Forestry Notes. 



291 



Pole-Treating At North Bloomfield, on the Tahoe National 

 Plant. Forest, the Service is experimenting with the 



Boucherie process for the preservation of tim- 

 ber. By this process the sapwood is filled with a water solution 

 of copper sulphate or other antiseptic salt while still in a green 

 condition, the liquid being forced into the unpeeled logs by hydro- 

 static pressure. Four species — western yellow pine, lodgepole 

 pine, white fir and Douglas fir — will be used. This work was 

 started in May with western yellow pine and white fir poles 

 varying in diameter from four to ten inches and in length from 

 twenty to twenty-three feet. It has been determined that these 

 species yield readily to the treatment, the time required being 

 from two to five days. The points which will be determined are 

 effect of daily temperature, season of cutting, and seasoning upon 

 rate of absorption; effect of water storage of poles for varying 

 periods upon subsequent treatment ; effect of varying solution 

 pressures at point of application. 



Sequoia Gigantea The Forest Service is raising several acres 

 Seedlings. of big-tree seedlings on the Tahoe National 



Forest in California, at a more northerly 

 point than any natural big-tree grove. While the giant sequoias 

 are found in the forests of the Sierras at various points through- 

 out a total range of some 250 miles, in the northern two-thirds 

 of this range there is practically no natural reproduction. It has 

 consequently been a question whether the species would not 

 practically disappear from this region when the present mature 

 trees die. 



The most northern existing grove of big trees is on the Tahoe 

 Forest, but about thirty-four miles southeast of the site selected 

 for planting. This site is on a moist flat not far from Nevada 

 City, and is about 2,700 feet above sea-level. The first seeding 

 was done in the fall of 1910, with very successful results, and last 

 fall an additional area was seeded. 



Settlement of Forest The Forest Service of California has 

 Area Being Encouraged. listed 1,504 homesteads upon forest 

 reserves in this State since the pass- 

 age of the act of Congress of June 11, 1906, which provides for 

 giving homes to settlers upon tracts susceptible to cultivation. 

 The settlement of areas that can be cultivated is encouraged, and 

 the criticism that the Government withholds settlement that some- 

 times is heard emanates from those who have been unsuccessful 

 in locating valuable timber lands. More than 1,200 such applica- 

 tions have been rejected. 



