152 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Preservation of Structural Timber. 

 Howard F. Weiss. (McGraw-Hill Book Co., 

 New York.) Price $3.00. , 



_v-^ - - 



The wood preserving industry has long been 

 looking for a compilation of existing informa- 

 tion, and this Mr. Weiss has supplied in his 

 new book, "The Preservation of Structural 

 Timber." The arrangement of the subjects 

 and chapters is logical, and to the uninitiated 

 a reading of the book gives practically the 

 whole story of wood preservation. The 

 chapter on Causes for the Deterioration of 

 Structural Timber is particularly to be com- 

 mended, and under the heading of Decay a 

 very large subject has been well summarized. 



The chapter on Construction and Operation 

 of Wood Preserving Plants outlines briefly the 

 general forms of construction, but will be of 

 little value to the inexperienced man in search 

 of information on specifications and details. 

 In fact the illustrations in some cases are of 

 plants and devices which are considered out of 

 date. 



One looks in vain in this book, as in all cur- 

 rent literature on the subject, for some of the 

 essential facts regarding the relation of treat- 

 ment to service requirements, and as to the 

 influence of various local conditions on the 

 life of treated material. Mr. Weiss is to be 

 commended for avoiding many of{the technical 

 points on which it is so easy to split hairs 

 without getting anywhere, and also on quoting 

 specifications of the American Railway Engi- 

 neering Association for creosote, rather than 

 the unaccepted division of temperatures and 

 fractionation of the Forest Service. 



On the whole, Mr. Weiss' book is a very 

 valuable compilation of engineering knowledge 

 on the subject of timber treatment. It is 

 but natural that the findings of the Forest 

 Products Laboratory and the various publica- 

 tions from the same source are given promi- 

 nence, since Mr. Weiss has been the author of 

 some of the most acceptable government 

 bulletins, and his knowledge of the wood 



preserving industry comes largely through 

 a laboratory acquaintance with many of the 

 problems. 



Studies in Trees, J. J. Levison, forester to the 



Department of Parks, Brooklyn, N. Y. 



(John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York) $1.60. 



The author is one of the pioneer trained 

 foresters to specialize in the care and planting 

 of ornamental and shade trees and his intimate 

 knowledge of the subject as well as his under- 

 standing of the students needs are in accord 

 with his varied experiences as forester for the 

 Brooklyn Park System, as lecturer on orna- 

 mental and shade trees at Yale University 

 and as Secretary of the American Association 

 of Park Superintendents. 



The book covers the whole range of tree 

 study including the identification of trees; 

 their nature, habits and growth; insects and 

 diseases which attack them; their grouping 

 and planting; the pruning and care of trees; 

 the identification of commercial woods; the 

 care of the woodlot and Forestry in its many 

 aspects. 



The treatment is concise, systematic and 

 free from an undue use of botanical terms. The 

 author's aim throughout is to give only the 

 salient points and to so present his text that 

 the reader is enabled to reach at a glance, the 

 main features of the subject under discussion. 



Song of Service, by Charles H. Mackintosh 

 (M. I. Stewart Co., Duluth, Minn.) $1.00. 



The author is the versatile editor of Steam 

 Machinery and the book is an artistic little 

 volume of excellent verse which may earn for 

 Mr. Mackintosh the title of "The Omar 

 Khayyam" of the willing workers, those who 

 serve. Note the first verse: 



"Who loves must serve, and we who love our 



kind 

 Must also serve them, serve with hand and 



mind; 

 Thus only may we live not all in vain; 

 Thus only may we hope to live again." 



CURRENT LITERATURE 



MONTHLY LIST FOR JANUARY, 1915. 



(Books and periodicals indexed in the Library 

 of the United States Forest Service.) 



Forestry as a Whole. 



Proceedings and reports of associations, forest 

 officers, etc. 



New Hampshire forestry commission. Bien- 

 nial report for the years 1913-1914. 114 p. 

 pi. Concord, 1914. 



New South Wales Department of forestry. 

 Report for the year ended 30th June, 1914. 

 17 p. Sydney, 1914. 



Norway Skogdirektoren. Indberetning om 

 det Norske skogvaesen, for kalender aaret 



1913. 240 p. pi. Kristiania, 1914. 

 United States National forest reservation 



commission. Report for the fiscal year 



1914. 16 p. maps. Wash., D. C, 1914. 

 West Virginia Forest, game and fish warden. 



Third biennial report, 1913-1914. 109 p. 

 pi. Belington, 1914. 



Forest Education 



Forest school 



Cornell University. Proceedings at the open- 

 ing of the forestry building, May 15, 1914; 



