502 



Canadian Forestry journal, December, 1919 



MINING COMPANIES PLANT FOR PROPS 



Harrisburs, Penna. Hon. Robert S. Conklin, 

 Commissioner of Forestry, stated to-day that tbe 

 most promisins? development of the past year in 

 the field of reforestation is the interest mining 

 companies are taking in forest tree plantmg. 

 Fourteen different comnanies already have com- 

 mitted themselves to the practice. During the 

 past four years mining companies have planted 

 over 450 thousand trees, of which number 250 

 thousand were set out during 1919. 



Coal companies are beginning to see the value 

 of reforestation. They are experiencing great 



difficultv in procuring suitable mine timber at a 

 reasonable cost, and they realize that it is now 

 possible to grow timber of usable size on their 

 own holdings, at present almost entirely unpro- 

 ductive, long before the supply of their mines 

 will be exhausted. 



Commissioner Conklin predicts that mmmg 

 companies will plant at least 500 thousand trees 

 during 1920, and announces that the Depart- 

 ment of Forestry is. co-operatmg with them by 

 supplying the plantmg stock, and givmg tech- 

 nical advice free of charge. 



BRITISH ISLES READY FOR PLANTING SCHEME 



London, England. When the last of three- 

 decker men-of-war ran off the slips British for- 

 estry died. 



The oak forests, planted after Trafalgar for 

 the express purpose of building Britain's wooden 

 ways, stood untouched at the beginning of the 

 war. When the overseas' supplies of timber 

 were cut off, the country had cause to bless the 

 men who unconsciously planted for an emerg- 

 ency greater than any which they could have 

 contemplated. 



Serious effort now being made toward affor- 

 esting Great Britain is the result of the hard les- 

 son learned during the war, and is but one of 

 many hopeful signs of the intelligent reconstruc- 

 tion visible here. Britain can never be self-sup- 

 porting in the matter of timber, and, whatever 

 success may attend the present endeavor, it is 

 not likely she will import a single log the less 

 for a generation. 



But, thanks largely to the splendid work of 

 the Canadian Fores try Corps, her woods are a 

 picture of desolation, and, even before that most, 

 successful attack, the area under timber was only 

 4 per cent of the whole. 



The proposal is to spend three and a half mil- 

 lions sterHng in planting a quarter of a million 

 acres during the next ten years, under central- 

 ized authority, possessing wide powers and cap- 

 able of laying down a well-defined, far-reaching 

 policy. 



Britain has never had a real forestry depart- 

 ment, and one of its advantages will be that edu- 



cation in forestry will be greatly stimulated, and 

 a worthy career opened to experts. 



The House of Lords, which has approved the 

 scheme, knows more about such subjects than 

 the commons, and it is hoped no serious oppos- 

 ition will be encountered in the Lower House. 



PULP SCARCE— INQUIRY STARTS. 



Washington, D.C. — Scarcity of wood pulp 

 in the United States is becoming so serious that 

 Congress will make a survey of the industry, 

 Senator Gronna, chairman of the Forestry Com- 

 mittee, announced. A superficial survey of the 

 paper industry by the committee shows that 

 many daily papers, especially in the smaller 

 cities, are unable to secure necessary print 

 paper, and that the paper which is available 

 has increased in price to such an extent it is 

 difficult fo rsmall papers to continue at a profit. 



BLACK WALNUT PLANTING 



One hundred and fifty bushels of black wal- 

 nuts were planted this fall in the Mont Alto 

 nursery, Penna. The seed was good in quality 

 and should produce 100,000 seedlings for 

 planting next year. Most of the trees will be 

 distributed to private planters throughout the 

 State, who are anxious to start groves of this 

 valuable tree, the wood of which was in such 

 demand during the war. 



