NEWS AND NOTES 



721 



Meetings of the American Society of 

 Mechanical Engineers 



Meetings of the American Society of Me- 

 chanical Engineers have been advertised as 

 follows : 



In New York, on Tuesday evening, Oc- 

 tober 12, at eight o'clock, in the Engineer- 

 ing Societies Building, with a paper by Prof. 

 R. C. Carpenter, of Cornell University, upon 

 "The High-pressure Fire System of New 

 York City." 



In St. Louis, jointly with the Engineers' 

 Club of St. Louis, on Saturday evening, Oc- 

 tober 16, Professor Carpenter's paper to be 

 repeated. 



In Boston, on Wednesday evening, Oc- 

 tober 20, at eight o'clock, jointly with the 

 Boston Society of Civil Engineers, in Chip- 

 man Hall, a paper to be presented by Prof. 

 Gaetano Lanza and Lawrence S. Smith on 

 "Comparison of Results Obtained by the Use 

 of Three Theories of the Distribution of the 

 Stresses in Reenforced Concrete Beams," 

 with the experimental results. 



The Nature Lovers' League 



To aid in awakening the public conscience 

 to a sense of moral obligation toward van- 

 ishing nature, the La Rue Holmes Nature 

 Lovers' League was organized, not quite two 

 years ago, and is doing its part to that effect. 



This movement originated with a young 

 naturalist, connected with the Museum of 

 Natural History, New York City, whose 

 name was given the organization after his 

 premature death, when but upon the thresh- 

 old of his intended work. It was the out- 

 growth of an intense, sorrowful love for re- 

 treating nature. 



The Nature League accomplishes its 

 purpose largely through the formation of 

 chapters in schools, both public and private; 

 the introduction of literature and lectures 

 treating of natural history themes and of 

 kindness to all the humbler forms of God- 

 given life of kindness to humanity by deal- 

 ing with nature as a sacred heritage to be 

 passed on to the future unimpaired, as far 

 as possible, if not enriched, through our 

 guardianship. 



As a means of familiarizing our children 

 and youth with the utility of our birds, the 

 relation between animal and vegetable life, 

 the mission of forests, etc., themes are pre- 

 sented to school chapters, pupils writing 

 brief essays, embodying information given, as 

 well as items of personal observation. 



Many of these little essays, written fre- 

 quently by very young members, are printed 

 through the courtesy of the press, not only 

 stimulating interest among members of 

 league chapters, but frequently presenting 

 items of more or less interest concerning 

 various forms of humble life calculated to 



increase sentiment in behalf of nature's pass- 

 ing pageant. 



If our forests are not to be remorselessly 

 felled; if our water supply is to be maintained 

 throughout the land; if our birds are not to 

 be sacrificed as mere targets and decorations 

 for the thoughtless, our young people must 

 be led out of the ruts, cut deep across the 

 heart of nature by past generations, and up 

 to a plane of outlook whence may be clearly 

 sien the relation between the preservation of 

 nature's riches and national prosperity. 



California to Raise Eastern Hardwoods 



The Pacific Coast will soon be the scene 

 of an interesting tree-growing experiment. 

 The United States Forest Service is plan- 

 ning to introduce a number of the more im- 

 portant eastern hardwoods in California, and 

 will this year experiment with chestnut, 

 hickory, basswood, red oak, and yellow pop- 

 lar or tul'p trees. Small patches of these 

 trees will be planted near the forest rangers' 

 cabins on the National Forests, and if these 

 do well larger plantations on a commercial 

 scale will soon be established on wider areas. 



There are over 125 different species of 

 trees in California, a number of which pro- 

 duce some of the most valuable varieties of 

 lumber in the country. Although consider- 

 ably over one half of the species are hard- 

 wood or broad-leaved trees, yet, with the ex- 

 ception of the exotic eucalyptus, there is not 

 a single species of hardwood here ranking in 

 commercial importance with the leading east- 

 ern hardwoods. Climatic conditions in many 

 parts of California are undoubtedly favor 

 able for the growth of a number of the valu- 

 able hardwoods, and the absence of these 

 trees is due mostly to unfavorable factors of 

 seed distribution. 



If the experiments are successful, a valu- 

 able asset will have been added to the forest 

 resources of this state, which should prove 

 of special benefit to the local furniture and 

 vehicle industries. Chestnut and red oak are 

 high'y esteemed for furniture, while with 

 hickory, basswood, and eucalyptus at its com- 

 mand, California should lead all other states 

 in the vehicle industry. 



The Smoke Nuisance 



The smoke nuisance in cities 5eems to be 

 not only a burning question but a question 

 of burning of combustion. A Hilletin just 

 published by the L T nited States Geological 

 Survey (Bulletin 373) on "The Smokeless 

 Combustion of Coal in Boiler Plants," by 

 D. T. Randall and H. W. Weeks, gives the 

 results of smoke studies carried on in thir- 

 teen large cities and of tests made at the 

 Government fuel-testing plants at St. Louis 

 and Norfolk. A preliminary report on the 

 same subject was made in the Survey's Bui- 



