SOME INTERESTING TREES OF SINGULAR GROWTH 



NATURAL GRAFT OF BEECH 



-SIAMESE TWIN" SYCAMORE 



XATURAL AFFINITIES 



GRAFT OP A BEAUTIFUL BEECH 



THE first picture, of natural graft of beech, was sent 

 to American Forestry by Mr. J. G. Brown, and 

 was taken by him during the summer of 1916 

 about a mile southeast of Palisade Park, a summer re- 

 sort near South Haven, Michigan, in a grove of soft 

 maples bordering an old oxbow of Brandywine Creek, 

 while he was studying the physiographic ecology of the 

 region in a class of the University of Chicago. 



Near West Milford, in West Virginia, on the banks 

 of the West Fork River, is found growing the remarkable 

 specimen of sycamore which we have dubbed the "Sia- 

 mese Twin." A close examination of the photograph 

 will show that the trunks are joined at three different 



points. The gentleman is standing on the middle con- 

 necting limb, or what might be called the "second floor." 



There seems to be no reason for the white oaks in 

 the next picture to have grown together they just did. 



The last photograph is another instance of natural 

 graft of beech, and quite a striking example of peculiar 

 growth. The tree started out to be a twin, and then 

 changed its mind and grew together again, its health 

 and beaut}' unimpaired by its freaky growth. 



This photograph, and the ones of the sycamore and 

 the white oaks, were all taken within a mile of each 

 other, and were sent to American Forestry by Mr. J> 

 Franklin McConkey. 



T^HE largest number of sheep grazed on any single 

 -*- National Forest is 315,740, finding pasturage on the 

 Humboldt in Nevada, while the largest number of cattle 

 75,818 head is found on the Tonto in Arizona. The 

 value of the average annual meat product of these two 

 National Forests is estimated at $2,000,000. 



rVF the 22,000,000 trees planted on the Pennsylvania 

 ^ State Forests to January 1, 1917, over 15,000,000, or 

 about seventy-two per cent., are now living, according to a 

 430 



statement made by the Commissioner of Forestry. Fig- 

 ures are not available on the present status of the private 

 plantations, but up to the end of 1916 about 3,000,000 

 seedlings were planted by corporations and individuals, 

 and at least 2,000,000 should be in good condition now. 



THE work of classifying and opening to homestead 

 entry such lands in the National Forests as are 

 chiefly valuable for agriculture is progressing rapidly. 

 More than seventy million acres have been covered by 

 field examinations and the final reports acted upon. 



