64. Canadian Forestry Journal. 



The main supply of props used in the Bankhead coal mines, 

 Alberta, is derived from burnt standing spruce and Banksian pine. 

 This still affords good material after over twenty years without 

 life, but much is fallen and completely rotten. 



The Crow's Nest Collieries, B.C., are using up their burnt 

 timber with economy, endeavouring as much as possible, to take 

 the earliest burnt first, and use up each generation before it 

 decays. 



It is commonly stated that timber at the upper altitudes is apt 

 to break short, to be brashy. This may be due to the less regular 

 grain and growth at these places. Mr. E. R. Noakes, a mining 

 engineer, at one time in charge of the Espirituo Santo Mine at 

 Darien, gives countenance to the prevailing opinion in that coun- 

 try that the phase of the moon at time of cutting affects the rot- 

 ting of mine timbers. The waning moon was considered most 

 preservative. 



The conifers are naturally found in places where mining is 

 also found. They furnish light, easily-worked material, and last 

 as well as any need. 



litt^r-zr-i^ 





In the annual address of Mr. F. C. Whitman, the President 

 of the Board of Trade of Annapolis Royal, the following state- 

 ment is made in regard to the protection of the forests from fire : 



" There is now a well established body of men under the 

 supervision of a chief fire ranger in Western Nova Scotia ; and the 

 loss by forest fires this past year has practically been nil, as com- 

 pared with an actual, loss in our County of Annapiolis in the prev- 

 ious year of $150,000, and proportionate losses in other counties. 

 There is to-day a marked increase in the values of timber lands, 

 in part at least caused by the better protection now afiforded." 



