Canadian Forestry Journal, October, ipi6 



783 



The bulletin tells us that the stand- 

 ard cord measure, as used to-day, was 

 fixed by the Massachusetts Bay Colony 

 in 1647, being adopted later by practi- 

 cally all the other colonies. 



Tar Manufacture. 



The British Crown early manifested 

 an interest in the timber and timber- 

 product resources of the colonies. Con- 

 necticut in 1644 granted two men the 

 privilege of making tar under certain 

 restrictions in the colony, although 

 later some of the inhabitants made a 

 complaint on account of the disagree- 

 able smell of the tar near their homes. 

 Thus in 1644 began the American na- 

 val stores industry. In 1671, Massa- 

 chusetts Bay Colony granted a com- 

 pany a ten-year monopoly "to make 

 for sale pitch, rozin, turpentine, oyle of 

 turpentine of the pine or cedar trees." 



"With a view to establishing a per- 

 manent source of naval stores within 

 its own dominions, the British Parlia- 

 ment in 1704 passed an act which 

 placed bounties on tar, pitch, rozin, tur- 

 pentine, hemp, masts, yards, and bow- 

 sprits imported from the American col- 

 onies into Great Britain. For the 

 preservation of trees fit for the pro- 

 duction of naval stores, this act im- 

 posed a fine of five pounds for the of- 

 fence of cutting or destroying a pitch 



pine tree or a tar tree, under 12 inches 

 in diameter, 3 feet from the ground, 

 not within a fence or an actual inclo- 

 sure, within the colonies of New 

 Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode 

 Island, Connecticut, New York, and 

 New Jersey, and fixed a fine of ten 

 pounds for the offence of wittingly or 

 willingly firing any woods or forest in 

 which there were trees prepared for 

 the making of pitch or tar, without first 

 giving notice to the person who had 

 prepared the trees for the making of 

 pitch or tar, in any of the said colo- 



nies. 



Regulate Gracing. 



Nor were the interests of the colo- 

 nies confined to forest fires, timber in- 

 spection, and barrel staves, for as early 

 as 1739 the Massachusetts General 

 Court declared that great harm had 

 been done to the beech grass on the 

 shores of Cape Cod by cattle and 

 horses, and that as a result the sands 

 were drifting inland, causing great de- 

 struction, and thereupon prescribed a 

 fine of 40 shillings per head for each 

 neat cattle, horse, or mare that was 

 turned loose upon the meadows and 

 beaches of Truro. Thus we get the 

 first record of an attempt in America 

 to regulate grazing. And a stiff tres- 

 pass fee was wisely imposed ! 



The Paper Making Art in Egypt 



(The Egyptian Gazette.) 

 Egypt once kept the greater part of 

 Europe supplied with paper. At first, 

 it was made of the cellular pith of the 

 papyrus laid in strips side by side and 

 a further layer laid above the first 

 crosswise ; the whole was then damped 

 with Nile water and pressed. Later 

 the Arabs made paper from rags, and 

 among other names given to it was 

 "charta cuttunea," because it had a cot- 

 tony appearance, which gave rise to the 

 idea that at one time paper pulp was 

 made here from cotton wool. So 



much paper was made and exported 

 from Alexandria at one time that the 

 Emperor Hadrian was particularly im- 

 pressed when he visited the city with 

 the great and flourishing trade in this 

 article. 



It is strange to reflect that after hav- 

 ing been, as it were, the home of paper, 

 Egypt is to-day absolutely dependent 

 on her imports of this material. The 

 question naturally arises, Is it possible 

 for Egypt once more to make herself 

 at least partially independent in this 

 direction? 



