102 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



"oak apples," nutgalls, or gallnuts. These excrescences 

 running from the size of a large pea to a hazel nut 

 are found on the leaves, twigs, and even on the trunks of 

 many species of oaks. The^ follow the deposition of 

 the eggs of certain insects a process accompanied by 

 a peculiar virus, the gall being subsequently stimulated 

 in its growth through the irritation caused by the pres- 

 ence of the larva. These insects are commonly flies 

 which belong to the family Cynipidae Cynips quercus 

 inanis being the principal one to inflict the wounds. 



Galls have a bitter, astringent taste, and are chiefly 

 used for the tannin they yield, also the gallo-tannic 

 acid of commerce. Many of them reach this country 

 from various parts of the world, as China, Syria, Bok- 

 hara, and so on; they vary in form, size, and color, as 

 well as in other qualities traders knowing them under 

 the names of white, blue, and green galls. It would be 

 interesting to know to what extent oak galls are col- 

 lected in this country to supply the trades, professions, 

 or for other commercial purposes. 



THE GIANT MADRONA OR ARBUTUS TREE 

 OF CALIFORNIA 



THE GENUS really belongs to the Old World. Asia 

 has its species, and Mexico claims one or two repre- 

 sentatives, but the pride of the family and the delight of 

 arboriculturists is the strong, healthy and handsome child 

 of the west coast. It is often eighty to one hundred feet 

 high, three feet in diameter, and a famous specimen in 

 Marin County has a measured girth of twenty-three feet 

 at the branching point of the tremendous stem, with many 

 of the branches three feet through. The foliage is light 

 and airy, the leaves oblong, pale beneath, bright green 

 above. The bloom is in dense racemes of cream-white 

 flowers ; the fruit, a dry orange-colored berry, rough and 

 uninteresting. But the charm of the madrona, outside 

 of its general appearance, is in its bark no, it is not a 

 bark, it is a skin delicate in texture, smooth, and as soft 

 to the touch as the shoulders of an infant. In the strong 

 sunlight of the summer these trees glisten with the rich 

 color of polished cinnamon, and in the moist shadow of 

 the springtime they are velvety in combination colors of 

 old gold and sage green. There is a human pose to the 

 trunk. Seen through the tangle of the thicket, it looks 

 like the brown, lithe body of an Indian, and in the moon- 

 light the graceful upsweep of its branches is like the 

 careless lifting of a dusky maiden's arms. Every feature 

 of the madrona is feminine. They grow in groves or 

 neighborhoods and seldom stand in isolation, curtsy to 

 the winds, mock at the dignified evergreens and oaks, 

 and with every favorable breeze and opportunity flirt 

 desperately with the mountain lilacs that toss high their 

 purple plumes on the headwaters of Los Gota Creek. 

 Harper's Magazine. 



THE total amount of timber cut on the National For- 

 ests in the fiscal year 1917 was 840,612,000 board 

 feet, as against 714,505,000 board feet in 1916. 



FRUIT AS FOOD TO WIN THE WAR 



BY E. S. SMITH 



Y\7"E must win the war against Germany ; the food 

 supply is the most important factor in that struggle 

 and a great and untouched source of supply is more than 

 a hundred million idle and unproducing fruit trees. 



All the materials are at hand to make them productive. 

 At little effort and small expense more than a billion ex- 

 tra bushels of fruit can be grown in 1918. 



These five things should be done and wonderful re- 

 sults will be achieved : 



(1) Measure the tree's diameter in inches, then go 

 that distance in feet from it and dig a circular trench 

 twenty inches in depth for drainage and the breaking up 

 of the refractory sub-soil. Fill the bottom of the trench 

 with old boards, sticks, brush, bones, old cans, straw, 

 fodder or other refuse, and cover with earth. 



(2) Carefully and thoroughly prune the tree of its 

 water-sprouts and such other surplus growth so as to 

 balance the top and permit the free circulation of air 

 through the foliage and among the fruit. Be sure to 

 remove all dead or badly broken branches and scrape 

 the old, rough dry bark from the tree, for behind it in- 

 sects may be hiding from the winter's cold. 



(3) Spray the tree during winter or early spring 

 with some material for the destruction of whatever scale 

 may be lurking there to feed on the tree and its fruit. 

 When bloom comes, give it another spray to destroy 

 whatever moth eggs may be deposited in the bloom. 

 When the bloom has fallen, give another spray to the 

 small fruit so that all of it will grow to maturity and be 

 of full size and wormless. 



(4) Cover all the soil inside of the circle and about 

 the tree with about a four inch depth of coarse manure, 

 straw or fodder. Do this while the soil is frozen so that 

 the early or premature thawing will be prevented, and 

 cause the bloom to be later when danger of killing frosts 

 will be past. The purpose of this mulch is to absolutely 

 control the season of blooming. Permit all this mulch to 

 remain and decay where you have placed it for the con- 

 stant fertilization of the tree so it can keep up a steady 

 growth and mature such fruit as sets on it. 



(5) Scatter broadcast on the mulch mentioned in 

 No. 4, from one-half to four pounds of Nitrate of Soda 

 (Saltpeter), to each tree according to its size, so that 

 this material may leach through the mulch during the 

 winter and spring and go to the trench of loose earth 

 for immediate fertilization to the feeder roots of the tree. 



Where orchards or great rows of trees are to be treat- 

 ed, it will be advantageous to plow or dig trenches 

 through the full length of the orchard mid-way between 

 the rows of trees, and then between the rows in the oth- 

 er direction so as to give thorough drainage to the life- 

 roots of all the trees, and to assure the fertilizer applied 

 going direct to the roots for the immediate benefit of the 

 tree and its fruit. 



Every tree and orchard is entitled to this treatment 

 annually, to give the maximum of production. 



