NEWS AND NOTES 



Forests as Gatherers of Nitrogen 



At a recent meeting of the Society of 

 American Foresters, a paper was read by 

 Treadwell Cleveland, Jr., on "Forests as 

 Gatherers of Nitrogen." This paper sum 

 marized results recently obtained by Jamie- 

 son, of Scotland, and by Zemplen and Roth, 

 of the Royal Hungarian Experiment Station 

 at Selmecbanya, which tend to show that 

 forests are able to appropriate free atmos- 

 pheric nitrogen by means of their trichomes. 

 Jamieson investigated several forest trees (as 

 well as a number of small plants), among 

 which were Acer campestre, Tilia europ&a. 

 Ulinus campestris, Sorbu-s aucuparia, Fagus 

 silvatica, and Picea concolor. Zemplen and 

 Roth included a large number of additional 

 species. In all cases chemical tests show the 

 presence of nitrogen in the trichomes, and 

 the investigators believe that they have ex- 

 cluded all other sources for this nitrogen 

 than the atmosphere. Professor Henry, of 

 the Forest School at Nancy, France, was the 

 first to point out that forest soils are en- 

 riched in nitrogen by the decay of fallen 

 leaves. 



Zemplen and Roth are cautious in their 

 conclusions, and urge that further investi- 

 gations be made in this field. 



Eucalyptus for Railway Ties 



The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe is one 

 of the great railway systems that has gone 

 largely into the growing of trees to supply 

 it with cross ties. On the San Dieguito 

 Ranch, of 8,600 acres, purchased by the com- 

 pany several years ago, eucalyptus is being 

 grown on a large scale. The ranch lies in 



the valley of San Dieguito River, five miles 

 east of Del Mar. Much of the land was 

 rough, hilly, and overgrown with grease- 

 wood. The ground was first cleared, har- 

 rowed, and then prepared for planting. Three 

 years ago the first seedlings were set out. 

 The company since then has planted 500 acres 

 a year. The seedlings are set out eight feet 

 apart in rows and the rows five feet apart. 

 This provides for the planting of 1,100 trees 

 to the acre. When about six years old many 

 of the trees will be thinned out. At that 

 age the trees so cut out will yield three or 

 four good fence posts to the tree, with leav- 

 ings for firewood, bringing in considerable 

 revenue. 



The thinning process will be kept up until 

 about 200 trees are left on each acre of 

 ground, which means several thousand ties 

 when they are eventually cut. Ordinary ties 

 now are worth about $i each. Twenty years 

 from now they will be worth a great deal 

 more. Eucalyptus culture demonstrates that 

 saplings will grow from old tree stumps. 

 This provides for a second crop to be grown 

 more quickly than the first. The blue gum is 

 expected to make a yearly growth of from 

 twelve to fifteen feet during the first few 

 years. 



The Santa Fe started in to grow the 

 trees without irrigation, and so far has been 

 successful beyond expectations. However, to 

 insure a more rapid growth, recently a large 

 pumping plant has been installed. 



Several varieties of the sugar gum planted 

 three years ago have reached a height of 

 eighteen to twenty feet and from fifteen to 

 sixteen inches in circumference. The sugar 

 gum is being grown exclusively for tie- 

 making purposes. The company expects to 

 allow the trees to grow twenty years before 

 they are cut. 



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