned railroads in the same manner as is 

 enforced by the Railway Commission on private roads. 



The Society of Forest Engineers revised its constitution in a 

 thorough manner, the important features of the revision being the 

 extension of the time of service for its officers to three years, 

 and the incorporation of the society, which patents its name and 

 the use of it by its members. 



Prof. Stanley Coulter, of Purdue University, a careful student 

 of tree growth, writes: "I have found in my own studies in 

 Indiana as regards the White ash that the rate of growth on 

 well-drained soil was very much greater than on that which is less 

 well-drained. On two tracts so similar that they were at first 

 regarded as identical a difTerence of 17 per cent, was noted, which 

 was only explainable by the fact that the tract showing the 

 greater growth had a good underground drainage, while the other 

 tract had practically none. Where our tile drains, however, have 

 been put in on a large scale, we find that the water table is 

 being lowered so rapidly that some of our shallow-rooted forms 

 are unable to adapt themselves to the changed conditions and the 

 composition of our forests is therefore changing." 



Prof. O. L. Sponsler, of Michigan University, writes: "The 

 botanical distinction between Finns strobus and Finns monti- 

 cola seems to be based upon comparative differences in rigidity 

 of needles, or size of cones, or relation of seed to its wing; all of 

 which are difficult to use and require considerable familiarity 

 with those characters. A year or so ago in examining a few hun- 

 dred cones of each of these species, I noticed that there was con- 

 siderable difference between the two species, in the distance from 

 the outer end of the seed- wing to the outer end of the scale. In 

 measuring thirty or forty of each, this space, from the end of 

 the wing to the end of the scale, ranged from 7 to 15 millimeters 

 on F. monticola cones ; generally, however, the distance was close 

 to 8 or 9 millimeters. F. strobus, on the other hand, had a very 

 short space and was much more uniform. In practically all, the 

 distance from the end of the wing imprint to the end of the scale 

 was from 2 to 3 millimeters, only occasionally reaching 4 milli- 



