762 



AMEKICAN FOEESTKY 



tention is that, when only one crop of tim- 

 ber is produced in a generation, it is unfair 

 and unwise to levy a tax annually, for thirty 

 or forty years, on timberlands. We believe 

 timber should be treated like corn or wheat 

 or any other crop that it should be free 

 from any taxation until it is cut." 



"The subject of forestry preservation 

 should be removed entirely from the 

 sphere of politics." "The United States 

 should handle it as a business propo- 

 sition, as is done in France, Germany and 

 most of the other European countries. In 

 Germany the first demand made upon the for- 

 ests is for firewood. The nation has found 

 that it is cheaper to import timber for tele- 

 graph and telephone posts from Russia than 

 to chop down its own trees by wholesale. 



"The Siwald forest in Switzerland has 

 been cultivated for more than 1,000 years. 

 The city of Zurich owns it and operates a 

 sawmill. The municipality's profit, over and 

 above the expenses of maintenance and re- 

 planting, is $25,000 a year. 



"Not only should the United States en- 

 courage forestry and development by remov- 

 ing the taxation from virgin forest lands, but 

 it should adopt more stringent measures for 

 the protection of its forests against fire. In 

 Washington, Oregon and other pine-produc- 

 ing states in America probably as much tim- 

 ber has been burned as has been cut. We 

 have seen afforded an object lesson in our 

 travels about Europe." 



Municipal Forestry 



Former Vice-President Charles W. Fair- 

 banks, in an address at Lebanon, Ind., a few 

 days ago advocated municipal forests. Places 

 the size of Lebanon, he said, should establish 

 municipal forests, whether by bequest or by 

 drawing on the treasury of the municipality 

 for the money. 



Every town should have two hundred acres 

 of land adjacent, which should be given to 

 tree culture, he said. The devastation of the 

 forests of to-day was deplored by Mr. Fair- 

 banks. He cited the progress of Japan in 

 attempting the preservation of the small for- 

 ests in that country, and the work of con- 

 servation being carried on on a larger scale 

 in China and Germany. Mr. Fairbanks made 

 a stirring appeal that the boys and girls of to- 

 day be enlisted in the effort for forest con- 

 servation. He recommended that trees be 

 planted about the schoolhouses. the churches, 

 hospitals and the home. The value of the 

 municipal forests was said to be shared by 

 the poorer class of people, who could not 

 affordto pay exorbitant prices for wood in 

 the winter season. With the city provided 

 with the municipal forests poor persons 

 should be allowed to draw on the municipal 

 forests. Many persons, the speaker said, 

 would be willing to give a tract of land for 

 forest conservation. 



Mr. Fairbanks closed with an appeal that 

 the forestry movement have its sanction in 

 the public schools, and that the children of 

 to-day be instructed to conserve the re- 



sources of nature, and not to impoverish the 

 land adapted for tree preservation. 



A despatch from Nevada City dated Octo- 

 ber 20, tells of able work in quenching for- 

 est fires started by incendaries. It says: 

 Supervisor R. L. P. Bigelow, of the Tahoe 

 national forest, received a telephone message 

 from North Bloomfield this morning to the 

 effect that the two forest fires, which were set 

 yesterday on Humbug Creek, below Lake 

 City and North Bloomfield, were under con- 

 trol. The fire-fighters battled with the 

 flames all night, finally conquering them. 



The men worked under the direction of 

 Forest Rangers W. A. Merrill, of North 

 Bloomfield, W. H. Helbig, of Graniteville, 

 and A. R. Ivey, of Nevada City, and crews 

 were sent from Landsburg's sawmill. North 

 Bloomfield and Nevada City. Twelve men 

 left this city yesterday evening and all of 

 them were strong, able-bodied willing work- 

 ers, carefully selected by Supervisor Bigelow. 



Prompt action was necessary, as the fires 

 were close to North Bloomfield and Lake 

 City, and burned fiercely at times. The dam- 

 age will not be heavy, but there was danger 

 of those places being wiped out by the flames. 



The people of North Bloomfield state that 

 the fires were deliberately set by some un- 

 principled person, but for what reason they 

 are unable to account. Had it not been for 

 prompt action Bloomfield would undoubtedly 

 have been destroyed. 



At a recent convention of the New York 

 State Waterways Association in Buffalo, 

 Charles H. Jackson, of Albany, deputy state 

 conservation commissioner, said the state led 

 the world in planting trees and in seeking to 

 renew growth along river banks. 



"New York is doing twice as much as the 

 rest of the United States in seeking to re- 

 plant her forests," said Mr. Jackson. "By us- 

 ing prison labor the state is enabled to raise 

 trees at a minimum cost and thus supply the 

 public much cheaper than nurserymen." The 

 speaker urged everyone interested in water 

 power development to encourage the plant- 

 ing of trees. 



At a banquet in Boston on November 9 

 Congressman Weeks, in a speech dealing 

 with his bill for forest preservation, declared 

 that last year's revenue from forest lands in 

 the Rocky Mountain district was $1,000,000 

 in grazing and from $4,000,000 to $5,000,000 

 in forestry. He prophesied that in the near 

 future these revenues would pay the expenses 

 of the forestry bureau of the Department of 

 Agriculture. 



A Correction. 

 In the article on "A Fire Protection Plan 

 in the Southern Appalachians," published in 

 the November number of American For- 

 estry, it was stated by W. H- Weber, the 

 writer, that the Cherry River Boom and 

 Lumber Company is the owner of some 250,- 

 000 acres of timberland in West Virginia. 

 By a typographical error this appeared in 

 the article, as printed, as 50,000 acres. 



