256 



THE IREIGA110N AGE. 



On three or four farms ginseng is the 

 main crop, and one farmer in Jackson 

 county is putting in 160 acres of it. It 

 requires 40,000 seeds to plant an acre, and 

 they are worth $85. After planting they 

 require seven years to grow, and then the 

 roots weigh from one half-ounce to three 

 ounces each. They are cured and shipped 

 to China, where they sell at from $3 to 

 $2000 per ounce, according to the quality 

 and texture, so tljat he expects to be paid 

 for the expensive planting and cultivation 

 and long waiting for the crop to grow. 



Another crop which requires even longer 

 waiting is the hickory nut or shellbark, of 

 which many farmers are now setting out 

 large orchards. This nut, which used to 

 grow wild and sell for 50 cents a bushel, 

 now is in good demand at about $3, and if 

 the trees which were cut down in the early 

 days of the state were now standing they 

 would yield the most profitable crop of the 

 farm. 



Several farms make a specialty of rais- 

 ing frogs by the thousands, as they are 

 worth from 50 to 90 cents a dozen. There 

 is a large profit in them, but it requires 

 much care to protect them from their ene- 

 mies, which include crows, hawks, herons 

 and many prowling small beasts. 



Some farmers raise watermelons and 

 promote their growth by slitting the stem 

 and putting in a cotton fuse or wick, which 

 projects out and passes through a cork 

 into a bottle filled with sweetened water. 

 A thrifty vine will use up a pint of this 

 water a day and grow melons of 70 to 80 

 pounds weight of a texture and sweetness 

 never before known. &t. Louis Globe 

 Democrat. 



NOTES ON FORESTRY. 

 A system of co-operation for the coming 

 summer has been arranged between the 

 Division of Forestry and the forest reserve 

 work of the U. S. Geological Survey. The 

 latter is a branch of the Department of the 

 Interior. Field parties of each division 

 will collect information desired by the 

 other, and, in some instances, exchange of 



men may be made. This system marks a 

 distinct change from conditions of a few 

 years ago, when there was sharp rivalry 

 between the scientific branches of Govern- 

 ment service. Tbe Geological Survey will 

 give especial attention to collecting data 

 on forest fires for the Division of Forestry. 

 Investigation of the causes, effects, and 

 means of prevention of forest fires in the 

 West, will be carried on this summer in 

 Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, 

 New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming,. 

 Montana, Idaho, South Dakota. Besides 

 field study, designed chiefly to discover 

 means of preventing the evil, the Division 

 is making a historic record of all important 

 fires which have occurred in the United 

 States since 1754. Although yet incom- 

 plete, this indicates that the annual re- 

 corded loss by forest burnings in the 

 United States is, at the very lowest, 

 $20.000,000. It will probably run above 

 this sum, as the Pacific coast States have 

 been only partially examined. Accounts 

 of over 5,500 disastrous fires have been 

 obtained in the seventeen States already 

 examined. Michigan, Minnesota and 

 Wisconsin have suffered the most severely. 

 These records are taken chiefly from news- 

 papers, and where it has been possible to 

 compare them with the figures of practical 

 lumberman, it has been found that the 

 tendency of the press is to underestimate 

 the damage. 



The former official estimate of the 

 wooded area of the United States, placed 

 at 27 per cent, has been raised to 37 per 

 cent, by the latest computations of the 

 Division of Geography and Forestry of the 

 U. S. Geological Survey. That office has- 

 issued a bulletin containing new figures on 

 American forests, some of which tend to 

 prove the national timber resources 

 greater than is supposed. 



The two latest States to be examined 

 are Oregon and Washington. The former 

 is estimated to contain 234.653 million 

 feet, B. M., in standing timber; the latter, 

 115,778 million feet. Destruction by fire 

 has been exceedingly serious in Washing- 



