FOREST AND STREAM 
305 
July, 1922 
through and these can be detected readily by the eye. 
A reddish yellow flame may be caused by some salt 
of calcium, one of the commonest elements in the earth’s 
surface. Chalk, limestone, marble or calc-spar are all 
chiefly calcium, great quantities of which are swept into 
the ocean. The expression, “being in the limelight,” 
is based on the fact that the spotlights used in the 
theater usually had calcium in connection with the 
reflector to make the light more white and brilliant. 
The red flame is caused by either strontium or lith- 
ium. the former being a member of the calcium family 
of chemical elements, and the latter being related to 
potassium. The red fire used in political parades is 
often made by a mixture of strontium nitrate, shellac 
and potassium chlorate. Lithium is found in nature in 
the form of mica and is the lightest metal as to weight 
known. 
The Long Islanders of Irish sympathies delight when 
there is a copper nail or bit of other copper metal, or 
the element barium, for either of these are apt to throw 
out a greenish flame. Wreckage from ships often con- 
tain copper, since the sea water does not make this 
metal corrode, as it does iron and steel. Barium, when 
combined in the right proportions with sulphur, makes 
barium sulphide, which is used sometimes in the prepa- 
ration of luminous objects, such as match-boxes, clock 
faces, plates for house numbers, etc. The flame of 
barium is yellowish green; that of copper a darker 
green. 
Our thrifty wood-gleaners will not see any of these 
flames, except that of sodium, long sustained. There 
will be merely a flicker of I'ed, green, violet, etc., once 
in a while, here and there, and then the normal flame 
color again. The expert chemist might muse and spec- 
ulate, when he sees the various color displays, as to 
the original source of each chemical. He might wonder 
if the violet flames were caused by the potassium from 
the potassium deposits in Germany; the calcium, from 
the chalk cliffs of England. To him the rainbow hues 
might be full of meaning and reveal hidden secrets. 
STATE GAME REFUGES 
W E all realize to some extent that the feeling for 
preservation of our natural things is growing in 
this country by leaps and bounds, and that the 
need to preserve wild game and useful birds has become 
firmly established in the minds of an important part of 
our population. 
A document just issued by the Bureau of Biological 
Survey in ^^’ashington, giving a list of State game and 
bird refuges in the United States will, we believe, sur- 
prise even the most sanguine game protectors. This list 
includes all the states by name, though some we regret 
quite without game refuges, which are not provided for 
by law. These states are few and, on the other hand, there 
are many states scattered all over the country which have 
made astonishing records in setting aside refuges. 
These refuges are not peculiar to any section of the 
country. North, south, east and west, great tracts — or 
manv smaller tracts — have been set aside as refuges and 
are filled with an increasing wild life population. 
If South Carolina has no refuges because they are not 
provided by law, Louisiana on the other hand has several 
hundred thousand protected acres. If New Hampshire 
and Nevada have none, Maine and California are well 
provided. 
Neither is the establishment of all these various refuges 
due to state action. While legislatures have naturally done 
the most of this work, yet individuals, associations and 
business corporations have contributed their part. 
Among the states which shine for the great areas that 
they have given up to game protection are California, 
Minnesota, Montana, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, 
and Wyoming. All of these, with immense areas given 
over to park and protective purposes, are doing a splendid 
work. It is interesting to look back over many years and 
to see how steadily the feeling in behalf of the protection 
of wild life has grown. A multitude of men who have 
talked and written much in behalf of this subject are now 
receiving the reward of their well-doing. 
NATIONAL STATE PARK CONFERENCE 
T LIE second national conference on State Parks was 
held at Bear Mountain Inn, Palisades Interstate 
Park, New York, May 22-25, and was a notable 
event in the rapidly-growing movement of forest recrea- 
tion. 
Something unique has been developed in America 
recently in the setting aside for the enjoyment of all 
our citizens extensive areas capable of rendering a large 
public benefit in health and pleasure to the people. This 
is made up of national forests, parks and monuments, 
state parks and forests, and a few interstate and county 
preserves, comprising about 200,000,000 acres. All of it 
is used in ever-increasing extent by the public for secur- 
ing a new type of play now known as forest recreation. 
Over five million visitors found recreation in the 
parks last year and millions went into the state pre- 
serves for hiking, canoeing, camping, fishing and hunt- 
ing. The benefits which accrued through this large 
recreational use are inestimable. 
The pressing need at the moment is the acquisition 
of sufficient accessible lands and forests so every man, 
woman and child of this country may reach as con- 
veniently as may be, a public area where a wholesome 
type of forest recreation can be enjoyed. 
The problem of American civilization to-day, with its 
intensive urban development, is the provision for out- 
door activities that will upbuild and preserve a virile 
mind and body, and the education of the people to the 
right use of these opportunities, sp that this country 
shall avoid the mistakes of many other great nations 
of the past, and shall not weaken through misuse of 
its leisure time and the enervating tendencies of city life. 
BIOLOGICAL SURVEY WORK 
I NTERESTING to all people of the western country, 
where cattle-raising is still an active industry, are 
some facts recently made public concerning the work 
of the division of the Biological Survey dealing with the 
destruction of injurious animals. 
Last spring was bad for the wolf crop in Wyoming 
and Colorado, for in the former state vI3 wolf pups 
were captured during the month of April, and in Col- 
orado 7 pups. Besides that, a number of particular!}" 
destructive wolves have been killed. One of these — a 
large one measuring 6 feet A ]/2 inches, and weighing 
86 pounds — has been charged with killing many thou- 
sands of dollars’ worth of live stock within the past 
few years. 
In Utah, Oregon, and Washington, where the jack 
rabbit is so often very destructive to crops, the cam- 
paign against these animals has resulted, during the 
winter, in killing about 700,000 rabbits. 
In 5 months, in the Washington district, 650 coyotes 
and 43 bob-cats have been captured. 
During the month of April, a litter of martens was 
born on the experimental fur farm. The progress of 
these youngsters will be watched with very great 
interest. 
