242 



AMKKM'AX FOKKSTRY 



for forcing; the practicability of growing these seeds 

 and stocks and other plant materials in this country ; 

 encouragement of local activities for the production of 

 plant materials we now ini|M>rt. including seeds for such 

 stocks as pear, peach, cherry, apple, and other fruits; 

 and the determination of localities in the United States 

 where stocks and similar plant materials may be success- 

 fully grown. Several field stations, well located, equip- 

 ped, and organized, are already available for this work, 

 and valuable records, the accumulation of nearly 20 

 years' world-wide explorations, also are at hand for 

 immediate use. 



'Much of this work will be carried out through the 

 Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction of the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry. This Office is charged with 

 all matters relating to the introduction for this Depart- 

 ment of foreign seeds, plants, bulbs, etc., for scientific 

 and experimental purposes and co-operates with the 

 Federal Horticultural Board in maintaining facilities for 

 inspection and quarantine. This Office has already been 



the means of introducing, testing, propagating and dis- 

 tributing many new plants, including among these a 

 number of promising disease-resistant pears, peaches, 

 cherries, roses, and other plants which are now being 

 propagated and tested preparatory to their more wide- 

 spread use. 



"The experts of this Department feel that every 

 reasonable effort should be made to stimulate the propa- 

 gation in the United States of necessary plant stocks in 

 order to eliminate the danger of bringing in dangerous 

 plant diseases and insect pests. In any event, if, in order 

 to protect this country against such plant diseases and 

 insects, it should become necessary to- consider the com- 

 plete exclusion of nursery stock, the matter should de- 

 velop gradually, affording opportunity for adjustment, 

 rather than result from immediate and drastic action. 

 In the meantime, under the existing Plant Quarantine Act, 

 quarantine action in addition to that now in force can be 

 promptly taken as to any plant or class of plants or 

 plant productions whenever it is evident that the danger 

 outweighs the sacrifices involved." 



FORESTRY NOTES AND COMMENTS 



HP HE Senate has passed a number of land bills af- 

 * fecting National Forest administration. One of 

 these authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to ex- 

 change any lands in Government ownership, including 

 National Forest lands, coal lands, and oil lands for priv- 

 ate lands of approximately the same character and value 

 within Government reservations. Another bill authorizes 

 the inclusion within the Oregon National Forest of all 

 lands on the Bull Run watershed that were recovered by 

 the United States as a result of the Oregon and Cali- 

 fornia Railway suit. Two other bills provide for ex- 

 changes in the Sevier National Forest. 



r T , HE Aviation Section of the Signal Corps, United 

 -* States Army, has been enlisting woodsmen to get out 

 airplane spruce. The work will be done in Oregon and 

 Washington and the men will be organized into aviation 

 squadrons on military lines. Some will be sent to the 

 new cut-up mill built by the Government, but the majority 

 will go to the various lumber camps, where they will 

 receive from the lumber companies, in addition to their 

 Government pay, enough money to make their wages 

 equal those paid civilian lumbermen in the region. They 

 will work, however, under their own officers. 



A ROUSED to the acute need for prevention of fires 

 -^*- in forest, range, and grain fields as a war measure, 

 State and Federal officials and representatives of the 

 lumber industry have organized a joint committee to find 

 solutions, if possible, of fire prevention problems in Cali- 

 fornia. This committee, known as the Forest Industries 

 Committee, is composed of State Forester G. M. Homans, 

 Chairman ; Acting District Forester Roy Headley ; Pro- 

 fessor Woodbridge Metcalf, of the College of Forestry, 

 University of California; C. Stowell Smith, Secretary 

 of the California White & Sugar Pine Manufacturers' 

 Association ; and R. E. Danaher, President of the R. E. 

 Danaher Lumber Company. At a meeting of the com- 

 mittee, in San Francisco, plans were discussed for an 

 intensive state-wide publicity and educational campaign 

 to awaken the public to the immense amount of food and 

 war materials destroyed on the Pacific Coast last sum- 

 mer by fire, to the large amount of money spent in fire 

 control, and the great amount of labor drawn from farms 

 and factories to fight fires. 



T^O tell the Russian people what the National Forests 

 -*- mean to the people of the United States, United 

 States Forester Graves has undertaken an article which 

 will be translated into Russian and distributed in the 

 new democracy. The article is being prepared at the 

 request of the Committee on Public Information, which 

 is striving to acquaint the people of Russia with American 

 ideals and methods of government. 



1%yTORE sugar cane and beets will have to be raised. 

 *** more maple sugar produced, and additional en- 

 thusiasm instilled into the bees if we are to have sweeten- 

 ing in our coffee next year. As a means of forestalling 

 sweetless days, the Forest Service and the Bureaus of 

 Animal Industry and Entomology, in co-operation, have 

 prepared a special publication telling how the produc- 

 tion of natural sugar may be increased. This will be dis- 

 tributed by the States Relation Service through the 

 county agents. It should be of special interest to sugar 

 cane and beet growers and to owners of sugar maple 

 orchards and apiaries. 



