98 



Canadian Forestry Journal, October-November, 1914. 



U. S. LUMBER PRODUCTION IN 1913. 



The United States Forest Service 

 reports that the production of lumber 

 in the United States in 1913 was 38,- 

 387,009,000 board feet, which repre- 

 sents a decrease of al)out three-quar- 

 ters of a billion feet from the total 

 reached in 1912. The high water 

 mark of lumber production was at- 

 tained in 1909 when the cut exceeded 

 forty-four billion feet. In 1913 there 

 was an increase as compared with the 

 previous year in the cut of Douglas 

 fir and yellow pine, and a decrease in 

 white pine, hemlock, spruce, oak and 

 maple. This change in the quantities 

 of certain woods indicates increased 

 production in Washington and Ore- 

 gon and the Southern States and de- 

 creased production in the Northern, 

 Central and Atlantic States. Of the 

 total production in 1913 soft woods 

 contributed a little over thirty billion 

 feet. 



FOLLOWING CANADA'S LEAD. 



The good work done by the Do- 

 minion Forestry Branch in the past 

 twelve or thirteen years in distribut- 

 ing trees to settlers in the prairies 

 for windbreaks, and ultimately for 

 fuel and timber, is to be followed by 

 the United States Forest Service. Mr. 

 W. A. Peterson, Superintendent of 

 the newly established Field Station at 

 Mandan, North Dakota, U.S.A., re- 

 cently visited the Dominion Forestry 

 Branch Nursery at Indian Head in 

 order to get information as to the 

 methods employed in handling the 

 trees to settlers in Canada. It has 

 been decided that the United States 

 Forest Service will in the future dis- 

 tribute trees to prairie settlers from 

 ^Mandan in the same manner as the 

 Dominion Forestry Branch has been 

 distributing them from Indian Head. 

 The province of Ontario has for a 

 number of years been distributing 

 trees to farmers from Guelph and 

 latterly from the nursery station at 

 St. "Williams. In both the above cases 



the trees (except special kinds for 

 which a small charge is made) are dis- 

 tributed free, the recipient paying the 

 express and undertaking to give cul- 

 tivation for a period of three years. 

 The province of Quebec during the 

 past two years has distributed trees 

 at a very low price from the provin- 

 cial forest nursery at- Berthierville. 

 It is interesting to know that Canada 

 lias l)een leading in this matter, but 

 some of the other provinces, notably 

 the Maritime provinces, might well as- 

 sist in the work of farm forestry by 

 similar methods. 



CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY ACTS. 



In order to relieve the unemploy- 

 ment caused by the war, the Canadian 

 Pacific Railway management, at the 

 end of September, decided to take "on 

 six thousand extra labourers for two 

 months, to do work along its lines. It 

 is understood that a good deal of this 

 work ^\'ill consist in clearing debris 

 from the right of way. to reduce the 

 risk of fire spreading from the locomo- 

 tives. This is a satisfactory action 

 from whatever standpoint it is viewed, 

 and the only regret is that the other 

 rtiilways do not see their way clear to 

 do likewise. 



UTILIZING MAIL CARRIERS. 



The United States Post Office De- 

 partment, in its postal guide, instructs 

 rural mail carriers to report forest 

 fires which they observe when on their 

 routes to the proper authorities. The 

 railways in Canada, the Bell Tele- 

 phone CompaJiy, and other companies 

 have inserted instructions regarding 

 forest fires in their time tables and 

 directories, and this idea of having 

 rural mail carriers linked up with the 

 protecting agencies is one worthy of 

 the consideration of the Canadian 

 Post Office Department. 



