528 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



in an investment which will not only yield satisfactory 

 returns from the financial standpoint alone, but will 

 materially assist in enabling us to meet indefinitely our 

 own requirements for wood, with the permanency of 

 industrial development which this imples. 



"Speaking for the American Forestry Association, I 

 can say without reserve, that the Association is heartily 

 in favor of the prompt enactment of legislation along 



the lines discussed. I feel confident that your interest 

 in the matter is equally vital and that through the earnest 

 co-operation of all concerned it will prove possible to 

 translate these two foremost measures, which together 

 form the keystone to our national forest policy, from 

 the realm of academic discussion into a program of 

 action based on the solid foundation of legislative 

 enactment." 



SPLIT WOOD SECTION REVEALS INITIALS CUT ALMOST 



A CENTURY AGO 



?? 



AT the suggestion of Mr. Alfred Gaskill, State 

 Forester of New Jersey, I enclose a photograph 

 of a section from a beech tree cut along the 

 bank of the Delaware River in January, 1885, which 

 shows a most interesting development," writes Henry 

 T. Moon, of Morrisville, Pennsylvania. 



Careful examination and count at the laboratories of 

 the New Jersey Forestry Department shows the growth 

 rings would in- 

 dicate that fhe 

 tree was cut in 

 1886 instead of 

 1885, but the 

 only record 

 available con- 

 cerning the sec- 

 tion, is taken 

 from a former 

 resident as fol- 

 lows : 



"A section of 

 a tree cut from 

 the bank of the 

 Delaware 

 River in Penn- 

 sylvania, one 

 mile above 

 Morris ville. 

 The tree was cut in January, 1885, and this piece acci- 

 dentally split open while being cut into firewood." 



Mr. Gaskill, in commenting on the section, writes as 

 follows: "Our count of the growth rings indicates that 



Photograph by Grant CasUicr. 



AN INTERESTING SECTION CUT FROM A BEECH ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 



The initials were cut, as indicated, many years ago, and were only revealed when the piece split open 

 after the tree was taken down and when it was being cut up for fire wood. 



the tree was cut in 1886" not 1885, though it is possible 

 that your record is more trustworthy than our count. 

 "It has been observed that on the opposite side of the 

 section are two other initials which show through the 

 bark. By careful sectioning they might be revealed. 



"My suggestion that you publish this material is re- 

 newed, because it furnishes the best example I ever saw 

 of the trustworthiness of a record of this kind, as well 



as the biologi- 

 cal fact that in 

 the growth of 

 a tree artificial 

 irregulari ties 

 determine sub- 

 sequent de- 

 velopment. 

 Careful exami- 

 nation indi- 

 cates that the 

 initials were 

 cut when the 

 tree wis about 

 s i x t y - s even 

 years old." 



The speci- 

 men is the 

 p r o p e rty of 

 Mr. Henry T. 

 Moon, Morrisville, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, having 

 been given to him in 1918 by Mrs. Mary W. Ridge on 

 whose property the tree was cut, and who disposed of it 

 when breaking up her home and leaving the farm. 



NO SUBSTITUTE FOR HIGH-GRADE WOODS 



iyr_) substitute has been found for the high-grade hickory 

 * ' and ash required by handle makers and the vehicle 

 and agricultural implement industries. The supplies came 

 principally from the South where the most accessible 

 supplies have already been cut. So scarce has the supply 

 become that large firms are literally combing the territory 

 to secure material. It is said that five years more will 

 see the end of the supply of the northern upland ash, 

 which is preferred to the swamp-grown variety of the 

 lower Mississippi Valley. The demand for handles is so 



great that manufacturers can not meet it. Any price 

 necessary for raw material is being paid. Competition 

 with other industries using the same woods, particularly 

 the manufacturers of automobile wheels, is keen. Whole- 

 sale prices have more than doubled and retail prices are 

 in about the same proportion. The small handle factory 

 is being gradually eliminated, and there is said to be a 

 steady drift toward the concentration of handle manu- 

 facture by large concerns and the disappearance of local 

 industries. 



