1 90S 



NEWS AND NOTES 





Kentucky Kentucky is making 

 Headed gg ,[ progress in the 



movement for the pres- 

 ervation of the forests of the State. 

 In i ';<)<> the Legislature enacted the 

 law providing lor the State Board of 

 \griculture, Forestry and Immigra- 

 tion. During the following winter the 

 Board asked and received the cu-oper- 

 ation of the United States Forest Ser- 

 vice in a study of the forest conditions 

 of the state. The work was begun 

 last summer and the investigations of 

 a considerable area of land in the east- 

 ern part of the State completed. At 

 the third annual meeting of the Ken- 

 tucky Farmers' Institute, at Frank- 

 fort, in February, the subject of for- 

 estry was discussed with an interest 

 which promises for Kentucky a high 

 place among the other progressive 

 states which are looking to the care- 

 ful use and conservation of forest re- 

 sources. 



The manner in which the forestry 

 problem has been approached indicates 

 that the people of Kentucky realize 

 that the ultimate solution of the im- 

 pending timber scarcity must, for the 

 farmer, depend largely on how he 

 handles his individual timber resourc- 

 es, and that there is no better way 

 than for him to consider the woodlot 

 as a bank account, using the interest 

 which is constantly accruing, but leav- 

 ing the capital undiminished. Much 

 education work, however, will be 

 needed to secure this desirable end. 



A bill has been introduced in the 

 legislature providing for the appoint- 

 ment of a State Forester. 



Deforestation Replying to an inquiry. 



Mr '.' C ,. F ' Schneider, 



section director of the 

 Climatological Service of the Weather 

 P.ureau, at Grand Rapids. Michigan, 

 writing February 24. says : 



"Regarding the connection between 

 deforestation and floods in ('.rand 

 River, my experience along this line 

 confirms the oft repeated claims of the 

 friends of reforestation that the cut- 

 ting down of trees destroys one of 



Nature'- saving^ bank- '. onl\ 



the def< >re-led of the ''.rand 



River -lied the heavy rain- <>f the -um- 

 mer \ery quickly, but the}' yield up 

 all the water content "f the wint< 

 snow in a remarkably -hurt time when 

 the warm sun and warm rain- of 

 spring come on. The rq>;<; 

 tii m i if the water int> ci and riv- 



er- is al-o forwarded by the extensive 

 network of county drain-, farm drain- 

 and tilled land." 



Speaking of rivers in the 

 tion, the Huron and Rai-in. the I". S. 

 Geological Survey bulletin -a "The 

 location of the cities and nearly all of 

 the villages on the bank- i -treams 

 was determined by the water p >v 

 they afforded for grist mill- and saw- 

 mills." This suggests a .-imihirity \ 

 conditions in Michigan and Xew Kng 

 land, and a corresponding intere-t in 

 forest conservation. 



Uses of 

 Excelsior 



Excelsior seems to the 

 average man a trifling 

 product that cannot rep- 

 resent a large consumption of timber, 

 yet there are so many uses for it that 

 the total annual production for this 

 country requires sixty million feet of 

 timber. 



I'.esides the constant use in general 

 packing, excelsior is in demand by up- 

 holsterers of furniture and carriages, 

 by mattress makers occasionally, for 

 stable bedding, and by steamships to 

 filter sea water. A richly upholstered 

 chair and a mattress which a customer 

 fondly supposes to be filled with hair 

 may contain nothing but excelsior be- 

 neath, with pos-il>lv a layer of cotton. 

 Thus, we sit and sleep on wood as well 

 as read wood pulp new-pa] ers. and at 

 the mortal end of thing? we are likely 

 to repose in a coffin upholstered with 

 a choice grade of excelsior. The \< \v 

 York mattress factory u-os a carload 

 a day. Teddv bears owe their rotund- 

 ity to a special quality of fir '-ior. 

 There is not much wood left on ten 

 thousand acres of land when the ex- 

 celsior machines have had their year's 

 rations. .V. V. Tribune. 



