1900. 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



225 



an open market, but the auditor deter- 

 mined to have triple damages, and got 

 them. The firm was in no position to 

 make any kick and paid up rather than 

 get into worse trouble. These ties ran 45 

 per cent, to culls, worth nothing, and the 

 cost to the firm here, aside from the settle- 

 ment with the State, was 21 cents to cut 

 and haul, 10 cents to deliver at Duluth, 

 and the superintendence, etc. To this 

 add 15 cents stumpage on the entire cut, 

 and then sell the good ties here at 40 cents 

 or thereabouts, and it will be seen that 

 some one has received a pretty severe les- 

 son. The Duluth representative of the 

 firm was spirited out of the State when 

 the auditor first began investigation, in 

 fear that a settlement more severe than in 

 cash might be demanded. 



" There have been several other, though 

 smaller, instances of tie stumpage settle-. 

 ment on the same lines in this immediate 

 neighborhood this season. 



"A well-known logger who lives along 

 the Mississippi River got hold of a part of 

 a school section, claiming that his men 

 had squatted there before the survey, and 

 he took four 40*5 exactly in the center of 

 the section. Last winter his Pine there 

 was cut by a Rat Portage gentleman, who 

 in some way failed to note the lines and, 

 instead of cutting four 4o's, cut the entire 

 school section, sixteen 4o's. This was so 

 glaring an error that the owner called on 

 Auditor Dunn and said he had by some 

 unaccountable mistake cut over his lines 

 and wanted to settle for it. He had cut, 

 he said, 800,000 feet of State Pine and 

 would settle at once if Mr. Dunn cared to. 

 Mr. Dunn thought it all right, of course, 

 and would not for a moment doubt the 

 word of the big logger, but he would like 

 to have his own cruisers look at the timber 

 and estimate the cut. The logger didn't 

 think this necessary, but was compelled 

 to assent, and the matter was investigated 

 by the State. Imagine Mr. Dunn's sur- 

 prise to find that instead of 800,000 feet 

 from State land the logger had taken 

 3,500,000 feet on the twelve 4o's surround- 

 ing his little patch in the school section. 

 He has, however, settled on Mr. Dunn's 

 estimates.' 1 



An investigation of 

 forest fires and refor- 

 estation on burnt areas 

 is now being pursued by the Division 

 of Forestry through Prof. C. S. Cran- 

 dall, lately of the Colorado Experiment 

 vStation at Fort Collins. This work, which 

 Professor Crandall began some years ago 

 as a collaborator of the Division, will be 

 carried on chiefly in the northern part of 

 the State, where the prevalence of Lodge- 

 pole Pine makes the conditions very dif- 

 ferent from those farther south. The in- 

 vestigation is an important one, for until 

 the forester knows what to expect from 

 fire and how to deal with burnt-over areas, 

 he can do little in a region where burning 

 has been as extensive and is still as com- 

 mon as in Colorado. 



In this investigation the examination of 

 the first stages of reforestation will be 

 made on areas of which some were burned 

 over thirteen years ago, and on which Pro- 

 fessor Crandall has already made surveys 

 and recorded progress at different periods 

 since. In the case of the old fires of 

 which there is no record, the date of 

 burning can usually be determined by the 

 age of the trees which came up after the 

 fire, and the necessary surveys and meas- 

 urements can then be made. Special at- 

 tention will be paid to the causes which 

 make the cones of the Lodgepole Pine 

 open and distribute their seed. These are 

 not yet understood, and in view of the 

 tree's habit of storing its seeds in the cone, 

 often for many years, and setting them 

 free when killed by fire, are very impor- 

 tant. 



Professor Crandall will have four as- 

 sistants and will begin his examination in 

 the Medicine Bow Range. From there he 

 will work down the Continental Divide to 

 the neighborhood of Long's Peak. 



EvergSn sleds. 



Jit 



American Garden- 

 'V published the fol- 

 lowing note from a 

 correspondent in Nebraska, Mr. C. S. 

 Harrison, in its issue of Aug. nth : 



" We have been in the habit of plant- 

 ing them [conifer seeds] in the spring, 



