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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



With but few exceptions the lumbermen 

 pay no attention to their pulp wood and 

 leave it to rot in the woods, while others pay 

 no attention to their slabs. It is estimated 

 by lumbermen that the waste in slab wood 

 alone in West Virginia, for the past five 

 years, will exceed a million dollars a year. 

 Efforts have now been made to prevent 

 this loss and a number of the lumbermen 



are placing their slab wood on the market 

 with good results. West Virginia is one 

 of the largest lumber producing states In 

 the east and her revenue from timber 

 reaches many millions each year. Unless 

 the legislature continues the fight against 

 the destruction of the forests it will only 

 be a matter of a few years until this state 

 will have but a limited supply of timber. 



NEWS AND NOTES 



Canadian Forestry Convention 



Sir Wilfred Laurier, the premier of 

 Canada, has issued an official summons 

 for a Dominion forestry convention, to be 

 held in Quebec January 18-20, 1911, and 

 notices have been issued by James Lawler, 

 secretary of the Canadian Forestry Asso- 

 ciation, which will have charge of the 

 arrangements. The governor general will 

 open the convention and the president of 

 the association, Hon. W. C. Edwards, will 

 occupy the chair. Among those who, it is 

 hoped, will take part in the convention, in 

 addition to official representatives, are Sir 

 Wilfrid Laurier, Mr. R. L. Borden, M. P.. 

 Hon. Clifford Sifton, chairman of the Com- 

 mission of Conservation; Hon. Sydney 

 Fisher, Hon. Frank Oliver, Sir Lomer 

 Gouin, Hon. Jules Allard, Hon. Frank 

 Cochrane, Hon. W. C. H. Grimmer, His 

 Grace Mgr. Begin, Archbishop of Quebec; 

 R. H. Campbell, Dominion Superintendent 

 of Forestry; H. S. Graves, Chief Forester 

 of the United States; Dr. H. S. Beland, 

 M. P.; Dr. B. E. Fernow, Dean of the 

 Faculty of Forestry of the University of 

 Toronto; Achille Bergevin, of the Quebec 

 Fish and Game Protective Association; and 

 Dr. C. Gordon Hewitt, Dominion Ento- 

 mologist. The Legislature of Quebec will 

 be in session, and the Commission of Con- 

 servation will hold its annual meeting in 

 Quebec on Jan. 17. 



This convention will have much the 

 same breadth and scope as the American 

 Forest Congress of 1905, and an invitation 

 to participate has been extended to repre- 

 sentatives of the United States Forest 

 Service, the American Forestry Associa- 

 tion, the National Conservation Associa- 

 tion, and state forestry bureaus and as- 

 sociations. 



The Use of Poles in 1909 



The total number of poles reported to 

 the Bureau of Census as purchased during 

 the calendar year 1909 by the telegraph 

 and telephone companies, steam and elec- 

 tric light and power companies of the 

 Ijnited States was 3,739,000, as against 

 3,249.000 in 1908 and 3,283,000 in 1907. 

 There were purchased in 1909 by the same 

 class of users 3,509,000 cross-arms, 6,168,000 



brackets, and 18,463,000 insulator pins. 

 Cross-arms, brackets, and insulator pins 

 were not included in the annual census 

 of lumber and timber products prior to 

 1909. 



Telephone and telegraph companies re- 

 ported purchases during 1909 of 2,916,000 

 poles, or 78 per cent of the total, an in- 

 crease over 1908 of 354,000 poles, or 14 

 per cent, and over 1907 of 604,000 poles, 

 or 26 per cent. Steam railroads reported 

 the purchase of 26 per cent more poles 

 in 1909 than in 1908, though 34 per cent 

 less than in 1907, while the reported pur- 

 chases by electric railroads and electric 

 light and power companies were 18 per 

 cent greater than in x908 and 7 per cent 

 less than in 1907. 



The average cost per pole of all lengths 

 and from all species of wood in 1909, was 

 $1.89, as against $1.82 in 1908, and $2.46 in 

 1907, mainly for the reason that a class 

 of pole consumers in the United States 

 which uses chiefly short poles was not 

 included in the census for 1907. 



Cedar continues to be the principal pole 

 timber, contributing 65 per cent of the 

 total. Chestnut stands second, oak third, 

 and pine fourth, these being the only 

 species of which more than one hundred 

 thousand were used. 



Substantial progress in the practice of 

 treating poles with chemicals to preserve 

 them from decay is disclosed by the re- 

 turns for 1909, nearly one-sixth of the total 

 purchases during that year having been 

 given some preservative treatment, as 

 against about one-tenth in 1908 and one- 

 eighth in 1907. 



The Appalachian Forest Bill 



The status and importance of the Appa- 

 lachian forest reservation project is com- 

 pactly presented in an editorial in Collier's 

 Weekly, reproduced on this page. 



The measure, which has passed the 

 the house, comes up before the senate for 

 final disposition on February 15, 1911. 



It is needless to emphasize to readers of 

 The Constitution the meaning and urgency 

 of the bill. 



It merely aims to attempt some system- 

 atic preservation of the mountain forest 



