574 Forestry Quarterly 



Engelman si^ruce is a tree of higher elevations, it occurs freely 

 in the lower elevations. It cannot be, or has not so far been, dis- 

 tinguished by color, form or habitus of the trunk. Whether 

 nurserymen's offerings can be true to name is also doubtful. 



A generally interesting article in London Engineering on "Re- 

 fueling Warships at Sea," by Spencer Miller, has a peculiar in- 

 terest to lumbermen and foresters inasmuch as the system of 

 cable construction for his device of fueling at sea was an out- 

 growth of the devices designed by Mr. Miller for the Lidgerwood 

 logging systems. With his marine cableway he seems to have 

 satisfactorily solved the intricate problem of coaling at sea from 

 a collier. It is nothing more nor less than an overhead skidder, 

 at the same time providing means to prevent any variation in the 

 strain upon the cables due to the pitching of the two vessels. 



Some interesting uses are being made of peat in the United 

 States. It is manufactured into a fertilizer and employed as a 

 fertilizer filler, according to the United States Geological Sur- 

 vey ; it is also used for making paper, stock food, and mud baths. 

 In Germany and Austria peat baths are well-established institu- 

 tions, and during the last few years such baths have been tried 

 in some of the sanitariums of the Middle West and found bene- 

 ficial in certain cases. As food for live stock, however, peat seems 

 to have found its most curious use, inasmuch as the kind of peat 

 used is thousands of years old, and, although it may still be classed 

 as vegetable in character, it is only a step removed from low-grade 

 coal. As a stock food it is used in a mixture containing molasses. 

 The results are stated to have been very satisfactory in practice, 

 the peat acting as a tonic and corrective. The peat used is the 

 black, well-humified or rotted kind and is prepared in practically 

 the same way as when used for fertilizer. Peat for various pur- 

 poses was produced in the United States last year to the extent 

 of 57,000 tons, valued at $367,000. The peat deposits of the 

 United States are of enormous extent. 



An increasing demand for paper has led to experimental investi- 

 gations on material not heretofore considered a possible substi- 

 tute for those materials usually used for paper stock. The 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture has demonstrated that from the 



