472 



Canadian Forestry Magazine, October, IQ20. 



obtained from rei^eneration and t:(ro\vth 

 study surveys make estimates of the i)ro- 

 Lable yield at stated intervals in the 

 future. This involves not only a stock- 

 taking of the young- growth, but also 

 the determination of the probable death 

 rate as the stands pass from youth to 

 ir.riturity and this in turn involves, among 

 oilier things, the making of forest dis- 

 ease surveys. 



In order to keep an area continuously 

 productive, provision must be made for 

 the reproduction of the merchantable 

 sjiecies at frequent intervals. The na- 

 tural mortality is very large in a forest 

 and, therefore, there must be an abund- 

 ance of young trees coming on if the 

 continuity of production is to be pre- 

 ■se.ved. The natural regeneration of the 

 forest is precarious and uncertain and 

 tlie necessary conditions are not well 

 i'tiderstood. Yet the study of such con- 

 ditions forms an interesting and very 

 important part in the formation of plans 

 for an unending supply of pine saw logs 

 or spruce pulpwood as the case may be. 



Studies of Fire Protection. 



There is little need of making plans 

 fo^" the future supply of timber on an 

 area if. as is unfortunately the case in 

 some of our best timbered regions, the 

 area has practically no chai:kce of escap- 

 ing destructive fires. An essential part 

 of the forestry students' work in the 

 practice camp is to work out the details 

 of an adequate system of fire protec- 

 tion. This includes the locating and 

 building of trails and telephone lines. 



The work outlined in the preceding 

 paragraphs covers the main things ac- 

 compHslied by forestry students in a 

 practice camp. In the end they have the 

 knowledge and the data necessary for the 

 making of working plans for the tract, 

 jjlans that extend a long way into the 

 future and if carried out by the owners 

 of the land would result in a supply of 

 saw logs or pulpwood so long as the 

 sun shines and the rain falls, for wood 

 is only solidified sunshine and water with 

 a few mineral salts from the soil thrown 

 in for seasoning. The forester uses his 

 intelligence to direct these processes of 

 nature. Under a let-alone, do-nothing 

 policy there is no direction and there will 



be no future supply— at least sufficient 

 to meet the present demands on the pre- 

 sent commercially valuable species. 



The Character Equation 

 ^' In conclufling the outline of under- 

 graduate courses in forestry, the writer 

 wishes to say that in his belief no for- 

 estry school can make a trained forester. 

 That comes only with experience accom- 

 panied with discriminating judgment. 

 The forestry school does, however, at- 

 tempt to train the mind of the student 

 so he can use it to his advantage and 

 that of his employer in whatever cir- 

 cumstances he may be placed. To de- 

 velop in the student an active resource- 

 ful mind and the capacity for sustained 

 ir.telligent thought and persistent hard 

 ^vork is the goal toward which the fores- 

 try schools constantly strive. A forester 

 can be made only in the forest. It is the 

 1 iniction of the teacher to point the way, 

 to lay the foundations. What way he 

 takes, what he builds on those founda- 

 tions depends very largely upon the man 

 himself. 



THE STRENGTH OF TREES 



Few people have any idea of the 

 strength of trees. In Boston, JMass., re- 

 cently, an old elm, more than three feet 

 in diameter, had to be removed from 

 \he common. Several of its limbs had 

 been struck ofif by lightning, and it was 

 s/.pposed to be in a dangerous condi- 

 tion. So one of the tree-levelling de- 

 vices used in France for tearing down 

 buildings, trees, etc., was brought into 

 play. This is a machine that is worked 

 by a couple of men moving a lever back 

 and forth. A cable was fastened to 

 the tree trunk, and it should have come 

 up by the roots, all theory being cor- 

 rect. Instead, it broke the first cable of 

 si eel — one inch thick — and then, when 

 Uvo were wound around that old trunk, 

 the tree shivered a bit and broke them. 

 The contractor gave it up as a bad job, 

 and put several men on with axes to cut 

 ihe roots. 



A Chinese trust controls the dye used 

 on firecrackers, made from cibucao. a 

 Philipine woofl. The same dye is used 

 for sealinof wax and Chinese ink. 



