1900. 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



2OI 



RECENT PUBLICATIONS. 



rhe Third Annual Report of The Commission- 

 ers of Fisheries, Game, and Forests of New 

 York State 1897. 



The Annual report of the Commissioners of 

 "isheries, Game and Forests of New York 

 state for 1897 contains a great deal of matter re- 

 ating expressly to the forests of New York. In 

 ill seven papers are concerned directly with 

 hese forests and two more one on the natural 

 md artificial reservoirs of New York and the 

 >ther on the State's title to lands on the forest 

 >reserve, will have a particular interest for the 

 orester. As a whole this volume, with its 

 landsomely colored illustrations of fish and 

 )irds, its many sketches and photographs of 

 mnting and fishing scenes (in which all men 

 ppear brave, and all women fair) and its many 

 ccurate pictures of the. different phases of the 

 orest industries of the State, is in striking con- 

 rast to most government reports, and shows 

 hat the New York Commissioners realize how 

 ;reat and many-sided is the economic and social 

 mportance of the forests over which they exer- 

 ise control. 



The first part of the Annual Report of the Su- 

 lerintendeut of Forests, Colonel Fox, gives an 

 ccount of the areas and conditions of the for- 

 st preserves, and statistics about the fires which 

 iccurred in it between October, 1896, and Janu- 

 ry, 1898, and also the usual annual compila- 

 ion of the statistics showing the product of the 

 Adirondack forests for 1897. In this it is clear 

 hat many of the trees which have had little 

 alue in the past are one after another coming 

 ato commercial demand. Colonel Fox does 

 iot fail to point out the significance of this fact 

 nd says : " All this means that the time is near 

 vhen the different species in our forest, both 

 onifers aud broad-leaved trees, will become 

 lerchantable timber this growing demand for 

 lardwood, the merchantable character of all 

 he species, will increase the revenue-producing 

 apacity of our woodlands, and enable the State 

 o produce an annual permanent revenue with- 

 ut depending on some one species as at pres- 

 nt." 



Five of the papers relating explicitly to for- 

 stry are of the nature of " tracts and circulars 

 f information," written for the purpose of 

 wakening an interest in the behalf of forestry, 

 nd imparting elementary instruction. Colonel 

 ''ox prefaces these by saying that they will 

 oubtless appear to some, "A mere repetition 

 f what has been said in one way or another 

 * but they were not written for those who 

 iad made a study of forestry. They are for the 

 .se of the thousands to whom the subject is 

 ;ew, and whose attention is called to it for the 

 irst time." They are entitled, Why our For- 

 sts should be Preserved and Protected, Fores- 



try, Forest Management, Forest Fires and Tree 

 Planting. For the purpose for which they were 

 written they could hardly be better, and the 

 fact that the information which they contain is 

 not new, does not lessen its value. 



The paper which, considered apart from all 

 others, is probably the most interesting and 

 valuable, is that dealing with the maple sugar 

 industry and entitled " A Forest Product." The 

 production of Maple syrup is practically the 

 only forest industry in this country which is 

 widely practiced with forethought and on scien- 

 tific principles. Its great importance can be 

 gathered from the fact that 17 % of the granu- 

 lated sugar manufactured in the United States 

 comes from the Maple tree. Colonel Fox gives 

 a brief history of the industry by way of intro- 

 duction and then goes on to describe the way in 

 which it is now carried on by the most advanced 

 and improved methods. He pays attention to 

 the rules for tapping, the methods of handling 

 the syrup, and to the machinery for evaporating 

 and refining. He also considers at some length 

 records of the amount of sugar produced per 

 tree and per acre under different conditions, 

 and hence of the profitableness of a sugar bush, 

 and takes up the possibility of carrying on the 

 industry in the more southern and northern 

 regions where the Sugar Maple grows, but 

 where it is now valued only for its wood. There 

 is probably no article on the manufacture of 

 sugar and the care of the orchard, as good as 

 Colonel Fox's, and those who are interested in 

 the subject should not fail to read it. 



The Forest Wealth of Canada. By James M. 

 MacCoon. 



The Wood Pulp of Canada. By George John- 

 son, F.S.S., Hon., Statistician of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, Ottawa. 



These two pamphlets are printed for the Paris 

 Exposition by direction of the Canadian Gov- 

 ernment, and intended, as their method of pub- 

 lication would imply, to convey to foreigners 

 information of the business opportunities in the 

 forests of Canada. Statistics about Canada's 

 forest products, and their value, lists of her 

 trees, their uses and distribution, and a map and 

 illustrations of mills, streams, etc., do this with 

 as much thoroughness as is possible where no 

 attempt to be exhaustive is made. A good deal 

 is put into the pamphlets, however, which at- 

 tracts even readers who have no intention of in- 

 vesting their savings in Canadian Spruce or Pine. 

 Mr. Johnson's pages on the history of paper and 

 the materials used in its manufacture since the 

 days of Egypt to the days of " the land of the 

 Spruce tree," Canada, are especially interesting. 

 The second pamphlet shows that in 1891 there 

 were twenty-four pulp factories in Canada rep- 



