Forestry Notes. 



77 



sideration of the expenditure involved in this work, the company 

 has been granted a shght concession in stumpage rates. Old 

 snags, if left standing, are a menace in time of fire, since sparks 

 are thrown for hundreds of yards from their tops as from a 

 chimney. Trees affected with fungus diseases tend to spread 

 such diseases to other healthy trees in the forest. By all those 

 interested in the protection and improvement of our magnificent 

 Sierra forests, this will be recognized and welcomed as a decided 

 step in advance. 



The Forest Service is now advertising for sale one billion feet 

 of timber along the Hayfork and South Fork of the Trinity River 

 in Trinity County. The Humboldt & Eastern Railway Committee 

 of Eureka, California, has been instrumental in placing this timber 

 on the market in order to make possible the construction of a 

 railroad from Eureka to the vicinity of Red Bluff, on the main 

 Hne of the Southern Pacific Railroad. This road, if constructed, 

 will hasten the development of one of the most thinly settled and 

 undeveloped regions of the State, a region offering great attrac- 

 tions to those who spend their summer outings in our forests. 



This is by far the largest amount of timber ever offered for sale 

 by the Forest Service. Special concessions in stumpage rates and 

 length of time allowed for removal of the timber have been ap- 

 proved by the Secretary of Agriculture in order to make the 

 building of the proposed road feasible. 



Over 6,000 pounds of tree seed has been collected this fall by 

 the Forest Service upon the National Forests of this State. This 

 seed is being sown by the forest rangers upon natural forest land 

 which, owing largely to repeated fires, bears no seed trees at 

 present, and, therefore, cannot reforest itself naturally. It is 

 proposed to continue this work on 2, large scale each year until all 

 National Forest land is in productive condition. 



During the past summer a survey has been made of the 

 Sierra, Sequoia, Tahoe, Lassen, Plumas, and Klamath National 

 forests by an entomological expert with a practical knowledge 

 of forestry, with the object of determining the extent of the 

 damage done in any forests by insects and recommending prac- 

 tical measures for abating this damage. Several dangerous in- 

 festations threatening large forest areas have been discovered 

 and experiments are now under way to determine the cheapest 

 and most effective treatment of infested trees. This work will 

 be continued next year, emphasizing the education of rangers in 

 this line of work by furnishing them with simple descriptions of 

 the most dangerous insect enemies of trees, their method of work 

 and the best means of destroying them. T. D. W. 



