1900. 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



277 



and Director of the Forestry Academy at Ebers- 

 walde. It is of interest to note that the first 

 mentioned German journal (Forst- und Jagd- 

 Zeitimg] is in its seventy-sixth year and the 

 second mentioned is in its thirty-second year. 



A journal in the German language called the 

 Centra blattfiir das gesamte Forstivesen is pub- 

 lished in Vienna. This is the official organ of 

 the royal forestry experiment station. It is 

 edited by Joseph Friedrich, Director of the for- 

 estry experiment station at Mariabrunn. It is 

 published by Wilhelm Frick of Vienna. 



In England there is no journal of forestry, 

 although the Indian Forester, which is pub- 

 lished in India, is a very valuable production. 

 Lt is edited by J. W. Oliver, Conservator of For- 

 ests and Director of the Forest School at Dehra 

 Dun. Valuable supplements are often attached 

 :o this journal (without extra cost) by forest 

 Dfficers in India, either descriptive of conditions 

 !n India, or resulting visits to the continent of 

 Europe. 



In addition to the above there are several very 

 valuable English colonial periodicals which now 

 ind then contain articles relating to forestry, 

 rhese journals are of special value to all stu- 

 lents of tropical conditions. They are The 

 Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales, 

 Sydney ; The Tropical Agriculturist of Co- 

 omba, Ceylon ; The Bulletin of the Botanical 

 Department of Jamaica, edited by Wm. Faw- 

 :ett, Director of Public Gardens and Plantations. 

 Phe last mentioned journal contains much that 

 s applicable to both Cuba and Porto Rico. 



Foresters should read with care the " Experi- 

 nent Station Record " of the U. S. Department 

 )f Agriculture. This contains reviews of for- 

 ;stry articles, also reviews of articles on kindred 

 ubjects, of great value. This publication is a 

 >oon to the man who lacks time to read all the 

 :urrent literature in agricultural and allied sub- 

 ects. 



The Swiss Journal of Forestry announces the 

 mblication by the Department of the Interior 

 if a " Tree Album of Switzerland " which con- 

 ains twenty-five illustrations of the largest , most 

 icautiful and most noteworthy trees in Switzer- 

 and. The motive of the publication is to en- 

 ourage visits to these giant trees, to cultivate 

 he appreciation of beautiful specimens and the 

 lesire to protect them. The descriptive text is 

 n both French and German. The October 

 lumber of the Swiss Journal gives a reproduc- 

 ion of one of these famous trees. It is a Moun- 

 ain Maple of large size, 1,350 meters above 

 ea level. Another interesting specimen is Wel- 

 ingtonia (Sequoia) in Lugano, one of the 

 argest in Switzerland and a striking example 

 if extraordinary growth. It was planted only 

 orty years ago and is already twenty-two met- 

 rs high. 



The Queensland Agricultural Journal for 

 ieptember contains a description and photo- 

 ;raph of an interesting chopping contest at 

 Jowen Park. 



In Queensland the chop is usually made with 

 a slanting upper cut and a horizontal lower cut. 

 In New South Wales and Tasmania the upper 

 and lower cuts are both slanting. This cut won 

 and the reason is clear. Although it is at first 

 more fatiguing to make a slanting under cut 

 the axe penetrates deeper. It was an exciting 

 and interesting contest which might be prac- 

 ticed to advantage in this country.* 



I might also add that the second system is 

 better than the first for another reason : it leaves 

 the stump with a roof shaped top which is of 

 great advantage in the case of reproduction by 

 coppice. Water does not collect on the top of 

 the stump, and decay is therefore longer in be- 

 ginning. 



A series of six articles on "The Forests of 

 Java and their Management," by Forstassessor 

 Seibb of Heissenstein, has been appearing in the 

 Allgemeine Forst-nnd Jogd-Zeitung. These 

 articles should be of special interest to Ameri- 

 cans, because of the similarity of the conditions 

 to those which exist in the Philippines. Now 

 that the Government has a forestry bureau in 

 Manila and that efforts are being directed toward 

 the proper exploitation of the rich woodlands of 

 our new Eastern possessions, we should study 

 with great care the work of the Dutch in Java 

 and profit by their mistakes as well as by their 

 successes. Americans should emulate the Dutch 

 and English and have somewhere in the tropics 

 an extensive Botanic Garden where northern 

 students may go for study. 



The writer of these articles, Mr. Seibb, served 

 five years as a forester in Java. 



The Island of Java is generally considered the 

 most beautiful, richest and best cultivated of 

 Holland's vast colonial possessions. One-fifth 

 of the island or about 2,500,000 hectares is in 

 forest at all degrees of altitude even reaching to 

 the tops of most of the volcanoes. 



Tertiary limestone and lime sandstone forms 

 the geological foundation of the island, running 

 from east to west in the form of a mountain 

 chain about 1,000 meters in height. The soil is 

 alluvial along the flat shores of the sea bays and 

 rivers. There are fourty-four volcanoes. The 

 rivers and streams flow down steep declivities 

 into gorges and beautiful valleys. 



Owing to the fact that it is a long island 

 the heat is moderated by the sea breezes. There 

 are two distinct seasons dry during the P<ast 

 monsoon from April to November, and wet dur- 

 ing the west monsoon the rest of the year. In 

 the dry season there is a continuous blue sky 

 with dew at night. In the wet season the west 

 monsoon brings torrents of rain. As one as- 

 cends a volcano the air becomes thinner and the 

 sun's rays more intense. Undi-r such conditions 

 there is naturally produced a great variety and 

 a great luxuriance of vegetable growth. At 

 about 500 meters above sea level the 



*Such contests arc held in Canada, and in at 

 any rate one of the United States Washington. 

 -Ed. 



