1342 



Canadian Forestry Journal, October, 1917 



railroads, and of alternating currents 

 of the electric light plant, which, 

 although carrying a higher current, 

 appear to be less disastrous. 

 Burns the Limb 

 "In moist or wet weather, when 

 the tree is covered wdth a film of 

 water, the current causes, at the 

 point of contact, an injury to the 

 tree, which provides favorable con- 

 ditions for leakage through the film 

 of water, grounding the current and 

 burning the limb, partially or entirely 

 kilhng the cambium at point of con- 

 tact, and drying out the limb above. 

 With alternating currents the darn- 

 age seems usually confined to this 

 local destruction at or near the point 

 of contact as a result of the heat 

 created. With direct currents, in 

 addition to these local burnings, elec- 

 tric effects are sometimes noted a- 



a distance, the escaping current gird- 

 ling trees at the base, and killing the 

 cambium without the characteristic 

 burning at point of contact or at 

 point of discharge. This appears to 

 happen only when the positive cur- 

 rent is not as usually carried by the 

 feed-wire, but by the rail, and leakage 

 through imperfect rail-connection 

 occurs. In an observed case the 

 damage was done when the trees 

 were four feet from the rail, the mois- 

 ture conditions of soil and bark being 

 evidently most favorable for electric 

 discharge." 



"The only help is, of course, to 

 string the wire outside of the tree 

 line, or at lejst to prevent contact, 

 keeping in mind that winds will sway 

 the branches and that allowance 

 must be made for this." 



The World's Bid For Quebec's Forests 



How the people of Quebec are 

 benefitting from the world-wide ad- 

 vance of timber values is shown by a 

 comparison of timber sales conducted 

 by the Quebec Government last 

 month and those held 14 years ago. 



In 1903 the average price received 

 by the public treasury for timber 

 berths was $111 a square mile. In 

 the following year it was $138 a square 

 mile. In September, 19l7, the bids 

 averaged $440 a square mile, one 

 substantial tract going at $1,000 a 

 square mile. This enormous ad- 

 vance does not represent a speculative 

 value because the purchasers were 

 industrial companies intending to 

 turn the forest growth to more or less 

 immediate account. 



Quebec tax-payers owe to their 

 forests their freedom from direct 

 taxation. Last vear no less a sum 

 than $1,683,000"^ was taken by the 

 Quebec Government as forest rev- 

 enue and this paid a great part of 

 public administration, road construc- 

 tion, public buildings, etc. The year 

 before Confederation, Quebec took 

 from the lumber industry a net total 



of $294,000. In 1866 this had risen 

 to $630,000 and by 1905 was $1,280,- 

 000. 



Every tree in Quebec is growing 

 more and more valuable. The in- 

 dustrial development and volume of 

 employment grows greater year by 

 year, and the public treasury is a 

 substantial gainer. Quebec cannot 

 afford to hand over any part of her 

 forest endowment to the needless 

 waste of fire. Every fire represents 

 a blow at employment and the pub- 

 He good. 



1500 PAPER CASUALTIES 



Amsterdam,- — The Bayerische Lan- 

 des Zeitung, of Warsebourg, before 

 discontinuing publication says that 

 the war has proved fatal to the 

 economic situation and the German 

 newspapers generally. One thou- 

 sand five hundred newspapers and 

 periodicals have already ceased pub- 

 lication, and the war has made de- 

 mands on the German newspaper 

 industry which are characterized as 

 frightful and entirely unexampled. 

 Paper has reached a price which 

 enabled most paper mills to increase 

 dividends considerably. 



.' 



