506 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



SSBSSSs' 



It is EASY 



to BLAST stumps 



Atlas Farm Powder is prepared especially for 

 the use of inexperienced farmers who wish to do 

 their own blasting. It is as easy to use as the 

 ordinary "gas" engine. Theodore Drake, 

 Prattsburg, N. Y. , writes regarding his first ex- 

 perience with it: 



"After reading your book. 'Better Firminr.' I am fully 

 convinced of the value of explosives for farm work. 1 blew 

 out some old apple tree stumps and smashed a rock with 

 Atlas Farm Powder, though 1 bad never sbot any dynamite 

 before." 



You, too, will be able to use Atlas Farm Powder 

 successfully after you read the directions in 

 "Better Farming with Atlas Farm Powder." 

 It tells how to remove stumps, blast ditches, 

 smash boulders, plant trees and increase yields 

 by subsoiling. Write for this book. It is free. 



Atlas Powder Company 



Division F.D. 5 Philadelphia, Penna. 

 Dealers everywhere Magazine near rsu 



The present law was a compromise, 

 carrying $6,000, of which $3,000 is for the 

 salary of a graduate forester with practical 

 and technical experience. Commissioner 

 W. C. Hanna was not keen to have the de- 

 partment thrust on him, especially when he 

 learned that the appropriation, already in- 

 sufficient, was to be cut down to little 

 more than salary and expenses for his tech- 

 nical man. Now, he finds himself with a 

 tree nursery and a forest reserve on his 

 hands, with the Government asking him to 

 continue co-operative work in fire preven- 

 tion, in which State Forester J. E. Barton 

 had enlisted agencies in Tennessee, Vir- 

 ginia and West Virginia to protect the 

 borders. 



Mr. Barton is going with an Eastern 

 Kentucky coal company. He is probably 

 the only qualified man in the State. It is 

 known that at one time Murray Bruner, 

 now in Government service in Porto Rico, 

 was offered the post, but he declined. He 

 is a brother of Dr. Ben L. Bruner, of 

 Louisville, former Secretary of State. 



J. A. Mitchell, Inspector of the Federal 



Bureau of Forestry, was here recently in 

 the interest of co-operative work, but left 

 without learning what the policy will be. 



It is probable that the nursery on State 

 Fair property at Louisville will be aban- 

 doned. The forest reserve of several thou- 

 sand acres on Pine Mountain, in Harlan 

 County, which Forester Barton obtained 

 from the Kentenia-Catron Corporation, 

 stands and probably will stand just as it 

 was when it was deeded to the State. 



Another corporation was ready to deed 

 to the State some 3,000 acres adjoining, 

 but this project was dropped by the for- 

 ester when it was seen that there was no 

 hope of "carrying on" with the plan of 

 demonstrating reforestation in the Eastern 

 Kentucky watershed. 



Coal and timber operators of Eastern 

 Kentucky had formed fire prevention asso- 

 ciations, employed lookouts, established 

 stations under direction of the forester and 

 assisted in spreading propaganda against 

 carelessness, which was responsible for 

 most forest fires. One or two had engaged 

 foresters and a large number had taken up 



with the State Forester discussion of steps 

 necessary for reforestation of mountain 

 sides. Demonstration and practical help 

 were considered essential to getting re- 

 sults. Efforts in this direction, however, 

 lapsed several months ago, and the interest 

 at that time keen, apparently has waned. 



It is doubtful whether any of the forestry 

 appropriation will be spent, unless for em- 

 ployment of a clerk or so. 



LOUISIANA 



HP HERE are 12,000,000 acres of idle cut- 

 over lands in Louisiana, and not 5,000,- 

 000 acres of land under cultivation, says 

 Henry Hardtner, president of the Louisi- 

 ana Forest Association. 



Idle cut-over lands produce neither tim- 

 ber, farm crops, nor income to meet taxes, so 

 they must be put to work. Intention to sell 

 cut-over lands, for the purchaser to clear 

 and cultivate, will not in itself make these 

 lands productive nor excuse denudation. 

 While awaiting development, cut-over pine 

 lands should be growing stock or another 

 crop of timber, preferably both. Prospec- 

 tive farmers want some timber on these 

 lands, otherwise they will be forced to buy 

 wood, even for fence posts and fuel, at 

 high prices, or go without. 



Where are the people going to get their 

 timber supplies when all the forests of 

 Louisiana and adjoining States have been 

 cut clean and permantly ruined? 



The leaving of seed trees on cut-over 

 pine lands is the first step in solving these 

 problems. Without seed trees there can 

 be no natural reforestation of pine. 



Should the State spend large sums in the 

 future to purchase and plant denuded cut- 

 over pine lands when it can prevent this 

 denudation by requiring pine seed trees to 

 be left for natural restocking? Can land 

 owners expect the State to relieve them of 

 the burden of cut-over land holdings if 

 they refuse to provide for this restocking 

 by leaving pine seed trees? 



Cut-over pine lands on which seed trees 

 are left are worth twice what they would 

 be without these trees, for they will be 

 earning an income; from the growth of 

 the seed trees, and from new crop of 

 young timber, without diminishing their 

 prospective value for agriculture, or inter- 

 fering with grazing. Prospective farms 

 with some timber and a woodlot are more 

 valuable than skinned cut-over lands ; for 

 pasture, because of desirable shade trees ; 

 for revenue, because of income and home 

 use of wood ; for homes, because of greater 

 attractiveness. 



The State Conservation Commission 

 should be given the power to enforce the 

 provisions of a law to protect the future 

 welfare of the people of Louisiana. 



MICHIGAN 

 '"PHE co-operation of rural mail carriers 

 with the forest fire supervisors in 

 northern Michigan is a plan recently de- 

 vised by one of the deputy fire marshals in 



