FORESTRY NOTES AND COMMENTS 



113 



r\URING last summer Forest Ranger James C. Friend, 

 *-* whose district is north of the Yellowstone Park, 

 killed ten bears and caught two cubs alive. Bears had 

 been unusually active in raids on sheep and had killed 

 about 400. Several of the herders were badly scared 

 and one was treed for a considerable time. About the 

 middle of the summer, Ranger Friend returned to one of 

 his headquarters' cabins after an absence of several days 

 and found that it had been badly wrecked by bears, which 

 had gained entrance through one of the windows. Every- 

 thing in the cabin was torn up and pawed over; even 

 the cooking stove had received its share of abuse. Short- 

 ly after this time, five bears, three of which were silver- 

 tips, paid a return call to the cabin and the hides of 

 three of them were, at last accounts, drying on the barn. 



'T'HE greatest fire losses in District 4 of the United 

 -*- States Forest Service, in 1917, occurred in the zone 

 which includes the Salmon, Challis, Boise, Weiser, 

 Payette, and Idaho Forests. Throughout this region, 

 practically no rain fell from about June 10 to September 

 11. The grasses, weeds, and duff became extremely dry 

 and very susceptible to rapid spread of fire. In the mid- 

 dle of August there were several thunderstorms and the 

 lightning caused numerous fires at places which were 

 very difficult to reach. On the Payette Forest, 61 fires 

 occurred during August and 36 of these were during 

 August 16, 17, and 18. Nearly every one of these, it 

 is thought was started by lightning. During these same 

 days, there were five large fires on the Idaho Forest that 

 called for an expenditure of approximately $50,000. 



A N extensive land classification for the Alaska for- 

 -^*- ests is being planned for the coming spring. Very 

 little of the twenty million acres of National Forest land 

 in Alaska has been classified thus far. It is expected 

 that a good many special problems will arise. Among 

 these are the large Muskeg areas. In some places vege- 

 tables are raised on decaying matter found to a depth of 

 a few feet, with no soil underneath. Extensive classifi- 

 cation will separate possible agricultural areas and will be 

 the first step in the application of land classification prin- 

 ciples in that region. 



A MAMMOTH two-ton Christmas tree, felled on the 

 - f *- Pike Forest and delivered by auto trucks a dis- 

 tance of 40 miles under the supervision of Denver forest 

 officers, was erected on the civic center and formed the 

 pivot about which the populace of Denver gathered on 

 Christmas eve to join in the singing of carols and to 

 herald the arrival of Santa Claus. 



t'OR some time District 6 of the United States For- 

 *- est Service has been encouraging the cattlemen using 

 National Forest ranges to carry small bunches of sheep 

 on their ranches for the purpose of cleaning up odd 

 corners, and stimulating the production of mutton and 

 wool. The plan is being largely adopted and the cattle- 

 men insist the sheep are a greet asset in every way. 



A DEPARTMENT recently established at the Forest 

 - r *- Products Laboratory is the section of lumbering. 

 Its activities are directed by Henry J. Hegel, who re- 

 turned to the Forest Service from the General Electric 

 Company. By collecting important data relating to the 

 lumber manufacturing industry, the department expects 

 to offer practical assistance to the manufacturers in solv- 

 ing various commercial problems. 



A CENSUS of the lumber production of the country 

 ** during 191 7 is to be made by the Forest Service 

 in co-operation with the National Lumber Manufactur- 

 ers' Association, as in past years. Questionnaires have 

 already been mailed to the 30,000 sawmills throughout the 

 country asking that the amount of each kind of lumber 

 cut be reported promptly. 



CTUDY of the utilization of various waste barks, for 

 ^ the manufacture of pulp and paper products, has 

 been made by the Forest Products Laboratory. Tests 

 under the sulphate process for making paper have been 

 followed up and a good quality of kraft pulp, suitable for 

 a high-grade wrapping paper, was obtained from each 

 of 13 species. 



T^HE war service records of the New York State Col- 

 *- lege of Forestry at Syracuse University show 90 

 undergraduates, 48 alumni and 5 members of the faculty 

 with the colors. Dean Hugh P. Baker is a captain of in- 

 fantry in the regular army, and Prof. Reuben P. Pritch- 

 ard is a first lieutenant in field artillery. 



'T'HE Legislative Assembly of Porto Rico recently 

 *- passed a comprehensive law, providing for an in- 

 sular forest service, experiment station, and public for- 

 ests in charge of a technically trained forester. The law 

 was drafted by the office of state co-operation of the 

 United States Forest Service, and the action of the Legis- 

 lative Assembly is the result of an examination of and 

 report on forest conditions in Porto Rico made by the 

 office of state co-operation several years ago. 



A CCORDING to one of the German forestry journals, 

 ** the Kaiser, in 1908, killed 1,995 pieces of wild game, 

 including 70 stags, elk and roebuck. At that time he had 

 slaughtered a total of 61,730 pieces of game, more than 

 4,000 of which were stags, and was the leading extermin- 

 ator of wild life in the world. As a slaughterer of men, 

 women and children since 1914, however, he has been 

 the foremost exterminator of human life in all history. 



OTUDIES at the Forest Products Laboratory, at Madi- 

 k -' son, Wis., have shown that Engelmann spruce 

 treated by the sulphite process gives a pulp that com- 

 pares very favorably in color and strength with that of 

 white spruce. 



TVTEARLY half a million people use the Pike National 

 ^ ' Forest, in Colorado, each year for recreation. 



