1146 



Canadian Forestry Journal, June, 1917 



Nut Tree Growing in Island of Corsica 



In an informative article advocat- 

 ing the growing of more nut trees in 

 the United States and Canada, a 

 writer in "American Forestry" gives 

 many convincing illustrations of the 

 customs of other lands where the pro- 

 duce from nut trees as well as the 

 timber itself is considered a chief 

 source of income. Of the chestnut 

 tree cultivation in the Island of Cor- 

 sica, the article says:— 



"We have the very stimulating 

 example of Corsica where mountain 

 slopes as steep as a house roof and 

 even steeper are clothed for miles in 

 a continuous expanse of trees which 

 look strangely like a forest, yet every 

 tree is a grafted chestnut. Every 

 acre is as valuable as good corn land 

 in Indiana, and scattered along the 

 magnificent macadam roads are the 

 substantial stone villages of the num- 

 erous population that supports itself 

 in comfortable prosperity from the 

 combined income of chestnuts, chest- 

 nut wood, and the by-product of 

 pasture and a small garden patch. 

 The chestnut industry has continued 

 in Corsica for centuries. Certainly 

 the earth offers few examples of agri- 

 culture so permanent, so automatic, 

 and so easy. When a Corsican gets 

 pushed for money he goes out "and 

 cuts down an old giant worth often 

 from $10 to $25 in American gold. 



The practice of the Corsican moun- 

 taineers in their tree crop agriculture 

 or fruitful forestry, whichever you 

 choose to call it, is very suggestive of 

 a proper method of ^ handling the 

 technical question of getting a stand 

 of trees and keeping it, and at the 

 same time utilizing the by produce 

 of pasture. The Corsican goat, 

 whose milk makes much good cheese, 

 browses in the chestnut forests and 

 keeps down most of the undergrowth. 

 When a Corsican sees a chestnut tree 

 which in five, ten, or twenty years is 

 likely to be ready to go to the pulp 

 niill, he goes off to his little nursery, 

 digs out a ten-foot chestnut, and 

 plants it near to one which it is to 

 succeed. He puts two stakes beside 



it to keep it from being ridden down 

 by the goats. When it is established 

 in two or three years, he grafts it, 

 and there it stands leading a sub- 

 merged kind of life for five or twenty 

 or thirty years. But when the old 

 monarch by which it stands finally 

 comes down, it is ready to spring 

 promptly into rapid growth. 



Lands with first-class climate are 

 too valuable to grow mere wood. 

 Some part of our country to the South 

 as indicated by climatic studies, 

 as well as by history and present 

 development, seems not to have a 

 first-class climate for the develop- 

 ment of numerous, vigorous, ener- 

 getic and healthy men. Here tim- 

 ber should be grown. Certain parts 

 of America are too cold and have 

 winters too long for the easy support 

 of large numbers of people. 



SAWDUST STOPS FIRE 



Recent experiments went to prove 

 that sawdust is useful as a fire ex- 

 tinguisher. It was found to be very 

 successful in quenching fires in oil, 

 and much superior to sand for fires 

 in tanks of inflammable liquids. Ex- 

 periments were conducted with tanks 

 of burning lacquer, though the same 

 principles appear to apply largely to 

 tanks of burning oil. The floating 

 sawdust forms a blanket that shuts 

 off the air from the flames; and saw- 

 dust itself catches fire only slowly, 

 and then does not burn with a flame. 

 The sawdust blanket was completely 

 successful in putting out the fires in 

 these tests. It made no difference 

 whether the sawdust was wet or dry. 



The efficiency of sawdust is greater 

 on viscous than on thin liquids, as 

 it floats more readily on the former 

 than on the latter. The sawdust 

 itself is not easily ignited, and when 

 ignited it burns without a flame, and 

 the burning embers have not suffi- 

 ciently high temperature to re-ignite 

 the liqiud. Mixing sodium bicar- 

 bonate with the sawdust increases its 

 efficiency materially. 



