Canadian Forest nj Journal, June, 1917 



1179 



about 60 feet apart, connected under- 

 ground by an iron strip 6-inchcs wide 

 buried to a depth of 18 inches. Above 

 ground, the uprights are connected 

 by an uninsulated No. 12 telephone 

 wire broken in the middle by a bam- 

 boo insulator 18 inches long. His 

 sending equipment consists of one 

 to four ordinary Blue Bell batteries, 

 a key, a coil, and six minute spark 

 gaps arranged in two parallel series 

 of three each. The receiving ap- 

 paratus " is an improved wireless de- 

 tector and an ordinary head-set of 

 telephone receivers. He has installed 

 and experimented with stations one 

 and a quarter miles, three miles, and 

 thirteen miles away from his head- 

 quarters station. At the first two 

 distances, telegraphic signals have 

 been delivered. The 13-mile station 

 was wrecked by range horses before 

 it could be tried out. 

 . The plan is to perfect, first, the 

 cheapest efficient loop, then the coil 

 ^nd spark gaps for clear transmission 

 to the determined loop at all dis- 

 tances up to 50 miles, with not to 

 exceed two battery cells. Then to 

 perfect the transmitter, which, with 

 the same apparatus, will send the 

 human voice. 



When I visited the operations last 

 April Doctor Cox was already, send- 

 ing telegraphic signals three miles 

 with seven one-thousandths of a kilo- 

 watt. 



Doctor Cox's principle is the in- 

 verse of the ordinary commercial 

 wireless system. It uses the ground 

 as the medium of transmission — not 

 the air. To prove to himself that he 

 was using what corresponds to the 

 ground position of a regular grounded 

 telephone circuit, he made some slight 

 changes in his apparatus and tele- 

 phoned successfully over a single wire 

 with no ground. 



Reporting by Shots 

 Reporting fires from lookout sta- 

 tions by shots has been frequently 

 discussed as a possible method of 

 communication, but until this sum- 

 mer I know of no actual tests having 

 been made. The forest ranger on 

 the division overlooked by the Fuego 

 Vista Lookout Station on the Angeles 



National Forest, had trail work to do 

 with a crew of men and was in con- 

 sequence out of telephone communi- 

 cation. Arrangements were made 

 whereby the lookout, on discovering 

 a fire on which the ranger might be 

 needed, was to discharge three sticks 

 of dynamite, and the ranger was to 

 "beat it" for the nearest 'phone. 

 Two shots meant the fire was on the 

 ranger's division. This system of 

 communication was used on three 

 occasions, and the shots were easily 

 heard at an air line distance of three 

 miles. 



PACKRATS DEVOUR PINES 



On parts of the Angeles National 

 Forest in California the packrats are 

 so abundant that many of the young 

 pines planted by the Forest Serv'ice 

 have been killed or injured by the 

 rodents. The damage seems to take 

 place chiefly in the late summer and 

 fall and is more extensive in dry than 

 in wet seasons. It is thought that 

 the rats tear off the tender bark of 

 the trees to obtain moisture at times 

 when water is scarce. 



HOW TREE PLANTING 

 SUCCEEDS 



Of the 22,000,000 trees planted on 

 the Pennsylvania State Forests to 

 January 1, 1917, over 15,000,000, or 

 about seventy-two per cent, are now 

 living. Over 11,000,00 of the 15,- 

 000,000 are white pine. Figures are 

 not available on the present status of 

 the private plantations, but up to the 

 end of 1916 about 3,000,000 seedlings 

 were planted by corporations and 

 individuals, and at least 2,000.000 

 should be in good condition now. 



Are you a railroad employee''^ The 

 Forest Fire is doing its best to thin 

 out your pay envelope. Deserts play 

 traitor to freight and passenger traffic, 

 and Forest Fires are the breeders of 

 deserts. Forests when kept alive pro- 

 duce lumber mills, pulp and paper 

 factories, busy towns, heavy tourist 

 traffic, job for everybody. Five 

 thousand forest industries look to you 

 to keep their wood supplies fit for use. 



