Canadian Forestry Journal, July, ipi6. 



623 



spicuous white bark. Forests in 

 which it is rather common, are 

 often called "white forests" in con- 

 tradistinction to the "black forests" 

 of evergreens. 



On the Eastern Front. 



The damage and destruction 

 along the eastern front has extended 

 over an enormous territory due to 

 the great length and the continuous- 

 ly changing position of the battle 

 line. As a rule the degree of de- 

 struction has not been so complete 

 nor the extent of damage so great 

 in any one locality as along the 

 western front, but a much greater 

 area has been covered by the almost 

 continuously retreating and advanc- 

 ing armies. The total amount 'of 

 wood already used, damaged, and 

 destroyed must be enormous. The 

 loss, while large in amount, will, 

 however, probably not be felt so 

 keenly as in Belgium and northern 

 France, where a much larger per- 

 centage of the forests were privately 

 owned. Furthermore, a greater 

 percentage of the total land area 

 along the eastern front was still 

 wooded, thus making wood a less 

 expensive commodity on account of 

 the larger supply still available. 



The loss is not limited to the im- 

 mediate vicinity of the forested re- 

 gions but extends even to foreign 

 lands. Russia was a great wood ex- 

 porting country before the war. 

 About 60 per cent of the export 

 wood left through Baltic ports. 

 Riga, the objective point of one of 

 the German armies, in the environs 

 of which much fighting has recently 

 taken place, led all other Baltic ports 

 in the exportation of wood. Through 

 this port alone about 18,500,000.000 

 cubic feet of wood, mostly Scotch 

 pine, left annually for foreign coun- 

 tries, principally Great Britain. 



Canadian Research Bureau 



The Canadian Pacific Railway and 

 others interested in the establish- 

 ment of the Canadian Research 

 Bureau, deserve the warmest praise 

 for having brought this about. The 

 Bureau have secured the services of 

 Mr. Arthur D. Little, a well known 

 engineer of Boston, and a former 

 President of the American Chemical 

 Society. Mr. Little is eminently 

 qualified to head such an organiza- 

 tion, and we predict that it will be 

 productive of much good. 



In brief, the object of the new re- 

 search bureau is to investigate, or- 

 ganize and systematize our re- 

 sources. It will carry on a scientific 

 investigation of the mineral, metal, 

 hydro-electrical and chemical re- 

 sources of the nation and formulate 

 plans for the lessening of the waste 

 in our forests, factories, mines and 

 mills. The results of the Bureau's 

 investigations will be sent out to 

 manufacturers, merchants and oth- 

 ers interested in the form of bul- 

 letins. 



Restoring the Slate 



Slates may be brought back into 

 schools in the United States on ac- 

 count of the shortage of paper. 



Cheap paper writing tablets now 

 used m schools may disappear, or 

 what is more likely, become prohibi- 

 tive in price. Common five-cent 

 tablets now contain little more than 

 one-half the sheets thev did before 

 the beginning of the wa'r. and paper 

 firms say they are being furnished 

 at an effort. 



U. S. Government Paper Bill 



More than 30,000,000 pounds of 

 paper, embracing almost everv kind 

 m present-dav use and costing ap- 

 proximately $1,250,000 a vear. is 

 used in the government printing of- 

 fice making the United States' one 

 of the largest buyers of paper in the 

 world. 



