i8o 



CONSERVATION 



tion in interstate commerce of diseased 

 nursery stock or stock infected with inju- 

 rious insects. 



The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized 

 to extend the provisions of the bill to fruits, 

 vegetable bulbs or other plants whenever he 

 deems it necessary. The bill makes it unlaw- 

 ful for any transportation company to offer 

 at any port of entry nursery stock unless ac- 

 companied by a certificate of inspection by 

 an official expert of the country from which 

 the importation is made. 



&' & % 



Waterways Treaty between the United States 

 and Great Britain 



A waterways treaty has recently been 

 signed between Secretary Root, repre- 

 senting the United States, and Ambas- 

 sador Bryce, for Great Britain. The 

 provisions of the treaty are thus sum- 

 marized by the Literary Digest for 

 February 20: 



It provides for the settlement of all 

 controversies which arise between the two 

 countries by a joint high commission of six 

 members, three from each country. It set- 

 tles all waterways controversies, such as the 

 question of power at Niagara Falls, the navi- 

 gation of the St. John's River between Maine 

 and New Brunswick, the use of water for 

 reclamation purposes along the border and 

 near the Milk and the St. Mary rivers, and 

 decides questions of navigation on the Great 

 Lakes. Its settlement of the Niagara Falls 

 problem is regarded as probably the most 

 important feature. This problem has been a 

 cause of friction for a long time, and al- 

 though both countries have repeatedly tried 

 by legislation to decide the matter definitely, 

 a settlement has never been reached. The 

 establishment of the commission will most 

 likely preclude the possibility of further dis- 

 agreements between the two countries in 

 their relations along the border, and the 

 treaty itself is one that has long been hoped 

 for by those who have taken an interest in 

 relations with Canada. To some extent the 

 treaty will supersede the work of the Inter- 

 national Waterways Commission, made up 

 of representatives of the United States and 

 Canada, whose duties include the settlement 

 of the location of that portion of the inter- 

 national boundary between the United States 

 and Canada passing through the Great Lakes 

 system. 



Considerable indignation is expressed 

 in Canada, the press claiming that that 

 country is being robbed of her rights 

 by a feat of American diplomacy ; while 

 the Canadian Senate protests against 

 the making and legalising, by the Brit- 



ish Government, of a treaty of vital in- 

 terest to Canada, without, at the same 

 time, consulting the Canadian Parlia- 



ment. 



& & & 



State and Local Receipts fromJMational Forests 



During the last fiscal year ending June 30, 

 the United States Forest Service _issued to 

 settlers in the neighborhood of national for- 

 ests in Western States over 30,000 "free 

 use" permits, under which the settlers re- 

 ceived free about 264,000 cords of firewood, 

 posts, poles and sawlogs, worth $169,320, or 

 about 64 cents per cord in the forest a low 

 valuation. 



Besides this, the different states received 

 for school and road purposes twenty-five 

 per cent, of the income from the national 

 forests, amounting last year to $447,064. The 

 direct return to the States in lieu of taxes on 

 the 147,000,000 acres, the estimated area of 

 unpatented land in the National Forests, 

 amounted then in the last year to $615,384 in 

 cash and "free use" timber. 



Yale Forest School 



The senior class of the Yale Forest 

 School, numbering thirty students, will leave 

 New Haven, Connecticut, about March ist 

 for Doucette, Tyler County, Texas, where 

 they will study the lumber operations of the 

 Thompson Bros. Lumber Company, secure 

 final practice in surveying, map making and 

 the estimation of timber, and investigate the 

 possibilities of forest management in the 

 region. It has been the custom of the For- 

 est School for several years to conduct the 

 work of the spring term of the senior year 

 on some large lumber operation. In 1906 

 the work was carried on at Waterville, New 

 Hampshire, on the lands of the International 

 Paper Company. The spring term of 1907 

 was spent in southern Missouri on the lands 

 owned by the Missouri Lumber and Mining 

 Company. The class of 1908 was in 

 central Alabama on the holdings of the 

 Kaul Lumber Company. The selection of 

 Texas for the coming season's work is due 

 to an invitation extended by Mr. J. Lewis 

 Thompson, of Houston, Texas, manager of 

 the extensive Thompson lumber interests 

 in Texas and likewise an enthusiastic advo- 

 cate of forestry. Mr. Thompson is a mem- 

 ber of the Forest Conservation Committee 

 of the Yellow Pine Manufacturers' Asso- 

 ciation, and also is greatly interested in the 

 formulation of a proper forest policy for the 

 State of Texas. Arrangements have been 

 made for the construction of camp buildings 

 near the center of one of the large timber 

 tracts of the company, where the students 

 will live during the greater part of their 

 stay in the region. The trip will be made 

 from New York to New Orleans by boat, 



