2 SO 



THE FORESTER. 



November, 



here forestry shows what it can do with ques- 

 tions that are now actually vexing lumbermen 

 in the Yellow Poplar region, Oregon, the Adi- 

 rondacks, and other places. The precise and 

 simple way in which the problems are stated and 

 worked out will doubtless come like a revelation 

 to some readers, and shows well in what way 

 accurate calculations in regard to the forest 

 crop can be made under certain conditions. 

 Unfortunately, however, for the effect of the 

 book the conditions which Dr. Schenck has as- 

 sumed in these examples are often not those 

 which exist in the very real world of the lumber 

 regions. It is for this reason that many of the 

 calculations lose all interest except that which 

 used to attach to the feats of the famous swim- 

 mer X. who, in the school algebra, was wont to 

 race the steamboat Y against a current 20 ; for 

 after all equations have probably been used for 

 calculation on even modest lumber operations 

 and their appearance in forestry is nothing new. 



The Red Fir problem is a case in point. It is 

 based on the supposition that 200,000 acres of 

 "splendid Douglas Fir " in the Cascade back- 

 woods are purchased for $0.40 an acre. The 

 regular price for good Fir land, however, is 

 nearer $3 an acre. 



Another example in which a premise is en- 

 tirely at variance with the existing state of 

 things is on page 20, where it is assumed as a 

 basis for calculation that in the southern Alle- 

 ghanies nature can restore a burned forest to 

 its former value and productiveness in twenty 

 years. 



Again, iu the first Yellow Poplar problem Dr. 

 Schenck bases his calculations on assumptions 

 which quite disagree with the habits of growth of 

 the tree. He generalizes about its rate of growth 

 as if the trees now standing in North Carolina 

 were found in pure stands and had been planted 

 and cared for from earliest youth as scientifically 

 as any forest in Germany. As a matter of fact 

 however, Yellow Poplars stand singly, or in 

 scattered groups, and grow under such different 

 conditions that generalizations like those made 

 on page 10 would be unsafe even if based on 

 thousands of measurements. Dr. Schneck of 

 course knows this and it seems therefore as if he 

 might better have used a plantation of White 

 Pine, say, to illustrate the sort of calculation 

 here exemplified. 



It may seem unnecessary to find fault with 

 these problems on such grounds, but they will 

 attract the attention chiefly of people who judge 

 the forester by the way in which he grasps their 

 difficulties ; and the extent to which they have 

 already been quoted in lumber journals shows 

 that, whether Dr. Schenck meant them to be or 

 not, they are accepted as what might be called 

 " a forester's solution of some representative 

 problems." 



The Second Biennial Report of the New Hamp- 

 shire Forestry Commission. 



The reviewer labors under the great difficulty 

 of finding nothing in this report to review. But 



considering New Hampshire's needs in the way 

 of forest protection and better care of her wood- 

 lands, considering that one is now hearing from 

 many quarters complaints of no uncertain tone 

 about the neglected state of her forest interests, 

 and considering finally that the report is sup- 

 posed to cover a period of two years, this is cer- 

 tainly worth noting. Twenty of the twenty-four 

 pages which the Secretary of the Commission 

 has managed to fill are devoted to reprints of 

 two circulars published some time ago by the 

 United States Department of Agriculture, and 

 by selections from one of the previous New 

 Hampshire Reports and from State laws. All 

 these are doubtless interesting and worthy of 

 being reprinted, but one would prefer to find in 

 their stead something relating definitely to New 

 Hampshire. As it is, the only information which 

 one carries away from a perusal of the well- 

 bound little pamphlet is that the Commission 

 has made "numerous contributions to news- 

 papers and periodicals " and has given lectures 

 and addresses; and further that "Perhaps the 

 most active agency in the dissemination of 

 forestry intelligence in New Hampshire at 

 present is the State Federation of Women's 

 Clubs." 



Insects Injurious to Forests. By E. P. Felt, 

 D.Sc., State Entomologist. Extract from the 

 Fourth Annual Report of the N. Y. Commis- 

 sioners of Fisheries, Game and Forests. Pp. 

 31, colored plates 3, figures and illustrations 

 from photographs. 



On account of the necessary differences in 

 methods of controlling insects in the forest and 

 on shade trees, this report confines itself to in- 

 sects which are injurious to shade trees, and 

 chiefly among these to the Maples. But some 

 of these insects are as much to be feared in the 

 forests as in city parks. For the owners of Maple 

 orchards especially, there are many valuable 

 hints in this report. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



The Stave Trade in Foreign Countries. Special 

 Consular Reports, vol. XX., part III. 



School Gardens in Europe. Special Consular 

 Reports, vol. XX., part II. 



Two Diseases of Red Cedar. Caused by Poly- 

 porus Juniperous n. sp. and Polyporus Car- 

 neus Nees. A preliminary report. By Her- 

 mann von Schrenk. Pp. 22, pis. 7, figs. 3. 

 Bulletin No. 21, Division of Vegetable Physi- 

 ology and Pathologic of the Department of 

 Agriculture. Price, 10 cents. 



Annual Report of the Commissioner of the 

 Land Office (Department of the Interior) for 

 the year ended June 30, 1900. 



( To be reviewed next month.'] 



Report of the Royal Commission on Forestry 

 Protection in Ontario. 



( To be revie^ved next month.) 



