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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Connecticut, managed by the selectmen of the town. The 

 town bought the wood at $i a cord and paid the 60 men 

 who turned out at the rate of $2.50 for cutting. About 

 35 cords were cut and this was to be held as a wood re- 

 serve by the town to help out the poor. A good communi- 

 ty spirit was developed and considerable competition 

 stimulated with suitable prizes. The bee was so suc- 

 cessful that there will probably be another one soon in 

 Old Lyme. It has encouraged an effort to be made by 

 the county agents to arrange for a similar bee in other 

 places in the State. 



Nearly all the cities and towns in North Carolina now 

 have organized municipal woodyards. In North Carolina 

 the Southern Railway has promised to turn over the 

 discarded ties to the Fuel Administration, and it is re- 

 ported that other railways within the State have agreed 

 to cease burning such ties as waste material and save 

 them for fuel. It has been estimated that fifty million 

 wooden ties are discarded every year by the railroads of 

 the United States equivalent to 1,700,000 cords of fire- 

 wood. 



A member of the Empire State Forest Products As- 

 sociation, conducting a large lumber operation on the 

 southern side of the Adirondacks, has offered to turn 

 his entire crew to the work of cutting cord wood during 

 slack periods. He now has piled on skids near the rail- 

 road a large quantity of hard wood logs for which the 

 market at present is not normal, and he is willing to con- 

 vert them into cord wood. It is estimated that this offer 

 will make available 7,500 cords of wood for Utica and 

 the other cities of Oneida and Herkimer counties. From 

 all parts of the Adirondacks stumpage is offered in both 

 large and small blocks, aggregating hundreds of .thous- 

 ands of cords. Reasonable prices are asked in nearly 

 every case, while some are merely nominal. Many land- 

 owners offer wood for local use free of charge. In many 

 places the lumber operators have already taken steps to 

 meet local needs. 



From Boston comes word that Harvard students are 

 now cutting cordwood. The Massachusetts Forestry As- 

 sociation and the Massachusetts State Forest Service are 

 responsible for the transition from dress suit to cordu- 

 roys. A crew of fifty husky young athletes recently 

 started to work chopping red and white oak of the wood- 

 lots on the Cedar Hill Farm, near Waltham. The boys 

 work form eight o'clock in the morning to half-past four 

 in the afternoon. They are under the charge of an ex- 

 perienced forester. The boys receive $2.50 a day, and 

 the State is glad to get them. 



As a contribution to the fuel situation H. Clouston, of 

 Buffalo, New York, has patented a device for burning 

 sawdust. He writes that it may be attached to any 

 stove or furnace and that when filled with dry sawdust 

 it will feed automatically and maintain a fire for ten 

 hours without attention. Mr. Clouston urges that if 

 sawdust were dried and packed in paper sacks for sale 

 through grocery stores good use could be made of a 

 waste product of tremendous value. He argues that saw- 

 dust is cheap, clean and effective as fuel. 



In a recent bulletin the United States Department of 

 Agriculture points out that "because of reluctance to 

 make an increase of unnecessary work, many wealthy 

 people hesitate to remove dead and unsightly trees from 

 their grounds and premises. They feel that such im- 

 provement work is a luxury which can well be deferred 

 to a later time when there is no such great demand for 

 urgent war work. Their motive is a patriotic one and is 

 to be commended ; but in most localities it will be found 

 that such trees can be used, and in fact are often sorely 

 needed for fuel. With this view, the improvement work 

 can be combined with the production of fuelwood and 

 no labor will be diverted from useful work. It is urged, 

 therefore, that such owners consider this phase of the 

 question and plan accordingly. Obviously this source of 

 fuel supply will not damage the woods or detract from 

 the beauty of the landscape. It is simply utilizing waste 

 wood and keeping the improvements of the estates up 

 through the period of the war. Owners and managers 

 of woodland estates are directed to this view of the situa- 

 tion in connection with present improvement work." 



It is not expected by the authorities that fuel cutting 

 should be done at random. To prevent haphazard cut- 

 ting and to insure best results the Fuel Administration, 

 the United States Forest Service and other agencies, are 

 co-operating to provide expert direction for the work. 

 Those planning to cut wood are urged to secure specific 

 information from reliable foresters. In each state hav- 

 ing a State Forester application should be made to that 

 official. In other states application should be made to 

 the county agent, the State Agricultural College or to 

 the Forest Service at Washington, D. C. Expert di- 

 rection will be furnished free of charge. 



To guide the general farmer in securing this fuel wood, 

 the forestry department at Iowa State College has issued 

 the following general directions : 



1. Take out the fallen trees which have not decayed 

 to such an extent as to render them unsuitable for fuel 

 purposes. 



2. Remove all dead standing trees, such as have been 

 killed through the action of surface fires, insects or 

 diseases. 



3. Remove trees which have been broken by wind or 

 in other ways, so as to leave them in poor condition for 

 future growth. 



4. Remove the inferior species of timber where their 

 growth is interfering with the growth of other more de- 

 sirable trees. 



5. Remove a part of the most desirable species in 

 the stand when the trees are spaced too closely together 

 for best development. 



Care should be exercised at all times in cutting timber 

 from steep slopes. It is usually desirable to keep a 

 heavier stand of timber on steep hillsides than on more 

 level areas, since often destructive soil erosion results 

 from excessive cutting on a hillside. 



TTERE is another war use of forest products. A plan- 

 * * ing mill company in Oregon has recently received an 

 order for 1,000,000 tent pins from the United States Gov- 

 ernment. The pins are to be 24 inches long and will be 

 made of maple and ash. Four months will be required to 

 complete delivery. 



