THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
25 
Since my notes, wliicli were printed in the Decem¬ 
ber issue, I have received further reports from the 
collecting- lields, J^sciidotHUfia Douffldt^si, the crop 
of wliich liad been reported good, lias not come up to 
expectations, and tliere will be nowhere near suffi¬ 
cient to till the demands. Some collectors, however, 
have some of the 1912 crop in stock, which according 
to reports tests about 85 per cent, good germinating 
(piality. This is very good for one year old seed, and 
growers will not go wrong in planting it, if they are 
not successful in obtaining seed of the present sea¬ 
sons crop. 
Latest reports also advise that the crop of Ah'u's 
(‘oncolor, Ahivu maguifim and Abies gnmdis are a 
failure. One collector states that he collected a 
large lot of Abies cohcoIo)', and found u])on making 
a test that only about 1 per cent, of the seed was of 
good germinating quality. This is not very pleas¬ 
ing for a man who has put in his time collecting the 
cones and cleaning the seed. 
The crop of Picea Englmunni and I*ieea gungeiis 
is also reported as being short. Collectors state that 
there were verv few cones on the trees this vear. 
Later reports on the croj) of French Pear seed 
state that there will be a small quantity of same, but 
not anywhere near sufficient to fulfill the wants of 
the seedling growers. The crop of ,Japan Pear is re¬ 
ported good, and information received says that the 
quality is fine. In accordance with this information, 
several large growers are ordering this seed to plant 
in place of the French seed which they are aware 
they will be unable to obtain. 
Seedsmen may not have noted the United States 
Federal Legislation law, this year, prohibits the im- 
l)ortation of Nursery stock by mail. Nursery stock 
includes tree and shrub seeds so it is therefore un¬ 
lawful to import them by this method. Any one do¬ 
ing so is apt to have their stock destroj^ed at ]:)ort of 
entry, and will thereby stand to lose more than had 
they ordered the stock to be shipi^ed in by Express. 
I would also call vour attention to the fact that 
certain countries in Europe have not complied with 
the restrictions of the Department of Agriculture for 
shipping nursery stock into this country. 
Chief, among these, are Austria and Russia. In order 
to import stock from nurserymen and seedsmen in 
those countries, special permits must be obtained, 
and the stock or seeds must be inspected by a govern¬ 
ment official at the port of entry. 
ARTHUR A. POWELL 
FOREST NOTES 
The forests of Florida contain 175 
of wood. 
different kinds 
A good grade of excelsior is being made from fire- 
killed Alpine fir and Engelmann spruce in Colorado. 
The forest products laboratory at Madison, Wis¬ 
consin, has made 4,000 tests on the strength of Amer¬ 
ican woods. 
Ihirty dillerent wood preservatives are in com¬ 
mercial use ill the United (States; many of them util¬ 
ize creosote of one sort or another; others j-e(piire 
chemical salts. 
Last year the forest service distributed 11(),000 
))asket willow cuttings: 15,000 to forest schools, 20,- 
000 to agricultural experiment stations, and 81,000 to 
individuals. 
More than 800,000 horsepower lias lieen develoj)ed 
from streams on national forests uiidei government 
regulation. This represents the output under condi¬ 
tions of lowest streamfiow. 
Florida buttonwood, a tree confined largely to the 
keys along the south coast, is very highly ])rized for 
use in cooking on ship’s galleys. It burns slowly 
with an even heat and makes but little smoke or ash. 
The gathering and selling of acorns is a new indus¬ 
try, ill Arkansas, to siq)ply eastern nursery firms 
with material for forest i^lanting. 
It is predicted that western yellow ])ine will fui-- 
nish an excellent source of turpentine as the south¬ 
ern pine becomes exhausted. 
While there are five hemlocks in the United States, 
only two are of any commercial importance, common 
hemlock and western hemlock. Of these two western 
hemlock makes the better lumber. 
Trunk manufacturers in Colorado are abandoning 
the usual basswood and cottonwood for the trunk 
box, and are turning to Engelmann spruce, which 
combines lightness, strength, and ease of working. 
There are seven spruces in the United States. 
Four are confined to the west; two to the east; while 
one, white spruce, has a continent-wide distribution. 
Sawmill waste of Douglas fir, of which an enor¬ 
mous quantity is found in the western forests, is be¬ 
ing used to make paper ]uilp by a mill at ]\[arshfield, 
Oregon. 
