SILENT SENTINELS 



239 



Alexander, Commissioner of Conservation, ex-officio 

 chairman ; Professor J. G. Lee, of the State University 

 at Baton Rogue, also an ex-officio member ; Henry E. 

 Hardtner, of the Urania Lumber Company, Urania, and 

 Colonel S. T. Woodring, of the Calcasieu Longleaf Lum- 

 ber Company, Lake Charles. In addition to his interest 

 in the lumber industry, Colonel Woodring owns a good 

 sized farm in Calcasieu Parish, and is identified with the 

 agricultural interests of that section of the State. 



In order to be a member of a reforestation club, Colonel 

 Sullivan proposed that a boy should either plant an area 

 with trees, or take scientific care of a young grove already 

 established by natural reforestation. The object of the 

 boys' clubs will be to interest the rising generation in 

 tree growing and bring it to an appreciation of timber 

 as a crop. The rules of the 1921 competition, as worked 

 out by the Forestry Division of the Department of Con- 

 servation, contemplate dividing the contestants into sev- 

 eral classes, based on the kind of work done whether 

 planting.or thinning and otherwise caring for trees already 

 established and the age of the stand cared for. That 

 is, there will be one class composed entirely of boys who 

 are planting up an acre of ground with species of pine ; 

 another of boys who are planting up a like area with 

 hardwoods or cypress; another of boys who are taking 

 care of three acres of seedling pines; another of boys 

 caring for three acres of saplings, etc. There is no limit 

 on the size of the tracts which 

 the boys may undertake to plant 

 or to care for, so that in all prob- 

 ability the boys will do more than 

 the minimum required by the 

 rules of the contest. The prizes, 

 however, will be awarded each 

 year on the basis of the best plant- 



r PHE poplars on Thorn 

 ~ Mountain in Jackson, 

 New Hampshire, make no 

 claim to great antiquity nor 

 to historic associations. I 

 don't remember that Starr 

 King mentions them in his 

 history of the White Moun- 

 tains nor did Hawthorne 

 weave a fanciful legend 

 about them. They are of 

 too recent growth to have 

 become part of the mountain tradition. Our ideas 

 of time are always comparative. Twenty years may 

 not seem to you long to have known two trees; but 

 to me who knew the poplars first as a child, those 

 two decades have been nearly a life time. Few of my 

 friendships are of longer standing. 



If I were a poet, I should weave a song of storms 

 and gales, light summer showers and singing birds, 



ed acre and of the three acres which receive the best care. 

 Five hundred dollars in prizes for the 1921 competition 

 has been donated by Colonel Sullivan in the name of the 

 Great Southern Lumber Company, and the competition 

 for these prizes will be state-wide. The judging will be 

 done by the State forestry officials and will take into 

 consideration such things as the completeness of the 

 stands, the kinds of trees used, the volume and quality 

 of the standing product, the general vigor of the trees, 

 and similar considerations. One of the rules of the 

 contest will require that the boy's parent or guardian, 

 who provides the boy with the necessary land, will enter 

 into a reforestation contract with the State covering the 

 area in question. Under the Louisiana reforestation con- 

 tract law taxes are kept at the same level throughout the 

 period of the contract, which may be from 15 to 40 

 years, at the discretion of the Department, and governed 

 by the desire of the owners. By this rule, the department 

 expects to insure the permanency of the reforestation 

 work, although there is nothing iron-clad about the re- 

 forestation contracts, which may be broken at any time 

 by an owner who is willing to pay up the back taxes 

 with interest. As soon as a qualified man can be found 

 the State Department' of Conservation proposes to put 

 a farm forestry expert into the field who, among his 

 other duties, will supervise and encourage the work of 

 the boys in the reforestation clubs. The State will aid 



also by donating a small amount 

 of tree seed, and later probably 

 tree seedlings, to those who 

 wish them. Inquiries are al- 

 ready coming in from the 

 country parishes, and the State 

 Forestry officials expect great 

 results from the clubs. 



SILENT SENTINELS 



BY HAZEL V. PARTS 



mountains mountains and 

 two poplars even though 

 Joyce Kilmer does say : 

 "Poems are made by fools 

 like me, 

 Only God can make a tree." 

 I'm not a poet though, so all 

 I have been able to do was 

 to love and photograph. 



With things stately and 

 majestic, even as the years 

 of our friendship multiply, 

 our attitude never becomes familiar. The spirit of 

 reverence is too deeply instilled within us. So with 

 the poplars. As time after time I pass between them, 

 on up the mountain, and look back at them, I am 

 strangely silent. I often wonder how many 

 can answer the password they ask through the 

 years. And what is the password of these "Silent 

 Sentinels?" I have never yet LEARNED it, 



fleckless blue skies and carpets of spring flowers, and though its meaning is always clearly felt. 



