484 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



public schools of the state." 



As Tennessee has fine forests and a great variety of 

 trees the women decided these should be conserved for 

 present and future generations, and that the best way to 

 secure this conservation was to give the children a knowl- 

 edge of forest and plant life. This they believe will pro- 

 mote a higher appreciation of tree life, its contribution to 

 the soil, its beauty and artistic value, all of which they 

 declared should be a matter of enforced education and 

 taught in the schools of the State. 



The act requires that "the curriculum of every public 

 school in the State shall include a study of forestry and 

 plant life, which study shall include the names and varie- 

 ties of trees grown in the State, their age of maturity, their 

 value to the soil, to animals and birds." Also the chil- 

 dren are "to be given an object lesson in the study of 



forestry" by "visits to some forest and there instructed." 

 Every pupil must, during the school session write at 

 least one short essay or story on forestry. 



The promoters of this act indicate that correlation of 

 the study of forestry in connection with other studies 

 in the public schools is explained as follows : An art les- 

 son may be taught in the drawing of trees and plants. A 

 composition lesson may be taught in writing of trees and 

 plants. A language and memory lesson may be taught in 

 knowledge gained by the observation and the reading of 

 books on trees and plants so that the child may grow up 

 with the knowledge of the value of forestry. 



In other words it seems these children are to be taught 

 the alphabet of forestry so that when they grow up they 

 can talk the language of forestry. 



INDIANA'S NEW FOREST LAW 



npHE latest statistics credit Indiana with less than 7 per 

 ' cent of timber land. The new forestry law proposes 

 to encourage land owners to preserve the few woods re- 

 maining by assessing them at $1.00 per acre. This law 

 does not subsidize forestry, because the income from a 

 forest investment in Indiana would not justify a valuation 

 of more than $1 per acre, according to State Forester 

 Charles C. Deam. 



Under this law "forest plantations" and "native forests" 

 may be classified as forest land and be assessed at $1 per 

 acre. The law definitely defines the number of trees a 

 forest plantation and native forest must have to be 

 classified. 



Land to be classified must be surveyed and appraised. 

 The cost of the survey is paid by the owner, and the ap- 

 praisement by the county. The land is appraised at its 

 true cash value, exclusive of all timber on it. 



Any sized area not less than three acres may be classi- 

 fied. No land shall be classified that has a dwelling or 

 other buildings on it. No grazing of any kind or amount 



is permitted. The State Forester may visit classified 

 land as often as he deems necessary, and make, in writing, 

 such recommendations to the owner as he sees fit. The 

 owner is compelled to make an annual report to the State 

 Forester of such a character as he may direct. The owner 

 can withdraw his land from classification at any time by 

 making application to the State Forester. When applica- 

 tion is made the owner must have the assessor appraise 

 the land, exclusive of the timber on it, in the same manner 

 as when entered. The first and second assessments are 

 then compared and if the land has increased in value, the 

 owner pays as an unearned increment tax the difference 

 between the two assessments, which is divided among the 

 township, county and State. 



The law permits the classification of land anywhere, 

 even if bordering a city. The timber is not taxed in any 

 way, even when it is cut. The owner has absolute control 

 of the cutting. He can cut any time or any amount, but 

 when a vacancy is made in the forest it must be replanted 

 at the first planting season. 



NEWS PRINT FROM SPRUCE PINE 



A NEW use for an unused wood is almost equivalent 

 -^*- to creating a new forest, since it increases the avail- 

 able supply and reduces the consumption of other woods 

 of established value. This is one of the reasons at least 

 why so much interest has been shown in the possible utili- 

 zation of southern pine for paper making, particularly 

 newsprint, and in the printing of a recent issue of the 

 Birmingham Age-Herald on paper made from "Alabama 

 spruce pine," an interesting experiment has been brought 

 to a head and broad possibilities developed. 



For many years the wood from several species of south- 

 ern pine have found use in paper making, but thus far 

 its utilization has been confined to unbleached stocks and 

 coarser grades, among which kraft and box boards pre- 

 dominated. With the temporary and exaggerated short- 

 age of northern pulp wood, primarily spruce and balsam, 

 which are the main eastern sources of groundwood and 

 sulphite pulp for newsprint, renewed attention was given 



to the perfection of processes which would bring the 

 great potential supply of southern pulp woods into line 

 for commercial utilization. The successful bleaching of 

 sulphate pulp was accomplished in laboratory experi- 

 ments some time ago, both government and outside inves- 

 tigators having reported a fair measure of success. The 

 direct application of these results to commercial prac- 

 tice has not been announced, and naturally capital for 

 paper production will not seek investment in the South 

 outside of the established fields until the practicability of 

 the processes is thoroughly established. 



The spruce pine from which the Age-Herald was 

 printed was shipped to Niagara Falls and converted into 

 newsprint by a company and on machines which use Can- 

 ada spruce. The product, according to the statement 

 made in the Age-Herald in their issue of June 20. 

 was made from 70% ground wood pulp and ?>0% sul- 

 phite pulp. In appearance the paper has a slightly more 



