496 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



P VEN if one cannot use the wood all on the farm, it 

 is not hard to find a market. In nearby towns there 

 are many persons w'ho have open fire-places in their 

 homes, and who would like to keep them burning on 

 winter evenings, as household altars, but they have a 

 real difficulty in getting the wood, even though it is 

 only a few miles distant, at most, and going to waste 

 from being allowed to decay. The money from the 

 cordwood is not the only return; the trees that are 

 left will take on increased girth because they are given 

 more room and light. 



yHEN, too, coming back to the war, as we all do 

 no matter what we start to talk about these days 

 the government is likely at any time to need all the 

 coal it can get its hands on, for big manufacturing or 

 for the navy. The use of wood will release coal for 

 these purposes, and the trees will, in this respect, 

 perform still another service in helping us to win. 



To use our forests for firewood, provided they are 

 used in the right way, is to save, and not to waste 

 them. By being careful and thrifty we can "eat our 

 cake and have it too," with the trees, because, with 

 wise use, they will return more and more. They are 

 not used up as the coal will be, if we do not save it. 

 Only when the trees again furnish a great deal of fuel, 

 as they did in the days when men thought of coal only 

 as a "black stone," will we be practicing the thrift 

 which must prove the words of Bismarck to be false. 



NATIONAL FORESTS RECEIPTS INCREASE 



RECEIPTS from the National Forests in the fiscal 

 year just closed exceeded those for 1916, the ban- 

 ner previous year, by more than $600,000 and 

 totaled over $3,450,000. The cost of operating the For- 

 ests, about $4,000,000, was virtually the same as in 1916. 



The increase, according to the forestry officials, came 

 chiefly from a more active timber business and from 

 the higher fees charged for grazing, although practically 

 every form of use of the Forests was greater than ever 

 before and nearly every revenue-producing activity con- 

 tributed to the gain. The only exception was that of 

 sales of turpentining jjrivileges, which fell oflf nearly 

 one-half. Since these sales are made only on the Florida 

 Forest the receipts from this source are relatively small. 



The timber business realized fpr the Government 

 over $1,600,000 and live stock grazing over $1,500,000. 

 Permits for water-power development brought in over 

 $100,000 and other forms of land occupancy, including 

 leases of land for summer homes, as much more. In 

 this item the gain was 28 per cent. 



It is pointed out by the Forest Service tliat many 

 forms of use of the Forests bring in no revenue. Settlers 

 in and near the Forests are allowed much free timber 

 for domestic and farm use and are also allowed free 

 grazing up to ten head of milch or work animals. As 

 public recreation grounds the Forests are open to all 

 without charge, while their almost inestimable value for 



water conservation is maintained solely at the cost of 

 the Government. Although their administration and pro- 

 tection as public utilities necessitate large expenditures 

 which yield no money returns, the narrowing gap be- 

 tween expenditures and receipts holds out the prospect, 

 those in charge of the work feel, that the revenues will 

 in no great time exceed the operating cost. 



With the demand for timber markedly stimulated 

 by war conditions, the Government foresters anticipate 

 a further increase in the National Forest cut and the 

 receipts for timber during the current year. On the 

 other hand, they point out that an increase hi business 

 will necessarily call for more work and increased costs. 

 Congress provided for this by increasing the funds avail- 

 able this year for National Forest administration and 

 protection by about $80,000. 



Of the grazing receipts cattle furnished approxi- 

 mately $900,000 and sheep $570,000. On account of 

 the feed shortage faced by the live stock industry 

 throughout a great part of the West last spring, and 

 because of the needs of the nation for meat, wool and 

 hide production, the stock were admitted early and up 

 to the full limit of the carrying capacity of the ranges. 

 As a result of regulated grazing the capacity of the 

 ranges has been growing greater for some years, the 

 Forest Service officials state, and the increase in graz- 

 ing receipts is in part due to the fact that the herds on 

 the Forests this summer are larger than in any previous 

 season. 



A PPROVED grazing allowances for the National 

 Forests during the present season provide for the 

 pasturing of 8,400,155 sheep, 2,120,145 cattle and 

 horses, and 54,680 swine. These figures, compared 

 with those of last year, represent an approximate in- 

 crease of 111,000 cattle and horses and a decrease of 

 about 200,000 sheep. 



"TJO you know that many birds often eat their weight 

 in insects each day? Do you know that but for 

 these birds, insects would make the earth uninhabita- 

 ble in seven years? Do you know that the game hog, 

 the small boy with a 22 rifle and the domestic cat de- 

 stroy untold millions of beneficial birds each year? 



T^O you know that there are over 100,000 kinds of in- 

 sects in the United States, the majority of which 

 are injurious? Do you know that these insects cause 

 over a billion dollars worth of damage to our crops 

 each year, and destroy forest trees sufficient to furnish 

 lumber for thousands of homes? 



A N interesting deposit of carbonized wood, principal- 

 ly Sitka spruce, was recently uncovered by a party 

 of timber cruisers near Talolah, Washington. The 

 coal was successfully burned for several days on the 

 camp fires of the party. 



QF the 30,000,000 trees planted in the United States 

 last year, Pennsylvania planted almost one-fourth. 



