142 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



March 



The timber testing station of the 

 Forest Service at Berkley, Cal., has be- 

 gun an investigation of the mechanical 

 properties of the eucalptus. About 60 

 trees have been cut from different 

 sites, and the uses of the wood for ve- 

 hicles, paving blocks, etc., will be re- 

 ported upon. 



Basket Wil- The Forest Service is 

 low Ex peri- now harvesting its crop 

 of basket willows at the 

 Arlington experimental farm, near 

 Washington, D. C. Some time ago the 

 Service started a series of experiments 

 to determine the relative value for bas- 

 ket manufacture of European varie- 

 ties of willow and those which have 

 been heretofore grown in this country, 

 the effect of close and wide planting 

 and of high and low cutting, the value 

 of inundation in fertilizing and retard- 

 ing the work of insects, and the quali- 

 ty of the shoots from each variety. 

 The Service will distribute the cut- 

 tings to growers and to any other per- 

 sons who may wish them. Directions 

 for the planting and cultivation of the 

 basket willow are given in a recently 

 published bulletin of the Forest Ser- 

 vice. 



Mr. J. P. Wentling, of 

 the Forest Service, re- 

 cently attended a meet- 

 ing of the National Association of Box 

 and Box Shook Manufacturers, at 

 Chicago, before which he read a paper 

 on the relation of box manufacture to 

 the lumber industry. Though no ac- 

 curate figures are at present to be had 

 to show the statistical importance of 

 box manufacture, estimates would in- 

 dicate that a surprisingly large per- 

 centage of lumber goes into boxes. In 

 the early days of the industry, when 

 all sorts of usable woods were plenti- 

 ful, there was no cause to study econ- 

 omy in box-making. Gradually, how- 

 ever, depletion of lumber supplies be- 

 gan to produce a scarcity in the more 

 desirable box woods, such, for exam- 

 ple, as white pine. This gave the in- 

 centive to study the strength of woods 

 for boxes, and how saving might be 

 effected in box construction. Search 



for new box woods also followed, and 

 led to experiments with hitherto un- 

 tried kinds. At present economy is 

 increasingly studied, and the Forest 

 Service has made box woods the sub- 

 ject of one of its several studies of 

 woods for special uses. 



Commercial 

 Tree Study 



Box Manu 

 facturing 



Among the commercial 

 forest trees which the 

 Forest Service has been 

 studying is the white fir. This has 

 generally been regarded as the least 

 valuable of the conifers common to the 

 commercial forests of the Western Si- 

 eras. Yet it attains large dimensions 

 and is capable of taking a fine, satiny 

 finish, and the best grade of lumber 

 has been considerably used and com- 

 mands a good price in southern Cali- 

 fornia especially. The Service has 

 now completed the gathering of data 

 for volume and growth tables, and a 

 study of the silvical character of the 

 tree. In connection with this, a mar- 

 ket study was also made for the whole 

 of California, with special reference to 

 its possible uses, cost of manufacture 

 and technical qualities. 



Examining A preliminary examina- 

 Southem t j on j^g ^en started on 



an s a tract of 50,000 acres 



in South Carolina, which the owners 

 have requested the Forest Service to 

 examine, with a view to placing it un- 

 der conservative forest management. 

 This tract is the fourth for which a 

 working plan has been sought from 

 the Forest Service by forest owners in 

 this state,* the total acreage of the four 

 tracts being upward of 135,000 acres. 

 The Forest Service has just com- 

 pleted a preliminary examination of a 

 large timber tract on the west coast of 

 Florida. The tract in question is on 

 low, sandy land, cut up by numerous 

 creeks and cypress swamps. On the 

 drier land Cuban pine is the principal 

 tree, but, as these dry lands are apt to 

 be flooded yearly during the rainy sea- 

 son, the growth of this tree has been 

 badly stunted, and the chief problem 

 brought out by the examination was 

 whether drainage on a large scale 



