550 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



there are 800 cows, over 500 horses, thirty or forty oxen, 

 785 sheep, forty-five pigs, 250 poultry and three shepherd 

 dogs not a vast animal population for such a large re- 

 gion, yet a good beginning, everything considered. A 

 number of goats have also been distributed, and a co- 

 operative society of peasants has acquired fourteen addi- 

 tional cows. In respect to farm machinery, there were in 

 the Somme region in February 150 reapers, 15 binders 

 and reapers, 100 thrashing machines, 100 harrows, 

 28 farm wagons and 35 sowers. The army also 



had established a repair center where expert workmen 

 tried to piece together machines destroyed by the Ger- 

 mans and where they expected to turn out 1,500 divers 

 machines in this way. There have also been distributions 

 of tools and small implements, such as churns. The 

 emergency has served, among other things, to introduce 

 American tractors. The peasants of the region of Nesle, 

 Ham and Roye have acquired seven of these, and the 

 ministry of agriculture has sent sixty to the department 

 of the Somme. 



A BOTANICAL APPRECIATION 



OF THE many letters received by American Forestry 

 telling of the high appreciation in which the articles 

 on botany, by Dr. Shufeldt, are held, the following is 

 a recent example : 



Branchport, New York, July 24, 1918. 

 Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, 



Washington, D. C. 

 Dear Sir : 



ONE MILLION DOLLARS FOR FIGHTING 

 FIRE ON NATIONAL FORESTS 



/ 



I want to tell you how I enjoy your articles on the 



wild flowers in 

 American For- 

 estry. That in 



a c aul e, pube- 

 s c e ns parvi- 

 fl o rum and 

 spectabile. As 

 you did not 

 show a photo- 

 graph of the 

 latter, I enclose 

 one from my 

 collection. I 

 visited a swamp 

 June 19th last 

 where we found 

 more than fifty 

 blossoms of 

 this superb 

 flower and 

 there is another 

 swamp near 

 here where 

 there are as 

 many more 

 plants. 



Perhaps I 

 might have 

 some wild 

 flower photo- 

 graphs that you 

 would like to 

 use in your ar- 

 ticles, though 

 mine all have 

 the natural 

 background 



and I note that in yours the background is eliminated. Dr. 



Allen is now using some of my bird photographs in American 



Forestry. Yours truly, 



Verdi Burtch. 



T^HE President has authorized a loan of one million 

 * dollars to the Forest Service for fire-fighting ex- 

 penses ,to meet the serious emergency conditions in the 

 National Forests of the Northwest and the Pacific Coast 

 States. The loan was made from the special defense 

 fund of fifty million dollars placed at the disposal of 

 the President by Congress. It is recognized that the 

 protection of the National Forests is an important and 

 the 'Vast numbers essential war activity. 



is especially Forestry officials regard the present fire season in 



interesting as / r 



I am very fami- the Northwest as in some ways the most serious with 



liar with the w hich the Government has ever had to cope. Early 

 form of the , , , . , . , . , . . 



Lady- Slippers _ -drought, high winds, electrical storms, labor shortage, 



m A",V ".?^ ^ n d depletion of the regular protective force as a result 



of the war have combined to make the fire conditions 



unprecedently bad. 



Necessity for resort to the Presidential fund is due 



to the fact that the appropriation bill for the Department 



of Agriculture for the current year has not yet been 



passed. 



Photograph by Verdi Burtch 



THE SHOWY LADY-SLIPPER 



GENEROUS DONATION FROM THE 

 PHILIPPINES 



T PON noticing the appeal in the American Forestry 

 '-' Magazine for donations to the Forest Regiments 

 Fund, Mr. Arthur F. Fischer, Director of Forestry for 

 the Philippine Islands, secured permission from the 

 Governor-General of the Islands to stir up sentiment 

 and solicit subscriptions to the fund among the Islands 

 and adjacent territory. Mr. Fischer's work was most 

 effective and resulted in the collection of $723.50 from 

 a list of contributors whose names we shall have the 

 pleasure of publishing a little later on. The Committee 

 deeply appreciates this substantial co-operation from 

 friends so far away and their good wishes for the suc- 

 cess of the welfare work for the boys of the lumber 

 and forest regiments. 



SELL YOUR BLACK WALNUT TREES AND HELP WIN THE WAR 



