AMERICAN FORESTRY 



121 



INDIA TO EXPLOIT HER FORESTS 



"INDIA, with an almost untouched timber 

 -*- reserve, is preparing to exploit her for- 

 ests. For the purpose of studying the most 

 modern methods of logging, Mr. Charles 

 Gilbert Rogers, Director of Forests of 

 India for the British Government, is in 

 the United States with a corps of seventeen 

 engineers. These engineers are at present 

 at work in logging camps in the Appal- 

 achian Mountains, and will gradually work 

 toward the Northwest, then down the 

 Pacific Coast, and will conclude their 

 studies in the Southern Pine territory in 

 February, 1921. They will take in every 

 section of the country wherein a distinct 

 method of handling logs is in operation, 

 and will spend a month with each type of 

 work. 



Mr. Rogers called on Mr. J. E. Rhodes, 

 Secretary-Manager of the Southern Pine 

 Association, at New Orleans, to consult 

 with him as to the program to be pursued 

 to obtain the best results and while in the 

 Association offices told something of the 

 resources and plans of the British Govern- 

 ment in approaching their problem of 

 lumber production. 



India is a little less than half the size 

 of the United States, and possesses untold 

 timber wealth. In only one section have 

 there been in operation any mills sawing 

 lumber, that being the Province of Burma, 

 while in every other portion of the vast 

 country all lumber is whipsawed by hand 



out of the tree in the place the tree is 

 dropped. 



The topography of India is rough, with 

 every problem in logging that is met with 

 in the United States to confront them with 

 the exception of the snow hauling of the 

 North. In place of the snow there is always 

 the heat to contend with, in some places a 

 dry heat, in others a moist heat. At the 

 coast line there will in some places be 

 necessary the "pull-boats" and other log- 

 ging apparatus and methods of the cypress 

 swamps of the United States, while in the 

 interior the problem will be to get the 

 logs down the sides of the mountains. 



Teak is now the wood mostly used in 

 producing lumber, because teak is the only 

 wood that will resist the attacks of the 

 white ants of India. Teak grows along the 

 coast lines, and there is today in the Prov- 

 ince of Burma alone, where, as stated, the 

 only milling has been done, nearly thirty 

 million acres of untouched timber lands. 



The timber of India will be operated 

 upon a gigantic system of conservation. 

 None but the large timber will be cut at 

 any time, and the methods of logging will 

 be selected that will insure the least dam- 

 age to the smaller trees. This is possible 

 in that country, as it has never been 

 possible in America, owing to the title 

 to the timber being vested in the 

 State and the operations can therefore 

 be conducted by the State on one national 

 system, which will insure a perpetual 



source of revenue from the forest wealth. 

 The men who are studying the American 

 logging methods are all veterans of the 

 World War, and are civil and mechanical 

 engineers. When their studies have been 

 . completed here they will return to India 

 to work under two American logging ex- 

 perts who are now there studying the con- 

 ditions necessary for proper logging meth- 

 ods. Two experts from the United States 

 Forest Products Laboratory at Madison, 

 Wisconsin, are en route to India to advise 

 as to kiln drying methods. 



BOXING AND CRATING 



VT/TTH an enrollment of eleven officials 

 of box factories and box-using con- 

 cerns, the fourth commercial course in box- 

 ing and crating at the Forest Products 

 Laboratory ended recently. The object of 

 the course was to demonstrate for manu- 

 facturers and shippers the principles that 

 underlie proper box and crate construction 

 and the development of economical con- 

 tainers that will deliver their contents to 

 their destination in a satisfactory condi- 

 tion at a minimum cost. 



DECOVERIES by the Government, dur- 

 ing the last fiscal year, for trespasses 

 on the National Forests amounted to $87,- 

 )82 in damages and $3,225 in fines. These 



ncluded grazing, timber, fire, game, and 

 occupancy. 



DISSTON 



A survey of the largest and fastest running mills 

 will show that Disston Circular Saws and Band Saws 

 predominate. 



Saws made by Disston workmen and Disston methods 

 stand up to the work and run true to speed. 



Each swaging and filing during the entire life of the 

 saw finds the same quality in the steel that the saw 

 possesses when new. No matter what your require- 

 ments whether they be for log sawing, factory work, 

 or metal cutting you'll find a Disston that is exactly 

 right for your particular needs. 



HENRY DISSTON & SONS, Inc. 



Philadelphia, U. S. A. 



o^ 57 ^, 



