NEWS AND NOTES 



The Weyerhaeuser Idea as to Reforestation 



"We believe that the only way in which 

 the forests are likely to be replaced is for 

 the state either to buy the lands from the 

 lumber companies at a small price and re- 

 plant the cut-over areas or remit the taxes. 

 It is a simple mathematical demonstration 

 that it will not pay the lumber corporations 

 to keep up tax payments and wait for a new 

 crop of trees on cut-over lands. When the 

 taxes are added and the value of the timber 

 is computed, it is only a two per cent invest- 

 ment and business men are not looking for 

 that kind." 



George S. Long, western representative 

 of the Weyerhaeuser Lumber Company, which 

 owns more than 3,000,000 acres of timber 

 land in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, 

 made the foregoing reply in an interview 

 when asked if the syndicate is making any 

 effort to reforest cut-over land, and if it 

 objected to paying taxes on the latter. 



A Municipa Forest 



The city of Vallejo may soon become the 

 pioneer in municipal forestry in California. 

 It will be if the city council acts favorably 

 upon a recommendation made by the Mer- 

 chants' Association of that city. 



Vallejo owns its own water system, and 

 several thousand acres of land in Wild 

 Horse Valley, the source of the water supply. 

 This land is now practically worthless, and 

 produces no revenue for the city. The Mer- 

 chants' Association has proposed to the city 

 council that the city plant 500 acres of this 

 land to eucalyptus trees. The association 

 figures that in ten years the city will have 

 250,000 matured trees, which, at a value of 

 $5 each, will be worth $1,250,000. Thus in 

 a few years this tract of land would be a 

 permanent source of revenue and would re- 

 duce taxes to a minimum, perhaps doing 

 away with city taxes completely. Times 

 Visalia, Cal. 



US % % 

 Fighting Forest Fires 



Sometimes they do things very well in 

 Michigan. As every one is aware, Michigan, 

 like New Hampshire, is very solicitous for 

 her forests. Again, like New Hampshire, 

 Michigan is disturbed from time to time 

 by forest fires, and every loyal Michigander 

 is expected to prove his willingness, when- 

 ever occasion may demand, to join his neigh- 

 194 



bors in fighting those fires. In fact, a Mich- 

 igan statute specifically provides punishment 

 for refusal to assist in suppressing a forest 

 fire. Never, however, until last week has 

 it been found necessary to invoke this stat- 

 ute, and then a man was sentenced to ninety 

 days in the Detroit house of correction. 

 It is always to be expected that care- 

 ful judgment will be exercised in the en- 

 forcement of this law, as of any other; and 

 reasonableness in the application of this law, 

 as well as public spirit on the part of the 

 men of Michigan, is implied in the statement 

 that no person had ever before been pun- 

 ished for refusal to fight forest fire in that 

 state. Manchester (N. H.) Union. 



Drop in Lumber Output 



According to the report of the Census 

 Bureau on lumber, lath, and shingles, there 

 was a heavy decrease in the cut and value 

 of those articles for 1908 over the previous 

 year. The value for 1907 is placed at $897,- 

 94i>736, while for 1908 the value is placed 

 at $698,262,175, a decrease of about $200,- 

 000,000. 



The smaller production was due to the 

 business depression and to the decrease in 

 the acreage of marketable logs. The aver- 

 age price of lumber from the mills is re- 

 ported by this bulletin to have been $15.37, as 

 compared with $16.56 for 1907. 



There was an increase of 2,381 mills and 

 a decrease of over 7,000,000,000 feet in the 

 output for the year. 



The state of Washington is still in the lead 

 in the production of lumber, the bulk of its 

 cut being from the Douglas fir. Louisiana 

 is a close second, its output coming from yel- 

 low pine and cypress. Mississippi ranked 

 third and Arkansas came fourth. The bul- 

 letin gives Michigan first place for the total 

 cut of lumber since saw mills were set up 

 first. The Wolverine state has about 100,- 

 000,000,000 feet of lumber to its credit. Wis- 

 consin comes second with about 75,000,000,000 

 feet. Washington Times. 



A Forestry Course 



A new four-year course in forestry has 

 been added to the courses given in the Col- 

 lege of Agriculture of the Ohio State Uni- 

 versity. There is an enrolment of twenty- 

 eight students. Of this number eleven are 

 freshmen and seventeen transfers from other 

 courses. 



