14 



THE FORESTER. 



January, 



Technical Improvements. 



The Bavarian state railroads have been 

 experimenting with a process of harden- 

 ing railroad ties by chemical treatment, 

 the object being to produce a chemical 

 union of the wood fiber and the preserva- 

 tive. It consists of a double baking of 

 the wood, a treatment with oil of vitriol 

 and sulphate of iron, after which the 

 wood is given a bath of chloride of lime, 

 milk of lime being added, at a tempera- 

 ture of 112 to 257 degrees Fahr. , at a 

 pressure of about forty pounds to the 

 square inch. The theory is that the first 

 baking destroys the germs of fermenta- 

 tion and induces the chemical union of 

 the preservative with the fiber of the 

 wood, the second baking hardening the 

 wood and rendering it a non-absorbent of 

 moisture. It is reported that hardening 

 takes place to a remarkable degree, while 

 the preservative effect compares favor- 

 ably with the processes already in use. 



The American Wood Fire-Proofing 

 Company, of 11 Broadway, New York, 

 is building works at Newark, N. J., and 



presently will be prepared to fire-proof 

 woods for naval, marine, and other struc- 

 turaluses. The cost of treatment, so 

 the company claims, will be generally 

 moderate, depending in particular upon 

 the nature of the wood treated. The 

 process is protected by letters patent and 

 is said to be the only insoluble treatment 

 which, with a second treatment, the 

 albumen bath, seals the pores and makes 

 the wood almost proof against the ele- 

 ments, thus greatly increasing its dura- 

 bility. The company will sell territorial 

 rights or royalty privileges, in such latter 

 cases superintending the building of nec- 

 essary apparatus. Fire-proof wood made 

 so artificially is not altogether a new 

 thing, but the treatment employed by 

 this company, on account of its insoluble 

 and sealing processes, seems to have 

 reached the limit of performance in the 

 premises. The strength of the wood is 

 not appreciably affected by this process, 

 but the treatment affords a foundation 

 for more effective polish than is attain- 

 able without it. 



Forest Administration. 



U. S. Indian Agent Wisdom, of Mus- 

 cogee, I. T., who has supervision of the 

 agency for the five civilized tribes, re- 

 cently issued the following instructions 

 relative to the cutting of timber in the 

 Indian Territory: 



Until permanent allotments have been made 

 and patents issued therefrom to the individual 

 Indians, no one is authorized to buy or sell tim- 

 ber off any place in the Cherokee Nation un- 

 til final disposition of the land or claim in said 

 nation is made. 



On December 10 the Committee on 

 Indian Affairs in Congress decided to 

 appropriate $45,000 to continue the ex- 

 amination and estimates of the timber 

 on the Chippewa reservation in Minne- 

 sota ; $10,000 to be immediately avail- 

 able, with the proviso that the work 

 shall be finished within the current year. 



Land Commissioner Hermann states that 

 he has issued orders to Chief Seelye, of 

 the Chippewa Pine Estimating Corps, to 

 hurry work in order that the Pine may 

 be put on the market at the earliest pos- 

 sible moment. The commissioner has 

 formally instructed Superintendent Ross 

 to resume dead and down timber opera- 

 tions in the ceded portions of the Chip- 

 pewa reservation. The regulations of 

 last year will govern in operations in the 

 year to follow, with the following modi- 

 fications to be applied to future con- 

 tracts : 



All dead and down timber is to be 

 marked and none other than marked 

 timber is to be cut ; all green trees re- 

 moved for road-cutting purposes are to 

 be accounted for at green timber price, 

 the amount to be placed in the Indian 



