FOREST NOTES 



The Pocono Protective Fire Association, of 

 Monroe County, Pennsylvania, is following 

 up its well tried methods to instruct the people 

 of the community and to interest them in 

 forest protection. It has repeated this year 

 its offer of $25.00 as prize money for competi- 

 tion in essay writing on topics relating to 

 forestry by the scholars of the County. Last 

 year forty-two responded; this year there are 

 sixty-five. 



There is a two-fold object behind these 

 school contests. First, to set the young 

 people of the County to thinking about the 

 subjects on which the essays are written; and, 

 second, by interesting these scholars to awaken 

 interest in the same subjects in the adult 

 members of their families. That which 

 interests the children becomes the talk of the 

 household and cannot fail to influence, in 

 some degree at least, the grown-ups. 



With a similar object in view the directors 

 of the Association for two years have got the 

 fire wardens of the County together in March 

 for an informal conference and a dinner. 

 This year the meeting was held at the Inn at 

 Buck Hill Falls, on March 20th; and twenty- 

 three wardens were present. Mr. C. N. 

 Thompson, one of the directors of the Associa- 

 tion, and manager at the Inn, was the host, 

 and entertained the entire company. Besides 

 the fire wardens and the directors, the State 

 Department of Forestry was represented by 

 District Forester J. L. Strobeck and Forest 

 Inspector George H. Wirt. 



Mr. Wirt made the principal address, having 

 come from Harrisburg for the occasion. Mr. 

 Strobeck gave the wardens their instructions 

 jfor the coming fire season, and there were 

 .addresses from others, including some of the 

 wardens. 



The whole affair was eminently successful, 

 and there is good reason to regard these annual 

 meetings and dinners as permanent institutions 

 in Monroe County. They bring the men 

 together in a social way and at the same time 

 serve to impress upon them a sense of united 

 action, and a realization that they are part of 

 an organized body working for the good of the 

 community and the State. 



The nation-wide study of the lumber in- 

 dustry, which is being made jointly by the 

 Department of Agriculture and the Depart- 

 ment of Commerce, and the other industrial 

 and technical investigations and experiments 

 which have been carried on by the Forest 

 Service in the last two years was discussed 

 at a conference of Forest Service officials at 

 Madison, Wis., on April 14 to 17. The Forest 

 Service Laboratory, the Washington Office of 

 Industrial Investigations, and each of the 

 seven National Forest Districts was represented 

 at the conference by specialists. Among the 

 subjects for discussion were Cooperation of the 

 Forest Service with industries, lumber dis- 

 tribution in the United States, utilization of 



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low-grade lumber and mill waste, adaptation 

 of manufacturing and grading to specific 

 classes of consumers, unification and standard- 

 ization of lumber grades, study and develop- 

 ment of general markets for National Forest 

 timber, mill scale studies, including technical 

 methods, tallying, etc.; lumber depreciation, 

 and the collection and compilation of lumber 

 price data. 



The information already collected by the 

 Forest Service under some of these headings 

 includes the most exhaustive data on the 

 mechanical properties of wood ever collected by 

 any agency in the world, and already has 

 resulted in practical reforms and big savings 

 to several of the important wood-using in- 

 dustries. 



The American Sawmill Company has pre- 

 sented The New York State College of Forestry 

 with a portable sawmill. This mill is to be set 

 up at the College Experiment Station at 

 Rockwell and it is expected that it will prove 

 of considerable use in practical demonstration 

 work for the students. Numerous small 

 problems may be brought out in great detail 

 with this equipment. 



The State Ranger School at Wanakena of 

 the College of Forestry at Syracuse opened 

 its fourth successful year the first Tuesday in 

 March with twenty men from all parts of the 

 State who will take a year of practical training 

 in the school, fitting themselves for such 

 positions as forest guards, rangers, tree plant- 

 ing experts and forest estate managers. Mr. 

 G. A. Gutches, formerly District Inspector of 

 Forests of Saskatchewan, has just been brought 

 in to take charge of the school and he will seek 

 to make the school of especial service to the 

 lumbermen and forest owners of the State. 

 Mr. Gutches will be assisted by Professor 

 E. F. McCarthy who will be in charge of the 

 instructional work at the school. Both 

 Director Gutches and Professor McCarthy are 

 graduates of the Forest School of the Univer- 

 sity of Michigan and both have had wide 

 experience in forest work for the United States 

 Government in the West. Besides the experi- 

 ence with the United States Forest Service, 

 Mr. Gutches has spent three years in charge 

 of very important lines of forest work in 

 Western Canada. 



Receipts from grazing permits on the 

 National Forests for the season of 1915 will 

 contribute to the public revenues approxi- 

 mately $1,200,000, or about $200,000 more 

 than last year, according to an estimate made 

 from the allowances just authorized by the 

 Secretary of Agriculture. The Forests this 

 year will furnish forage for 1,983,775 cattle 

 and horses, 8,747,025 sheep and goats, and 

 64,040 swine, the figures indicating a material 

 increase of meat production on the govern- 

 ment-regulated ranges. 



