1903 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



275 



grow luxuriantly and prove most useful. 

 The cork tree, however, appears to be 

 the one which would prove economically 

 the most valuable, and it has hitherto 

 been almost wholly neglected in Italy. 

 In 1900 the cork exported was valued 

 at only $180,000, and much, no doubt, 

 was used at home. But a few years 

 ago Spain exported wine corks to the 

 value of over $5,000,000. 



In Italy about 197,000 acresof land are 

 under the cork tree, chiefly in Sicily and 

 Sardinia ; in Portugal the area is 741 ,000 

 acres, in Spain 617,000, and in Algeria 

 694,000 acres. The Calabrian cork 

 forests have been almost wholly de- 

 stroyed, the trees having been burnt 

 for charcoal, and even Sicily now im- 

 ports corkwood in considerable quanti- 

 ties. Seventy years ago nearly all the 

 cork imported into England came from 

 Italy. But since then most of the Italian 

 forests have been destroyed for charcoal 

 and to produce potash, and those that 

 remain are being devastated for the same 

 purpose; and no one thinks of replanting 

 the ground, which naturally gets washed 

 away, owing to the absence of trees. 

 L,arge forests containing a majority of 

 cork trees are continually being released 

 from the forest laws, and there is a risk 

 that the production of cork in Italy will 

 soon cease. Nothing can replace cork 

 in its manifold use, and now, when vast 

 quantities are used in making linoleum 

 and in shipbuilding, an adequate supply 

 of it is of great economic importance. 



said that a portion of the appropriation 

 has been expended to purchase, survey, 

 and protect about 700 acres of forest 

 land near Portland. The work at 

 Windsor, where 60,000 trees have been 

 planted to determine the best means for 

 reclaiming Connecticut forest lands, is 

 being conducted at the expense of the 

 state experiment station. A good por- 

 tion of the original appropriation is still 

 available. 



George R. Griswold, member of the 

 Advisory Committee of the Association, 

 and an agent of the Bureau of Forestry 

 at Washington spoke of the assistance 

 which the federal government offers to 

 owners of woodlands who wish aid in 

 forest work. The following officers of 

 the Association were elected for the en- 

 suing year : President, Walter Mulford, 

 New Haven ; Vice-Presidents, T. S. 

 Gold, West Cornwall ; Henry Ferguson 

 and Willis I. Twitchell, Hartford ; Sec- 

 retary, Everett S. Geer, Hartford ; 

 Corresponding Secretary, Miss Mary 

 Winslow, Weatogue ; Treasurer, Alfred 

 Spencer, Jr. , Hartford ; Auditor, Ap- 

 pleton R. Hillyer, Hartford ; Advisory 

 Committee, the officers and Dwight 

 Loomis, P. Henry Woodward, Nathan 

 F. Peck, John L,. Dennison, Rev. John 

 T. Huntington, Miss Antoinette Phelps, 

 Theodore Worth, and E. V. Preston, 

 Hartford ; Mrs. Jessie B. Gerard, South 

 Norwalk ; George R. Griswold, Old 

 Lyme, and Dr. E. H. Jenkins, New 

 Haven. 



Connecticut The annual meeting of the 

 Forestry Connecticut Forestry As- 



Association sociationwasheldat Hart- 

 Meets, ford, May 2. Although 

 the meeting was not quite 

 as well attended as that held a year ago, 

 interest in the work of the Association 

 was not lacking. Mrs. Jessie B. Gerard, 

 of the Connecticut Federation of Wo- 

 mens' Clubs, made an address on the 

 work being done by that organization 

 in favor of forestry, and Mr. Mulford, 

 the state forester, who has just been 

 elected president of the Association, 

 told of the work being done with the 

 $2,000 appropriation received from the 

 General Assembly two years ago. He 



Opening Mr. Max J. Baehr,U.S. 



for Sawmills Consul at Cienfuegos, 

 in Cuba. Cuba, in a late report 



writes interestingly of 

 the present status of the lumber trade 

 at that port as follows : 



"Many complaints have been made 

 relative to the lack of milling facilities 

 for dressed lumber. A lumber dealer 

 of this city, Mr. Hunter, states that 

 there are only two small sawmills here, 

 neither of much utility, and they charge 

 exorbitant prices for dressing lumber- 

 $9 per 1,000 feet. He has leased for 

 four years, with the privilege of buying 

 at the expiration of that time, the best 

 milling site in Cienfuegos, and he offers 



