1904 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



201 



forest improvement. (3) A number of 

 model plantations of both conifers and 

 hardwoods to serve as demonstration 

 areas for the students. Upon these 

 areas will be shown the results of va- 

 rious methods of planting, as well as 

 more advanced stlvicultural operations, 

 such as cutting the hardwoods at the 

 end of their first, second, or third year 

 in order to discover the best time to set 

 them to sprout for post and pole timber. 



The tract contains a great variety of 

 soils and topography, including good 

 wheat land, poor gravel, and gullied 

 soils, and for this reason it is one of the 

 best adapted locations which can be 

 found anywhere in this vicinity for the 

 purpose in view. 



Inasmuch as a large part of Michi- 

 gan's forestry work must of necessity 

 consist of the re-establishment of the 

 forest rather than the care of existing 

 woodlands, the Forest Department of 

 the University, and with it the whole 

 State of Michigan, is to be congratu- 

 lated on this admirable and timely gift 

 by one of its most liberal and thought- 

 ful men. This generous gift might 

 well be imitated by others in Michigan, 

 as well as elsewhere. Large areas of 

 waste lands have reverted for taxes or 

 are otherwise useless to their owners. 

 Why not turn them over to some safe 

 institution for forestry purposes, and 

 thus have them render the double serv- 

 ice of growing valuable material and 

 at the same time of assisting education 

 in a direction so much needed at the 

 present time ? 



Mr. Hill is an indefatigable worker 

 in the interests of forestry, especially 

 with a view to improving conditions in 

 his own State of Michigan. He has 

 for several years been rendering most 

 valuable service as a member of the 

 Michigan State Forestry Commission 

 and the American Forestry Association. 



.at 



Hydro- A forthcoming report of 

 Economic the United States Geolog- 

 Studies. ical Survey will contain 

 valuable data concerning 

 the use of water in the manufacture of 

 paper. 



The strawboard investigations show 



that the relation of strawboard waste to 

 water supply is particularly strained in 

 the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illi- 

 nois. The object of the investigation 

 made by the survey in Indiana was to 

 bring the strawboard company to a re- 

 alization of the fact that the enormous 

 \vaste of the valuable cellulose which is 

 carried away and causes trouble is un- 

 necessary, and that pollution by straw- 

 board waste can be removed if the 

 method of strawboard manufacture is 

 changed. The valuable materials which 

 are now carried away in waste waters 

 to the pollution of the streams may be 

 retained and converted into strawboard. 



Not Unusual 

 for Oregon. 



The World's Fair Com- 

 missioners for the State 

 of Oregon have secured 

 a large fir log from Clatsop county. It 

 is by no means an unusually large tree, 

 although it measures nine feet in diame- 

 ter at the butt. The section sent is 28 

 feet in length, scales 12,000 feet of lum- 

 ber, and weighs 46,750 pounds. The 

 tree was 43 1 years old and measured 200 

 feet to the first limb. 



Important The United States De- 



Experiment partment of Agriculture 

 Station. has decided to establish 



a Plant Introduction 

 Garden and Experiment Station at 

 Chico, California. Contracts for the 

 necessary land have been closed and 

 work has been begun on what will un- 

 doubtedly be the greatest institution of 

 its kind in America and perhaps in the 

 world. A beginning will be made with 

 ninety acres, but it is the intention of 

 the department to extend the area as 

 the needs of the institution require. 

 The garden will be devoted to experi- 

 mental culture of the plants introduced 

 from various parts of the world, and to 

 a careful study of plant life. 



Such an institution has long been 

 contemplated by the Department of Ag- 

 riculture. California was selected for 

 its location on account of climatic con- 

 ditions, which admit of the culture of 

 tender plants from the tropics and of 

 northern products as well. The ideal 



