7o6 Forestry Quarterly. 



temperature. Also an increase of specific heat was encountered 

 which was apparently due to the effect of drying moist wood at 

 iio° C in saturated steam. 



The problem of artificial seasoning and preserving wood are so 

 complicated, involving so many variable structural, chemical, 

 physical and economic factors that investigations to unravel the 

 tangle must be conducted with great care and thoroughness to 

 avoid illogical and unwarranted conclusions. Scientific investi- 

 gations and theories should be analyzed and tested accurately be- 

 fore heralding a solution of the difificulties which confront the 

 business man. 



Mr. Dunlap describes in detail the construction of apparatus, 

 and outlines with much care the exact conditions of his experi- 

 ments and the methods by which his results were secured and 

 errors eliminated. Logical and scientific methods, a spirit of 

 thoroughness and accuracy, and a bibliography of preznous in- 

 vestigations make the bulletin a more valuable scientific contri- 

 bution to our knowledge of wood than many previously published 

 by the Forest Service. A continuation of these experiments, par- 

 ticularly in studying the effect of temperature and steam and the 

 effect of moisture which occurs in wood as used in the dry kiln 

 and preserving cylinder, should yield results of scientific and 

 practical value. 



I. W. B. 



Report on Timber Conditions around Lesser Slave Lake. By 

 D. R. Cameron. Bulletin 29, Forestry Branch. Ottawa, Canada. 

 1912. Pp. 54. 



This report deals with a reconnaissance of country adjacent to 

 Lesser Slave Lake made with the object of segregating non-agri- 

 cultural land into forest reserves ahead of settlement. The gen- 

 eral conditions of topography, soil, climate, forest growth, fire 

 damage and reproduction, of some 6,700 square miles are dis- 

 cussed. 



The forest areas are placed in nine classes. 



The muskeg type, developed as marginal areas to river systems, 

 undrained height-of-land areas, or plateau summits, predominates, 

 aggregating some 30 per cent, of the area examined. The forest 

 is largely dwarf black spruce, in some regions stunted tamarack. 



