ISO 



RECREATION. 



ways supply a large quantity of first-rate 

 material in this line to the people of Eu- 

 rope at a reasonable rate, a good market 

 would be assured because the yellow pine 

 of America is popular there. A house fin- 

 ished with yellow pine in Europe is "luxu- 

 riously finished," and it is not uncommon 

 to see a piece of polished yellow pine by 

 the side of mahogany and other precious 

 woods in the museums of Europe. 



According to J. G. Stowe, United States 

 Consul General at Cape Town, every 

 sleeper of the 150 miles of narrow gauge 

 railroad in and around the Kimberley dia- 

 mond mines is of California redwood, 

 which in South Africa is the best wood for 

 such purposes. It is also used in many 

 other ways. Three ships have recently ar- 

 rived with cargoes of redwood and Ore- 

 gon pine. 



With the prospects of a great market, for 

 many years to come, for such timber, which 

 is so easily and quickly produced in this 

 country, in such far-away countries as 

 Europe, South Africa and the Orient, it is 

 only good business to see that the supply 

 may last forever and that the market may 

 increase instead of having it come to an 

 untimely end in its infancy because of the 

 short-sighted policy of our lumbermen in 

 ridding our country of the best of it in the 

 shortest possible time, with no thought of 

 the future. 



SYSTEMS OF FOREST CULTURE. 



In Europe where forestry is a great serv- 

 ice and art, many silvicultural systems have 

 developed. In addition to several main 

 systems of treatment there are a host of 

 auxiliary systems which are devised to fit 

 almost any condition which may arise. The 

 system of management always depends on 

 the quality of the locality and the purpose 

 of the forest. 



We should distinguish first between 

 seedling forests and coppice forests, that is, 

 those which grow from seed and those 

 which consist of the shoots from the stumps 

 or roots of trees which have been cut. Sec- 

 ondly, we should distinguish between pure 

 forests and mixed forests, that is, forests of 

 one species only and forests which consist 

 of 2 or more species. Thirdly, we should 

 distinguish between forests of even age and 

 those of uneven age, or regular and irreg- 

 ular forests. We should distinguish also 

 those trees which require light, which usu- 

 ally form the overwood of the forest, and 

 those trees which endure shade, which usu- 

 ally form the underwood of a forest. 



In the treatment of seedling forests we 

 may easily distinguish between 2 great 

 groups of systems, one in which everything 

 is cut clean and the other in which the cut- 

 ting is done gradually, so the trees which 



are left standing may serve to seed and 

 shelter. 



In the clear cutting systems regenera- 

 tion may be produced by sowing seed, by 

 planting young trees or by depending on 

 the winds and birds to sow seed from ad- 

 joining woods. The systems in which the 

 forest is regenerated under shelter woods 

 may be divided into 2 distinct classes: 

 First, those which divide the forest into 

 parts, each part receiving treatment in its 

 turn until the whole forest is cut over and 

 regenerated; and second, into the selection 

 system, in which the whole forest is worked 

 over at certain intervals, and in which 

 single trees receive special attention rather 

 than large groups. In the former the con- 

 dition and age of the trees of each section 

 are more or less uniform, while in the lat- 

 ter all ages and classes are mixed together. 



All these systems have certain advantages 

 and disadvantages, and in future systems 

 will be defined one at a time so that any 

 person deserving to place his land under 

 forest regulation may find something of 



practical value. 



THE TIME ELEMENT. 



One day while working at the sawmill, 

 just after noon, not a breath of air stir- 

 ring, I heard a crash, which I soon lo- 

 cated. On the hill about 100 yards away 

 a large red fir tree had fallen. It had been 

 burnt out at the roots years before. Will 

 some one explain why it should have stood 

 through many storms and then have fallen 

 during a calm? 



S. N. Leek, Jackson, Wyo. 



ANSWER. 



It is always the last hair that breaks the 

 camel's back, though it may be difficult to 

 determine when the last hair will be put on. 

 So with a tree in the condition described; 

 the storms have been shaking it, loosening 

 its fibres, until a small effort, a breeze 

 which is hardly perceptible on the ground, 

 would break it. The last storm did not 

 quite accomplish the final result, yet has 

 changed the position of the load, per- 

 chance; and then the time element, the 

 length of time that the unbalanced load is 

 statically active, suffices, without additional 

 motion or swaying, to accomplish the fail- 

 ure, as the last fibre has become tired and 

 gives out. 



Just so a beam loaded to within a frac- 

 tion of its breaking strength and kept 

 under this load will finally give way, and 

 hence an allowance must be made in the 

 so-called "factor of safety" for the time ele- 

 ment. 



Another good illustration of the value 

 of this time element is the possibility of 

 rapidly running over cakes of ice or logs 

 in the water, which would drop the less 

 agile runner, because he allows the load 

 too long to be active. 



