872 



Caiujdiaii Forestry Journal, December, iqi6 



solve the weakness of the lookout sys- 

 tem of detecting fires? 



A. I have not had experience in 

 smoke, but this is true of fog- Often 

 when it seems very dense on the 

 ground we can see through it from 

 above. 



Q. How fast must a machine travel 

 to keep up. 



A. It depends on the type ; probably 

 fifty miles an hour. 



Q. What is the rate of depreciation 

 on machines? 



A. Possibly more than on Fords. 



Q. Could a man go up every day for 

 two months with reasonable assurance 

 against breakdown or accident? 



A. Oh, yes. The modern machine 

 is about as safe as an automobile or 

 boat unless you try to do something 

 spectacular. 



Q. How large an opening in the 

 woods is required for landing? 



A. Very few acres would do to land 

 in, for you can spiral in coming down. 

 It takes more room to get up again. 



Q. How long would it take to get 

 down and report after finding a fire? 



A. Figure it 75 miles an hour to the 

 reporting place. 



Q. How closely could you identify 

 the location of a fire? 



A. I think the aviator would soon 

 learn his country, well enough to locate 

 closely by reference to known land- 

 marks. Topography appears flatten- 

 ed out to an aviator- He does not 

 work by reference to hills and valleys 

 like a man on the ground, but by hav- 

 ing every other feature but these very 

 much more evident than to the man on 

 the ground. It is more like looking at 

 a map. Buildings, roads, streams and 

 openings are conspicuous, and their po- 

 sition with relation to each other is 

 clear. 



Q. How would you cornmunicate 

 when you found a fire ; drop a message 

 at a telephone point- or stop? 



A. Both are practicable, but I should 

 say best stop. Remember you wouldn't 

 need a telephone at all landing places 

 because it don't take long to fly 30 or 

 40 miles. 



Q. Are electrical storms, such as 

 cause many fires, dangerous to flyers? 



A. They would not interfere at all. 



Q. It still strikes me that this would 



be only an intermittent service. With 

 the fixed lookout you can report imme- 

 diately by telephone ; you can probably 

 get two bearings on the same fire and 

 locate it accurately ; you are there to 

 get new fires as in the case of an elec- 

 trical storm when I have known 19 to 

 start one after another; and you are 

 there all the time. The aeroplane be- 

 gins to lose valuable time as soon as it 

 finds the first fire. And as to the 

 smoke obstacle, I think it has been ex- 

 aggerated- 



A. The point is that none proposes to 

 replace the lookout system. The 

 thought is that every protective unit 

 may have an aeroplane as an auxiliary ; 

 not use4 at high expense when look- 

 outs are adequate, but to help keep in 

 touch with the situation in bad times 

 when the whole system is overtaxed — 

 when men on the ground are over- 

 worked, when lookouts cannot see, 

 when the whole system is breaking 

 down and we feel helpless. That is 

 when fires cost money and when any 

 help pays, even at high expense. 



Fireproof Paper. 



An English patent has been taken 

 out by T. J. I. Craig and others, of 

 Manchester, on a method of fireproof- 

 ing paper. According to an abstract 

 in Journal of the Society of Chemical 

 Industry, in the process of rendering 

 materials non-inflammable by means 

 of sodium aluminum carbonate, these 

 materials in which the proofing agent 

 cannot conveniently be precipitated in 

 situ, may be treated by mixing or coat- 

 ing with a preparation of the double 

 carbonate. 



What Is Sulphite? 

 Almost everybody in the printing 

 and allied trades can answer this ques- 

 tion, but for the benefit of readers who 

 are not quite certain over the matter 

 it may be explained that sulphite pulp 

 is obtained by a chemical process in 

 which acid is used. The wood cells 

 are separated from the other constitu- 

 ents and formed into cellulose, as it is 

 known in trade, sulphite, pulp. W^hen 

 the same process is conducted with an 

 alkali the product is known as soda 

 pulp. — Printer and Publisher. 



