FORESTRY. 



309 



For many years engineers have tried to find 

 some method for preventing this decay in 

 structural timber by injecting various sub- 

 stances into the wood to kill any fungus 

 which had started to grow in the wood. 

 Those most used are coal-tar, oil, zinc chlor- 

 ide, copper sulphate, and mercuric chloride. 

 Varying degrees of success have been ob- 

 tained with these materials, depending on 

 the kind of timber used and the climate 

 where the timber was exposed. On some 

 European railroads ties have been made to 

 last 30 years and more. It will be neces- 

 sary to test all preservatives side by side 

 under similar conditions, in order to deter- 

 mine which one is of the most value. An 

 experiment has been started with this end 

 in view in Southern Texas, where the de- 

 cay of timber takes place with the great- 

 est rapidity. When a suitable method of 

 impregnation is found, it will be possible 

 to increase the length of life of many tim- 

 bers several times. The question is one of 

 particular interest to the railroads, as they 

 use such enormous quantities of timber 

 every year. Successful impregnation will 

 mean the utilization of inferior timbers 

 which no one wants now because they de- 

 cay so fast, such as the tamarack, loblolly 

 pine, lodgepole pine, and swamp oak. 

 When they are preserved, these timbers will 

 be as serviceable as the scarcer and higher 

 priced timbers. This will allow the utili- 

 zation of vast quantities of timber which 

 are now not used and will admit of a more 

 careful exploitation of the scarcer kinds. 

 Then, again, the trees which are being ad- 

 vocated for tie purposes, the catalpa and 

 eucalyptus, are soft woods. It would be 

 desirable to determine their resisting pow- 

 er to decay ; also whether it may not be 

 possible to harden them somewhat. At the 

 present time little is known concerning- the 

 rate of decay, the susceptibility of various 

 timbers, the manner of infection of trees, 

 of those problems referred to above. A 

 successful beginning has been made, and 

 it is hoped that with the increased in- 

 terest in the forests and their products 

 further studies will be possible in the di- 

 rection of understanding the decaying 

 factors and how to prevent them. — H. von 

 Schrenk, in Forestry and Irrigation. 



DESTROYERS OF FORESTS TO BE EX- 

 COMMUNICATED. 

 In many countries where the necessity for 

 forest preservation has become more press- 

 ing and acute than it is at present in Can- 

 ada, the destruction of the forests is looked 

 on as criminal ; but we may per- 

 haps look elsewhere in vain for an 

 example of such a strong deliverance on 

 the subject as that given recently by the 

 Greek Church. National and patriotic as 

 that church is, it takes a deep and proprie- 



tary interest in everything that affects the 

 national welfare. A few months ago the 

 Holy Synod of Greece issued an encyclical, 

 which was publicly proclaimed by the gov- 

 ernment in all parts of the kingdom, in 

 which the utmost wrath of the church was 

 declared on all who indulged in "the un- 

 holy practice, abhorred of God," of setting 

 fi e to forests; also against all who, 

 knowing others to have been guilty of such 

 deeds, failed to denounce and testify against 

 them, and to aid in every possible way in 

 securing their punishment. All thus guilty 

 through commission or omission are to be 

 "excommunicated from the church, ac- 

 cursed and shut out from forgiveness." 

 "The wrath of God," continues the encycli- 

 cal, "and the curse of the church be on 

 their heads, and may they never see the 

 success of their labors." 



It may be deemed that the Greek Church 

 is unnecessarily autocratic and aggressive 

 in this action, but if it is remembered that 

 Greece has but to lift her eyes Eastward 

 across the sea to look on deserts which 

 were once fruitful and the support of 

 a numerous and prosperous people — when 

 we look with her eyes on her green hills 

 and fair valleys, and realize the desolation 

 and suffering that examples within her own 

 borders also sufficiently demonstrate would 

 follow the sweeping away of the forest cov- 

 ering, we may perhaps realize that 

 a useless destruction of the forest is an act 

 essentially unchristian, and exemplifies the 

 spirit of disregard for others which is un- 

 doubtedly deserving of the condemnation 

 of those who speak with authority for the 

 Christian church. — Exchange. 



ST. JOHN'S RIVER. 



FRANK H. SWEET. 



Strange, wayward stream, that leaves the 

 common run, 

 And scorns the ancient customs of its 



race, 

 The waiting sea that circles its birth} lace, 

 Flowing its waters Northward from the 



sun, 

 And ending where most streams would 

 have begun; 

 Up, and not down, in easy, languid grace, 

 With stately palms mirrored upon its face, 

 Exacting tribute rivers, one by one; 

 Fair, mystic stream, that smiles back to the 

 sky, 

 And breathes such tropic verdure on its 

 way — 

 Rich plants and flowers that on its borders 

 lie, 

 And orange groves that stretch and 

 stretch away; 

 Gray, swaying moss that makes the zephyrs 

 sigh, 

 And strange, sweet odors through the 

 night and day. 



