NEWS AND NOTES 



Foreign Planters Seek American Trees 



The enterprise of German foresters and the 

 importance of tree planting for forest pur- 

 poses are strikingly shown by two items of 

 news which come, the one from Montana, the 

 other from Ontario. It is reported that a 

 demand has developed for Montana larch 

 seeds to be used by German nurserymen, 

 while white pine seedlings are to be imported 

 from Germany by the town of Guelph, Ont., 

 for planting a i68-acre tract of land belonging 

 to the municipality. 



The Germans recognize that the introduc- 

 tion into their forests of valuable trees native 

 to other countries may be decidedly to their 

 advantage. Although as a rule the forest 

 trees best adapted to each region are those 

 which naturally grow in it, there are many 

 exceptions. Norway spruce and Austrian and 

 Scotch pine have been carried from their na- 

 tive home to other parts of Europe and to 

 America and have been found well worth the 

 attention of the grower of timber. Several 

 of our own species have met with favor in 

 Europe and flourished there, such as the 

 Douglas fir, black walnut, and others. The 

 Australian eucalyptus is proving a great find 

 for America and South Africa. 



Our own white pine long ago crossed the 

 Atlantic in response to the needs of Euro- 

 peans, whose forests are comparatively poor 

 in tree species, and is now grown commer- 

 cially on such a scale that when it is wanted 

 for planting in its own native habitat the 

 German nurserymen are often ready to de- 

 liver young plants here for a lower price than 

 our own nurserymen will quote. Now the 

 Germans are going to try the Western larch 

 also. The request from the German nur- 

 seryman instructs the collectors to gather the 

 choicest seeds when ripe this fall. One nur- 

 seryman on Flathead Lake has offered to ex- 

 change larch seeds for seeds of desirable Ger- 

 man shrubs, which he intends to cultivate and 

 sell in America. In the same region, four or 

 five months ago, foresters of our own De- 

 partment of Agriculture gathered seed for 

 use in the neighboring Lolo Forest, where a 

 new forest-planting nursery was begun last 

 year. 



The objects of the Guelph planting are, ac- 

 cording to local accounts, to protect the 

 town's water source by a forest cover over 

 its springs in the hills, to make beautiful 

 woods for a public park, and to provide for 

 a future timber supply as a municipal asset. 

 This follows the extensive work on the same 

 broad grounds by the Metropolitan Water 



Board of Massachusetts. In foreign coun- 

 tries, forest tracts are often owned and 

 managed by towns and cities as a paying in- 

 vestment and to insure a permanent supply 

 of wood for local consumption. The kinds 

 of trees to be grown in the Guelph park 

 have already been decided upon by the 

 Ontario Agricultural College. The proposed 

 reforestation promises to be of so great econ- 

 omic and sanitary value that the estimated 

 cost of $8 per acre for importing and plant- 

 ing the seedlings and caring for the growing 

 trees is regarded as well worth while. 



Trade in Pacific Coast Timber 



San Pedro, a name almost unknown east 

 of the Mississippi, is to-day one of the biggest 

 lumber-receiving ports of the country, accord- 

 ing to the figures of her collector of customs. 

 The gazetteers of eight years ago assigned 

 less than four lines of description to San 

 Pedro. It was described as "a bay and inlet 

 of the Pacific Ocean, in California, 105 miles 

 southeast of Santa Barbara, thirty-three de- 

 grees, forty-eight minutes north." To-day it 

 is known as the ocean port for the immense 

 horticultural and commercial activity that 

 centers about Los Angeles. 



San Pedro's custom house figures show re- 

 ceipts last year of over 500 million board feet 

 of lumber. This was largely redwood, Doug- 

 las fir, and yellow pine, brought in by coast 

 vessels from the forests of the northwest. 

 According to the Department of Commerce 

 and Labor, New York's coastwise receipts of 

 southern pine, for the year ended December 

 25, were a little under 490 million feet. Chi- 

 cago received by water, for the full calendar 

 year 1909, not quite 340 million feet of all 

 kinds of lumber exclusive of logs ; North 

 Tonawanda, N. Y., received over 170 million ; 

 Ludington, Mich., nearly eighty million ; 

 Cleveland, about seventy-two million, and 

 Detroit, a little over sixty-six million. The 

 arrivals of redwood, pine, and fir, at all the 

 ports of San Francisco Bay totaled 900 mil- 

 lion feet. 



The lumber arrivals at San Pedro are sug- 

 gestive of the remarkably rapid development 

 of southern California and also of the inland 

 southwest. The fruit-growing section of 

 southern California consumes much lumber. 

 most of which is cut a full thousand miles to 

 the north, but Washington, Idaho, and Oregon 

 lumber is also distributed by rail from south- 

 ern California to many inland points. Despite 



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