60 



Canadian Forestry Journal, February, 1919 



in position they hang head downwards; they 

 occur in much greater numbers and are often 

 conspicuous because of their bright yellow color 

 when ripe. The color is due to masses of yellow 

 powder contained in two little sacs at the base 

 of each scale. When the branches are jarred by 

 striking the tree with an axe or when they are 

 swayed by the wind, the powder is shed in 

 sulphur colored showers. Each grain of powder 

 is capable of developing within itself the essen- 

 tial male cell, so we may call the structures pro- 

 ducing the powder-like substance, the male 

 flowers. 



The Miracle of Tree Creation. 

 Nature abhors mbreedmg and she makes it 

 difficult for the male and female cells of the same 

 tree to meet; in this case by placing them 

 twenty feet or more from each other in a ver- 

 tical direction. The yellow powder of a tree 

 higher up the slope, however, or that from an- 

 other tree some distance away on the same level, 

 is borne by the wind to the topmost branches 

 bearing the female flowers. They are dusted 

 with the powder and it works its way in between 

 the scales which stand slightly apart at this 

 time. Each little grain of powder, so small that 

 it would have to be magnified fifteen or twenty 

 times to be seen with our eyes, now develops 

 a minute tube which grows along between two 

 scales. When it reaches the little flesh-colored 

 body at the base of a scale, the tube has de- 

 veloped within itself a male cell which finally 

 meets the female cell; the contents of the two 

 are mixed together and the miracle of creation 

 is performed; a new spruce tree begins its life. 

 At this stage several of these little trees, perhaps 

 a dozen or more, could rest comfortably on the 

 head of a pin, but each contains an impulse and 

 a power which, if conditions are favorable, will 

 lead it on, and force it on, until it has developed 

 a body 100 feet tall, two feet in thickness near 

 the ground, and weighing several tons! Surely 

 this is a miracle. 



If you are sufficiently interested to read cer- 

 tain articles in the following numbers of the 

 "Journal" you will learn how this miracle is 

 performed; how an invisible, microscopic cell 

 develops into a giant forest tree. 



(Next article in March issue). 



o 



WANTED: FOUR FRIENDS! 



Will you give us four or five names? 

 Possibly you may prefer a 'short cut.' 

 By that we mean pinning a dollar bill to 



a friend's name. We will notify him of 



your thoughtfulness. 



CANADIAN FORESTRY JOURNAL, 



206-207 Booth Bldg., Ottawa. 



BOLSHEVIKI SEIZE TIMBER. 



The timber trade of Russia — what remained 

 of it outside of the White Sea district — has been 

 dealt a death blow by the recent Bolshevik de- 

 cree that exports of Russian woods are forbidden 

 and that private lumbering must stop. The 

 decree, which affects all district of Russia under 

 Bolshevik control, declares that "all work in con- 

 nection with forests and trade in timber and all 

 wood manufacturing will be taken over by the 

 local Soviets, and all export is forbidden." It is 

 stated that this decree relates to the nationaliza- 

 tion of all property in land, one of the main 

 planks of the Bolshevik platform. 



No one, of course, takes the edicts of the Reds 

 very seriously, doubting the permanence of them 

 and their makers; but they complicate the in- 

 dustrial and economic situation in Russia greatly 

 and have caused certain interests substantial 

 losses. The Norwegian newspaper in Petrograd, 

 Nording Kommune, states that this decree hits 

 Norwegian interests particularly hard, as much 

 of their properties, representing millions of 

 crowns, lies in Bolshevik territory. 



It will, however, not affect the timber trade of 

 the White Sea district, as it does not recognize 

 Bolshevik authority, and the manufacture there 

 of a certain quantity of saw woodis expected 

 during the winter, as is a continuation of ex- 

 portation durnig the next shipping season, even 

 though on a considerably reduced scale. 



We have some extra copies of the 

 January and February issues to send free 

 of charge to your friends. 



LUMBER STUDY BY MAIL. 



Moscow. Idaho, Feb. I . — The correspondence 

 course in lumber and its uses announced some 

 time ago by the school of forestry. University of 

 Idaho at Moscow has met wtih ready acceptance, 

 the enrollment exceeding expectations. The 

 course was offered in response to a demand for 

 information, in convenient form, regarding the 

 properties of wood and the adaptability of differ- 

 ent wood to different uses, standard grades and 

 sizes, structural timbers, seasoning and preserva- 

 tion of wood, lumber prices, lumber production, 

 and the war time uses of wood. 



