THE FORESTER. 



February, 



a native paper making factory. The bark is 

 scraped and then peeled off in sections about five 

 feet long. It is then dried and bleached for a 

 couple of days or more in the sun. It is then put 

 in a caldron of water and wood ashes and slowly 

 cooked from six to twelve hours. It is then 

 washed and pounded into pulp with mallets. 

 The pulp is then placed in trays with cloth bot- 

 toms. The water trickles through and leaves a 

 thin sheet of paper which is dried and rubbed to 

 render it firm and smooth. This paper is re- 

 markably strong. It consists of many fine but 

 strong interlaced fibers. This material might be 

 used to advantage in giving strength to a poor 

 grade of pulp in the same way that cotton fiber is 

 used. The fibers of this bark in fact resemble fine 

 cotton fibers. The paper mulberry grows rapidly 

 in this country and regenerates itself by means 

 of rootsuckers with remarkable vigor. 



The November issue of The Indian Forester 

 contains a description with Illustrations of the 

 Caillet Monorail way. As the author points out, 

 cheap transport is the most pressing problem of 

 modern life. This applies especially to Ameri- 

 can forests where labor-saving devices are abso- 

 lutely necessary. The utilization of all forest 

 products, even the brush, is as great if not a 



greater problem than forest production. If we 

 can devise uses for the slash in our woods the 

 greatest American forest problem is solved. The 

 utilization of this material depends entirely 

 upon labor-saving devices. Cheap railways are 

 replacing wagon roads in many districts. The 

 wire cable way has revolutionized many indus- 

 tries, and, if what the writer has to say for the 

 monorail is correct, it too deserves a prominent 

 place among our common means of transporta- 

 tion. Several monorails have been described 

 from time to time in European journals but 

 none of them as yet seem to have gained a very 

 strong foothold. This monorail system as de- 

 scribed in The Indian Forester consists of a 

 single iron rail the rails are joined together by 

 scabbard fish-plates. There are no sleepers. 

 The rail rests on steel sole-plates. It is so ar- 

 ranged that the car is in no danger of toppling 

 over. Anybody can build the road and a mule 

 can pull two tons, or a workman can push a car 

 containing eight hundred pounds with ease. It 

 costs no more than a wagon road and has the 

 advantage of a wagon road in that it can easily 

 be moved from place to place. It is being 

 used in several places to do what was formerly 

 done by pack trains. John Gifford. 



RECENT PUBLICATIONS. 



Report of the Chief Inspector of Timber and 



Forestry for Canada, i8g8. E. STEWART. 



Part IX : Annual Report of the Dept of the 



Interior for 1899. Pp. 20. 



This report contains a summary of the timber 

 Lands of the Dominion of Canada independent 

 of the several provinces; descriptions of the 

 timber reserves ; of the results of tree-planting 

 on experimental farms, and tabulated lists of 

 forest trees and ornamental shrubs which are 

 considered most useful for general cultivation 

 in Manitoba. It states that during the past few 

 ye irs the Government has set apart more than 

 1,700,000 acres of timber land in reserves. The 

 fire question is discussed, and recommendations 

 for forest management are made. 

 The Forest Nursery. By GEO. B. SUDWORTH. 



Bulletin No. 29, Department of Agriculture, 



Division of Forestry. Pp. 63, Plates VI., 



Figs. II. 



Tins bulletion is not a report or an essay but 

 1- designed to be instructive and above all use- 

 ful. A glance at its index will give the best 

 ideaoi its scope. The chief heads in the table 

 ontents arc " Collecting Tree Seeds and 

 before Planting,'' "Propagation of Trees 

 trom Seeds and Cuttings," " Wintering and 

 Transplanting Seedlings," "Use of Wild Seed- 

 lings," " List of Useful Timber Trees to Plant." 

 I'o go into detail would here be needless and 

 difficult for the Bulletin considers nearly all the 

 questions which the tree-planter is likely to ask 

 himself from the proportion of his seed which 

 will germinate to themethodsof preparing the 



soil for nursery stock and those of cultivating 

 the plantation and is besides an ideal manual 

 in the way of terseness and compactness. It is 

 practical throughout, apparently avoids the 

 danger of generalizing from experience in one 

 locality, and the different statements, estimates, 

 and recommendations with which it is neces- 

 sarily filled are all conservative. It is plainly 

 the work of an economic tree-planter who knows 

 his subject -still a rare article in this country ; 

 and considering the rapid spread of interest in 

 forestry is most timely. The illustrations de- 

 serve praise. 



Publications Received. 



Geology of Osceola and Dickinson Counties. 

 By T. H. Macbride. Report of the Iowa Geo- 

 logical Survey for 1899. 



Some new Species of the Genus Crataegus and 

 Notes on some Dichotomous Panicums. 

 From the Herbarium of W. W. Ashe, N. C. 

 Geological Survey. 



On the Forest Conditions in the Vicinity of 

 Milwaukee. Bv Ernest Bruucken. Bulletin 

 Wisconsin. Natural History Society 1 : 3. 



Duty of Water in the Gallatin Valley. Bv 

 Samnel Fortier, CE. Reprinted from the 

 U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office Ex- 

 periment Stations, Bulletin 86. 



The Lumber Trade of the United States. From 

 the Monthly Summary of Commerce and 

 Finance for November, 1900. Treasury De- 

 partment, Bureau of Statistics. 



[To be reviewed later.] 



