Title: Forest leaves, v. 32
Place of Publication: Philadelphia
Copyright Date: 1942
Master Negative Storage Number: MNS# PSt SNPaAg065.2
FOREST LEAVES
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THE PENNSYLVANIA FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
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JANUARY- FEBRUARY ^
CONTENTS
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Justus C. Strawbridge Gate, Haverford College
- Cover
The Trees of Haverford College Campus 1
Howard Knickerbocker Henry
Annual Meeting Announcement 3
^Editorial — The Farm Woodlot - - " 4
Forests in War and Peace 5
A. F. Hough
John R. Williams — Obituary - - - 5
Is Cook Forest Doomed? 7
War and the Land Owner
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H. Gleason Mattoon
There's Sugar in the Yough
Letters to the Editor
Nut Growers' Association
Harry G. Eby — Obituary
William Mollenhauer, Jr.
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THE FENiNSYLVAMA FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
Founded in June, 1886
Labors lo disseminate information in regard to the necessity and methods of ftirest culture and preservation, and lo secure the enactment and enforcement of proper forest protective laws, both State and National.
Annual Membership Fee, Three Dollars
One Dollar of which is for subscription lo Forest Leiaves
Neither the membership nor the work of this Association is intended lo be liniiled to the State of Pennsylvania. Persons desiring to become members should send their names lo the Chairman of the Membership CommiUee, 1008 Commercial Trust Building, Philadelphia.
President — Wilbur K. Thomas Honorary President— Samvel L. Smedley Honorary Vice-President— Roberi S. Conklin
Vice-Presidents Victor Beede Wm. S. B. McCaleb Dr. E. E. Wildman
Francis R. Cope, Jr. J. Curtis Platt George H. Wirt
R. D. Forbes Edward C. M. Richards Edward Woolman
Dr. J. R. Schramm Secretary— H. Gleason Mattoon Treasurer— R. A. Wright, C. P. A.
FOREST LEAVES
PUBLISHED BI-MONTHLY
Entered as second class matter at the Post Office at Narberth, Pennsylvania, under the Act of March 3, 1879
Volume XXXII — No. 1 Narberth, Pa., January-February, 1942
Whole Number 308
The Trees of Haverford College Campus
by Howard Knickerbocker Henry, Assistant Professor of Botany, Haverford College
HTHE HAVERFORD College Bulletin ^ states that, '^The College has a pleas- ant and beautiful location in the township of Haverford, Delaware County, Pennsyl- vania, nine miles west of the center of Philadelphia." The first Managers in de- scribing the selection of the site write: ^'We wish to procure a farm in a neighborhood of unquestionable salubrity . . . Recommended by the beauty of the scenery and a retired situation." The same Bulletin also states that the present property consists of two hundred sixteen acres — the map accom- panying the bulletin gives two hundred twenty-six as the acreage — described as follows: ''While a portion is retained as farm and woodland, a lawn of sixty acres was long ago graded and tastefully planted with trees and shrubs by a landscape gard- ener, so that the natural beauty of the loca- tion has increased with passing years." The phrases ''salubrity of the neighborhood, the beauty of the scenery, and the retired situ- ation" of the two hundred sixteen acres, to- gether with the increase of the natural beauty of the location brought about by landscaping, paint a picture of horticultural and sylvan richness false in no detail, but particularly true in regard to our wealth of trees, wealth both in number of kinds and perfection and interest of individuals.
The woodland "retained" consists of four plots, one small, north of the skating pond; another slightly larger between Lloyd Hall pd College Avenue; a small grove of ocusts and mixed growth by the power "ouse, and the largest one of the four along
the south and east boundaries of the Col- lege grounds, which is traversed by the Nature Walk. Strangely enough, although blessed with these four acres of natural woodland, few trees of authentic age equal to that of the College are present. Two large tulip trees, one on either side of the Nature Walk as it leaves the southern bor- der of the last mentioned woodlot, are the only trees of the original purchase to sur- vive the first hundred years of college life. The others have gone to feed the flames of the College fireplaces. Despite this lack of living specimens with an authentic age equal to or greater than the College, several records of an older forest are still avail- able. These are contained in the stumps of American Chestnuts, dead since 1916, when they were killed by a Chestnut Blight, in- troduced from the Orient. A few of the stumps bear evidence in their rings of at least a hundred years of life and how much more cannot be determined, as the central rings have completely decayed.
The only other tree of an age equal to that of the tulip trees and the long dead American Chestnuts is the Osage-orange, sprawling fantastically on the ground near the south entrance to the Mary Newlin Smith Memorial Garden. This tree, cer- tainly not a part of the original forest, as Osage-orange is not native, but an intro- duction from the Mississippi Valley, is sup- posed to have been planted before the orig- inal purchase. It is, nevertheless, one of the oldest Osage-oranges to be found, and tradition has it that the children of all the
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generations of the Haverford College facul- ty have played in its sprawling branches. The children may have played in it, but a count of its rings shows considerably less than one hundred years of growth. How- ever, the difficulty of counting the partly decayed and much contorted rings of the oldest part of the trunk is too great to per- mit an accurate determination of its age and it may well be as old as is claimed. At least it is one of the oldest and certainly one of the most picturesque trees of the campus.
A comparative youngster to the ancient Osage-orange is a scion, once removed, of the Penn Treaty Elm. This, one of the best-known trees of the campus, displays the typical urn-like form of the elms direct- ly between Founders and Sharpless Halls. The tree is actually a living part of the an- cient elm under which William Penn met the Indian chiefs in 1682. Botanists regard propagation by scions as a distinctively vegetative process, as contrasted with sex-
English Elms on Right ; American Elm on Lejt
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ual reproduction by seed, and plants so nrn. duced are to be considered a continuation of the original, separated in space and time. The original tree was of majestic proportions, having a girth at the base of twenty-four feet, and a branch spread ot one hundred fifty feet, and many an Indian council was said to have been held beneath its wide, spreading branches. The old elm finally came into the possession of General Paul Oliver, who transplanted a shoot from the dying tree to his home in Bay Ridge New York. There it grew for about fifty years. Then General Oliver moved to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and so great was his sentimental attachment for that tree that he had it transplanted to his new home. The tree survived the dangers of moving and may still be seen near the town chapel at Wilkes-Barre. A scion from the General Oliver tree was presented to Haver- ford College by Joshua Baily, at one time head of the J. L. Baily Cloth Manufactur- ing Company. This tree, our elm, has now a circumference of over ten feet, a height of ninety feet, and a branch spread of one hundred twenty feet, not yet as large as the original tree, but with an excellent chance of reaching and even surpassing it within the next one hundred and fifty years.
Other, but smaller, trees developed from scions taken from the General Oliver tree may be found in the vicinity of Haverford College. The best known of these include one on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, planted by Governor Hastings, one on the grounds of the Penn- sylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, another in the yard of the Friends' Meeting House on 12th Street in Philadelphia, and still an- other on the campus of Westtown School.
About two hundred fifty feet southeast of Roberts Hall a group of seven young elms may be seen. These are rooted from scions taken from our elm by Mr. C. C. Wistar, an alumnus of the College, and presented to the College by him in 1916. In giving seven trees for planting, the old English custom of planting seven trees of the same species in a group was followed. This same custom, al-
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MARCH 17, 1942
FIFTY-SIXTH ANNUAL MEETDiG
The Pennsylvania Forestry Association
benjamin franklin room Houston Hall
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
Spruce Street between 34th and 36th Streets
Philadelphia, Penna.
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Charge $1.00
Lunch 12:30 P.M.
••••••••••
PROGRAM
"DOES THE GYPSY MOTH THREATEN THE FORESTS OF PENNSYLVANIA? By The Hon. John H. Light, Secretary of Agriculture, Harrisburg
Business Meeting —
Election of Officers, Directors and Council Members Other Business
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'PRIVATE FORESTS AS THE SOURCE OF TIMBER FOR WAR USES" By Mr. E. B. Moore, Assistant Forester, New Jersey
"TIMBER CUTTING ON THE STATE FORESTS OF PENNSYLVANIA"
By Mr. W. E. Montgomery, Chief, Bureau of Management, Department of Forests and Waters, Harrisburg, Penna,
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Forest Leaves I January - February, 1942
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FOREST LEAVES
Published Bi-Monthly at Narberth, Pa., by The PENNSYLVANIA FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
Disseminates information and news on forestry and related subjects.
PUBLICATION COMMITTEE
H. Glkason Mattoon, Chairman
Philip A. Livingston Ralph P. Russell
Mrs. Paul Lewis Mrs. R. C. Wright
Devereux Butcher e. F. Brouse
Dr. J. R. Schramm
The publication of an article in Forest Leaves does not necessarily imply that the views expressed therein are those of the Pennsylvania Forestry Association. Editorial and ad- vertising office, 1008 Commercial Trust Building, Philadel- phia. Please notify us of any change in address.
JANUARY - FEBRUARY, 1942
THE FARM WOODLOT
jD UMORS are heard that farm woodlot -*-^ owners, taking advantage of higher prices caused by war demands, are selling their timber on a lump sum basis. These rumors are likely true. The woodlot owner can scarcely be blamed. For years prices have been low, and during these same years he has been urged to consider the trees in the woodlot as a crop. He has been told to give them attention, to weed out undesir- able trees and preserve the straight ones. He has kept fire and cattle out. He has spent days during the winter selecting the poorer trees for fire wood. All of this he has done in the expectation that he could cash in on his effort and care.
He is now offered $500, say, for the standing timber. This is twice as much as the best offer ever received before. The saw- mill man tells him that the government needs timber, that wood will help win the war. The farm woodlot owner, by radio and Department of Agriculture releases, has been impressed with the multitude of mate- rials that go into a war machine. He has read newspaper accounts of the billions of board feet of lumber that will be needed.
Can he be blamed for accepting the offer? If he knew how many board feet he had or could turn to the newspaper and find out
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how much oak or tulip poplar is bringingnn the stump, or could even call someone wh could give him accurate information h • 7"!^,!^^f some basis to judge the v'alue of his timber. Without this information h IS m the dark. Only two things stand out m his mind — it is the best offer he has had in years, perhaps, he won^t get another- and the government needs it. Can he h blamed? ^
As a matter of fact, farm woodlot timber should play an important part in this war Much of it is reasonably near centers of demand. Its use will thereby relieve our transportation system. From Canada word is received that farm woodlots are making important contributions to the war effort, about one-third of all wood cut coming from them.
If there is criticism, let it be directed more particularly to the forestry agencies, state and federal. So long as private for- estry exists, the profit motive will govern both management and cutting. Perhaps, those foresters who have advised the farm woodlot owner have paid too little attention to the woodlot balance sheet.
A farmer produces certain crops because he believes that he may thereby make a living. He sells his grain when he believes the price is high. He markets his beef or hogs to the best advantage. If he permits one-third or one-quarter of his farm to re- main in woodland, it is because he has use for wood and expects to sell the surplus at an advantageous price. This is a natural impulse and so long as he does not permit the basic growing stock to be destroyed he can not be criticized.
The numerous forestry agencies are now cooperating to assemble marketing informa- tion. It is hoped that before too long this survey will cover the entire State. Such information will be of value if it is kept up to date and can be made available to those who need it. But, in addition, foresters must be able to show the woodlot owner that there is more profit in a 16-inch tree than in one of 10 inches. Until that can be graphically shown, there will always be overcutting. H.G.M.
Forest Leaves
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Forests in War and Peace
by A. F. Hough
DURING the World War period of 191 7- 1918, our forests and those of much of the rest of the world suffered a heavy drain to supply the fighting services and also to speed the wheels of war-time industry. To- day we are again the so-called '^arsenal of democracy'' and are in need of even greater supplies of raw material for defense pro- duction with actual hostilities now in prog- ress.
With the cessation of hostilities on No- vember 11, 1918, armed conflict on a titanic scale seemed a very remote future possibil- ity, and the Nation resumed business as usual with little thought for any future world crisis. In the inflationary post-war era, we continued to exploit our forests without regard to future needs, until mar- kets were greatly reduced by the depression with its widespread unemployment and in- dustrial stagnation. Out of this latter period has come a great public appreciation ot the value of forests as reservoirs of useful employment on conservation projects which do not compete with private industry. The indirect and social benefits of forests are also well known though means of securing these benefits are still lacking in many de- pleted forest regions.
Just 20 years ago the Federal Congress was considering two proposed bills designed to secure continuous forest production on privately-owned timber land. One, known as the Snell bill, provided for regulation, if ^^y. by the States and was based on a co- operative plan similar to the agricultural policy in force between the States and the Federal Government for sixty years. The practice of forestry in the 48 states was to oe encouraged by grants of government fi- nancial assistance providing the State's standards of practice came up to require- nients of the Federal Government. The '-apper bill of 192 1 , on the other hand, pro- vided for direct Federal forest regulation to become effective in 1923 and to be uniform-
Jan
UARY . February, 1942
ly applied in all States at the same time. The cutting practice regulations were to be drawn up in each State by a local board familiar with local conditions. Pinchot op- posed this bill for regulation by the individ- ual States on the grounds that lumbermen would be able to control the legislatures of certain States and thus prevent effective ac- tion. He favored the Capper Bill with Fed- eral control of private cutting.
The choice between State and Federal regulation, presented by these two bills in- troduced in Congress in 192 1 , is still with us in 1941. There is, however, a much clearer recognition on the part of the public, and even of industry, that some form of govern- mental control of private forest practice is necessary for the general welfare in both peace and war. The myth of a complete timber shortage has been largely exploded, but the same stubborn facts remain today as in 1921; (1) private ownership includes about 75 percent of the acreage of forest lands in the United States ; ( 2 ) the practice of "cut out get out^continues on such lands, both in the remaining virgin timberlands of the west and locally in second growth in the east; (3) forest products, which could be produced locally, are imported at high costs for transportation by the eastern industrial states; (4) the quality of products pro- duced on heavily cut lands is low; (5) all too often such forest lands cannot support necessary local or State governmental ser- vices or supply employment to labor or suf- ficient materials for industry to make them worth holding in private ownership; hence the problems of tax delinquency and the public purchase programs; (6) the practice of sustained yield forestry and maintenance of adequate growing stock to meet the normal drain of industry and emergency needs for national defense has, with few exceptions, not been accomplished on the bulk of private forest lands despite the edu- cational and cooperative efforts of Federal
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and State agencies over at least three decades.
The present is a critical time during which more and more of the products of farm, range, and forest, are needed for de- fense of our way of life. For forests to ab- sorb the shock of war-time cutting, we should have available an adequate supply of growing stock of sawtimber size near the large industrial centers of the eastern sea- board and Great Lakes regions. Our de- pendence on West Coast lumber may be a serious handicap to actual production of war supplies in factories thousands of miles away, due to possible disruptions in trans- portation via the Panama Canal and bottle- necks in rail transport due to troop move- ments to the Pacific war theater.
The war in Europe has already made heavy drains on the forests of the British Empire, as well as in Russia, Scandanavia, and the conquered countries of Axis domi- nated Europe. Post-war demands for forest products are also likely to be huge, with the reconstruction of countless homes destroyed by the world-wide struggle. The job of shifting millions of workers and soldiers from a military to a peacetime economy will present a tremendous task in which public works on conservation projects will play an important part.
The vital part played by forest products in both war and peace, make it necessary to adopt a nationwide forest policy, including the regulation of cutting on the bulk of our forest lands now in private ownership. This is as necessary and vital today as it was twenty years ago, in order to safeguard the present and future economic and social prog- ress of this country. Application of simple standards of forest practice will safeguard both the individual owner and the nation and give us the economy of plenty required by a rising standard of living. If we are to win the peace as well as the war, our re- sources must be equal to the task of aiding all free peoples of the earth to share in a worldwide prosperity, based on the wise and fair use of human and natural re- sources.
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JOHN R. WILLIAMS
John Richard Sylvanus Williams died at the Pottsville General Hospital on Decem- ber 24, 1941. Funeral services were held at his home in Orwigsburg on December 27.
Born in Wales, his early life was spent near Wilkes-Barre. He was a graduate of the Spring Garden Institute of Art in Phila- delphia and received his B.S. in Forestry in the class of 1909, from the Pennsylvania State Forest School.
His first assignment in the Pennsylvania Forest Service was as District Forester at Ligonier. From there he was transferred to the Michaux Forest District. When the Caledonia and Pine Grove Furnace State Forests were merged to form the Michaux State Forest in 1920, he was appointed Dis- trict Forester, with headquarters at Cale- donia, in Franklin County.
In 1939 he was appointed Director of the Bureau of Parks in the Department of For- ests and Waters, which position he credit- ably occupied until his resignation on Octo- ber S, 1941, on account of illness.
Familiarly known as "Jack," he had a host of friends throughout the State. His genial personality was among his many vir- tues. He will be remembered for his fine personal qualities as well as for his profes- sional achievements. He had a sparkling sense of humor that made him a delightful companion.
As a great reader and a keen observer, he was well informed on many subjects other than his profession. He was frank and honest in his associations with his col- leagues and with the world in general.
''Jack" Williams was an efficient and highly respected public servant and his loss will not only be felt by his friends, but by the Commonwealth to which he gave so freely of his abundant talents during more than three decades. It was a privilege to have been associated with him in the forest profession in Pennsylvania.
He is survived by his two daughters, Mrs. Jane Seigfried, Orwigsburg, Pennsyl- vania, and Mrs. Katherine Mitchell, Wash- ington, D. C,
Forest Leaves
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Is Cook Forest Doomed?
EARLY in the fall, word was received that the United States Army engineers had made two proposals, each of which called for damming the Clarion River for power and flood control purposes. The recommenda- tion, which is being considered by the Bureau of the Budget, calls for a dam at Mill Creek which, when full, would raise the water to the 1335 contour line. Since the River at that point is on the 1 11 S contour, this would mean a dam 220 feet high.
Study of the results of impounding the water to that level shows that Cook Forest would be seriously damaged. The village of Cooksburg would be under water as would most of the cabins, the picnic area, archery range, and parking area. But the most serious threat is to the primeval pines. While most of these are above the 1335 feet level, the change in water table would very likely destroy all trees below the 1350 elevation. The Cook Forest area would be cut in two parts by a lake extending three miles up what is now Toms Run.
To the writer there seems little justifica- tion for a project which would destroy a for- est park which is known and used by more persons than any other one park in the East. As many as 40,000 persons have used the facilities of this area in one weekend and crowds of 25,000 are common.
That this tract of virgin white pine and hemlock has been preserved was due to the untiring efforts of a group of public-spirited citizens of Pittsburgh and vicinity, headed by Thomas Liggett, John M. Phillips and Arthur E. Braun. They raised $225,000.00 by private subscription which, added to the $450,000.00 appropriated by the Common- wealth in 1927, made the purchase possible.
This threat to Cook Forest is still in |he Bureau of the Budget in Washington. Whether it will be approved can not be as- certained. Should it receive favorable ac- tion, it will likely be included as a $30,000,- W item in an omnibus flood control bill, Y^ch is now in preparation in the House 01 Representatives.
January - February, 1942
It seems scarcely possible that Con- gress would approve the spending of $30,- 000,000 at this time on such a dubious proj- ect. It seems doubtful also that the Clarion River water adds so greatly to the flood condition at Pittsburgh to warrant such ex- penditure. Moreover, it obviously is not necessary to destroy much of the value of Cook Forest Park in order to control the flood waters of the Clarion River. If power is the primary object, there is less justifica- tion for construction of the dam.
The Pennsylvania Forestry Association has been keeping in touch with the situation. A committee has been appointed to oppose approval of the project. The committee is composed of John M. Phillips, Chairman; A. E. Braun of Pittsburgh; C. F. Chubb of Coraopolis; Bayard Henry of Sewickley; John J. Kane, Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of Allegheny County, and Norwood Johnston of Pittsburgh.
Rhododendron Trail in Cook Forest
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War and the Land Owner
by H. Gleason Mattoon
TN THE mind of the public, production ^ means the making of death-dealing de- vices. Equally important, however, is the production of food for the armies that fight for us and the workers who produce the equipment with which to fight.
The pendulum has swung in a few short years from restricted acreage and destruc- tion of surplus to maximum production. With the urge for greater yield will come the temptation to plow again fields that should never have been worked — fields from which wind and rain have carried away a good part of the top soil. Notwith- standing its so-called benefits, the plow has likely been the most destructive factor in American agriculture. To plow agriculture may be laid the ruination of untold mil- lions of acres of once fertile land.
''Forest — field — plow — desert — that is the cycle of the years under most plow agriculture'' is the way it is expressed by Dr. J. Russell Smith, Professor of Economic Geography of Columbia University. In spite of the efforts of the Soil Conservation Service for contour plowing and strip plant- ing, the wastage of top soil will continue so long as the plow share is permitted in soil susceptible to easy movement by wind or rain.
"We Americans, though new upon our land, are destroying soil by field wash faster than any other people that ever lived. We have the machines to help us destroy as well as create.
'We, also, have other factors of destruc- tion new to the white race and very potent. We have tilled crops. The European grains, wheat, barley, rye and oats, cover all the ground and hold the soil with their roots. Plowing corn .... is the most efficient way for destroying the farm that is not made of level land.''* Greedy and wasteful farming will continue to dissipate fertility until farming methods are changed and such
* Quotation from "Tree Crops" by J. Russell Smith. Eight
changes can be made if the belief in the necessity for plowing to produce stock food crops can be overcome.
Two-story farming is the answer for many acres. In this country there exist strains of tree species that will produce stock food in quantity and quality equal to or better than that produced by corn or other annual crops. Visualize a hillside pas ture that not only supports an excellen stand of grass, but yields two tons of addi tional food per acre with the following an alysis: 13.4% protein; Z2% fat; 30% car bohydrates.
This is no idle dream. Such a yield can be produced by planting on each acre 30 trees of improved strains of the honey lo- cust. In addition, picture the saving in labor, an important consideration in war- time. The trees, once planted, continue to yield crops year after year with no cultiva- tion and no harvesting. Moreover, the trees have a beneficial effect upon the grass. Recent experiments in Tennessee have dem- onstrated that a better stand of grass is pro- duced under the light shade of a honey lo- cust than in full sun.
The pods, produced in profusion by these special strains, contain as much as 38^r sugar. It has been demonstrated that beef cattle and hogs prefer the locust pods to several of the usual foods. The pods fall from September to December and the stock devour them as they drop.
The sugar is found in gelatinous tissue surrounding the seed, while much of the protein is in the bean itself, which is hard and indigestible, passing out in faecal mat- ter unless ground. For dairy cattle, the pods are gathered with a hay rake and mashed in a hammer mill with soy beans or other food to prevent gumming.
The honey locust is not the only dual purpose tree which may be used to reduce labor costs and protect soil. The mulberry would be more widely planted if it were an exotic. The fruit is eagerly sought by poul-
try and hogs. Varieties can be had which drop their fruit from early June to Septem- ber Persimmons, likewise, are relished by hogs Certain strains of oaks have been de- veloped for acorn yield — a nut superior for fattening hogs.
So long as the war lasts and longer, the demand for pork, beef, and poultry will re- main high. The owner of farm land has an obligation to produce as much as possible with a minimum of labor. If labor is not available, the acreage of tilled crops will necessarily have to be reduced. How long the world conflict will last is beyond the knowledge of anyone, but if we average the guesses of those strategists who dare to prophesy, trees of the species mentioned above, if planted this year, will be bearing stock food long before it is over.
Not only should the farm owner strive in every way possible to produce more at this time with less labor, but he should endeavor to make his farm as self-sufficient as pos- sible. He will, of course, raise ample vege- tables and fruit for year-round consumption by his family. To add variety and give bet- ter balance to the home-produced meals, nuts should be grown. Some nut kernels are high in protein in contrast to fruits and vegetables, while others provide carbohy- drates. They are also a source of Vitamins A,Bi,and G.
Among the nuts, the improved black wal- nuts and Oriental chestnuts are not only wholesome and valuable additions to the diet, but an excess grown on the farm will be a cash crop. The demand for them is much greater than the supply. Walnuts re- quire a deep, rich soil that contains calcium. Each of the several varieties has its merit. Possibly, the best for Pennsylvania and vicinity are Ohio, Thomas, Ten Eyck, and Stabler. The last named is one of the eas-
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lest to crack, the meats frequently coming out in halves, but it starts bearing later than the others. The Ohio sometimes has a few nuts when three years old.
The nuts of some of the Chinese chest- nut trees will bring nostalgic recollections of childhood and autumn treks to the woods ^0 fill sugar bags with nuts from the frost-
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Forest Leaves I January - February, 1942
There's Sugar in the Yough*
by Wm. Mollenhauer, Jr.,
Forester, Allegheny Forest Experiment
Station"^"^
THE SUGAR maple groves of the Yough- iogheny Valley in western Pennsylvania are famous for hundreds of miles around In the fall of the year, people come from afar to derive that comfort to body and spirit which comes from peaceful contem- plation of the glories of Nature. Within this watershed, the sugar maple takes on a coloring which rivals for variation and bril- liance that of its usually more gorgeous cousin, the red maple.
Not satisfied with favoring the Yough- iogheny Valley with some combination of soil and climate which produces this excep- tional beauty, Providence in Its wisdom added to this a farm product which experts class as the finest flavored maple syrup to be found anywhere in the world. This pro- duct is harvested annually with a reasonable cost for labor and equipment and has a ready cash market at a price which rates it as one of the most desirable farm crops.
Then to add virtue to virtue, these same sugar bush groves, when properly cared for, serve to clothe what would ordinarily be barren or poorly productive lands, with a cover of sturdy tree crowns and under- growth which protects the soil from washing and erosion while retaining a good share of the rain and snow which falls upon it, thus aiding in flood control and promoting at all seasons an even and adequate flow which will keep our streams clear and in fit condi- tion for fishing, recreation, and water sup- plies.
It is regrettable that in some instances these groves have been allowed to decline because of failure to provide replacement of the old trees by young growth. This is in- deed a loss, since there are few crops which offer so much for the owners' efforts and to the public. The grower derives a cash in-
* Pronounced Yock. ^ .
** Maintained in cooperation with the University of Penn- sylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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come and the community an esthetic bene- fit. These gains, in turn, increase national prosperity, which is further enhanced through the flood and erosion control which is a natural by-product of these groves.
And, in conclusion, we may take pride in the fact that the sugar maple is as native as our turkey and antedates the Pilgrims by many a century. The Indians were probab- ly the first people to enjoy the pleasure of these forest sweets — maple syrup and sugar. Truly, in every sense, the sugar maple is American through and through. Sturdily it builds its own life, but in so doing it serves to protect and enrich the lives of others. Like our citizenry, all it asks is a fair chance to stand on its own merits and take care of itself.
To the Editor
Dear Sir:
Have just perused your November- December number and was delighted with it; the fine quality of paper used, clear-cut illustrations, careful editing, but above all, the high quality and tolerant tone of those intensely interesting, thoughtful articles on regulation — pro and con.
But it seems to me that Mr. Ehrhart (page 15, half-way down) is hardly fair to the Forest Service in his attempted indict- ment of their regulation results so far, on the National Forests. Firstly, it is notor- ious that forest reservation lands are the poorest and least productive of all — just the whey as it were. (True on both sides of "the line.") Secondly, this regulation- produced Government timber naturally tends to have a more and more considerable labor value in it, and so naturally cannot compete in the open market (where the in- exorable "law of the margin" governs) with the God-grown timber from private holdings — a natural resource, not a labor product.
In considering the profoundly important rnatter of forest management on this con- tinent, the first need is surely to jettison the narrow and old-fashioned viewpoint of the "cellulose forester," and frankly and fully realize that, after all, the value of any green
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forest as a wood- factory is only a minor far tor in the total score of its multitudinous uses, services, functions, blessings and bene fits to the genus homo sapiens, during his earthly pilgrimage. It has been my happy privilege to know a number of the master foresters of this continent — men like Roth Fernow, Graves, and Pinchot — and the opinions of a number of them on this basic- ally-important subject of forest values are attached hereto.
Were we Anglo-Saxons only blessed with the saving common sense of the Swedes, this whole matter of proper forest handling would be as easily solved here as it has been there — under their admirable and effective system, of free and balanced cooperation in financing and carrying out all forest con- servation activities. For some reason Anglo-Saxons seem to be woefully lacking in forest-consciousness, in a due sense of the Providential function of Government as applied to the handling of their renewable resources in general, and their forest heri tage in particular. But, perhaps, time and education may remedy this and enable us — as Mr. Reynolds so well puts it: "To de- termine just what should be done and how the cost should be distributed between the owner and the public on the basis of benefits received."
Again, let me congratulate you on this fine number of your journal, with its beauti- ful cover.
Yours very truly, J. R. Dickson, Economics Division, Dominion Forest Service, Ottawa, Canada
To the Editor: .
In reading the topic which is to be con- sidered at the Annual Meeting of The Penn- sylvania Forestry Association next month, I am impressed with the opportunity the present situation gives us to further the in- terest of forestry in the State and in the country. As a forester, I would like, there- fore, to take this opportunity to write you upon the subject.
All indications are now that both at home and abroad the present war situation has m-
FoREST Leaves
creased the prices of forest products to such an extent that there is increasingly greater temptation on the part of timberland own- ers and foresters charged with the admin- istration of public forests, to cash in on the present high prices by heavy liquidation of the stands. I understand that such a policy is actually underway to a great extent abroad.
Under these circumstances I feel that technical foresters owe it to their country and to the people of the world to come for- ward at this time and take a strong stand in favor of a policy which will be based upon the conservative principles of sustained yield forest administration. If the world is embarking upon a program of liquidating the capital stock, the growing stock as for- esters know it, for the purposes of trying to win the war, the foresters, to my mind, are obligated by their professional training and their professional ethics, as well, to call a halt to such an attitude.
Some day the present war will end. When it does, the actual raw materials and the growing capacity of the soils of our forests will be the important thing and not what is left of the cash which might have been se- cured during the war by ruthless overcut- ting. There is every reason to expect dras- tic inflation and the depreciation of all monies everywhere in the world, because of the war and the destruction of so much raw material by it. If foresters are able to pre- serve the basic growing stock necessary for the production of adequate timber supplies in the future, they will have made the maxi- mum contribution to the welfare of their country and the future of mankind. True patriotism for foresters today, it seems to me, calls for a courageous and thorough- going standing up for the principles of sustained yield forest management, even though they may go contrary to the general policy of endeavoring to deplete our re- sources regardless of the future, in the hope of winning the war. Winning of the war is only a partial element in the history of the nation and of the world. What is much more significant and important is to lay the
foundation and maintain the fundamental
January - February, 1942
productive capacity of our forests so that in the future they will be in a position to grow the necessary products for mankind.
As a technical forester and also as a Vice- President of The Pennsylvania Forestry Association, I feel obligated to write this to you because I believe The Pennsylvania Forestry Association would do the most good by holding fast to the fundamental concepts of the meaning of forest conserva- tion in this most desperate and difficult
hour for us all.
Edward C. M. Richards,
Vice-President,
War and the Land Owner
(Continued from Page 9)
opened burrs of American chestnut trees. Our native chestnut, prey of a foreign dis- ease, still survives in coppice growth, but will never again populate the woodlands. In lieu, the Chinese chestnut should be plant- ed. The tree, shorter of trunk than the na- tive, is resistant to chestnut blight and pro- duces nuts of quality and good size.
For home use and to provide variety, a tree or two of the hican, a cross between the hickory and the northern pecan, should be planted. Some of the varieties of the shell bark and shag bark hickories likewise are
worthwhile.
No attempt is made here to mention all trees the land owner should consider, nor all of their uses. The aim rather is to indicate that in planning for maximum use of land, tree crops should be considered.
The last fifteen years have seen the ze- nith and nadir of prosperity in this country climaxed by the most devastating war of all time. These years have shown us that pros- perity and security are not synonymous. Stock market profits are ephemeral. Those based upon bonds or industry may vanish overnight. Fundamental security must live upon a more solid foundation, its roots an- chored in productive land. The joy of pos- sessing a few acres and bringing forth from them our creature needs, satisfies, likewise, our spiritual hunger. Self-sufficiency, based upon wise use of land is the essence of man's freedom.
Eleven
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I
Pennsylvania Nut
Growers' Association
A Practical Body of Nut Growers Whose
Aim Is to Stimulate Greater Interest
in Nut-Tree Planting
Black Walnut Kernel
Walnut Grove in New
Jersey*
TN AN article describing the City Farmers' '*' activities for old age security (their pro- ductive farms in the country), we find the following of interest to our readers:
^^Another member is devoting his time and farm to bringing back the black walnut which is found only in this country. He is William M. Dougherty, Manager of Sales and Production Coordinator of the United States Rubber Co. Mr. Dougherty got into the walnut raising business in a most nos- talgic way.
"Anyone who ever gathered black wal- nuts knows that the time for that falls around the middle of October. Back in 1933, Mr. Dougherty was spending Colum- bus Day at his boyhood house in southern New Jersey. After a mid-dav dinner, he decided to revisit some of the haunts of his childhood and bag himself a bag or two of black walnuts. He visited all the best- remembered parts of the woodlands, but could find none of the well-remembered trees.
"Mr. Dougherty asked his father about this, and learned that most of the walnut trees had been cut down during the first World War, the wood being most valuable for gun stocks and airplane propellers.
"For the next two years, Mr. Dougherty scouted New Jersey searching for a site for his walnut farm. He found one four years ago a few miles from Princeton. It's a 11 5- acre farm, and he dubbed it 'Broadacres-on-
♦ From the Rockefeller Magazine.
Twelve
Beadens,' after the brook which runs through the meadow. He has twenty acres in grafted walnut trees which produce nuts whose shells are ; relatively thinner and whose meats literally drop out in halves and quarter pieces.
"He will start harvesting a commercial nut crop in about ten more years, and his trees will continue to bear until his great- great-grandchildren decide to harvest the trees themselves for the lumber mill.
"Mr. Dougherty has also planted some 250 Holly trees, which after ten years can be clipped, much in the manner that a privet hedge can be clipped without harm- ing the plant. This, too, will be a commer- cial crop for the metropolitan Christmas trade."
Penna. Nut Growers^ Association Downingtown, Pa.
Dear Sirs:
About three years ago my father bought 84 acres of dejected land, eroded and sour. Most of this is hillside, from medium steep to almost vertical — a little valley in itself. Last year I was appointed manager and named it after the Asiatic partridge, "Chukar Valley."
You see, I Ve a hobby raising game birds, and it was in this way that I got pretty well acquainted with Bob Parllaman, a Game Warden, who suggested planting trees on what land I couldn't use for anything else. Thus I heard of the Nut Growers' Associa- tion and through the Annual Report of For- est Leaves I'm learning about great people doing a great work in which (if the draft don't take me) I hope to take part.
When I first decided to join this Associa- tion, I hoped to, at some time or other, get some helpful hints on how to plant a tree, to keep it growing, producing, etc. Need- less to say, there is much more to learn than I thought, but not more than I care to learn. So I'm enclosing $2.50; $1.50 for this year's membership, and $1.00 for help- ing along research. I'm proud that I can be one of you and will now be anxiously awaiting my card. Thank you.
John Mihovich
Forest Leaves
Nut Growers Meet at Pennsylvania Farm Show
* v
"THE MEETING opened at 10 A. M., 1 January 22, with a good representation of the Association present. A most inter- esting welcome address was given by Mr. H. Gleason Mattoon, President, in which he continued on his platform of more nut groves, larger production for better market- ing and higher prices. Mr. Mattoon, being the manager of a 500-tree grove, has changed the situation (in the past we thought it was a good thing) and champions the platform of more nut groves for better marketing from the standpoint of one who is doing it and has had experience in mar- keting.
An extremely interesting paper was read by Betty Hershey on the "Progress of the Carpathian Walnut," written by Mr. Sam- uel H. Graham of Ithaca, N. Y., who could not be present. The paper set forth, in a most fascinating manner, the fine work that is being done by the Reverend Crath of Canada in procuring of hardy English wal- nut for eastern America from the northern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains in Poland.
Following this, L. D. Gresh, Ph.D., State Director of Student Aid, of Harrisburg, gave a clarifying talk on the value of our people recognizing that the soil is a source of all life and that to succeed as a nation, peoples must be raised on the soil, and to do this successfully every phase of plant life must be utilized to procure a profit from every type of soil or slope on the farm.
Frank C. Edminster, Chief, Biology Di- vision, SCS, of Upper Darby, Pa., gave us a descriptive talk on the Soil Conservation Service's use of tree crops in their work, which was really an enlargement on the
practical side of the talk that Mr. Gresh gave.
The last subject discussed in the morning session was the new factor that confronts tne walnut industry today, which is that of pasteurization of nut kernels for marketing '" interstate commerce. The sanitary re- quirements laid down by the Food and
Jan
UARY - February, 1942
Drug Administration of the Federal Secur- ity Agency are so drastic that they have shut up all the sources of marketing of the wild walnut in Tennessee, with the excep- tion of two or three large dealers who could afford to install a pasteurizing machine. The requirement of heating the nuts for seven minutes at 320° F. just about ruins the kernels. And the cost of pasteurizing will take from the Tennessee mountaineers what was in the past a livelihood.
In the discussion of this paper it was recognized that the move by the Food and Drug Administration in demanding that kernels be marketed in a sanitary man- ner was excellent to forestall any possibility of spreading an epidemic, for the unsanitary methods used in marketing of kernels in the South is almost beyond belief. However, the Association felt that the pasteurization requirements were too drastic because they ruin the kernel and the subject was dis- cussed relative to our Association approach- ing the Food and Drug Administration on compromising where kernels are marketed under sanitary conditions — eliminating the pasteurization.
The conclusion arrived at was to table the thought for another year as there were no nuts to market this year among the im- proved groves.
In the afternoon Professor F. N. Fagan, of the Department of Horticulture, Penn- sylvania State College, State College, Pa., outlined in most interesting manner the proposed fertilization program to be in- itiated in the spring of 1942 in three differ- ent nut orchards in southeastern Pennsyl- vania on limestone and free stone soils. This work is the direct result of the effort of the Pennsylvania Nut Growers' Association and the Northern Nut Growers' Association to improve grove management. This program will be initiated by State College with Pro- fessor L. H. McDaniels, of Cornell Univer- sity, Ithaca, N. Y., collaborating. It is with a great deal of interest that we look forward to the results and the answers that this ex-
Thirteen
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m
' (
periment will give to the problems of the orcharding phase of nut culture.
Following this, several Vice-Presidents reported on nut activities in their counties. John Rumbaugh, of Duncannon, Pa., went to considerable length in clarifying his pro- gram of chestnut orcharding. He not only successfully marketed his crop of nuts this year at a high price, but stated his trees are moving off at an excellent pace. He dropped the thought that a well-fertilized chestnut tree with a balanced fertilizer is the reason for his nuts being just about three times as large as they were two years ago when he brought samples to the winter meeting.
Several other instances were given of the successful results from fertilizing of indi- vidual trees which indicate the impor- tance of the work Professors Fagan and McDaniels are going to initiate.
The problem of continuing as a fixed part of our Association the publication Forest Leaves, as our official publicity organ, was discussed. This was in line with the thought a year ago that we would try it for a year and then decide whether we would continue it as a fixed part of Association life. A quite enthusiastic one-sided debate resulted in that, for the extra fifty cents, they had re- ceived their monev's worth in one issue alone. The editor voiced his request that more members send in material.
Correspondence from Professor C. A. Reed of the United States Department of Agriculture, and from Professor Theiss of Bucknell University, wishing the meeting God-speed and expressing regrets that they could not be with us, was read.
A moment of silence was held in respect to our charter President, the late Dr. G. A. Zimmerman.
Farm Show exhibitions were discussed and our good friend, Mr. John Sheibly of Landisburg has promised us a greater in- terest in this matter than it had this year and the problem of getting more people in- terested in exhibiting was, we believe, cov- ered by requesting the Farm Show to put up bigger and better prizes to attract the attention of the individual exhibitor. Mr.
Fourteen
Sheibly, as Chairman of the Exhibition Committee, stated he would certainly at- tempt to make these requests a reality.
Many expressed the opinion that this was one of the best meetings we have had. Sorry you were not there. In business session, the old officers were re-elected:
H. Gleason Mattoon, President L. K. Hostetter, Vice-President John W. Hershey, Secretary-Treasurer Discussion of the summer field day re- sulted in an invitation from the President to the 500- tree orchard he manages at Worton Point Farm at Chestertown, Md. — about 80 miles south of Lancaster. Inasmuch as this is the best managed orchard, with best results, we believe the thrill of seeing it on the large estate of Lammot du Pont Cope- land makes it worthwhile to consider the invitation.
The decision was to wait a while and get the opinion of the members by mail. Won't you write us?
Dear Sir:
I am a farmer and I love good nut trees. I graft them to get very best. I have about 100 black walnuts grafted and would like to get more varieties. Have several Eng- lish trees but still want more.
I have a good number of hickory nut trees grafted. I am willing to try all new varieties.
Tell me all about other kinds. Here is what I would like to get this year: Adams, Michigan, Grundy, Benge, Wiard, Cretz, Edras, Bauman, Edmunds, Kalamazoo, Corsicana.
Maybe you can tell me where I can buy some of these besides your good ones. Be sure and tell me what you can about your English walnuts, heart nuts, all you have.
Yours truly, Sylvester Shessler,
Genoa, Ohio
Can anyone help him out? — Editor.
Forest Leaves begins the new year with a larger, more readable type page, confonn- ing closely to standard magazine format.
Forest Leaves
Dr.Rentschler's Will Provides for Arboretum
piR. HARRY RENTSCHLER, Reading, U who died January 4, in his will directed that $5,000 be set aside to create and main- tain an arboretum on his 34-acre farm in Penn Township, Berks County. He asked that it be kept for the benefit of school children of the community. Dr. Rentschler founded the Blue Mountain Eagle Climbing Club about 2 5 years ago and served as Ex- ecutive Secretary ever since, never missing the Club's Spring and Fall outings. A great conservationist in the strictest sense of the word, a friend of man always, he left some- thing of cumulative worth to the youth of the land.
HARRY G, EBY
Harry G. Eby, Manager of the Nursery of the Soil Conservation Service at Howard, Pennsylvania, died on New Year's Day at his home in Pleasant Gap, Pa., in his 46th year. Except for a period in the A.E.F., during World War I, Mr. Eby had been continuously engaged in forestry or nursery work ever since his graduation from the Pennsylvania State Forestry School at Mont Alto, in 1925.
Due to his administrative ability and cul- tural knowledge, the Howard nursery is favorably known among foresters and mem- bers of the Soil Conservation Service for the quantity and quality of the stock pro- duced.
The Trees of Haverford College Campus
(Continued from PaKe 2)
SO, accounts for the other groups of seven to be found on the campus.
^ome of the older groups of seven may be seen in the same section of the campus as the young scions of the Penn Treaty Elm. ^bout midway between them and the Col- ^^e pond is a group of seven large tulip l^ees, none equalling the size or age of the t^o on the Nature Walk, but magnificent
January - February, 1942
specimens nevertheless, especially in au- tumn, when their bright yellow foliage and rugged contours make a pleasing picture against the blue of the distant pond. Direct- ly across the campus and about two hun- dred feet northwest of Roberts Hall is an- other interesting group of seven. In this American Elms and English Elms have been planted together, a slight departure from the custom, but a sightly one nevertheless. The group well illustrates the differences in general appearance between the two species. Viewed from the group of tulip trees previously described, the rugged English Elms pile up their masses of foliage on the left of this group, while the American Elms show their drooping, more graceful outlines on the right. Another interesting difference is in their leaf fall. Long after the Ameri- can Elms are bare, the English Elms still retain their masses of foliage. Two other groups of seven are to be seen in the same section of the campus, one of White Oaks and Scarlet Oaks, at the edge of the little copse by Professor Snyder's house, just to the left of the spot where the walk from Roberts Hall to Merion enters it; another of Swamp White Oaks occurs on the brow of the hill between the tulip trees and the pond. Other individuals and groups are present and worthy of mention, but it is well to remember that the trees of Haver- ford College, although an important element of the "tastefully planted" lawn and cam- pus, are now also part of the Haverford Col- lege Aboretum.
An Arboretum, as generally defined, may have three more or less distinct functions; first, as an out-of-door museum in which the public can see hardy trees and shrubs, both native and introduced, conveniently ar- ranged; second, as a dendrological station and laboratory in which the scientific study of trees is carried on, and third, as a bureau of publication, exploration, and exchange through which botanical exploration in dif- ferent parts of the world is undertaken and the results and products of these explor- ations made known and distributed. The first and second of these functions are the only ones likely to be attempted at the Hav-
Fijteen
11
ii
IN
)X
erford College Arboretum, and thus far the emphasis has been almost entirely on the first.
The origin of our Arboretum, or rather the origin of the thought of an Arboretum, is somewhat obscure. Apparently the fail- ure of the farm land to produce an annual profit led to some discussion of other uses for the land. This, combined with a real love of trees, led a number of minds to the thought of the development of the Arbore- tum. The thought took definite form in 1926 when Mr. R. J. Johnston presented a tentative plan for a College Arboretum. In collaboration with Mr. Henry W. Stokes, Mr. Edward Woolman, President Comfort, Professor Albert Wilson, and other mem- bers of the Campus Club, and with the tech- nical advice of Mr. Albert L. Baily, plans were made, and in 1928 several hundred small trees were purchased and planted in a temporary nursery on the part of the Col- lege grounds to the west of Haverford Road. Additional trees have been purchased in succeeding years and those first purchased have been transplanted to the Nature Walk or the permanent Arboretum as they reach- ed the proper size. Although all trees on the campus are rightfully considered ele- ments of the Arboretum, the plantings made since 1928 on the farm lands along the south and west boundaries of the College grounds have been arranged to show gen- eric and family relationships and thus tech- nically fulfill the definition of an Arboretum better than the indiscriminate mixture of species about the College buildings. Due, however, to the number of kinds and the beauty of individual specimens of the oaks of the older plantings, no effort has been made to duplicate them in the newer part of the Arboretum, and any additional species available will be planted in what is now regarded as the oak section of the Ar- boretum, the section immediately surround- ing the College buildings.
Surplus trees of the original purchases have been planted out to form the borders of a path extending from the Observatory west to Haverford Road, then south to the southwest corner of the grounds, and then
Sixteen
east to the large tulip trees at the entrance to the woods. The path continues through the natural growth of the original woodlot to its north boundary then north and east through an avenue of Scot's pine to the roadway by Professor Lockwood's house.
(Continued in an Early Issue)
EVERGREEN SEEDLINGS
Grow Christmas Trees for Profit
Per 1000
Douglas Fir (2 year) - - $7.00
Red Pine (2 year) - - - 7,00 While Pine (4 year transplants)
per 100 3.50
Write for Complete List
ULRICH NURSERY
38 Waverly Street, Shillington, Pa.
I Plant CHINESE HYBRID CHESTNUT I I TREES for Pleasure and Profit
I Blight Resistant and Early Bearers, Sweet Like i i the Old American, Send for Catalog.
I RUMBAUCH CHESTNUT FARM I
I DUNCANNON, PA.
•IIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIt Illllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll IIIIIIIIIIIMIItllllllMlllliri
ON MAZZARD ROOTS
One of Our Specialties
Cherry Trees
I ENTERPRISE NURSERIES
I Ceo. E. Stein & Son
I. R. D. 1 WRIGHTSVILLE, PA.
I Complete catalog furnished upon request,
Tiui I mill iiiiiiii iiiiiii ■■■■• <"'*"'
i.^i
$
i.^
3
3
CHESTi^UTS
Bearing Blight - Resistant
Easily grown, heavy yielders. Northern straiiM
Plant in the dooryard for Beauty - Profit - Shade - Nut8 - Fun. Send postcard today for FREE Booklet and price list on Entflish Walnuts, Stabler Black Walnuts, etc. Excellent for ornamental purposes. I have experi- mented with nut trees for over 44 years. SUNNY RIDGE NURSERY Box F. L. SWARTHMORE, PA.
NUT BEARING TREES
Since 1896 Jones' Nurseries have been growing Improved varieties of nut trees. Descriptive catalogue free.
J. F. JONES NURSERIES
Dept. 1441 LANCASTER, PA.
Jf JONIS NURSlMi
NUT TRPPQ When you're stumped as to how to male
ilU I I «tCd y^y^ j^^^ p^y^ .^^^ ^,,te us for list of
and ""t a"'' crop trees and how to use iw^
▼nr-r- nnnnc ^^^^^ y^*""' °^ experience in twenty |1»«
TREE UnUrS us a good background as a consultant.
NUT TREE NURSERIES
JOHN W. HERSHEY
DOWNINGTOWN, PA.
Box 65F
Forest Leaves
DOLLARS AND CONTINUOUS EMPLOYMENT
Nearly one-half of the area of Pennsylvania (13,000,000 acres) should be in forests. Were this acreage of growing trees properly managed, it would be capable of producing 650 million cubic feet of wood per year — almost enough to meet the normal demands of Pennsylvanians.
To harvest this timber and convert it into finished products, between 75,000 and 100,000 men would be needed. This would add $200,000,000 to the yearly income of Pennsylvania.
This is the goal toward which The Pennsylvania Forestry Association is striving. To that end we are working for the following:
PROJECTS
1. MARKETING SERVICE FOR PRIVATE WOODLAND OWNERS. With the incease in our preparedness program the demand for wood products has been stepped up. Unless we can show the private woodland owner that there is a large and consistent market for his wood products , he will be inclined to cut his acreage clean in order to cash in on the emergency demand. The De- partment of Forests and Waters should provide marketing information. A list of all wood-using in- dustries in the State, together with the kinds, sizes and quality of wood used, should be assembled. Price ranges, also, should be published.
2. MANAGEMENT PROGRAM FOR THE STATE FORESTS. During the past few months cutting on the State forest lands has increased, but this cutting is not based upon a broad program of management. Without management plans su?h cutting may do more harm than good.
3. INCREASED TREE PLANTING. At the present rate, 150 years will be required to plant the cut-over and burned-over acreage in the State.
4. PURCHASE OF THE KITCHEN CREEK TRACT. In the North Mountain area, between Wilkes-Barre and Eagles Mere, there is a tract of 14,000 acres which is ideal as a multiple-use for- est. It is a fisherman's paradise, a hunter's delight and unique in its recreational possibilities. About 800 acres still contain virgin timber. A sawmill is starting to cut this tract. Unless the State acts soon its value will be gone.
5. COMMUNITY FORESTS. Notwithstanding the fact that Pennsylvania has been a leader in conservation and in preserving forest areas, it has fallen behind many other states in developing county, township and municipal forests. The value of these local forests for recreation, for tim- ber products and as demonstrations of wise forestry practices should not be overlooked.
6. A CIVIL SERVICE LAW TO COVER THE EMPLOYEES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF FORESTS AND WATERS. It is not necessary to argue the value of such a law. Technically-trained employees should not be subject to the whim of individuals or political parties.
7. DUTCH ELM DISEASE CONTROL. This foreign disease is gradually spreading over Penn- sylvania. In the last two years it has killed elms in eight counties. Unless the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Federal government cooperate in a concerted plan of eradication the 40,- 000,000 elms in Pennsylvania may be doomed.
8. BROADER SERVICE BY THE BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. The Bureau of Plant Industry is responsible for advising property owners in the identification and control of various in- sect and disease enemies of trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants, and grain and field crops. This service has not been adequate. Insect and disease depredations cost Pennsylvanians millions of dollars a year. With an efficient Bureau of Plant Industry much of this could be saved.
The Pennsylvania Forestry Association 1008 Commercial Trust Building Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
I am enclosing $ as a contribution to the work of the Pennsylvania
Forestry Association. Of the projects discussed above I am particularly interested in the fol- owing (Please check):
12345678
N
ame
Address
1 1
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II
THE PENNSYLVANIA FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
Honorary President
Samuel L. Smedley
,' President
Wilbur K. Thomas
Honorary Vice-President
Robert S. Conklin
Victor Beede Francis R. Cope, Jr. R. D. Forbes „
Vice-Presidents
Wm. S. B. McCaleb J. Curtis Platt Edward C. M. Richards Dr. J. R. Schramm
Dr. E. E. Wildman George H. Wirt Edward Woolman
Secretary
H. Gleason Mattoon
Assistant Secretary
M. Claire Meyers
Treasurer
Roy a. Wright
•?:-
•r.
Victor Beede E. F. Brouse R. S. Conklin Francis R. Cope, Jr. Dr. G. a. Dick Reginald D. Forbes Philip A. Livingston
I
Samuel F.
E. F. Brouse Devereux Butcher
EXECUTIVE BOARD
H. Gleason Mattoon Wm. S. B. McCaleb J. Curtis Platt Edw. C. M. Richards Ralph P. Russell Dr. J. R. Schramm Samuel L. Smedley
Francis R. Taylor Wilbur K. Thomas Edward S. Weyl Dr. E. E. Wildman George H. Wirt Edward Woolman Roy a. Wright
FINANCE COMMITTEE . "
Edward Woolman, Chairman . •
Houston Frank M. Hardt
PUBLICATION COMMITTEE
H. Gleason Mattoon, Chairman
^ Mrs. Paul Lewis P. A. Livingston Ralph P. Russell
Dr. J. R. Schramm Mrs. Robert C. Wright
LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE
F. R. Taylor, Chairman
Edward S. Weyl Wm. Clarke Mason
F. R. Cope, Jr. W. W. Montgomery
E. F. Brouse
AUDITING COMMITTEE }
Ralph P. Russell, Chairman
Edward Woolman
TIONESTA COMMITTEE
Francis R. Cope, Jr., Chairman
Dr. Arthur W. Henn Dr. J. R. Schramm
Edward C. M. Richards Dr. H. H. York
FOREST
i>
i
THE PENNSYLVANIA FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
MARCH -APRIL 1
THE PENNSYLVANIA FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
Honorary President
Samuel L. Smedley
President
Wilbur K. Thomas
Honorary Vice-President
Robert S. Conklin
Victor Beede Francis R. Cope, Jr. R. D. Forbes
Vice-Presidents
Wm. S. B. McCaleb J. Curtis Platt Edward C. M. Richards Dr. J. R. Schramm
Dr. E. E. Wildman George H. Wirt Edward Woolman
Secretary
H. Gleason Mattoon
Assistant Secretary
M. Claire Meyers
Treasurer
Roy a. Wright
Victor Beede E. F. Brouse R. S. Conklin Francis R. Cope, Jr. Dr. G. a. Dick Reginald D. Forbes Philip A. Livingston
EXECUTIVE BOARD
H. Gleason Mattoon Wm. S. B. McCaleb J. Curtis Platt Edw. C. M. Richards Ralph P. Russell Dr. J. R. Schramm Samuel L. Smedley
FINANCE COMMITTEE
Edward Woolman, Chairman
Francis R. Taylor Wilbur K. Thomas Edward S. Weyl Dr. E. E. Wildman George H. Wirt Edward Woolman Roy a. Wright
Samuel F. Houston
Frank M. Hardt
E. F. Brouse Devereux Butcher
PUBLICATION COMMITTEE
H. Gleason Mattoon, Chairman
Mrs. Paul Lewis P. A. Livingston Ralph P. Russell
Dr. J. R. Schramm Mrs. Robert C. Wright
LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE
F. R. Taylor, C/iairman
Edward S. Weyl Wm. Clarke Mason
F. R. Cope, Jr. W. W. Montgomery
E. F. Brouse
AUDITING COMMITTEE
Ralph P. Russell, Clmirman
Edward Woolman
TIONESTA COMMITTEE
Francis R. Cope, Jr., Chairman
Dr. Arthur W. Henn Dr. J. R. Schramm
Edward C. M. Richards Dr. H. H. York
FOREST
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THE PENNSYLVANIA FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
MARCH -APRIL 1942
INTENTIONAL SECOND EXPOSURE
Yellow Adder's Tongue
CONTENTS
Photograph by Devereux Butcher
- Cover
War's Challenge to Forest Conservationists ----.. i
Hardy L. Shirley
Community Forestry and Illegal Mining ....... 3
Stanley Mesavage
Editorials a
Plastics from Wood Waste 5
R. A. Caughey
Maple Sugar and Syrup ^
Annual Meeting 7
Report of the Secretary g
Private Forests a Source of War Timber - - - - . . . 10
E. B. Moore
The Trees of Haverford College 1 1
Howard K. Henry
Treasurer's Report 14
Fertilizer and Nut Maturity 15
THE PENNSYLVANIA FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
Founded in June, 1886
Labors to disseminate information in regard to the necessity and methods of forest cuhure and preservation, and to secure the enactment and enforcement of proper forest protective laws, both State and National.
Annual Membership Fee, Three Dollars
One Dollar of which is for subscription to Forest Leaves
Neither the membership nor the work of this Association is intended to be limited to the btate of Pennsylvania. Persons desiring to become members should send I heir names to the Chairman of the Membership Committee, 1008 Commercial Trust Building, Philadelphia.
President— Wilbur K. Thomas Honorary President— Samuel L. Smedley Honorary Vice-President— Kouemt S. Conkli.n
Vice-Presidents Victor Beede Francis R. Taylor
Francis R. Cope, Jr. Wm. S. B. McCaleb Dr. E. E. Wildman
Dr. O. F. Jennings Edward C. M. Richards George H. Wirt
F. G. Kmghts Dr. J. R. Schramm Edward Woolman
Secretary-H. Gleason Mattoon Treasurer-R. A. Wright, C. P. A.
FOREST LEAVES
PUBLISHED BI-MONTHLY
Entered as second class matter at the Post Office at Narberth, Pennsylvania, under the Act of March 3, 1879
Volume XXXII— No. 2
Narberth, Pa., March -April, 1942
Whole Number 309
War's Challenge to Forest
Conservationists
By Hardy L. Shirley, Director Allegheny Forest Experiment Station^
A NATION at war requires wood, and lots of it. Lumber for cantonments, factory expansion and housing; special ply- woods for propellers, fuselages, gunstocks, and skis; packaging for airplanes and food — these and many other uses require vast quantities. The War Production Board es- timates that our country will use 33,600,- 000,000 board feet of lumber and 15,800,- 000 cords of pulpwood in 1942. Operators are literally scouring the country hunting for timber to cut. Estate owners have been told by operators: 'The Navy needs your timber. We have a contract to supply them. It is your patriotic duty to sell timber now." It is both patriotic and self-serving to sell timber now; to sell the large trees that pro- duce high grade timber, to sell small trees that are crowding their associates, and to sell diseased trees that otherwise might die. But our war strength is not augmented by using scarce labor and scarcer rubber and jogging and milling equipment working up immature timber from clearcut areas.
We lost our first opportunity to organize our forest lands for permanent productiv- ity at a high level by clear cutting our old growth timber. Today's second growth gives us another chance. What are we doing? Federal foresters currently visiting sawmills in Maryland report that business li_^ming and clear cutting the almost
In cooperation with the University of Pennsylvania.
universal rule. Similar reports come from Pennsylvania, New York, and New Eng- land.
The war presents a tremendous challenge to foresters, and behind them to forest con- servationists. This challenge is to supply war needs without reducing future forest productivity. Are we meeting this chal- lenge? The answer is emphatically^ ''No." The war market has changed methods of timber harvesting only in the direction of making them more destructive. The public might well ask why foresters are compla- cent, if in fact they are, before such a de- vastating challenge. Let us face the situa- tion frankly. Our country simply does not possess the economic and legislative tools which foresters require to do their job properly. Machinery inadequate to arrest forest devastation during peace proves all the more inadequate during war.
What, then, is needed? Some conserva- tionists advocate better fire control; others, better protection against insects and dis- ease; or better organized marketing; tax- ation reform; research, demonstration and extension in timber planting, management, harvesting, marketing, and utilization; fi- nancial and technical aid to forest cooper- atives, and cheap, long-term credit. Each and all of these are needed, and no single measure will prove a panacea. But some- thing still more powerful is needed to arrest
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clear cutting of immature timber. This is a declaration on the part of all our people that unnecessary forest devastation must stop. Why are large areas of forest land tax delinquent? Why are markets unor- ganized? Why is labor wasted on immature timber? And why is rural poverty so wide- spread in forested areas? Are not these all the result of unregulated cutting, and are not these all questions in which the public as well as the private owner has a stake?
Some avoid the question of public regu- lation of timber cutting because they fear that good management does not pay. Per- haps some refinements do not always pay. Foresters are not perfect; but who will maintain that timber lands managed by foresters yield less in the long run than those managed and harvested with no thought of continued forest productivity? Oak and northern hardwood forests yield- ing currently without forest management 200 board feet per acre annually, or loblolly pine yielding 360 board feet, are common in the Northeast. With good management this yield could be increased by at least 50 percent. This would mean a return of from 4 to 6 percent on the growing stock. Such lands should attract private forest investment. But steep, dry ridges and bad- ly burned lands often remain indefinitely covered with grass, aspen, pin cherry, or scrub oak. These can and should be ac- quired for rehabilitation by local communi- ty, county, state, or national governments. Additional public acquisition is desirable for watersheds, recreation areas, and for demonstration in timber management.
We need more intensive aid to private owners, we need protection for sustained yield forestry from products of liquidation cutting, and we need public management of poor lands to meet the forestry challenge of today. One more tool is needed, the master key to the entire chest. We need inte- grated, cooperative planning in each forest- producing community to gear local forest consuming industries to local forest produc- tive capacity. Such planning must be high- ly flexible and should not be dominated by
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any one industry, landowner, or working group. The resources, processing plants and labor must be integrated into a single overall, productive entity in which all have a voice in accordance with democratic prin- ciples, and from which all receive benefits in proportion to their contributions.
To many, such a program will appeal. Others will claim that it is regimentation to the nth degree. But planning in itself is neither democratic nor autocratic; it is simply a tool by which the efficiency of any organization can be greatly increased. Democracies cannot hope to compete per- manently with totalitarian regimes if they do not adjust their economic and financial machinery to permit full employment of labor and full use of our renewable re- sources of forest and field. In no country do people want unbridled freedom. What they do want is ojDportunity to participate in plans to improve their own welfare and thereby to build an immensely more satisfy- ing freedom for all.
Here, then, is a real field for militant conservationists — to bring timberland owners, woods operators, wood using indus- tries, labor, and communities together to set realizable conservation goals; and to gal- vanize such groups into planning to attain these goals. Forestry associations, wildlife clubs, sportsmen's clubs, and civic organiza- tions can all join hands. I am gratified that our Pennsylvania Forestry Association has already taken the initiative in such work, but we have progressed little beyond the first step. Our job for the future is to stim- ulate integrated forest use planning from the tree roots up, and to provide the public and foresters with the tools needed to re- alize our plans. With such tools, profes- sional foresters can meet the challenge o war, and also the greater challenge that the peace will bring to America. Lay societies working in close cooperation witn professional men, government agencies, ana producing communities can make conserva- tion policies resilient and dynamic. By this means the American Way can be preserveo, the American ideal attained. This democracy.
Forest Leaves
CommuifLity Forestry as a Substitute
for Illegal Mining
By Stanley Mesavage
ABOUT 6,000 persons are employed in the illegal mining of more than 3,000,- 000 tons of anthracite in competition with the legitimate mining industry in Schuyl- kill, Northumberland, and parts of Luzerne County. Their unrestricted activities are keeping insolvent a major anthracite pro- ducer, The Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company, and threaten the entire structure of voluntary production restric- tions imposed by legitimate mining com- panies on themselves and upon which the legitimate industry depends for stabiliza- tion.
The situation can be corrected either through effective law enforcement or by substituting other employment for illegal mining. Partly because of sympathy for the miners left without employment when legitimate mining in these areas was stopped, partly because this mining repre- sents a considerable portion of community business, and partly because it is feared that much violence may result, intensive law enforcement had not been carried out since the outset and in consequence most emphasis at present is being placed on the perfection of substitute plans to employ bootleg miners in either the legitimate in- dustry or in other types of work.
The "Reforestation" Plan Among such plans under consideration is one popularly known as the ''reforesta- tion" plan which would absorb bootleg labor in constructing fire trails, fire lanes, truck trails, water holes, etc., to make protection from forest fires more effective. The plan also includes tree planting and other cul- tural forest work to improve the quality of local forests. This plan was embodied ^^ a paper published by the Allegheny For- est Experiment Station of the United States forest Service, which, through the efforts of
March -April, 1942
the Wyoming Valley Chamber of Com- merce and Congressman J. Harold Flannery and Senators Joseph Guffey and James J. Davis, was authorized by Congress to make a survey of the forest employment possi- bilities in the Pennsylvania Anthracite Re- gion. It was suggested by the Forest Ser- vice that the work could be financed by re- lief agencies, particularly WPA, under a ruling which permits WPA expenditures for forest fire control improvements on private lands, when these occur as part of district- wide systems. The '^reforestation" plan was presented by the Anthracite "Commit- tee of Twelve,'^ as part of a program to the Governor, but the best information to date has been that although the plan is favorably regarded by the Governor and representa- tives of the operators and mine union, the plan has snagged because of lack of funds.
The Community Forest Plan The Wyoming Valley Chamber of Com- merce is solidly in accord with the effort now being made to finance a "district- wide system'^ of forest fire control improvements on private forest lands (which is the basis for the Reforestation Plan), and is itself conducting further investigations to deter- mine ways and means of projecting such a plan. To supplement the "Reforestation Plan" discussed above, however, it offers the Community Forest Plan. Under this plan, nearby forest lands would be acquired by local governments in the bootleg region and local unemployed miners would be put to work in improving these community for- ests. Such forests may be in small blocks or large tracts, but preferably they should be scattered so that men could be employed with a minimum of transportation costs to both sponsor and worker.
Lands owned by coal companies in each
(Continued on Page IS)
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FOREST LEAVES
Published Bi-Monthly at Narberth, Pa., by The PENNSYLVANIA FORESTRY ASSOCIATION Disseminates information and news on forestry and related subjects.
PUBLICATION COMMITTEE
H. Gleason Mattoon, Chairman
Philip A. Livingston Ralph P. Russell
Mrs. Paul Lewis Mrs. R. C. Wright
Devereux Butcher e. F. Brouse
Dr. J. R. Schramm
The publication of an article in Forest Leaves does not necessarily imply that the views expressed therein are those of the Pennsylvania Forestry Association. Editorial and ad- vertismg office, 1008 Commercial Trust Building, Philadel- phia. Please notify us of any change in address.
MARCH - APRIL, 1942
THE BERRY PICKERS WIN
A S Forest Leaves goes to press, word is ^ ^ received that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is admitting defeat in its battle to prevent the berry pickers of Mon- roe and Carbon Counties from burning the forest land at will. In an area of 27,000 acres of once magnificent timber, extending from Tannersville in Monroe County al- most to Hickory Run in Carbon County, all fire suppression activities are being with- drawn. The lawless and malcontent may now burn the area as often as they wish.
Matters have come to a pretty past when the authorities admit it is impossible to curb lawlessness, but before condemning the De- partment of Forests and Waters, let us look at the record. During the last ten years, all of that 27,000 acres has been burned at least once, and much of it four times, not- withstanding special suppression measures mstituted by the Chief Forest Fire Warden. On that tract of less than one one-thou- sandth of the land area of the State, nearly five per cent of the total appropriations for the last ten years for forest fire suppression has been spent. It would appear, therefore, that the Department of Forests and Waters has more than tried to do a satisfactory job. The fault lies not with the Department, but with the people of Monroe and Carbon Counties. Their indifference to the situ- ation is appalling. Even the local magis- trates wink at such lawlessness. On more
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than one occasion, a person apprehended in the act of setting a forest fire has been taken before a magistrate only to be released with nothmg more than a reprimand It [, rumored that the hunters of those counties condone burning of the forest because it provides more browse for deer. If the hunters are so selfish, if public-spirited citi- zens of the area are indifferent, and if the local authorities permit lawlessness to con- tmue by freeing confessed incendiaries, it is time the situation is brought to the atten- tion of the whole State. H.G.M.
FIRE SUPPRESSION FUNDS EXHAUSTED
'X'HE FOREST fire suppression funds of the Department of Forests and Waters are exhausted, with two fire seasons yet to be faced. Not a cent remains of the regular appropriation for this work. It is agreed that a minimum of :?2 00,000 is needed each biennium for fire extinction, yet this item has been cut twenty-five per cent in every appropriation bill since 1935. The result IS a continuing deficiency and the usual juggling of funds. Moreover, this short- sighted policy of the last two administra- tions has worked a distinct hardship on the fire fighting organization. At times, the fire wardens and their helpers have had to wait three, four and five months before being paid for putting out fires. This un- fair practice has demoralized many of the crews.
On top of this, many of the fire fighters are now finding regular employment in the defense industries, which will reduce the organization still further. With the in- crease in timber cutting, due to war de- mands, the danger of fire is greatly in- creased. Now, above all times, a large and efficient force for fighting forest fires is needed.
It is too late to expect a sympathetic at- titude by the present administration, but it is hoped that the next governor will recom- mend an adequate appropriation and will do everything possible to build up the fire fighting organization. H.G.M.
Forest Leaves
Plastics from Wood Waste
By R. A. Caughey, Research Assistant University of New Hampshire
THE PROBLEM of wood waste disposal i is becoming more and more serious, both because of the expense of simply get- ting rid of it and also because the advance of chemical technology is beginning to make possible the realization of a profit from the waste by converting it into products of value.
Heretofore the larger portion of mill waste has been dumped or burned, which procedure was an expense with no possible hope of return, except in those cases where the combustion of the wood was used in providing heat and power.
It has been estimated that at the present time, in the State of New Hampshire alone, there is produced annually from 60-70 thou- sand tons of waste, exclusive of logging wastes. Of this amount only a small por- tion can be disposed of with a real profit.
Many articles have been published on the treatment of waste wood to produce a wide variety of products such as fuel briquettes, plastic materials, wood distillation prod- ucts, fibre-boards, paper, rayon, etc. Sev- eral thousand patents have been issued cov- ering the chemical utilization of waste wood and related waste products. Most of these patents are of only slight value, due to ex- cessive operating costs.
Within the last three or four years, con- siderable attention has been given to the development of plastic materials from JJ'ood. A good deal of the pioneer work has been done at the U. S. Forest Products Lab- oratory at Madison, Wisconsin, where sev- eral methods have been devised for the preparation of plastic molding powders, us- ing wood as a raw material. The product tney obtain is a hard, dark brown or black "material which can be handled much the same as ordinary thermosetting plastics such as bakelite.
A review of the plastic industry indicates ^ very rapid growth, with continually in-
March. April, 1942
creasing applications. In 1940, the produc- tion of synthetic resins for use in making plastic products, including enamel finishes, but exclusive of cellulose acetate and nitro- cellulose, was around 150,000 tons. Thirty per cent of this production was phenol- formaldehyde, or bakelite, resin, which can be made to sell at a cost of as low as eight cents a pound in the cheapest grades. When transparent or colored plastics materials are required, the cost immediately becomes much higher, and for some of the transpar- ent types may run to over a dollar a pound. This high cost, of course, prohibits the use of such materials for the manufacture of products of large size, such as furniture or building construction parts.
The methods developed at the Forest Products Laboratory are capable of pro- ducing from sawdust or similar wood waste, a plastic molding powder at a cost of from three to six cents a pound, depending on the method used and the properties desired in the finished product. This price should afford the production of larger size pieces and profitable utilization of large amounts of material that is now practically valueless. There are some disadvantages, however. In the first place, the initial cost of a plant and equipment for producing the molding com- position would be rather high, since high pressure, acid-resisting equipment would be required. Also, in the case of the wood plas- tic powders as produced by these methods, more time and higher pressures are required in molding than with the present type of plastic now being used, and the longer pro- duction cycle and higher equipment cost thus necessitated are a disadvantage.
The Masonite Corporation has succeeded in developing a process in which wood or other fibrous material is subjected to very high temperature and steam pressure and suddenly blown out of a nozzle, whereby
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the cells in the wood are expanded and rup- tured, and the produce can then be felted on a screen and rolled into a sheet. The prod- uct is familiar to everyone in the form of Masonite wallboard, which is quite strong and hard and has a fair water resistance.
Another waste which should be consider- ed in this connection is that produced in pulping wood for paper manufacture. In this operation, pulp wood is cooked for sev- eral hours at elevated temperature and pressure. This treatment dissolves 35% of the wood. The remaining 65% is wood fibre and is washed and used for paper making. The 35% of the wood which is dissolved is thrown away with the spent cooking liquor. This dissolved material was the lignin, or the cementing material which bound the wood fibres together. The pulp mills of New Hampshire annually allow up- wards of 100,000 tons of lignin to flow down the river.
A large amount of work has been done to find a practical method of recovering the lignin from the liquor, and it seems quite probable, in the light of the present accom- plishments, that satisfactory methods will be worked out soon. The value of this re- covered lignin is immediately apparent, for it has been found to be capable of conver- sion into a good plastic material and may have valuable aoolication for use in con- junction with other wood plastic molding composition.
One of the large midwestern paper com- panies has perfected a process in which paper sheets are impregnated with recover- ed lignin compounds. The impregnated sheets may then be hot-pressed to form a hard black material which has excellent properties as far as hardness, strength, elec- trical resistance, and water resistance are concerned. The price, however, is much higher than that of the materials developed by the Forest Products Laboratory.
The Engineering Experiment Station at the University of New Hampshire has con- sidered the problem of plastic production from wood waste and has done a consider- able amount of research on it. A number of samples have been prepared, and some
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new methods worked out, in a rather small way, both for the plasticizing of wood and the recovery of lignin from waste pulping liquor. It is felt, however, that since wood is probably New Hampshire's most valuable natural resource, a great deal more work on the problem is easily justifiable, and ought to be done, in order to establish definitely the economic possibilities as well as the properties and applications of such products.
Maple Sugar and Syrup
T> EPORTS received by the Pennsylvania -^^ Department of Forests and Waters in- dicate a fair season for maple sugar and syrup this year. The rationing of cane sugar may result in an increased demand for the sweet products made from the sap of sugar maple trees.
In Pennsylvania last year, 411,000 trees were tapped and produced 82,000 gallons of syrup and 25,000 pounds of sugar. In the event of favorable conditions there will be a decidedly increase in the quantities pro- duced during the current year.
Timeliness of tapping and harvesting has much to do with the quality and quantity of the yield of sap. The sugar water is present in the trees only during the winter and early spring and the best flavored and sweeter sap is usually obtained early in the season.
The several species of maple that are na- tive to Pennsylvania will yield sap which can be converted into maple syrup or sugar, but generally liard or sugar maple is the best producer. Experiments show that on an average soft maple will only produce two-thirds as much sap and this sap con- tains only two-thirds as much sugar as the sap from hard maple trees.
It is estimated that there are approxi- mately 140 million hard maple trees with diameters of four inches and above within the State. Counties that lead in the pro- duction of maple syrup and sugar are Som- erset, Wayne, Erie, Crawford, Tioga, Brad- ford, Potter, Susquehanna, Warren, Mer- cer, Sullivan, and McKean.
Forest Leaves
The Annual Meeting
THE S6th Annual Meeting of The Penn- sylvania Forestry Association was held at Houston Hall, University of Pennsyl- vania, on March 17. Following luncheon. President Wilbur K. Thomas called the meeting to order to listen to annual reports, elect officers and directors, and to transact such other business as should come before the meeting. Both the Treasurer's report and that of the Secretary will be found else- where in this issue.
The President then called upon the Nom- inating Committee, composed of Reginald
D. Forbes, Chairman; J. R. Schramm, and Victor Beede to present the slate prepared by them, which was as follows:
Honorary President — Samuel L. Smedley
President — Wilbur K. Thomas
Honorary Vice-President — R. S. Conklin
Vice-Presidents — Victor Beede
Francis R. Cope, Jr. Dr. O. E. Jennings F. G. Knights Wm. S. B. McCaleb Edward C. M. Richards Dr. J. R. Schramm Francis R. Taylor Dr. Edward E. Wildman George H. Wirt Edward Woolman
Secretary—U. Gleason Mattoon
Assistant Secretary — M. Claire Meyers
Treasurer—Roy A. Wright
EXECUTIVE BOARD
E. F. Brouse Philip A. Livingston I^r. G. A. Dick Stanley Mesavage
J- W. Hershey H. L. Shirley
COUNTY COUNCIL MEMBERS
Allegheny— Arthur E. Braun, C. F. Chubb, Ralph E. Flinn, Dr. O. E. Jennings, Frank J. Lanahan, J. O. Langguth, John M. Phillips.
Armstrong— E. F. Meyer
Berks— Miss Mary Archer, Rev. Lee M. Erd- man, George Baer Hiester, Mrs. F. W. Nicolls.
Blair— Harry F. Beegle.
Bradford— Miss M. S. Maurice, Fisher Welles, Jr.
Bucks— Walter Dietz, Helen H. Ely, Mrs. Irvin
M. James, Mrs. Henry D. Paxson. Cambria— D. M. Stackhouse. Cameron— Josiah Howard.
March . April, 1942
Carbon— A. C. Neumuller, Harry C. Sauers, Jr.
Centre— Robert C. Auker, W. G. Edwards, Mrs. May E. Emerick.
Chester— Albert L. Baily, Jr., Robert G. Kay, Mrs. Paul Lewis, Robert C. Liggett, J. B. Stoltzfus, Curtin Winsor.
Clarion— H. M. Amsler, M. M. Kaufman.
Clearfield — ^W. F. Dague.
Cumberland— W. Gard Conklin, Sherman Jones.
Delaware— Prof. H. K. Henry, Walter M. Jef- fords, Dr. J. Russell Smith, Dr. J. C. Starbuck, Grahame Wood.
Dauphin— Miss Mary Cameron, R. Lynn Emer- ick, Miss Anne McCormick, J. Horace McFar- land, W. E. Montgomery, Edward Stackpole,
Jr.
Erie— Dorothea Conrad, Glow G. Taylor, Mrs.
Arthur Vicary. Franklin — J. A. Aughanbaugh, H. H. Chisman,
Theo. W. Wood. Huntingdon— T. Roy Morton, Mrs. C. M. Tay- lor. Indiana — S. J. Sides. Lackawanna— Mrs. Paul B. Belin, Nicolai H.
Hiller, J. Curtis Piatt, Col. L. H. Watres. Lancaster— Miss Mildred M. Jones, Martin M.
Harnish, John E. Malone. Lebanon — William C. Freeman. Lehigh— Dr. M. J. Backenstoe, Mrs. Elmer J.
Faust, Stanley W. Lutz. Luzerne— Col. Thomas H. Atherton, Cornelius
B. Kunkle, Clement Mesavage, Mrs. C. M.
Young. Lycoming — Henry E. Kirk. Mercer— N. G. Brayer.
Mifflin— F. W. Culbertson, F. H. Dutlinger. Monroe— J. A. Seguine, R. W. Stadden. Montgomery— Mrs. A. C. Barnes, Mrs. Curtis
Bok, F. J. Doolittle, Dr. Wm. J. Phillips, Mrs.
Robert C. Wright. Northampton— Mrs. Quincy Bent, Prof. R. W.
Hall, W. R. Okeson. Northumberland— Charles Steele, Mark N.
Witmer. Perry— George M. German. Philadelphia— Samuel N. Baxter, Jay Gates,
John Kremer, E. S. Weyl, S. P. Wetherill. Pike— Hon. Gifford Pinchot. Schuylkill— Samuel L. Kurtz, J. O. Powell. Somerset— V. M. Bearer, A. A. Dupre. Sullivan— A. F. Snyder. Susquehanna— Dr. Fred Brush, Dr. Geo. W.
Norris. Union — David Libby, Raymond B. Winter. Warren— Warren W. Beaty, R. F. Hemingway.
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Westmoreland— F. M. Sloan, Mrs. C. Rollings-
worth, Allan Scaife. York — Carey E. Etnier, Joseph B. Gable, Edgar
P. Kable, C. N. Myers.
Since there were no additional nomina- tions, the Secretary was instructed to cast a unanimous ballot for the slate as submit- ted. The President then turned the meet- ing over to Mr. Forbes, who presented the speakers of the day. The first speaker called upon was Frank T. Murphey, Ex- tension Forester, whose topic was ''The Markets for Private Timber in Pennsyl- vania."
Mr. Murphey emphasized the sacrifices that will be necessary for all to make if we are going to win this war, sacrifices of men and resources. ''It may be necessary," he said, "for timber land owners in the eastern part of this country to sacrifice timber in order to provide the raw material necessary for our war effort. To the woodland owner, raw material is the standing tree which rep- resents less than one-half the value of the finished product."
The Department of Forests and Waters is entering upon a program now of cutting 100,000,000 board feet of timber from the State lands. This is less than one-half the annual growth on the State forests of Pennsylvania. However, it represents more than one-half of the total amount of timber cut in 1939 in Pennsylvania.
Murphey feels there is an abundant sup-
ply of medium size sawtimber in Penn- sylvania, but scarcely enough of large di- mensions. While the standing timber is here it may not be possible to secure the labor to cut and manufacture this for war purposes. The demand for wood pulp is going to be very heavy. However, the supply in the State is ample. Here, also, labor is going to be the biggest problem.
The chemical wood and charcoal indus- tries of Pennsylvania are no longer impor- tant. While there has been an increase in the business done by these smaller indus- tries, it is not large enough to affect the timber supply seriously.
The demand for fence posts will likely increase because steel posts will be less available. The demand for farm timber in general will increase only slightly, he be- lieves. Here, again, the conversion problem is the difficulty. In many cases, Mr. Mur- phey says, he has heard it stated it is far cheaper to buy timber in the market than to cut it on the farm and try to convert it with local labor.
Cross ties market is active and with the burden on railroads, this demand will con- tinue.
Mr. Murphey feels that unless the war is an unusually long one and the need for tim- ber is greater than in the past six months, Pennsylvania will have ample timber to meet the demand.
Report of the Secretary
CINCE World War I, emphasis has been ^ laid upon the conserving of our forest resources. Great acreages have been taken out of private ownership by the states and federal government, to be, among other things, demonstrations of wise forest man- agement. Such areas of public forests in the eastern half of the country were largely cut over lands with the best only a fair stand of second growth timber.
During the last 25 years, public acquisi- tion has been agitated by both public and private agencies until, today, public hold-
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ings amount to nearly 200,000,000 acres in the country. In the northeastern section, there are seven national forests, totalling nearly 10,000,000 acres. These have been developed for recreation, hunting, fishing, and other uses, as well as the production of timber.
With the active participation of the United States in World War II, the orderly development of public forests and the long- range program of increasing growing stock on private forests will have to be aban-
FoREST Leaves
doned, at least in part. Enormous war de- mands for wood and wood products will have to be met. Estimates of total war needs are varied and fantastic, but there is general agreement that eleven billion board feet of sawtimber and 17 million cords of pulp wood will be required in 1942.
If the U. S. Forest Service and the state forestry departments do no more cutting on public lands than in the past, much of this enormous demand will have to come from private forests. The Pennsylvania Depart- ment of Forests and Waters is to be con- gratulated for starting a cutting program on the state forests to yield 100,000,000 board feet. Not only will this be a direct contribution to war needs, but this action will relieve somewhat the pressure on pri- vate forest owners. In addition, the open- ing up of dense stands will increase game population. The Pennsylvania Forestry Association for two years has urged such a cutting program. We are grateful, there- fore, that it has been started.
Since 1941 was a Legislative year, this Association, along with others, introduced bills affecting the forest areas of the State. We actively supported the Ricketts Glen Bill, which called for the purchase of 1 1 ,000 acres in Sullivan, Luzerne, and Wyoming Counties, to be added to the State forests. This bill was passed with but one single vote and the details of acquisition are now being worked out. A State Arbor Day Bill, intro- duced by The Pennsylvania Forestry As- sociation, was likewise passed and approved by the Governor. Not only does this desig- nate April 9, the birthday of Dr. Joseph T. Rothrock, as Spring Arbor Day when it does not fall on Sunday or Good Friday, but it also designates the week in which April 9 lalls as Conservation Week and prescribes certain activities to be carried on in the schools of the State.
The Bill to set up a Civil Service Com- jnission and to blanket certain agencies and bureaus of State government in a merit sys- tem was so badly emasculated in the Legis- lature, that most of its benefits were lost, although the Bill as finally passed does set up a Civil Service Commission.
Ma
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For the last two years the Association has actively urged some sort of a market service for private woodland owners, that is, some means by which the forest owner could find out what kinds of timber are in demand and approximately the stumpage price. A year ago several agencies cooperating carried on a market survey in Adams and Franklin Counties and last fall, with state and federal agencies working together, plans were drawn up to complete a market survey for the entire State. When this information is finally assembled and put on cards, it should be of great value to the forest owners of the State, providing it is kept up to date.
One of the most successful meetings the Forestry Association has had in many years was held at State College last October, with the Northeast Town Forest Conference and the Pennsylvania Community Forest Coun- cil cooperating. It was a two-day session with community forests and forest regula- tion as the topics for discussion. Approxi- mately 150 were in attendance and the re- actions were gratifying.
Late in the fall, word was received that the U. S. Army engineers had submitted a report recommending a dam on the Clarion River at Mill Creek, above the town of Clarion, of sufficient height to raise the water to the 1335 contour line. If such a dam were built, it would mean destroying much of Cook Forest. It would create a lake three miles long, through the center of the forest area and would kill many of the virgin pines. In addition, the recreational areas, cabins and inns would be under water. Your Secretary immediately went to Pittsburgh and talked with several of the men who had been instrumental in raising, through private subscription, the money necessary to purchase this tract. With these men as a nucleus, a committee was set up, which has been actively opposing the erec- tion of such a dam. So far, the proposal has not been approved by the Bureau of the Budget, and the latest information is that it will not be included in the 1942 Omnibus Rivers and Harbors Bill.
Nine
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Private Forests as a Source of Timber
for War Uses
By E. B. Moore
Assistant Forester of New Jersey
T^HROUGH a running talk accompanying ^ pictures, Mr. Moore explained clearly the unusual service the Department of Con- servation and Development is furnishing private land owners in New Jersey. In that state there are no portable saw mills. The timber buyers bid for timber on the stump and haul it 70 or 80 miles to the mill, cut- ting on order.
Previous to 1938, the Department of Con- servation and Development relied upon the usual extension system of advising the woodland owner in a general way what timber he had and what it was worth, then giving him a list of buyers. But this system was not satisfactory, so in that year the plan was changed. Now the Department, when called upon, after a preliminary ex- amination, measures and marks all timber that should come out on a selective cutting basis. The owner supplies the man to blaze the trees. In this way, the owner knows exactly how many trees are to come out and what volume of timber can be sold without destroying the woodland.
This information is turned over to a timber agent, three of whom have been ap- pointed by the Department, who sends out the contract and takes bids from timber buyers. He then supervises the cutting and scales all logs. In other words, he acts as the owner's agent to see that the cutting is done properly and to enforce penalties for poor felling or other infringements.
This method has worked well. The de- mands upon the Department are so great they will have to add additional foresters to keep up with the work.
The next speaker of the day was Honor- able John H. Light, Secretary of Agriculture of Pennsylvania, who spoke on the gypsy moth problem in Pennsylvania. He re- viewed the history of the gypsy moth in the United States and the work that had been done in New England in trying to eradicate it. He also mentioned the bar- rier zone which has been set up, running approximately along the Hudson River from Canada to Long Island, in the hope that the gypsy moth can be prevented from spreading to other sections of the country.
Unfortunately, an infestation was dis- covered in Pennsylvania in 1932, centering approximately in Wilkes-Barre. More than $4,000,000 has been spent in trying to eradicate this infestation. While this has not been accomplished, the number of cater- pillars has been reduced and the infestation has been held within bounds. Unless funds are continued for this work, there is grave danger that the gypsy moth will spread over the entire state of Pennsylvania. Its favor- ite food plants are oak, birch, basswood, with hemlock, pine, and spruce susceptible to attack in heavy infestations. This indi- cates the danger to the forests of Pennsyl- vania and ultimately to those of other states.
Mr. Light was emphatic in his belief that the work in controlling the gypsy moth in the Pennsylvania infestation should not be stopped, because it is important as a war measure, in order to preserve timber that must be used in our war program.
Ten
Forest Leaves
The Trees of Haverford College Campus
by Howard Knickerbocker Henry, Assistant Professor of Botany, Haverford College
(CONTINUED from LAST ISSUE)
THE SCOT'S pine and the flowering shrubs of the east section of the Nature Walk were given by Mr. Edward Woolman. Mr. Francis J. Stokes has generously con- tributed a fund, the interest from which help to support the growing needs of the Ar- boretum.
At present the Arboretum has two hundred and forty- two species of trees, either as nursery stock or actually in the Arboretum. Of these, eighty-nine are con- ifers and pinetum. The first section of the Nature Walk beyond the Observatory con- tains young and vigorous specimens from many parts of the world and is well worth a visit by anyone at any time. It is especially attractive during the winter when snow transforms the whole planting into a green and white fairyland of strangely shaped Christmas trees. The casual visitor may or may not notice that pines with two needles in a cluster are first in the planting, fol- lowed by those with three, two and three mixed on the same tree and last those with five needles. In the first group, just to the left of the walk as it drops over the brow of the hill, appears the low, bushy Mugho pine, often used in foundation planting. The other common name, Swiss Mountain pine, furnishes a clue to its native habitat, which IS the mountainous region from Spain to the Balkans. A large and exceptionally fine tree of this species may be seen about fifty leet northeast of South Barclay.
To the left of the Mugho Pine group, along the crest of the slope, other two- needle pines are in sequence, Scot's Pine, Jack Pine and last the Table Mountain nne. This is a pine found only near the I^P of the Appalachian Mountains from * ^"nsylvania to Georgia. Its cones are re- "larkable both because of their long, sharp, Recurved prickles and their firmness of at- tachment to the trunk. They often remain
M
ARCH -April, 1942
and are covered over by the growing bark and wood of the tree. The Japanese Red Pines, easily recognized by their groups of three needles and luxuriance of cone pro- duction, are planted a little farther along the Nature Walk. With them are the Pitch Pines of New Jersey, also three needles, but with thicker prickly cones. Nine other species of Pine occur in this first section of the pinetum, but each cannot be separately described. Following the pines, about mid- way between College Avenue and Feather- bed Lane is a group of junipers and Retin- osporas. These vary in habit from the tall columnar form of the Chinese Juniper to the low-spreading, prostrate forms of the Common Juniper.
Beyond the junipers, there follows in or- der, the yews, the Giant Sequoia, the larch- es, the true cedars, including specimens of the Cedar of Lebanon, the Atlas Cedar and the Deodar Cedar. Along the upper margin of the field, just below the practice field and the tennis courts, are the plantings of the firs, hemlocks and spruces in order. Ten species of firs, four of hemlock, and nine of spruce have been transplanted from the nursery.
The decidous trees occupy the former cornfield to the south of Featherbed Lane and are arranged as are the conifers in a sequence to illustrate degree of relationship. With few exceptions the groups adjacent to each other are the most closely related. In- cluded in this section are many interestinc; trees, but as larger, more easily located specimens of many of them occur about the College building:, it might be better to select from that section a few of the most inter- esting.
The main campus being the oak section of the Arboretum, many species of that genus may be expected there. Thus, in the space between Lloyd, Roberts Hall and
Eleven
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TWO VIEWS OF SOME OF HAVERFORD COLLEGE'S TREES
Twelve
Forest Leaves
Sharpless Hall, are specimens of Northern Red Oaks, pin oaks (a large tree at the en- trance of Sharpless Hall), turkey oaks (the only campus specimen is to be found be- tween Roberts Hall and North Barclay), Burr Oaks or Mossy Cup Oaks (the two names are used about equally), and Swamp White Oaks. The Burr Oak, standing by the walk between Roberts Hall and Found- ers is the most massive tree of the campus, although another almost as large is located near the east entrance to the Mary Newlin Smith Memorial Garden. In the rear of Sharpless Hall are three young specimens of the Cow Oak, planted in honor of Chalk- ley Palmer, and a Spanish Oak, planted by the class of 1940. North of Barclay are two Overcup Oaks and to the east, along Col- lege Lane, a Scarlet Oak. Between the planetrees, along the margin of Merion Field, are a number of English oaks. In- teresting to most who have seen only the lobed-leaved oak of the northeast is the en- tire-leaved Willow Oak. A magnificent specimen shades the tennis court by the Chemistry Laboratory. The Planting along Featherbed Lane is also composed of this species. Two specimens of another entire- leaved oak, the Basket Oak, are to be found along the roadway between Lloyd Hall and Railroad Avenue, one to the east of the road and the other almost in the center of the triangular plot formed by the road. Railroad Aveni>3 and Meetinghouse Lane.
In the small area of the triangle many other interesting species are to be seen. A Soapberry, native to the Southwest, grows to the right of Meetinghouse Lane. The blue berries of this tree are saponaceous and have been used as a soap, hence its com- mon name. Near it stands a small elm with golden-yellow foliage, the Golden Elm.
Nearer the road and directly opposite the Basket Oak is a Cedrela, a tree with com- pound leaves and stringy bark. It is also known as Cigarbox-cedar from its use in the niaking of cigar boxes. Near it is a tree ^ith large, heart-shaped leaves and numer- ous seed pods, displayed during both sum- "^cr and winter. In the early spring this ^ree, the Empress Tree or Paulownia, is
March -April, 1942
often covered with pale lavender-colored flowers which open before the leaves de- velop.
Directly in front of Center Barclay and exposed to the flames of student celebra- tions, is a Bald Cypress. This, a tree of the southern swamps, develops knees, or breathing roots, when growing in water, but lacks them when grown in dry soil. Small Bald Cypresses have been planted along the margin of the pond, and in time a fringe of "knees'^ should appear. This conifer also has the habit, unusual for conifers, of drop- ping its needles during the winter season. With the needles it drops the small branch- lets bearing them, a habit unusual for any tree.
Near the Bald Cypress and enclosed in a triangle formed by the roads, is a single tree. This is the Katsura, a tree of Japan, which starts life as a small, bushy plant with num- erous upright stems. These coalesce as it grows older to form a single braided trunk. An older specimen immediately south of Morris Infirmary shows the coalescence much better than the one by Barclay.
Another tree with fluted trunk somewhat similar to the Katsura is the Styrax. One specimen of this beautiful tree may be seen in the opening behind the gymnasium. Its fluted and buttressed trunk and horizontal branches compressed to a plank-like thin- ness gives this tree of the southwest a truly tropical appearance. In late May, the spreading branches bear a profusion of tiny flowers, outlining the tree with horizontal bars of white. Near it is a small Epaulette- tree, so called because the masses of small flowers bear a resemblance to the shoulder ornament of that name.
Many more kinds of trees are present and many of them are as interesting as those mentioned, but not all can be given space here. However, two more have to be in- cluded in any mention of Haverford Col- lege trees. First, the Ginkgo, known to every student who has occasion to travel the road to Meeting or pass in front of Found- ers Hall. The rancid-smelling fruits are produced only by female trees which usual- ly have more widely-spreading branches
Thirteen
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TWO VIEWS OF SOME OF HAVERFORD COLLEGE'S TREES
Twelve
Forest Leaves
Sharpless Hall, are specimens of Northern Red Oaks, pin oaks (a large tree at the en- trance of Sharpless Hall), turkey oaks (the only campus specimen is to be found be- tween Roberts Hall and North Barclay), Burr Oaks or Mossy Cup Oaks (the two names are used about equally), and Swamp White Oaks. The Burr Oak, standing by the walk between Roberts Hall and Found- ers is the most massive tree of the campus, although another almost as large is located near the east entrance to the Mary Newlin Smith Memorial Garden. In the rear of Sharpless Hall are three young specimens of the Cow Oak, planted in honor of Chalk- ley Palmer, and a Spanish Oak, planted by the class of 1940. North of Barclay are two Overcup Oaks and to the east, along Col- lege Lane, a Scarlet Oak. Between the planetrees, along the margin of Merion Field, are a number of English oaks. In- teresting to most who have seen only the lobed-leaved oak of the northeast is the en- tire-leaved Willow Oak. A magnificent specimen shades the tennis court by the Chemistry Laboratory. The Planting along Featherbed Lane is also composed of this species. Two specimens of another entire- leaved oak, the Basket Oak, are to be found along the roadway between Lloyd Hall and Railroad Avenue, one to the east of the road and the other almost in the center of the triangular plot formed by the road, Railroad Aveni\^ and Meetinghouse Lane.
In the small area of the triangle many other interesting species are to be seen. A Soapberry, native to the Southwest, grows to the right of ^Meetinghouse Lane. The blue berries of this tree are saponaceous and have been used as a soap, hence its com- mon name. Near it stands a small elm with golden-yellow foliage, the Golden Elm.
Nearer the road and directly opposite the Basket Oak is a Cedrela, a tree with com- pound leaves and stringy bark. It is also Known as Cigarbox-cedar from its use in the making of cigar boxes. Near it is a tree with large, heart-shaped leaves and numer- ous seed pods, displayed during both sum- ^^r and winter. In the early spring this ^^ee, the Empress Tree or Paulownia, is
I
M;
^R'^'"- April, 1942
often covered with pale lavender-colored flowers which open before the leaves de- velop.
Directly in front of Center Barclay and exposed to the flames of student celebra- tions, is a Bald Cypress. This, a tree of the southern swamps, develops knees, or breathing roots, when growing in water, but lacks them when grown in dry soil. Small Bald Cypresses have been planted along the margin of the pond, and in time a fringe of "knees'^ should appear. This conifer also has the habit, unusual for conifers, of drop- ping its needles during the winter season. With the needles it drops the small branch- lets bearing them, a habit unusual for any tree.
Near the Bald Cypress and enclosed in a triangle formed by the roads, is a single tree. This is the Katsura, a tree of Japan, which starts life as a small, bushy plant with num- erous upright stems. These coalesce as it grows older to form a single braided trunk. An older specimen immediately south of Morris Infirmary shows the coalescence much better than the one by Barclay.
Another tree with fluted trunk somewhat similar to the Katsura is the Styrax. One specimen of this beautiful tree may be seen in the opening behind the gymnasium. Its fluted and buttressed trunk and horizontal branches compressed to a plank-like thin- ness gives this tree of the southwest a truly tropical appearance. In late May, the spreading branches bear a profusion of tiny flowers, outlining the tree with horizontal bars of white. Near it is a small Epaulette- tree, so called because the masses of small flowers bear a resemblance to the shoulder ornament of that name.
Many more kinds of trees are present and many of them are as interesting as those mentioned, but not all can be given space here. However, two more have to be in- cluded in anv mention of Haverford Col- lege trees. First, the Ginkgo, known to every student who has occasion to travel the road to Meeting or pass in front of Found- ers Hall. The rancid-smelling fruits are produced only by female trees which usual- ly have more widely-spreading branches
Thirteen
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INTENTIONAL SECOND EXPOSURE
w
than the males. Unfortunately, the sex of the young trees could not be determined at the time the Haverford specimens were planted. However, if the outer pulp is washed away, the inner meat is without odor and is not unpalatable when roasted. The tree is of great interest to botanists as it is one of the oldest trees in existence (it is often described as a living fossil), and is unknown in the wild state.
Another famous tree is the Gordonia or Franklin-tree. This is a small tree or large shrub with gardenia-like flowers produced throughout the summer and fall. It was dis- covered by John Bartram in Georgia. Speci- mens were sent by him to England, and it became a favorite garden shrub. The num- ber of specimens sent to England either ex- hausted the supply of wild plants or the original site has been lost, as no botanist has been able to find a wild plant in the past hundred years. This, despite the fact that repeated searches of Georgia swamps have been made by experienced botanists during that time. A small specimen of this tree is on the left of the Nature Walk just within the entrance by Professor Lock- wood's house. Another, which has borne flowers for the past few years, may be seen by the Nature Walk, about two hundred feet from the large tulip trees at the edge of the woodlot.
These and the many other trees not men- tioned help to preserve "the beauty of the scenery,'' observed by the first Managers and will certainly continue to increase the natural beauty of the location with passing years.
Treasurer's Report
RECEIPTS AND DISBURSEMENTS
Year ended December 31, 1941
Receipts
Cash Balance :
December 31, 1940 — The
Cheltenham National Bank $45.95
Receipts :
Dues -1940 $ 58.00
1941 2,021.00
1942 109.00
Forest Leaves 76.42
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Donations 2,877.50
Interest on Bonds 314.03
Dividend on Stocks 493.25
Life Memberships 280.00
Miscellaneous 46.01
Rent 440.00
Seedlings 29.00
Loan 500.00
Transfer from Investment
Account 300.00
i
$7,544.21
Disbursements
Salaries $3,522.63
Travelling Expenses 537.39
Office Expenses 69.09
Stationery and Printing 762.51
Postage 369.00
Rent 590.00
Forest Leaves 955.06
Telephone 146.99
Interest 64.83
Life Membership - Transfer 280.00
Miscellaneous 241.22
Cash Balance:
December 31, 1941 — The Cheltenham National Bank
$7,590.16
$7,538.72
51.44
Cash
$7,590.16
INVESTMENT ACCOUNT Assets
The Cheltenham National Bank $ 1,091.88 Securities 12,740.25
$13,832.13
Funds
Forest Leaves $ 2,818.88
General Fund $1,968.50
Profit — Scranton
Spring Brook
Water Co. 5's $ 72.00
Loss — American
Tel. & Tel. Co 172.42
100.42
$1,868.08 Less: Transfers 1,800.00
Lije Membership Fund $7,575.17
Additions during 1941 280.00
M. H. Hansen - Bequest
Louise A. McDowell - Bequest
68.08
7,855.17 3,000.00
90.00
$13,832.13
Forest Leaves
Forestry as a Substitute for Illegal Mining
(Continued from Page 3)
affected township would first be classified as follows:
Class 1 — Forest or potential forest land not underlain with coal.
Class 2 — Forest or potential forest land underlain with coal but abandoned or re- served.
Class 3 — Forest or potential forest land underlain with coal which is now being mined.
It is recommended that Class 1 lands be donated outright to the local townships, boroughs, or cities, as community forests, to be developed by community labor. It is recommended that the surface of Class 2 lands be also turned over to this purpose, with a proviso, however, that would permit development of the coal resource by the company. It is recommended that the sur- face of Class 3 lands be developed and managed by the coal company as Colliery Forests.
Sections 3040, 3830, and 2750 of the Pennsylvania State Forest Code, authorizes townships, cities, and boroughs to acquire forest lands by purchase, gift, or lease and hold forest or potential forest lands, admin- istering the same under the direction of the jaws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in accordance with the practices and prin- ciples of scientific forestry, for the benefit of the communities involved. Such tracts "lay be of any size suitable for the pur- pose, and may be located within or without the limits of the townships, boroughs, or cities.
These community forests can be devel- oped by the WPA, NYA, or DPA, with projects sponsored by the local govern- ments. Technical direction for the work "|ay be secured not only from qualified in- dividuals on WPA, but also by a Forester ^"iployed by the coal companies who would also direct the forest work done on Colliery forests in Class 3 lands.
Court records show a considerable acre-
M/
^RCH- April, 1942
age of tax delinquent forest land already owned outright by Schuylkill County. Some forest land is being held by the county treasurer for a two-year redemption period. Lands thus reverting to county ownership may also be developed as county or com- munity forests.
Lands of all classes listed above can be managed for watershed protection and ero- sion control; control of surface water to prevent rapid inflow into the mines; pro- vide local recreational facilities for the pic- nicker, hunter or fisherman, and ultimately give the community an income from forest products as well as stable jobs in the woods. National Defense
From a national defense point of view the above plans will bring about improved re- lationship between the mine operators and the coal miners, particularly in the southern field. The "reforestation plan," calling for physical improvements to aid in combatting the fire menace, will make possible a reduc- tion in forest fire damages and costs of ex- tinction. The development of local com- munity forests will not only create jobs for the unemployed, but will also bring about a future natural supply of wood prod- ucts and other related benefits.
The Effect of Fertilizer On Nut Maturity
The following letters tell their own story. These trees, located on the west branch of the Susquehanna River in the northern end of Clinton County, have made a remark- able response to fertilizing.
This year I recommended an addition of 5 lb. of potash with 20 lb. of bone meal.
Hyner, Pa. February 6, 1941 Mr. John M. Hershey Downingtown, Pa. Dear Mr. Hershey:
Some time ago you had an article in the Pennsylvania Farmer regarding pecan nut trees not maturing their fruit. We have two fine big pecan nut trees bought from Mr. Jones 22 years ago. They are loaded with nuts in the fall, but they never mature.
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Your article has become mislaid. Would you kindly advise what we could do, if any- thing, to help these trees ripen their fruit? They are paper shell variety, I believe.
Your very truly,
L. K. Condon Hyner, Pa. February 19, 1942 Mr. John M. Hershey Downingtown, Pa. Dear Mr. Hershey:
If you remember, I wrote you about a year ago regarding two pecan trees we have on our place which did not ripen their fruit. You advised a system of fertilization and said you would be interested in knowing how it came out.
Last March we made a series of holes about two feet deep with a bar about two feet apart each way under one tree. These holes began about two feet from the trunk of the tree and extended to the outer ends of the limbs.We filled each hole about half with 20% phosphate and finished filling with fine chicken manure. Then we poured water in each one as much as they would take. The other tree we did nothing to at all. The tree we fertilized came out in bloom a few days earlier than the other and the blossoms were larger. Then we had a late frost and the blossoms got black and fell off. In a few days the fertilized tree again came in bloom with a good percentage of blooms again. Good, big, healthy ones. Later the other tree brought a few out and you could see a big difference in them. They both had fruit this fall, but the unfertilized tree's fruit was very immature, not very many, and most of them are on the tree yet. The fertilized tree's fruit fell early. There wasn't very much of it and we did not pay very much attention to it. A few days ago we were looking at the tree and picked up a few of the nuts lying on the ground and were surprised to find the kernels in most of them were almost fully developed.
As soon as the ground permits, we intend giving both trees an application of fertilizer and believe that if we have no late frosts in the spring we may get some nuts for our pains.
Sixteen
We used about 30 lbs. 20% phosphate and probably one bushel of chicken manure on this tree.
Any suggestions thankfully received.
Yours very truly,
L. K. Condon
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Forest Leaves
DOLLARS AND CONTINUOUS EMPLOYMENT
Nearly one-half of the area of Pennsylvania (13,000,000 acres) should be in forests. Were this acreage of growing trees properly managed, it would be capable of producing 650 million cubic feet of wood per year — almost enough to meet the normal demands of Pennsylvanians. ■ ||
To harvest this timber and convert it into finished products, between 75,000 and 100,000 men would be needed. This would add $200,000,000 to the yearly income of Pennsylvania.
This is the goal toward which The Pennsylvania Forestry Association is striving. To that end we are working for the following:
PROJECTS
1. MARKETING SERVICE FOR PRIVATE WOODLAND OWNERS. With the incease in our preparedness program the demand for wood products has been stepped up. Unless we can show the private woodland owner that there is a large and consistent market for his wood products he will be inclined to cut his acreage clean in order to cash in on the emergency demand. The De- partment of Forests and Waters should provide marketing information. A list of all wood-using in- dustries in the State, together with the kinds, sizes and quality of wood used, should be assembled. Price ranges, also, should be published.
2. MANAGEMENT PROGRAM FOR THE STATE FORESTS. During the past few months cutting on the State forest lands has increased, but this cutting is not based upon a broad program of management. Without management plans such cutting may do more harm than good.
3. INCREASED TREE PLANTING. At the present rate, 150 years will be required to plant the cut-over and burned-over acreage in the State.
4. PURCHASE OF THE KITCHEN CREEK TRACT. In the North Mountain area, between Wilkes-Barre and Eagles Mere, there is a tract of 14,000 acres which is ideal as a multiple-use for- est. It is a fisherman's paradise, a hunter's delight and unique in its recreational possibilities. About 800 acres still contain virgin timber. A sawmill is starting to cut this tract. Unless the State acts soon its value will be gone.
5. COMMUNITY FORESTS. Notwithstanding the fact that Pennsylvania has been a leader in conservation and in preserving forest areas, it has fallen behind many other states in developing county, township and municipal forests. The value of these local forests for recreation, for tim- ber products and as demonstrations of wise forestry practices should not be overlooked.
6. A CIVIL SERVICE LAW TO COVER THE EMPLOYEES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF FORESTS AND WATERS. It is not necessary to argue the value of such a law. Technically-trained employees should not be subject to the whim of individuals or political parties.
7. DUTCH ELM DISEASE CONTROL. This foreign disease is gradually spreading over Penn- ( sylvania. In the last two years it has killed elms in eight counties. Unless the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Federal government cooperate in a concerted plan of eradication the 40 - 000,000 elms in Pennsylvania may be doomed.
8. BROADER SERVICE BY THE BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. The Bureau of Plant Industry is responsible for advising property owners in the identification and control of various in- sect and disease enemies of trees, shrubs, herbace )us plants, and grain and field crops. This service has not been adequate. Insect and disease depredations cost Pennsylvanians millions of dollars a year. With an efficient Bureau of Plant Industry much of this could be saved.
The Pennsylvania Forestry Association 1008 Commercial Trust Building Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
I am enclosing $ as a contribution to the work of the Pennsylvania
Forestry Association. Of the projects discussed above I am particularly interested in the fol- owing (Please check):
12 3 4 5 6 7
8
N
ame
Address
li ll
I I
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i
THE PENNSYLVANIA FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
Honorary President
Samuel L. Smedley
President
Wilbur K. Thomas
Honorary Vice-President
Robert S. Conklin
Victor Beede Francis R. Cope, Jr. Dr. 0. F. Jennings F. G. Knights
Vice-Presidents
Wm. S. B. McCaleb Edward C. M. Richards Dr. J. R. Schramm
Francis R. Taylor Dr. E. E. Wildman George H. Wirt Edward Woolman
Secretary
H. Gleason Mattoon
Assistant Secretary
M. Claire Meyers
Treasurer
Roy a. Wright
V:
Victor Beede E. F. Brouse R. S. Conklin Francis R. Cope, Jr. Dr. G. a. Dick . J. W. Hershey Philip A. Livingston
EXECUTIVE BOARD
H. Gleason Mattoon Wm. S. B. McCaleb Stanley Mesavage Edw. C. M. Richards Dr. J. R. Schramm H. L. Shirley
Samuel L. Smedley Francis R. Taylor Wilbur K. Thomas Dr. E. E. Wildman George H. Wirt Edward Woolman Roy a. Wright
FINANCE COMMITTEE
Edward Woolman, Chairman
Samuel F. Houston
Frank M. Hardt
••4
E. F. Brouse Devereux Butcher
-- *V
\ "* ^ ^
PUBLICATION COMMITTEE
H. Gleason Mattoon, Chairman
Mrs. Paul Lewis Dr. J. R. Schramm
P. A. Livingston Mrs. Robert C. Wright
Ralph P. Russell
Edward S. Weyl F. R. Cope, Jr.
LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE
F. R. Taylor, Chairman
Wm. Clarke Mason W. W. Montgomery
'if
E. F. Brouse
AUDITING COMMITTEE
Ralph P. Russell, Chairman
Edward Woolman
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TIONESTA COMMITTEE
Francis R. Cope, Jr., Chairman Dr. Arthur W. Henn Dr. J. R. Schramm
Edward C. M. Richards Dr. H. H. York
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THE PENNSYLVANIA FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
MAY - JUNE
CONTENTS
Giant White Oak at Hanover, Pennsylvania Cover
Photograph by Robert Myers
Developing Private Forestry in New Jersey ]
E. B. Moore
Safeguarding Community Timber Supplies «
Hardy L. Shirley
Editorial
" ■ 4
Soy Flour Pinch Hits for Pollen 4
Forest Regulaiion k
H. H. Chapman
Pennsylvania Nut Growers j^j
Tree Crops in the Post War Era 14
John W. Hershex
THE PENNSYLVANIA FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
Fouutted in Jiinr. !««(>
and preirta;ionTr'';;','™'r'""' 7 '"«""' I" ""= "'^'^^''"V a.ul n.eth.Kls „f f,>,cs. culture Ch'^sT^e a.;rNa.i«nal «="«"■"-'" an.l enforcement of proper fores, protective laws.
ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP FEE, THREE DOLLARS
One Dollar of which is for subscription to Fokkst Lkavks
State'^oM'enmvlvT.ra'''7.et^.,','r,l«i';""'!' "I ""' •^»«'"'"«>" '» ""ou<le.l to he li,„ite<l to the
Chairman of he Me nl,e shipv. S umR?T' """ T """'"" '<="" '"<=" '"""- '» ">e uic i>itnii>ersnip t.ommittee. 1008 Commercial Trust BniUling, Philadelphia.
Presideiil-Wii.nvK K. Thomas Ho„or„n Pr.,,rf,.,„-S.„.,K,, I.. Smk„,.kv „„„„,„,,, r,r..P,o,rf<.„/-Ro..K.T S. Conkun
Victor Bkfdk Francis R. Copf, Jr. Dr. O. F. Jknnings F. G, Kmohts
Secretary-H. Gi.kason Matioon
1' ire-Presidents Wm. S. B. McCai.kb Edward C:. M. Richards Dr. J. R. Schramm
Francis R. Tavi.or Dr. E. E. Wildman Gforcf, H. Wirt Edward Wooi.man
Trensiirer-K. A. Wric;ht, C. P. A.
FOREST L EAV E S
PUBLISHED BI MONTHLY
Entered as second class matter at the Post Office at Narberth, Pennsylvania, under the Act of March 3, 1879
Volume XXXII— No. '^
Narberth, Pa., May - June, 1942
Whole Number 310
Developing Private Forestry in New Jersey
E. B. Moore New Jersey Department of Conservation and Development
Ninety-five percent of tlie forest area of the eastern states is privately-owned. Including accessi- ble lands of high quality, these private holdings offer an excellent opportunity for the practice of silviculture and for gathering documentary evidence as to the financial practicability of forestry. It has long l)een recognized that the use of improper methods prevents obtaining adequate returns from woodland, and so three years ago the New Jersey Department of Conser- vation and Development began providing an intensive type of assistance in woods management in an effort to find an answer to the specific question. "Does private forestry pay in New Jersey?"
-^
FOR the small forest owner everywhere the handling of woodland presents serious difficulties. It is usually imprac- ticable for him to employ a forester and yet without detailed technical guidance he is at a tremendous disadvantage in even so primary a matter as the sale of merchantable stumpage, let alone the ap- plication of any silvicultural practices. Thus when tenclered the small offers us- ually made for standing timber, most owners become convinced that if this is all the woods are worth, forestry does not pay, and in addition the unsightly wreck- age resulting from logging leaves many with an aversion to all cutting operations. This situation is unfortunate both for the owners and for the forestry profession. It is the writer's opinion that forestry can be made to pay; that through the use of practicable techniques the net financial yields in this region can be more than ooubled and the tracts left in excellent shape for future growth. As to the rea- sons why these possibilities are not more J^iaely explored and developed it might
e asked whether public foresters take sutticient cognizance of their responsibil- j y to promote the management of private
^"as. Faced now with the gravest na-
n»'ntc(l f,(„„ ti,^. Journal of Forestry. May 1912
tional crisis in our history shall we con- tinue to acquiesce in the relative neglect of the most productive portion of our forest lands?
Ownership
North Jersey and the Delaware Valley — where most private forestry work is carried on in New Jersey — contain about 740,000 acres of woodland. The oak-chestnut-yellow poplar type pre- dominates with trees reaching 25-30 inches in diameter and 1 1 0 feet in height on the best sites at 125-150 years.
Private holdings here may be grouped in two main classes: ( 1 ) farms, and (2) country estates. The average farm in this section contains approximately ten acres of woodland. While excellent tim- ber is to be found on some of these, the greater number show an over-abundance in the smaller diameter classes, reflecting the economic pressure which forces far- mers to sell as soon as the trees reach the lower limits of merchantability, generally from 12-14 inches on the stump.
The woodlots on the country estates on the other hand are larger in area and generally in better condition. Because most of these owners are in a stronger po- sition economically to meet the pressure
»
>
ii
M
n
for liquidation, they retain their wood- lands for hunting or riding, or for aes- thetic purposes, and allow the trees to grow into the larger size classes. Many refuse to sell timber because of the un- sightly slashings and logging debris which result from the usual commercial lumbering operation.
Markets
In New Jersey the combination of mechanical transportation and good roads has tended to eliminate the portable sawmill and establish the semi-permanent type of mill. Crawler-type tractors are used for skidding and loading, and truck hauls up to 70 miles are often made from woods to mill. Logs are commonly han- dled in long lengths, i. e. from 20-50 feet. Most of the saw timber is cut into plank and flitch for barge and ship construction. Some goes into ties and machine frame stock. The poorer quality material is sawed into dunnage wood for wedging car and ship cargoes, or is cut into boat fenders. Trees suitable for piling bring the best prices, and furnace poles used for purifying molten copper at the smelters, offer an outlet for defective and undesir- able hardwoods which could be utilized to real silvicultural advantage under an effective system of regulation. There is a fair demand for cordwood in the metro- politan suburbs.
In New Jersey timber Is usually sold on the stump either for a lump sum or by log scale, and ordinarily all sound trees oyer 12-inches in diameter are taken. The Doyle rule is used in scaling and the dia- meters are taken at the middle of the log mside bark. After buying stumpage the operators generally cut the trees as orders are received and deliver the sawed lumber m green condition, thereby avoiding the need for storage and seasoning. While some farmers cut their own logs and have them custom-sawn for home use, there is relatively little sale of logs by land own- ers to the regular mills. This is dae both to the uncertainty of such supplies and to
Two
the demand for long lengths requiring heavy equipment and special skills in handling.
What New Jersey is Doing to Help Private Forestry
the old methods
For many years the Department of Conservation and Development has given advisory assistance to forest owners upon request. This help has usually consisted m going over the woods, estimating the volume which should be removed, dis- cussing the type of cutting with the owner, and marking an acre or so to serve as a guide. Data on current stumpage prices, a list of operators, and a simple timber sale contract were provided.
The results of this type of assistance have been distinctly unsatisfactory, and the writer is convinced that more inten- sive methods are necessary if private for- estry is to realize its possibilities in this region.
THE NEW METHODS
In 1938 New Jersey adopted a pro- gram of intensive forestry help for the private owner. Believing that public regulation in some form would be adopt- ed sooner or later, it was decided that de- tailed assistance would be given in order to build up a skeleton of well-handled tracts on which the financial and silvicul- tural advantages of good forestry could be adequately shown. It was thought that these tracts would serve both as nuclei for future cooperatives and also as a cushion to ease the shock of regulatory measures.
The methods now in use begin with the usual brief reconnaissance of the prop- erty and boundary lines and a discussion of the possibilities with the owner. If a map of the woodland is not available a rough compass survey is made. If the area does not exceed 75 acres, a 100 per cent cruise is made of trees 6-inches in diameter and up. For tracts of larger
(Continued on pn^e 10)
Forest LeavB
I
Safeguarding Community Timber Supplies
by Hardy L. Shirley
Allegheny Forest Experiment Station
"There is a time in every man's education when lie arrives at the conviction that envy is
ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better for worse as his portion;
that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him
but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till."
Self-Reliance, by Ralph Waldo Emerson
^
Emerson's admonition to men as in- dividuals applies with singular apt- ness also to men associated together in communities. Caught in the maelstrom of world-wide depressions and wars, local communities have been forced to ac- cept Federal and State subsidies for schools, roads, and relief, but these have provided no foundation for permanent economic stability. Prosperity induced from without is usually shortlived. Here and there we find communities whose people realize full well that local pros- perity is dependent upon their own co- operative effort applied unstintingly to the resources — both natural and human — that lie at hand. Citizens of Man- chester, New Hampshire, by their own effort ancl capital converted bankrupt textile mills into a series of new indus- tries to maintain productive employment for their people. Far sighted commun- ity leaders in York, Pennsylvania, de- veloped a plan whereby machine tools from all plants could be made available through common pool to speed war pro- duction. Such bold and determined ac- tion renews our faith in decentralized au- thority, but unfortunately examples are 311 too few. In the field of forest conser- vation they are even more rare.
When their timber was exhausted, "lost forest communities in Pennsylva- nia and elsewhere entered a long period ot decline or disappeared completely. The Pproach of second growth timber to p/L '^ size, an event that is hasten-
^y war demands for timber of all
'^''^^ ■ JlJNE, 1942
sorts, is giving many such communities a new lease on life. Where no positive effort is made, the usual pattern is an in- flux of portable sawmills, often accom- panied by mine prop, pulpwood or chem- ical wood operators which together strip off the country within a few years before the timber becomes large enough to at- tract permanent industries. To be sure, these bring the semblance of prosperity for the moment, but leave in their wake a depleted forest resource that will require another 30 or more years to grow to pro- ductive size. Even the ephemeral pros- perity experienced is limited because the raw timber products are shipped elsewhere for drying, planing, and remanufacture, thereby precluding the realization of those increments of value that result from refining and remanufacture and that pro- vide the most labor.
(Continued on page 8)
Logs and Chemical WockI are harvested in narrow strif) cuttings. These two will he allowed to restock hcfore adjacent strips are cut.
Three
>t
for liquidation, they retain their wood- lands for hunting or riding, or for aes- thetic purposes, and allow the trees to grow into the larger size classes. Many refuse to sell timber because of the un- sightly slashings and logging debris which result from the usual commercial lumbering operation.
Markets
In New Jersey the combination of mechanical transportation and good roads has tended to eliminate the portable sawmill and establish the semi-permanent type of mill. Crawler-type tractors are used for skidding and loading, and truck hauls up to 70 miles are often made from woods to mill. Logs are commonly han- dled in long lengths, i. e. from 20-50 feet. Most of the saw timber is cut into plank and flitch for barge and ship construction. Some goes into ties and machine frame stock. The poorer quality material is sawed into dunnage wood for wedging car and ship cargoes, or is cut into boat fenders. Trees suitable for piling bring the best prices, and furnace poles used for purifying molten copper at the smelters, ofl'er an outlet for defective and undesir- able hardwoods which could be utilized to real silvicultural advantage under an efl'ective system of regulation. There is a fair demand for cordwood in the metro- politan suburbs.
In New Jersey timber is usually sold on the stump either for a lump sum or by log scale, and ordinarily all sound trees over 12-inches in diameter are taken. The Doyle rule is used in scaling and the dia- meters are taken at the middle of the log mside bark. After buying stumpage the operators generally cut the trees as orders are received and deliver the sawed lumber m green condition, thereby avoiding the need for storage and seasoning. While some farmers cut their own logs and have them custom-sawn for home use, there is relatively little sale of logs by land own- ers to the regular mills. This is dae both to the uncertainty of such supplies and to
Two
the demand for long lengths requirins; heavy equipment and special skills ;! handling. ^"
What New Jersey is Doing to Help Private Forestry
THE OLD METHODS
For many years the Department of Conservation and Development has given advisory assistance to forest owners upon request. This help has usually consisted in going over the woods, estimating the volume which should be removed, dis- cussing the type of cutting with the owner, and marking an acre or so to serve as a guide. Data on current stumpage prices, a list of operators, and a simple timber sale contract were provided.
The results of this type of assistance have been distinctly unsatisfactory, and the writer is convinced that more inten- sive methods are necessary if private for- estry is to realize its possibilities in this region.
THE NEW METHODS
In 1938 New Jersey adopted a pro- gram of intensive forestry help for the private owner. Believing that public regulation in some form would be adopt- ed sooner or later, it was decided that de- tailed assistance would be given in order to build up a skeleton of well-handled tracts on which the financial and silvicul- tural advantages of good forestry could be adequately shown. It was thought that these tracts would serve both as nuclei for future cooperatives and also as a cushion to ease the shock of regulatory measures.
The methods now in use begin with the usual brief reconnaissance of the prop- erty and boundary lines and a discussion of the possibilities with the owner. If^ map of the woodland is not available a rough compass survey is made. If the area does not exceed 75 acres, a 100 per cent cruise is made of trees 6-inches in diameter and up. For tracts of larger
Safeguarding Community Timber Supplies
by Hardy L. Shirley
Allegheny Forest Experiment Station
"There is a time in every inan's ediuation when he arrives at (he (onviction that envy is
ignorance; that imitation is snicide; that he nnist take himself lor hetter lor worse as his portion;
that thongh the wide nniverse is fnll of good, no kernel of nonrishing com tan come to hiiii
hut throngh his toil hestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. "
Sclf-Ilcliaiuc, hy Ralph Waldo Emerson
(('Onlimird on fxii^r 10)
FORKST LeAVKN
Emerson's admonition to men as in- dividuals applies with singular apt- ness also to men associated together in communities. Caught in the maelstrom of world-wide depressions and wars, local communities have been forced to ac- cept Federal and State subsidies for schools, roads, and relief, but these have provided no foundation for permanent economic stability. Prosperity induced from without is usually shortlived. Here and there we find communities whose people realize full well that local pros- perity is dependent upon their own co- operative effort applied unstintingly to the resources — both natural and human — that lie at hand. Citizens of Man- chester, New Hampshire, by their own effort ancl capital converted bankrupt textile mills into a series of new indus- tries to maintain productive employment for their people. Far sighted commun- ity leaders in York, Pennsylvania, de- veloped a plan whereby machine tools from all plants could be made available through common pool to speed war pro- duction. Such bold and determined ac- tion renews our faith in decentralized au- ™nty, but unfortunately examples are ^11 too few. In the field of forest conser- ^'ation they are even more rare.
When their timber was exhausted, "lost forest communities in Pennsylva- "ta and elsewhere entered a long period or decline or disappeared completely. The ^PProach of second growth timber to p .T"^"^^ble size, an event that is hasten-
^y war demands for timber of all
sorts, is giving many such communities a new lease on life. Where no positive effort is made, the usual pattern is an in- flux of portable sawmills, often accom- panied by mine prop, pulpwood or chem- ical wood operators which together strip off the country within a few years before the timber becomes large enough to at- tract permanent industries. To be sure, these bring the semblance of prosperity for the moment, but leave in their wake a depleted forest resource that will require another 30 or more years to grow to pro- ductive size. Even the ephemeral pros- perity experienced is limited because the raw timber products are shipped elsewhere for drying, planing, and remanufacture, thereby precluding the realization of those increments of value that result from refining and remanufacture and that pro- vide the most labor.
{Conlinucd on lfay^<- H)
l>
I-o^s and Chcnncal Wood ;nc harvested in narrow slrip (ntlings. Those two will he allowed to restock i)efoie adjacent stri|)s are cut.
Three
I'
FOREST LEAVES
Published Bi-Monthly at Narbertfi, Pa., by The PENNSYLVANIA FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
Disseminates information and news on forestry and related sul)jects.
PUBLICATION COMMITTEE
H. Gleason Maitoon, Chairman
Philip A. Livingston Ralph P. Russi ll
Mrs. Paul Lewis Mrs. R. C. Wright
Devereux Butcher e. p. Brouse
Dr. J. R. Schramm
The publication of an article in Forest Leaves does not necessarily imply that the views expressed therein are those of the Pennsylvania Forestry Association. Editorial and ad- vertising office, 1008 Commercial Trust Building, Philadel- phia. Please notify us of any change in address.
MAY - JUNE, 1942
PRESCRIBED READING
TN this issue appear two articles, both -*■ reprints from the Journal of Forestry, the official organ of the Society of Ameri- can Foresters. They are "Developing Private Forestry in New Jersey," by E. B. Moore, and "Forest Regulation as Treat- ed in the Report of the Chief of the Forest Service 1941," by H. H. Chapman.
The article by Mr. Moore answers defi- nitely and affirmatively the oft repeated question, "Does private forestry pay?" It is an exposition of the progressive and enlightened attitude of the New Jersey Department of Conservation and De- velopment toward the marketing prob- lems of the private timberland owner. This service so adequately and success- fully offered by New Jersey should be duplicated in Pennsylvania by the De- partment of Forests and Waters for it is a concrete illustration of the service the Department was expected to render when It was created. Every member of The Pennsylvania Forestry Association should read the article carefully and thoughtfully.
The article by H. H. Chapman is re- printed because of its terse and lucid dis- cussion of forest regulation, that much cussed and discussed topic of the day in
Four
forestry circles. Unfortunately, the smaller timberland owner, who is as sub- ject to regulation as the large one, has been too little aware of the portent of fed. eral regulation. The fallacies in the rea- soning of the proponents are clearly pre- sented in characteristic fashion.
This article merits the thought and consideration, not only of the timberland owner, but also of every citizen who pre- sumes to have knowledge of important public policies.
H. G. M.
SOY FLOUR PINCH HITS FOR
POLLEN
CCIENTIFIC ingenuity has found a ^ way to boost results from the pro- verbial busyness of bees. A new bee food — part pollen collected by the bees them- selves and part soybean flour — is being tested this spring by the U. S. Depart- ment of Agriculture bee specialists in the colonies at the Beltsville Research Center. Bees require some pollen in their diet. but recent research shows that a colony's pollen supply can be stretched by dilut- ing it with another protein food. A bee colony that has consumed the last of its winter pollen reserves can not be depend- ed oil to multiply its working; force rap- idly in early spring — one of the critical periods in bee development. Given one of the new cakes — a combination of 25 per cent pollen and 75 per cent soybean flour, mixed with sugar sirup — a colony reaches maximum size for the earlier honey flows.
The pollen used in making the cakes fed this spring to the Beltsville bees was obtained last summer and fall by robbing bees of the pollen they were bringing back to their hives.
With the beekeeper contributing the soybean flour one strong colony can gather enough surplus pollen in the growing season to provide the new bee cakes for 50 colonies early the following spring.
Forest Lkaves
Forest Regulation
As Treated in the Report of the Chief of the Forest Service 1941
by H. H. Chapman
THIS report discusses the need for na- tion-wide regulation of private for- ests. By stressing the national character of the need it constantly emphasizes fed- eral rather than state regulation. The argument is ostensibly for the principle of regulation as such, but state regulation is mentioned only in passing and as an op- portunity for states to formulate state plans, and for owners to prepare plans. This "opportunity" is, of course, extend- ed by the federal government. Thus, as usual the case for regulation is tied in with the need for federal regulation.
The chief attack is made on private owners. The statement that "it just isn't in the cards for owners, most of whom are practicing destructive liquida- tion for maximum immediate profits, voluntarily to enforce adequate forest cropping practices on themselves" is spe- cific denial of known facts. If by "en- force" is meant legal enforcement, then this is disproved by the recent law in Ore- gon which was passed with the support of the lumberman. If it means volun- tary enforcement by individual operators on their own holdings, it is refuted specifi- cally by many known instances, such as at Crossett and Urania in the South. The Forest Service knows the extent of volun- tary enforcement of this kind but chooses ^0 ignore it in order to further congres- sional action giving it power over private property owners within the states. If it nieans enforcement through associations, Q.n their members, as far as such associa- tions can enforce regulation, it is again re- nted by the activities of several associa- tions and this fact is also known to the forest Service.
sprinted from the Jomnal of Forestry, May 1942. '^'^V r JuNE^ ,912
It is also a fact that clear cutting is be- coming more and more a problem of the small woodlot owners everywhere and less and less a problem of large owners. Does the Forest Service intend to secure authority to tell the farmer how he shall cut his timber? Perhaps!
If "a few organized big men should not have the power to regulate many un- organized little men/' (and I fail abso- lutely to see how of themselves they could get this power) why is it preferably for the Forest Service to possess similar power? Again the power of the state and its jurisdiction are flaunted. The in- ference is that big operators, actuated by self interest, can render futile any effective state regulation, and second, that if and when the citizens of a state secure such legislation it will only be by the power of organized big men, i. e., these same oper- ators, who will proceed to oppress the little men by requiring them to do, through state laws, state sentiment, and state officials, what the Forest Service intends to do in defiance, if necessary, of state laws, state sentiment and state offi- cials. Either way, why the concern over the small man's jeopardy unless the be- lief is held that he should escape regula- tion. This quoted statement does not aid in creating a cooperative attitude within the states.
The report states that "the immediate aim of this recommendation is nation- wide control of how privately owned for- ests may be cut if and as cutting takes place. It does not cover control over when the owner may or may not cut his timber or prices." Just what does this distinction signify? If an operator is graciously permitted by the government to cut his timber whenever he decides to
Fwe
iH
'N
ii
do so, he cannot at the same time be lim- ited as to how much timber he can cut in a given year — but only as to how he can cut it. We will examine this "how" later and deal now with the far different problem of "how much." It is well that the government proposals do not extend to the determination of the volume of the annual cut to be permitted. Possibly by stretching the interpretation of the word "how," this volume control may be affected. But if the actual objective is to regulate the amount of the cut and not merely the methods of cutting, control of the enterprise will thereby actually pass to the agency having this power, and this would mean confiscation and federal operation of the enterprise.
For when an objective is set up and constantly agitated, and a half-way measure or entering wedge is adopted and then fails to accomplish its purpose to the satisfaction of the authorities, the precedent of power and control already gained makes it simpler to extend this control, always in the interests of the beneficiaries. Lest anyone imagine that this statement is farfetched I may at this point say that a well informed and high- ly trained physician to whom I showed this portion of the report dealing with regulation, immediately exclaimed "Do you know what this reminds me ot? The propaganda that Hitler was putting out when I was in Germany in 1933, at the time when he was persuading the peo- ple that everything would be all right if they would just trust him to manage affairs!"
The objective set forth in the propa- ganda issued by the Forest Service and contamed in this report is that of achiev- ing sustained yield from forest lands. With this purpose no one will quarrel. But sustained yield can mean but one thing as it now affects the output of loi^s and forest products, and that is, a curtail- ment of the present rate of cutting, to a point where it does not exceed the growth. What else can be meant by the constant reiteration of the theme of overcutting, Six
liquidation, and ghost towns? How is this condition to be checked or corrected if overcutting is to be permitted? Rg. gardless of the conservation practices em ployed by which the word "destructive'' is eliminated as an adjunct of "liquida- tion," the latter is inevitable for every en- terprise whose rate of cutting greatly ex- ceeds the annual growth. Such a concern cannot go on a "sustained yield" merely by leaving seed trees, planting, or even by selective logging. Again these facts must be known to the Forest Service personnel. Hence, unless the government actually takes over the plant, which would be the effect of arbitrarily determining in each instance when, that is, how much, shall be cut annually, all these evils of ghost towns, unemployment, public relief, loss of the tax base, and other effects will occur contemporarily with and in the face of the best silvicultural practices that can be invented or applied by private owners or on public forests. Ultimately, of course, the forest economy will auto- matically be adjusted, for we cannot per- manently cut more than we grow. The continued agitation about destructive liqfuidation as the justification for nation- wide federal control fails to reveal the fact that even if the proposed control as to methods of cutting is one hundred per cent effective, liquidation as such must continue for a large percentage of present operators unless this parallel, and imme- diate, reduction of the total annual cut can also be effected. The Forest Service has made no attempt to explain how the cut for an enterprise can be reduced, say one half, and the business remain solvent, or even if it can weather the storm, how this reduction will fail to diminish em- ployment. Some private enterprises, however, have been able to solve the problem by the use of business imagina- tion and inventiveness. We may j^rant, and endorse, every argument as to the de- sirabilitv of such a reduction of opera- tions. We may even feel that they are justified in the face of war needs, provid- ed war is considered a secondary objec-
Forest Leaves
uve! But no one can find a way to efifect a nation-wide and drastic curtailment of liquidating operations except by sacrific- ing present for future output, and present for future employment, and by its own frank statement, the Forest Service does not intend to make this * 'forward" step mandatory — not now! Hence sustained yield, ghost towns, and social relief are either being used as arguments to pave the way for complete federal operation of private enterprise in this field, or merely as a means for securing the control over methods of cutting, which quite evident- ly will not and cannot solve the immedi- ate problem of liquidation, nor reverse the conditions drastically or effectively, for several decades to come.
What the Forest Service is really at- tempting to accomplish by these appeals for social uplift and the protection of the little fellow is the establishment of so- called minimum requirements for restor- ing the growth, preventing the destruc- tion of the capacity of the forest as a pro- ductive area, and cutting existing stands in such a way as to extend their life and increase their ultimate yield before final- ly cut and reproduced. But the rules for these practices are to be prescribed by the members of the organization which is to be given the last word in determining these rules. Are they competent to exer- cise this responsibility? Do they know what the requirements should be? In my opmion they do not as yet, at least in the !>outh and in New England. Perhaps no one is certain as yet. There are funda- mental differences of professional opin- ion on the exact technique of what is call- ed selective logging, and still greater dif- ferences in the South over the use of fire as a silvicultural tool in maintaining the dominance of the valuable pines over the Invasion of worthless hardwood brush. Progress in solving these silvicultural problems has been made, at least initially, as often from outside sources as from orest Service investigations, regardless 1^ the much greater sums at its disposal or research. Progress in applying these '^''^^ - June, 1942
principles on national forests, at least in the South, lags far behind the findings of research.
The formulation of sound minimum requirements, which can be legislated or regulated, is something that cannot be ac- complished over night, and the nation saved, by edicts from Washington even with the help of "advisory" local com- mittees. The rule or ruin character of such a plan for federal — I mean, of course, nationwide — regulation is well illus- trated by the proposals in the Bankhead bill S-2043 which would attempt to force the states to pass regulatory laws satisfactory to the ruling power by threats to smash the existing cooperative efforts in fire protection and other lines by withdrawing federal funds for non-com- pliance, and by proposing a fantastic scheme of interference with interstate shipments of lumber except from certi- fied tracts complying with minimuni ' re-* quirements. I am given to understand that the committee of Congress, not the Forest Service, is responsible for these two proposals, the Service adhering to the plan for taking over regulation on the states' failure to perform to its satisfac- tion. Either way is bad enough, whoever is to blame. To use the war as an oppor- tunity for this unwise and unjustified ag- gression on the power of the states is in- defensible.
I have been actively associated with the development of forest practice for 45 years and have seen the enormous prog- ress made in fire protection under the co- operative Clarke-McNary principle — with the federal government falling far below its understood 50 per cent contri- bution. I have seen the gradual growth of sound silvicultural practices on federal, state, and private lands, and the slow ac- cretion of real knowledge on how to re- produce and grow timber crops. This evolutionary process, as stated at Balti- more, Md., on February 21, by the Act- ing Chief of the Forest Service, may belong to a past era, and with the advent of the predicted new era, drastic and effec-
" Seven
M
m
1 r
t
' '
Hi'
11
tivc '*nation-wide" public measures are necessary. My own opinion is that ''drastic*' force usually destroys more than it creates and when applied to nat- ural processes, nature has a way of stick- ing to facts and to evolution, and man gets nowhere unless he exercises similar intelligence and patience. I am therefore a believer in continuing the out-moded era of cooperation, research, experimental approach, discussion, and education by which processes, though inadequate, compromising, and dilatory, all produc- tion dependent on natural forces is guided. It is not prudent of this nation to take too many rules from the code of 'modern" practice which attempts to ac- complish by edict objectives that do not lend themselves to regimentation.
Safeguarding Community Timber Supplies
{continued from page 3)
Can communities retain and enlarge this recaptured prosperity? An example of one community in Pennsylvania is il- luminating. Coudersport and nearby Roulette enjoyed very active prosperity at the turn of the century. Sawmills were running at full capacity and timber harvesting proceeding at a rapid rate. Wood chemicals companies cleaned up the trees that were too small to saw. But one by one as the timber supply became exhausted, the sawmills dropped out and later on, one by one the wood chemical companies also dropped out either because local timber supplies became scarce or be- cause the companies were unable to meet the competition of chemicals from other sources.
One, the Gray Chemical Company re- mained. Ill content with its role as a scavenger for the lumber industry, it pur- chased land of its own. Gradually, it built up holdings ample to supply more than half its needs on a permanent basis. Instead of applying the usual clear-cut- Eight
ting practice wherever it operated, it adopted cutting by strips or by small areas, and in places, selective cutting. The timber on its own and surrounding land grew. It grew faster, in fact, than the chemical company could use it, and some of It grew to sawtimber size. The com- pany built a mill in which it sawed and finished lumber from the better quality logs, and turned the slab wood and tops mto chemical wood. This company hap- pened to have a forester, Robert R. Ly- man, on its managerial staff. Eventually he became president of the company. He was responsible not only for the far- sighted forest policy but also introduced the latest developments in chemical wood distillation in the plant and spent consid- erable money for research to keep the plant and its products up-to-date. He made the plant and the community per- manent institutions. Today, when many of his competitors are planning on one last, grand fling during the war period, he IS looking 25 to 50 years ahead. He is building up a permanent force of woods workers, housing them in modern homes scattered throughout his holdings. These men both protect and harvest the forest crop. Local employees are encouraged to purchase stock in the company, a policy made effective by paying liberal wages and providing non-interest loan ac- counts. Here is one community, then, that has a permanent forest industry largely owned by local citizens and work- ers, amply supplied with raw forest pro- ducts for permanent operation, and a new sawmill industry gradually emerging which can ultimately open the way for furniture factories or other wood using industries. Incidentally, the saw mill is now the largest remaining in the State of Pennsylvania.
It so happened that this particular in- dustry was controlled by a man having a high sense of community responsibility and a strong urge to make his industry permanently prosperous. But other com- munities need not remain helpless, wait- ing for some benevolent industrialist to
Forest Leavf^s
The sawmill and wood distillation i)lanl of the (iray Chemical Company at Roidette, Pa. provide close utilization of the timber crop.
purchase and develop their resources. Communities can control the timber re- source through right of ownership just as a private individual does and they can also control it through rights of legal jur- isdiction residing in the counties and local communities. The County Code as amended by the passage of the Zoning Enabling Act by the Pennsylvania Legis- lature on June 25, 1937, 'P.L.2129" provides: in Section 510.1 *'The board or county commissioners of any county is hereby empowered ... by ordinance, to regulate in any portion or portions of such county which lie outside of cities, •boroughs and townships of the first class • • . the uses of land for . . . industry . . . forestry or other purposes." The pur- poses of such zoning and regulation in- jude. Section 510.7 "... promoting the ealth, safety, morals, convenience, order, psperity or welfare of the present and future inhabitants of the State of Penn-
^^^^ ■ Jl'NF, 1912
sylvania . . . *' The counties are author- ized further (Section 510.9) to "cooper- ate with the zoning commissions of other counties and with the planning, zoning, legislative, and administrative authorities of cities, boroughs, first-class townships or other municipalities, either within or without such county with ? view to coordinating and integrating the zoning of other counties or municipali- ties. The zoning commission shall also have power to appoint such committee or committees ... as it may deem proper to effect such cooperation . . . Similar powers were granted to townships of the second class in the Act of June 1, 1937, "P.L.- 504.'^
A discussion of planning and zoning is given in Publications 11, 12, and 13 of the Pennsylvania State Planning Board 1938 and 1940. Ten other states have county zoning laws somewhat simi- lar in intent and scope to those of Penn-
i
li
ft
II
I
tive "nation-wide" public measures are necessary. My own opinion is that "drastic" force usually destroys more than it creates and when applied to nat- ural processes, nature has a way of stick- ing to facts and to evolution, and man gets nowhere unless he exercises similar intelligence and patience. I am therefore a believer in continuing the out-moded era of cooperation, research, experimental approach, discussion, and education by which processes, though inadequate, compromising, and dilatory, all produc- tion dependent on natural forces is guided. It is not prudent of this nation to take too many rules from the code of "modern" practice which attempts to ac- complish by edict objectives that do not lend themselves to regimentation.
Safeguarding Community Timber Supplies
{continued from Ixigc 3)
Can communities retain and enlarge this recaptured prosperity? An example of one community in Pennsylvania is il- luminating. Coudersport and nearby Roulette enjoyed very active prosperity at the turn of the century. Sawmills were running at full capacity and timber harvesting proceeding at a rapid rate. Wood chemicals companies cleaned up the trees that were too small to saw. But one by one as the timber supply became exhausted, the sawmills dropped out and later on, one by one the wood chemical companies also dropped out either because local timber supplies became scarce or be- cause the companies were unable to meet the competition of chemicals from other sources.
One, the Gray Chemical Company re- mamed. Ill content with its role as a scavenger for the lumber industry, it pur- chased land of its own. Gradually, it built up holdings ample to supply more than half its needs on a permanent basis. Instead of applying the usual clear-cut-
FAght
ting practice wherever it operated it adopted cutting by strips or by small areas, and in places, selective cutting. The timber on its own and surrounding land grew. It grew faster, in fact, than the chemical company could use it, and some of It grew to sawtimber size. The com- pany built a mill in which it sawed and finished lumber from the better quality logs, and turned the slab wood and tops into chemical wood. This company hap- pened to have a forester, Robert R. Ly- man, on its managerial staff. Eventually he became president of the company. He was responsible not only for the far- sighted forest policy but also introduced the latest developments in chemical wood distillation in the plant and spent consid- erable money for research to keep the plant and its products up-to-date. He made the plant and the community per- manent institutions. Today, when many of his competitors are planning on one last, grand fling during the war period, he IS looking 25 to 50 years ahead. He is building up a permanent force of woods workers, housing them in modern homes scattered throughout his holdings. These men both protect and harvest the forest crop. Local employees are encouraged to purchase stock in the company, a policy made effective by paying liberal wages and providing non-interest loan ac- counts. Here is one community, then, that has a permanent forest industry largely owned by local citizens and work- ers, amply supplied with raw forest pro- ducts for permanent operation, and a new sawmill industry gradually emerging which can ultimately open the way for furniture factories or other wood using industries. Incidentally, the saw mill is now the largest remaining in the State of Pennsylvania.
It so happened that this particular in- dustry was controlled by a man having a high sense of community responsibility and a strong urge to make his industry permanently prosperous. But other com- munities need not remain helpless, wait- ing for some benevolent industrialist to
FORFST LKAVK.S
riic sawmill and wood distiilalion plant ol tlif (iiay (Jinnital (onipanv a( RonlcMc, i'a. provide dost' iilili/ation ol (he (iini)ei crop.
purchase and develop their resources. Communities can control the timber re- source through right of ownership just as a private individual does and they can also control it through rights of legal jur- isdiction residing in the counties and local communities. The County Code as amended by the passage of the Zoning Enabling Act by the Pennsylvania Legis- lature on June 25, 1937, •P.L.2129" provides: in Section 510.1 "The board of county commissioners of any county is hereby empowered ... by ordinance, to regulate in any portion or portions of such county which lie outside of cities, boroughs and townships of the first class • • • the uses of land for . . . industry . . . forestry or other purposes." The pur- poses of such zoning and regulation in- Jde. Section 510.7 "... promoting the ^ ' safety, morals, convenience, order, pspentv or welfare of the present and "ftire inhabitants of the State of Penn-
^ ■ J'NK, I(M1>
sylvania ..." The counties are author- ized further (Section 510.9) to "cooper- ate with the zoning commissions of other counties and with the planning, zoning, legislative, and administrative authorities of cities, boroughs, first-class townships or other municipalities, either within or without such county with ? view to coordinating and integrating the zoning of other counties or municipali- ties. The zoning commission shall also have power to appoint such committee or committees ... as it may deem proper to efl^ect such cooperation . . . Similar powers were granted to townships of the second class in the Act of June 1, 1937, "P.L.- 504."
A discussion of planning and zoning is given in Publications 11, 12. and 13 of the Pennsylvania State Planning Board 1938 and 1940. Ten other states have county zoning laws somewhat simi- lar in intent and scope to those of Penn-
Nin^
1>
sylvania. The Pennsylvania Acts seem to be broad enough in scope to allow a county to zone certain areas for timber production and to prescribe the methods of managing such land so as to produce the yield of timber products that is re- quired to maintain a prosperous, local in- dustry. In other words, the county and townships, and through them the local communities, have the authority to regu- late the way in which private forest land is managed, provided the courts can be convinced that such regulation is neces- sary for the continued prosperity of the community. Armed with this authority citizens organized in private corpora- tions, cooperatives, or public authorities could raise capital for local wood using industries with the assurance that timber supplies would always be adequate for their needs. In this way, communities could do for themselves what one man did for the community of Roulette. To make such a venture successful the com- munity would need technical informa- tion on the extent and productivity of forest land, on the species and grades of timber available, on how forests can be maintained, and on the products it can manufacture and sell. It also needs an overall planning authority composed of landowners, citizens, stockholders in the local industry, and laborers that can ad- vise the county zoning board as to what they wish to do and how they wish to do it.
It is only prudent to add that such a program of community planning and ac- tion must be preceded by an intensive ed- ucational effort on the part of local citi- zens, local officials, and courts. It can- not be expected that all local timberland owners will surrender without a struggle of their right to handle their forest prop- erties as their own individual interest or whim dictates. Early attempts must be considered as experimental until such ob- stacles are overcome, but this need not deter vigorous action. In fact the strug- gle to obtain court approval of commun- ity control over cutting will in itself be
Ten
an educational venture of signal import- ance.
Participation in such planning and ac- tion restores dignity, self-reliance, and in- dependence to the individual community. It builds up local pride and confidence in the ability of the people to plan their own destiny. It removes the necessity for ex- cessive paternalism, subsidy, and super- vision from higher governmental bodies. It places the most competent and respon- sible citizens in positions of economic and political leadership. It is equivalent tea New England town meeting attack on the economic front. It is democracy in ac- tion.
Developing Private Forestry in N. J.
{Continued from page 2)
size the estimate is based on sample plots. The data are computed by the Doyle log rule for trees 10 inches d.b.h. and up and in tons of furnace poles for smaller trees.
Allotting and Marking of the Cut
In allotting the cut the condition of the stand and its rate of growth are given consideration, and an effort is then made to balance silvicultural needs with prac- tical logging requirements. This always calls for compromise, such for example as "sweetening the pot" with a large choice white oak to induce the operator to take along some top-broken scarlet oak and defective red maple. An effort is made to limit the cut to 30-40 per cent of the board foot volume, but in many cases the proportion of overmature and sup- pressed trees is such that more has to be taken.
The cutting cycle for poles and saw logs is usually set at 20-25 years, and trees the appearance of which make them seem poor risks to leave for that period are marked for cutting. It is recogniz^^ that a cycle of this length may not be the ideal one for this type and region. It prO'
Forest Leaves
Comfortable modern homes are provided for per inanciit woods workers.
vides however for a more conservative operation than the current unregulated methods of cutting and is therefore look- ed upon as a step in the right direction. Later as both owners and lumbermen be- come more accustomed to partial cuttings, the cycle may be shortened and the vol- ume of cut reduced.
The rotation age has been tentatively set at 75-100 years for chestnut oak, 100-125 years for the black oak group, and 150-200 years for white oak. Ob- servation and stump analysis indicate that in most stands mortality and decays are apt to increase appreciably after these ages.
In marking the allotted cut a crew of 3 5 iTien is used, with a state forester in- dicating and measuring the trees to be taken. Trees are blazed on opposite faces at breast height to facilitate inspec- tion by bidders, and also on the stump, and the letters NJ are stamped on the lat- ter blaze.
Appraisals and Advertising of Marked Timber
The volume of the marked trees is computed and the owner furnished with f^n appraisal sheet showing the amount to ^c cut and its approximate value. Pros- P^ctus sheets describing the marked tim- ^^r are then mailed to all lumber opera- tors, together with a map showing the ^^^^ - Jink, 1912
boundaries of the woodlot and how it may be reached. The forms of appraisal and advertising are modeled after those used by the Maryland Department of Forestry in handling similar work.
Selling the Timber
Even with the information outlined above at their disposal, most woodland owners are still ill-prepared to handle the details of a timber sale. Experience shows that without further help they are almost certain to have trouble in connec- tion with the payments or cutting opera- tions. Skilleci supervision is necessary, and to meet this situation, arrangements have been made with several competent and reliable parties to act as timber agents for the owners.
The specific duties of a timber agent consist in showing prospective buyers over the ground, receiving bids, drawing up the sales agreement, accepting the bonds posted for satisfactory execution of the work, scaling the logs, collecting the money and checking up on the cutting operations. While logging is going on the agent and the purchaser ordinarily spend part of one or two days each week scaling and computing the volumes. Payment is made at once before the logs are removed. Furnace poles are weighed on registered scales, and payment made on the basis of weight slips. For his services the timber agent charges from 10-15 per cent of the stumpage price, depending on the size and accessibility of the operation.
The need for a timber agent might be questioned on the grounds that since a 100 per cent cruise is made at the time of marking, this known volume could well be sold for a lump sum. Experience has shown, however, that the buyers simply will not offer as much on this basis as they will ultimately pay by scale, which af- fords them opportunity of making de- ductions for defects. In addition to this the timber agents are continually urcjing lower stumps and more complete utiliza- tion.
!>
El
cvru
ii
sylvania. The Pennsylvania Acts seem to be broad enough in scope to allow a county to zone certain areas for timber production and to prescribe the methods of managing such land so as to produce the yield of timber products that is re- quired to maintain a prosperous, local in- dustry. In other words, the county and townships, and through them the local communities, have the authority to regu- late the way in which private forest land is managed, provided the courts can be convinced that such regulation is neces- sary for the continued prosperity of the community. Armed with this authority citizens organized in private corpora- tions, cooperatives, or public authorities could raise capital for local wood using industries with the assurance that timber supplies would always be adequate for their needs. In this way, communities could do for themselves what one man did for the community of Roulette. To make such a venture successful the com- munity would need technical informa- tion on the extent and productivity of forest land, on the species and grades of timber available, on how forests can be maintained, and on the products it can manufacture and sell. It also needs an overall planning authority composed of landowners, citizens, stockholders in the local industry, and laborers that can ad- vise the county zoning board as to what they wish to do and how they wish to do it.
It is only prudent to add that such a program of community planning and ac- tion must be preceded by an intensive ed- ucational effort on the part of local citi- zens, local officials, and courts. It can- not be expected that all local timberland owners will surrender without a struggle of their right to handle their forest prop- erties as their own individual interest or whim dictates. Early attempts must be considered as experimental until such ob- stacles are overcome, but this need not deter vigorous action. In fact the strug- gle to obtain court approval of commun- ity control over cutting will in itself be
Ten
an educational venture of signal import- ance.
Participation in such planning and ac- tion restores dignity, self-reliance, and in- dependence to the individual community. It builds up local pride and confidence in the ability of the people to plan their own destiny. It removes the necessity for ex- cessive paternalism, subsidy, and super- vision from higher governmental bodies. It places the most competent and respon- sible citizens in positions of economic and political leadership. It is equivalent to a New England town meeting attack on the economic front. It is democracy in ac- tion.
Developing Private Forestry in N. J.
{Continued from page 2)
size the estimate is based on sample plots. The data are computed by the Doyle log rule for trees 10 inches d.b.h. and up and in tons of furnace poles for smaller trees.
Allotting and Marking of the Cut
In allotting the cut the condition of the stand and its rate of growth are given consideration, and an effort is then made to balance silvicultural needs with prac- tical logging requirements. This always calls for compromise, such for example as "sweetening the pot" with a large choice white oak to induce the operator to take along some top-broken scarlet oak and defective red maple. An effort is made to limit the cut to 30-40 per cent of the board foot volume, but in many cases the proportion of overmature and sup- pressed trees is such that more has to be taken.
The cutting cycle for poles and saw logs is usually set at 20-25 years, and trees the appearance of which make theni seem poor risks to leave for that period are marked for cutting. It is recognized that a cycle of this length may not be the ideal one for this type and region. It pfO'
Forest Leaves
Comfortable modern homes are provided for per- manent woods workers.
vides however for a more conservative operation than the current unregulated methods of cutting and is therefore look- ed upon as a step in the right direction. Later as both owners and lumbermen be- come more accustomed to partial cuttings, the cycle may be shortened and the vol- ume of cut reduced.
The rotation age has been tentatively set at 75-100 years for chestnut oak, 100-125 years for the black oak group, and 150-200 years for white oak. Ob- servation and stump analysis indicate that in most stands mortality and decays are apt to increase appreciably after these ages.
In marking the allotted cut a crew of 3-5 men is used, with a state forester in- dicating and measuring the trees to be taken. Trees are blazed on opposite faces at breast height to facilitate inspec- tion by bidders, and also on the stump, and the letters NJ are stamped on the lat- ter blaze.
Appraisals and Advertising of Marked Timber
The volume of the marked trees is computed and the owner furnished with ^ appraisal sheet showing the amount to ^^ cut and its approximate value. Pros- pectus sheets describing the marked tim- ber are then mailed to all lumber opera- ws, together with a map showing the ^'^^ - Junk, 1912
boundaries of the woodlot and how it may be reached. The forms of appraisal and advertising are modeled after those used by the Maryland Department of Forestry in handling similar work.
Selling the Timber
Even with the information outlined above at their disposal, most woodland owners are still ill-prepared to handle the details of a timber sale. Experience shows that without further help they are almost certain to have trouble in connec- tion with the payments or cutting opera- tions. Skilled supervision is necessary, and to meet this situation, arrangements have been made with several competent and reliable parties to act as timber agents for the owners.
The specific duties of a timber agent consist in showing prospective buyers over the ground, receiving bids, drawing up the sales agreement, accepting the bonds posted for satisfactory execution of the work, scaling the logs, collecting the money and checking up on the cutting operations. While logging is going on the agent and the purchaser ordinarily spend part of one or two days each week scaling and computing the volumes. Payment is made at once before the logs are removed. Furnace poles are weighed on registered scales, and payment made on the basis of weight slips. For his services the timber agent charges from 10-15 per cent of the stumpage price, depending on the size and accessibility of the operation.
The need for a timber agent might be questioned on the grounds that since a 100 per cent cruise is made at the time of marking, this known volume could well be sold for a lump sum. Experience has shown, however, that the buyers simply will not offer as much on this basis as they will ultimately pay by scale, which af- fords them opportunity of making de- ductions for defects. In addition to this the timber agents are continually urging lower stumps and more complete utiliza- tion.
Elexfrn
l>
il
INTENTIONAL SECOND EXPOSURE
Ill
11
Timber Sale Agreements
Written contracts are always used on these projects and a cash bond is required of the buyer to guarantee faithful per- formance of the agreement. The cutting of unmarked trees is penalized at $25,00 per M. with the stump diameter used for measurement and an arbitrary log length of 50-feet. The purchaser is also requir- ed to cut and remove at penal prices un- marked trees which have been so severely damaged by the logging operations as to be valueless if left standing. To protect the owner the purchaser is furthermore required to produce satisfactory proof that he carries adequate personal liability, property damage insurance, and work- men's compensation while working on the lands of the seller.
It is of interest to note at this point that the general attitude of the lumber operators toward this new type of service has been favorable and cooperative. Read- ily admitting that their present cutting practices are bad, the feeling — particu- larly among the old established concerns — seems to be that these new methods, if carried out on a large enough scale and implemented with some form of regula- tion, would assure a permanent supply of saw timber for their mills.
Slash Disposal
The disposal of the logging slash as cordwood is a phase of work which has just recently been undertaken, and is also handled by the timber agents. Two methods are being tried; (1) Choppers working by the cord are paid by the owner. This wood will be seasoned and sold at the roadside. (2) The slash is sold by the cord as it lies. Data are being collected on both of these methods.
Costs of Service
On the basis of records up to the pres- ent, the costs to the state of this type of forestry cooperation is approximately as follows:
Mapping plus 100 per cent cruise: 1 man day per 10 — 15 acres.
Tivelve
Marking plus 100 per cent cruise of marked trees: 1 man day per 6 — 8 acres
At present, this assistance is supplied gratis, since the work is considered as still in the educational stage. Ultimately a nominal fee will be charged — based probably on a percentage of the stumpage price.
The costs of this intensive type of as- sistance are admittedly high, although nothing like the per acre expenditures made in recent years on some public lands. In this connection it should be emphasiz- ed again that the work is being done on the most productive forest sites, and that the proper management of this class of lands throughout the country can easily have a significant bearing both on our na- tional defense effort and on the economy of the post war period.
Case Histories
The following case histories illustrate the type of work being done:
Case No. 1 . — A 6 5 -acre tract in North Jersey. Original stand 6,000 board feet per acre, Doyle. Age 101-120 years. Considerable mortality. Sixty per cent of volume marked in trees over 1 5 -inches. Lump sum bids ranged from $1,500 to $2,550; log scale bids from $12 to $14 per M. Sale made at $ 1 4 per M. for saw logs and $1 per ton for furnace poles. Receipts from this logging job were $3,935, or nearly $1,400 more than the highest lump sum offer. The slash is be- ing worked up by the owner and sold at $6 per cord at the roadside.
Case No. 2. — A 40-acre tract in the lower Delaware Valley. Original stand 22,000 board feet per acre, Doyle. Max- imum diameter 42 -inches. Age classes present 121-140 and 201-220 years. Considerable mortality. About fifty p^f cent of volume marked — mostly in black oaks over 18-inches and white oaks over 20-inches. Lump sum bids ranged from $2,000 (for everything before marking) to $2,500 for marked trees. Sale made at $ 14 per M. and $ 1 per ton. Receipts from this logging job were $4,735, or $2,235
Forest Leaves
more than the top lump sum offer. The slash has been sold for $3 per cord as it lies, and will net approximately $600 ad- ditional.
Case No. 3 — A 15 -acre tract in North Jersey. Original stand 7,500 board feet per acre, Doyle. Age classes present: 101-120 and 161-180 years. Consider- able mortality. About 50 per cent of volume marked, mostly in chestnut oak over 15 -inches. Lump sum bids ranged from $200 to $250 (for everything be- fore marking). Sale made for $12 per M. and $0.90 per ton. Receipts $971 with a good stand left for future growth.
In contrast to the above, the following two cases are submitted to show the losses which can be incurred by incorrect hand- ling of woodland.
Case No. 4. — An 18-acre tract in Cen- tral Jersey. Original stand 1 7,000 board feet per acre, Doyle. Age classes present: 141-160 and 221-240 years. Against the state's advice the owner decided to sell everything, so no marking was done. Lump sum bids ranged from $1,000 to $1,650. One log scale bid of $12 per M. for the black oaks and $ 1 5 per M. for the white oaks was received. (The cruise showed 104,000 board feet of black, and 138,000 board feet of white 03k.) Again disregarding the state's ad- vice the sale was made for the lump sum of $1,650 representing a rate of $5.30 per M. Had the log scale bid been ac- cepted, the owner would have received $3,318 for the oak alone. In this case $1668 was sacrificed by poor manage- ment and in addition the woods were completely devastated.
Case A^o. 5.— A 150-acre tract in east- ern New Jersey. Original stand 6,000 Doard feet per acre (estimated). Age wT '°1-J20 and 141-160 years. Without contacting the state the owner sola all oak merchantable for saw logs or P^^ing at $5 per M. The buyer agreed to w V^ the slash in return for the cord- ood. No check was made on the oper- ^^s scaling. After approximately
500,000 board feet had been removed the owner stopped operations because pay- ments were far in arrears. In this vicinity poorer timber was being sold at the same time under state marking at $14 per M. The owner sacrificed at least $4,500 in this independent transaction.
Conclusions
The current unregulated methods of handling woodland in New Jersey are characterized by a complete absence of technical management. Cuttings are made without any consideration for per- manent productivity. The results are meager returns for the present owners and devastation of the growing stock. On the basis of actual cases the writer is con- vinced that the periodic annual income from woodland can be more than doubled if detailed technical guidance is furnished to cooperating land owners. Private lands include the most productive and ac- cessible sites, and the grim realities of to- day demand that these potentialities be fully utilized and not needlessly wasted.
Ma
Junk, |942
No Summer Number
The next issue of FoREST Leaves will be issued about the first of October, and will combine the material usually includ- ed in the summer issue dated July-Au- guest. The Association decided to follow this plan rather than to revert to the quar- terly publication schedule formerly fol- lowed.
Members and other readers are asked to send the Editor short articles and photo- graphs of subjects falling within the scope of this magazine. Its publication is a cooperative venture and the help of readers is particularly important in these fast-moving times.
Thirteen
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Pennsylvania Nut Growers' Association
A Practical Body of Nut Growers Whose
Aim Is to Stimulate Greater Interest
in Nut-Tree Planting
Black Walnut Kernel
NO SUMMER MEETING
AT the winter meeting I extended to the members of The Pennsylvania Nut Growers Association an invitation to hold the summer meeting at Chestertown, Maryland, where a 3 5 -acre orchard of black walnuts has been bearing a market- able crop since 1937. In January we lit- tle knew how completely the activities of the people of this country would be on a war basis in six short months. The ra- tioning of gasoline and tires and the re- striction in other modes of travel make holding the summer meeting a matter of doubtful wisdom. In lieu, may I ask that members of the Association send to me articles or items of interest on nut cul- ture, markets, new developments and other related subjects. In this way, we can disseminate through FOREST LEAVES the information which might be presented at the summer meeting.
H. Gleason Mai iOON, President
TREE CROPS IN THE POST WAR
ERA
liy John W. Hkrshky
Dear Folks: I suppose you wonder why the nut news was so light in the last issue. Well due to war conditions we've been pretty busy over the spring rush. I insisted Mr. Mattoon had a bunch of material lost in his files but he insists there isn't. What I believe is he too was too busy to hunt it up. As it stood it showed up how democracy works and why it's a failure in the human
Fourteen
family to date, and will be until we all learn to do our part. Remember at Har- risburg and in fact at all other meetings I coaxed all co-workers in nut tree inter- ests to help us editors and secretaries out by contributing facts, ideas, and ideals. But as in a democracy we elect some one to represent us — some one to do the work and then we retire with the feeling the job is being done without our per- sonal responsibility put into use.
So the last Forest Leaves showed what happens when the appointed leaders are not checked on. Will you help us out?
This leads me to comment on the cha- otic status our republic has drifted into in 150 years.
As too much of American editorial space is used today to promote the gods of selfishness in the shape of a righteous war my attempt here is to deal with what you and you and you are planning after sanity rides again in the post war days. Planning so it will be sanity instead of abstractisms riding the tide.
Recently reading some propaganda for a politician it stated: "A vote for him will be a vote for the continuation of en- during Americanism."
Let us examine the results of the "Americanism" as declaimed for two and a half centuries and decide if we honestly wish it to continue. Being interpreted means: "I get mine and to hell with you and everybody else. ' ' Watching the slow movie of it we see our forefathers in the name of God and liberty steal a continent from an innocent people. Then steal one half to three quarters of the natural re- sources from the breasts of that continent, riches and life-giving wealth the use of which we should have spread over five thousand years or more. The "to hell with you" attitude under the veneer of the slogan "Americanism" has about wrecked our forests, soil, game, fish, song birds and the natural balance needed be- tween these for health and constant pros- perity, — jeopardized the future of our children's children.
Forest Leaves
This cancerous thinking has become the backbone of college and university standards. Even our christian religion is debased to the pagan plane where its ex- ponents declaim it as a mystic power to help us overcome whatever opposition is before us in a personal effort to get what Uije want whether it's winning a war, or getting new tires. This too is a phase of ruthless "Americanism." Under this banner the great and glorious age of high finance and industrialism was born as men without feeling saw an opportunity to build an empire out of blood, sweat and tears of the human masses.
This is known as industrialism. It created the conditions of the '30s and laid the foundation for the present war. This is the philosophy of creating wealth by using the people as grist in the mill of in- dustry instead of creating wealth by in- dustry serving society.
The malcontent created by the pressure on the people; the thinking started in the economist's mind by the wanton waste; the birth of the union racketeer and half- baked social reforms by New Dealers; the unquenchable thirst for power by those who never earned it, all had their origin in the virus known as industrial- ism under the "American way."
Watching its growth unfold we see the American way" set labor against capi- tal capital against capital; isms against religion and malcontent against malcon- tent; union against union; consujner against producer; state against state in the form of tariffs and quarantines.
These deplorable conditions, — result
of the American way" are enough to
create and maintain a continual depres- sion.
Internationally, it has given us the best "ated feeling of any nation. The results r^ "T" ^'' ^^^ nations of the world are ^^"^d up against us except England who !""st retain us as her chief bouncer in her international gambling hall of economic j^ance and skulldruggery, and the smal-
r nations who side with us for ex- pediency.
^'^^ - June, 1942
A Solution to this Problem
At the extreme opposite of this type of thinking is the individual living the "un- selfish way," (living for others) and by his example others do likewise.
The answer to the social questions and economic prosperity in America has not been solved by pseudo-educators herding the youth to the city where they don't get dirt on their hands spreading manure but become tainted in cultural filth. Nor in social studies made by malcontents from the ranks of ambitious European cultural emigrants who, — having been repressed many centuries find expression in Ameri- ca "bossing somebody around." They staff the union, co-operative and social science movements, industriously prose- cuting the "American way," with social problems, ideal grist for their mill. These parasites too are rapidly assisting our to- boggan toward economic disaster, for they blind the people to true solutions.
The only solution to this problem is — throw the cityward trend into reverse, decentralize the large masses of unidenti- fied protoplasm and return them to the land where self reliance and individuality are bred. To return to the machine age agriculture with the soil ruining practice of the "American way" as championed by today's agricultural experts will only hasten the knockout blow Americanism is heading us for. Too much scientific emphasis is put on spectacular and phe- nomenal production and none on a con- tinued insurance in maintaining a healthy soil and a healthy crop production — a "living" for the generations to come.
Let private enterprise control the post war movement to the land in "an unsel- fish living for others" policy. Finance the land movement in a big way. Hire technicians on a balanced land use through tree crops, plow crops, pasture, and forests. Not the present expert's ad- vice of land abuse with the fundamental effort centered on get riches to burn up tires and health. Peasantry of the soil carries such an inconspicuous contented- ness our pseudo ambitious leaders have
Fifteen
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II
tried to annihilate it as a personal matter of self embarrassment. It's so simple in a simple life of soil husbandry, the success of it makes their colossal social science idealogies of, "the managed economy" look silly by comparison.
Although the best way civilization can be continued is the small unit operation, small farms, small businesses, and small ambition of the individual, because of bigness riding the tide in American eco- nomics "bigness" MUST too be consider- ed when we think of post war readjust- ment.
The Bankers* Opportunity — A Challenge to Private Enterprise
Will business rise to the occasion? Or will it do as in '33, rush to Washington for its answer and come home with an- other edition of state socialism and in- competence, as a millstone around its neck. Remember what handicaps busi- ness, handicaps all. The answer:
In addition to financing small farmers, as just described, form land corporations. Buy large acreage — millions of acres. Develop a balanced land use. Decentral- ize by attracting workers and industry to the medium-sized country towns where sunlight and air discourage the growth of isms that thrive on large human masses. Coordinate factory and land labor on a part-time cash, self-sustaining basis. The Pennsylvania Nut Growers offer the benefit of the 40 years experience of it's members for such a post war program.
The Philanthropists' Opportunity
To win undying fame by creating a mountain agriculture foundation to breed, select and test the mine run of America's natural tree crop flora for the nuggets in new variation, new strains, new sports and new uses for all. Here lies our future salvation America. Mr. Investor and Banker will you lose all by insisting that "your investment MUST have its immediate profit." Mr. Philan- thropist will you fail to move until it's too late, soothed in ease believing this to be the work for the experiment stations.
I referred again to the politician's dec-
Sixtrrn
laration that he will continue the 'Anier lean way." His manager calls him "a nian of destiny" _ such politicians are champions of disaster. Let's forget th' American way so proudly declaimed and go forward on the way of living laid down 2000 years ago, ''live for others'
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38 Waverly Street, Shillington, Pa.
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Complete cataioKr fumiNlied u|M>n reqiieNt.
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Plant In the dooryard for Beauty - Profit - Shade - Nuts - Fun. Send postcard today for FREE booklet and price list on English Walnuts, Stabler Black Wal- nuts, etc. Excellent for ornamental purposes. I have experimented with nut trees for over 44 year.s.
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NUT BEARING TREES
since 1K96 JoneM* NunierieN liave been K:rouin|{: improved varieties of nut trees. Ueseriptive cataloKiie free.
J. F. JONKS NURSERIKS I>ept. 1441 I.ANCASTKK, PA.
Jf JONI
Wh«'n you're stumped as to how to make your farm pay, just writ? u« for list of nut and crop trees and
TDBB /^D/\Br ^"^ '** "''"' them. Fifty y^ra of ' KCE CROPS experience In twenty gives us a ^ Kood background as a con«ultant.
NUT TREES and
NUT TREE NURSERIES
JOHN W. HKRSHKY DOUNINGTOWN. PA.
Box «5F
l>
Forest I^KAVts
%4
■, I
II
THE PENNSYLVANIA FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
Honorary President
Samuel L. Smedley
President
Wilbur K. Thomas
Victor Beede '; /^ Francis R. Copt, Jr. Dr. O. F. Jennings F. G. Knights
Secretary
H. Gleason Mattoon
Vice-Presidents
Wm. S. B. McCaleb Edward C. M. Richards Dr. J. R. Schramm
Honorary Vice-President
Robert S. Conklin
Francis R. Taylor Dr. E. E. Wildman George H. Wirt Edward Woolman
Assistant Secretary
M. Claire Meyers
Victor Beede E. F. Brouse R. S. Conklin Francis R. Cope, Jr. Dr. G. a. Dick John W. Hershey Philip A. Livingston
Treasurer
Roy a. Wright "'
EXECUTIVE BOARD
H. Gleason Mattoon Wm. S. B. McCaleb Stanley Mesavage Edw. C. M. Richards Dr. J. R. Schramm H. L. Shirley
"L
Samuel L. Smedley Francis R. Taylor Wilbur I^. Thomas Dr. E. E. Wildman George H. Wirt Edward Woolman Roy a. W^iight
Samuel F. Houston
finance committee
Edward Woolman, Chairman
Frank M. Hardt
E. F. Brouse Devereux Butcher
Edward S. Weyl F. R. Cope, Jr.
E. F. Brouse
Dr. Arthur W. Henn Edward C. M. Richards
*' PUBLICATION COMMITTEE
H. Gleason Maitoon, Chairman
Mrs Paul Lewis Dr. J. R. Schramm
P. A. Livingston Mrs. Robert C. Wright
Ralph P. Russell
LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE F. R. Taylor, Chairman
Wm. Clarke Mason W. W. Montgomery AUDITING COMMITTEE ' Ralph P. Russell, Chairman
Edward Woolman TIONESTA COMMITTEE Francis R. Cope, Jr., Chairman
Dr. J. R. Schramm Dr. H. H. York
EST LEAVES
THE PENNSYLVANIA FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
JULY -OCTOBER 1942
I
CONTENTS
Red Pine Cones
Photograph by Devereux Butcher
Cover
Timber Cutting on the State Forests
H. (.leason Mat toon
The Myers Arboretum
3
H. Cleason Mat toon
Editorial
Forestry Goes Skiing
Mrs. Max Derruni
Wood Substitutes for Metals
Improved Radio for Fire Fighting Mountain Troops at Mt. Rainier
Pennsylvania Nut Growers
13
15
16
17
THE PENNSYLVANIA FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
Founded in June, 1886
Labors to disseminate information in regard to the necessity and methods of forest culture and preservation, and to secure the enactment and enforcement of proper forest protective laws, both State and National. i- f i
ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP FEE, THREE DOLX.ARS
One Dollar of which is for subscription to Forest Leaves
Neither the membership nor the work of this Association is intended to be limited to the Mate of Pennsylvania. Persons desiring to become members should send their names to the Chairman of the Membership Committee, 1008 Commercial Trust Building. Philadelphia.
Prei/dtfnf— Wilbur K. Thomas Honorary President-SAMVF.L L. Smedley Honorary Vice-President-RohFRT S. Conklin
Victor Beede Francis R. Cope, Jr. Dr. O. F. Jennings F. G. Knights
Secretary— H. Gleason Mattoon
Vice-Presidents Wm. S. B. McCaleb Edward C. M. Richards Dr. J. R. Schramm
Francis R. Taylor Dr. E. E. Wildman George H. Wirt Edward Woolman
Treasurer— K. A. Wright, C. P. A.
FOREST L EAV E S
PUBLISHED BI-MONTHLY
Entered as second class matter at the Post Office at Narberth, Pennsylvania, under the Act of March 3, 1879
Volume XXXII— No. 4 & 5
Narbeth, Pa., July - October, 1942
Whole Number 311
Timber Cutting on the State Forests
by H. Gleason Mattoon
ON June 26 and 27 former Governor Pinchot and I visited two timber cutting operations being carried on by private operators on the State forests. Since The Pennsylvania Forestry Associ- ation had urged two years ago that a management plan be instituted, which should include selective cutting, I was particularly grateful for the invitation from Mr. Pinchot to accompany him on such a trip.
We met at Wilkes-Barre on the morn- ing of the 26th and started for Hills- grove, our first stop, in a Crosley. an ideal mode of travelling in these days of gasoHne rationing, for the "potato bug," as it was christened, carried us 252 miles the first day on 5.8 gallons of gasoline. At Hillsgrove we were met by Ranger S. F. McCarty of the Wyoming District, who directed us to the cutting operation. This was located in rugged country back of High Knob on both sides of a dirt road from Hillsgrove to Eagles Mere. Unfortunately, rain started to fall as we reached the tract and continued intermit- tently throughout the remainder of the
^^u ^^^ ^^^^ P'^^ ^^ inexperience as a Photographer resulted in a mediocre col- lection of photographs of the tour.
This forest, predominantly of the
eech. birch, maple type, contained trees Or many age classes. The cutting was ^ne under Department of Forests and
.iters' supervision, the contract speci- fying that the timber sold include all
dead, standing and down timber and all live timber to a specified diameter limit. The tulip poplar cutting was done to a 14-inch limit d.b.h. and the beech, birch and maple to 12 inches. This is not ideal forest practice yet I can see that with an under-staffed Department, partly the fault of the administration and partly depleted by loss to the armed forces, a cutting operation based upon marked trees might not have been feasible. I was pleased to see little damage to the under- story trees due to felling. In some cases, holes of varying sizes were left in the stand, where from three to twenty large trees in a group had been removed. Gen- erally speaking, I found a considerable stand remaining, varying from 100 to 300 trees per acre. On this tract, the tops had not been lopped as much as they should have been. But I was told by Ranger McCarty that further lopping would likely have to be done before the Department would O. K. the operation.
On the opposite hillside additional cutting was going on, but due to the steepness of the wood road and the rain we decided not to visit the tract. Late that afternoon, we left for Wellsboro where we spent the night. At the hotel, as elsewhere on the road, wherever we stopped, one or more persons would rec- ognize the former Governor. At times, it seemed like a triumphal tour.
Early on the morning of the 27th, we picked up District Forester Paul Mul-
! :
It
I ■
Iill
ford, who took us to the second opera- tion. Those who have ridden in cars of the proportion of the "potato bug*' may find it difficult to visualize three long- legged, six-footers and a chauffeur fitting themselves into it. I confess it was nec- essary to adopt a system. Mulford and I in the back seat found that if we treated ourselves as pieces in a jigsaw puzzle and gently worked our way into the available space in unison we rode with a degree of comfort.
The stand on the State forest near An- sonia on Pine Creek was of a different character from the one near Hillsgrove. Most of the trees cut were white pine and hemlock, much of which were mature or past maturity. The log in the sawmill illustration will give you an idea of the size of m.any of these trees. Several that
we saw were from 22 to 30 inches in di- ameter, while one ash log was 35 inches through. These trees were generally found in groups of from ten to twenty- five in a stand. Removal of all of them above 14 inches in diameter sometimes left large holes in the understory. Ques- tioning Paul Mulford, he said he had considered leaving two or three of each group, but from past experience he was convinced they would blow over when unsupported by the surrounding crowns. Since Mr. Mulford has been familiar with the forests of the Tioga District for twenty-five years I respect his judgment. As on the first tract, little damage to the understory was noticed. The remain- ing stand varied considerably in dense- ness, but generally was more than ample to permit the crowns to close within a
{Continued on page 8)
Upper left: Former Governor Pinchot and the author in the "potato bug." Upper riglit: Ihrcc large trees removed. Note dense iniderstory in background. Loiver left: Twenty over-matuie trees were cut, leaving this opening. Lower right: Saw mill at Ansonia. Note size of log.
Two FoRKST Leaves
The Myers Arboretum
by H. Gleason Mattoon
NEAR Hanover, Pennsylvania, is an arboretum of considerable merit, which is not so well known as it should be. It was started twenty years ago by Mr. C. N. Myers, Secretary and Treas- urer of the Hanover Shoe Company, as an expression of his love for trees. It has grown in size until today it contains over 700 species and varieties of trees and shrubs.
A visitor travelling to the arbore- tum passes large fields of Kentucky blue grass, where are pastured hundreds of horses, mares and colts, another interest of Mr. Myers. On these fields have been raised many of the greatest trotting horses in the country. For years scarcely a sul- ky race at Goshen, New York, has been run without one or more Hanover horses among the favorites.
Reaching the arboretum, the visitor will be loudly welcomed by fifty or more bird dogs kenneled near the entrance. The walls of the office are literally paper- ed with blue ribbons won by these setters at shows throughout the country. These are but another example of Mr. Myers many interests.
The arboretum now located on a part of the rolling acres of the Myers farm adjoining the Hanover Shoe Stock Farm is an outgrowth of his early plant- ing of a small collection of specimen trees on a plot of ground near his home in Hanover Borough. This plot had for years been a dump. Because of its un- sightliness, he acquired it and filled it in twenty years ago. Today, this former ^ump supports some of the finest speci- mens of oaks, beech, and magnolias to be ^pund in Pennsylvania. Sequoia gigan- tic, a beautiful pond cypress, Taxodium ^scendens, a cut leaf black walnut, an enormous specimen of Eleagnus angusti-
JuLY . October, 1942
folia and many other interesting and un- usual trees are thriving here.
But it was not long before Mr. My- ers' collecting enthusiasm outgrew this plot of less than two acres. When the larger acreage at the Farm was set aside for trees and shrubs, he decided to devote special attention to the genus Quercus. This particular interest was, no doubt, fostered by the success he had had in growing the blue oak of California, Qu- ercus douglasii, one of which is here illus- trated. Today, the oak collection num- bers 46 species and hybrids and is aug- mented by several seedlings of some of the *'Penn Trees." These are trees which were growing in eastern Pennsylvania and surrounding states when William Penn landed and are still healthy. Three years ago the Pennsylvania Forestry As- sociation undertook to collect the seed from some of these trees because it was felt that trees 250 years of age or more, which are still healthy, may have certain qualities of longevity and resistance to enemies which could be transplanted to the seedlings. Several seedlings of the historic burr oak at West Chester, the 300-year old white oak at King of Prus-
(Continued on page 13)
> ' .
^ :.
:-f^^
'^^^3^ ^
^^*
■»*. »>? . »» *i^
'»«a
The pond cypress, Taxodium aseendens on left; a cut-leaf variety of the native black walnut on right.
Three
ford, who took us to the second opera- tion. Those who have ridden in cars of the proportion of the ''potato bug" may find it difficult to visualize three long- legged, six-footers and a chauffeur fitting themselves into it. I confess it was nec- essary to adopt a system. Mulford and I in the back seat found that if we treated ourselves as pieces in a jigsaw puzzle and gently worked our way into the available space in unison we rode with a degree of comfort.
The stand on the State forest near An- sonia on Pine Creek was of a different character from the one near Hillsgrove. Most of the trees cut were white pine and hemlock, much of which were mature or past maturity. The log in the sawmill illustration will give you an idea of the size of many of these trees. Several that
we saw were from 22 to 30 inches in di- ameter, while one ash log was 35 inches through. These trees were generally found in groups of from ten to twenty- five in a stand. Removal of all of them above 14 inches in diameter sometimes left large holes in the understory. Ques- tioning Paul Mulford, he said he had considered leaving two or three of each group, but from past experience he was convinced they would blow over when unsupported by the surrounding crowns. Since Mr. Mulford has been familiar with the forests of the Tioga District for twenty-five years I respect his judgment. As on the first tract, little damage to the understory was noticed. The remain- ing stand varied considerably in dense- ness, but generally was more than ample to permit the crowns to close within a
(Contuiued <ni [uigc 8)
Vpfwr left: Former C.ovcruor I'iiuhot imd the imtlior in lUv "jxXato l)ii>?." l'l)f)(r riii^ht: llirce large trees
removed. Note dense understory in hackj^romid. l.tnccr left: luentv over-matnie trees were (Ut. leaving thi^ opening. I.oxvrr riir/tl: Saw mill at Ansonia. Note si/e of log.
'^^'^'^ Fori ST LKAVts
The Myers Arboretum
by H. Gleason Mattoon
NEAR Hanover, Pennsylvania, is an arboretum of considerable merit, which is not so well known as it should be. It was started twenty years ago by Mr. C. N. Myers, Secretary and Treas- urer of the Hanover Shoe Company, as an expression of his love for trees. It has grown in size until today it contains over 700 species and varieties of trees and shrubs.
A visitor travelling to the arbore- tum passes large fields of Kentucky blue grass, where are pastured hundreds of horses, mares and colts, another interest of Mr. Myers. On these fields have been raised many of the greatest trotting horses in the country. For years scarcely a sul- ky race at Goshen, New York, has been run without one or more Hanover horses among the favorites.
Reaching the arboretum, the visitor will be loudly welcomed by fifty or more bird dogs kenneled near the entrance. The walls of the office are literally paper- ed with blue ribbons won by these setters at shows throughout the country. These are but another example of Mr. Myers many interests.
The arboretum now located on a part of the rolling acres of the Myers farm adjoining the Hanover Shoe Stock Farm is an outgrowth of his early plant- ing of a small collection of specimen trees on a plot of ground near his home in Hanover Borough. This plot had for years been a dump. Because of its un- sightliness, he acquired it and filled it in twenty years ago. Today, this former dump supports some of the finest speci- mens of oaks, beech, and magnolias to be found in Pennsylvania. Sequoia gigan- tic, a beautiful pond cypress, Taxodium ascendens, a cut leaf black walnut, an enormous specimen of Eleagnus angusti-
JiLY - October, 1942
folia and many other interesting and un- usual trees are thriving here.
But it was not long before Mr. My- ers' collecting enthusiasm outgrew this plot of less than two acres. When the larger acreage at the Farm was set aside for trees and shrubs, he decided to devote special attention to the genus Quercus. This particular interest was, no doubt, fostered by the success he had had in growing the blue oak of California, Qu- ercus douglasii, one of which is here illus- trated. Today, the oak collection num- bers 46 species and hybrids and is aug- mented by several seedlings of some of the *Penn Trees." These are trees which were growing in eastern Pennsylvania and surrounding states when William Penn landed and are still healthy. Three years ago the Pennsylvania Forestry As- sociation undertook to collect the seed from some of these trees because it was felt that trees 250 years of age or more, which are still healthy, may have certain qualities of longevity and resistance to enemies which could be transplanted to the seedlings. Several seedlings of the historic burr oak at West Chester, the 300-year old white oak at King of Prus-
(Citulinufd oil fxr^c l-i)
riic pond typrcss. Taxodium asrctidrns on left; a cut-leaf variety of the native black walnut on right.
Three
INTENTIONAL SECOND EXPOSURE
FOREST LEAVES
Published Bi-Monthly at Narberth, Pa., by The PENNSYLVANIA FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
Disseminates information and news on forestry and related subjects.
PUBLICATION COMMITTEE
H. Gleason Mattoon, Chairman
Philip A. Livingston Ralph P. Russell
Mrs. Paul Lewis Mrs. R. C. Wright
Devereux Butcher e. F. Brouse
Dr. J. R. Schramm
Tiie publication of an article in Forest Leaves does not necessarily imply that the views expressed therein are those of the Pennsylvania Forestry Association. Editorial and ad- vertising office. 1008 Commercial Trust Building, Philadel- phia. Please notify us of any change in address.
JULY - OCTOBER, 1942
Don't Burn Your Property
T T WON'T BE long now before a piece -■- of your property will burn. Per- haps you think you don't own any real estate, but if you live in Pennsylvania and have paid taxes you own a piece of forest land. Your taxes and mine bought the State Forests of Pennsylvania and your taxes and mine pay to extinguish fires on these forests. When trees burn, your money and mine goes up in smoke.
It won't be long before hunters will be tramping through the forests, hoping to wmg a bird for the pot and some of those hunters will burn up more birds than they ever hit, by carelessness with fire. It won't be long before families, having saved their gasoline coupons, will be driv- mg to the forests to see the fall coloring and there will be some who will burn up more leaves than they can see through carelessness with fire.
It won't be long before oak timber badly needed by shipbuilders for boats to protect our coastal shipping from the depredations of Axis U-boats will be lost forever because some resident of Pennsyl- vania is careless with fire.
Last spring, Pennsylvania had 2,000 forest fires, an average number for recent years — considerably less than the aver- age of twenty years ago but still 2,000 Four
too many. Sixty thousand acres were burned in those 2,000 fires. The report did not say how much timber was on that acreage but if it had only a fair stand of trees it might amount to more th;»n 500,000,000 board feet. '
In peace time such carelessness is stupid; in time of war, it might well be considered sabotage for it permits de- struction of needed war material. Pro- tecting our forests is a never ending fight. Even in normal times, taking the country as a whole, fires sweep over more than 30,000,000 acres of woodland each year, destroying timber and property worth more than $35,000,000. That is just the commercial damage. It does not in- clude the destruction of young growth, the loss of woodland birds and animals! the loss of equipment, the stoppage of industry and the damage to watersheds.
This year our forests are in added danger. They are in danger of sabotage. Destroying a stand of war time timber would be a stroke of luck for under-cover agents of the Axis to gloat over. There is always the possibility of incendiary attack from the air. There is nothing fantastic about such possibilities. We can not forget that submarines have landed Nazi saboteurs on our shores or that the R. A. F. found it worthwhile to start great fires in the forests of Germany.
With the emphasis upon steel, alumi- num and other metals we are apt to forget that wood is playing a major role. The estimated requirements of this country for 1942 are 38 billion board feet, a pro- digious amount, yet the demand for 1943 will be considerably greater. We can not cut that much timber if we are going to burn 30,000,000 acres of for- est land every year.
Every fire in our fields or forests this year is an enemy fire. In the end it makes no difference whether a forest blaze has been started intentionally by enemy ac- tion or through the carelessness of a loyal American. Remember the foresters' slo- gan, "Careless Matches Aid the Axis."
H. G. M.
Forest Leaves
Forestry Goes Skiing
by Mrs. Max Dercum
TO view skiing from a skier's view- point is one thing but to view it from a forester's must be another. Even though my husband is a forester, I know little or nothing about forestry, but I must admit that I have become appreci- ative of his profession through skiing. It is rather phenomenal how the foresters in charge of the snowy regions, have tak- en over our sport and made it theirs, while at the same time they have improv- ed it for us.
During the summer of 1938, we visited Timberline at Mt. Hood, in Ore- gon, to do some summer skiing. While we were there, we found Forest Ranger Max Becker busy with forest fires, tour- ists, and a hundred and one other things. However, in the middle of this certain summer, there was one special thing which was taking up much of his time and interest. He told my husband and me that it was highly possible that the Olympic Ski Tryouts for 1939 would be held on Mt. Hood. At that time, the committee, which was to decide the scene of the tryouts, was trying to decide be- tween an area in Colorado and that of Mt. Hood. Therefore, the foresters and ski enthusiasts of the Mt. Hood area were very much preoccupied in laying out a downhill course that would defy any- thing which they thought Colorado "light be offering.
The year previous to our visit to Mt. Hood, we had spent on the Stanis- laus National Forest in California, where fly husband had a ski school. Here I had every opportunity to become ac- quainted with the relationship of fores- try to skiing, but I was too busy enjoying ^he sport to take much time off for ob- servation. However, as I look back on that year of both recreational and com- petitive skiing, and on the more recent
July . October, 1942
J^-i
^"■? . .
Championship Skiing Is a Sight on the State College Trails
years of skiing in the east, I have begun to realize how the sport has been affected by those in charge, and more times than one imagines, those in charge are fores- ters.
On the Stanislaus National Forest it was not unusual to find the Forest Supervisor enrolled in the ski class. Supervisor Hall had no doubt anticipa- ted, with the opening of the highway for the winter, that there would be hordes of skiers swarming over the hills, and along with them would come numerous problems never dreamed of in a forest training school. He had decided to learn every angle, from the ground up, so as to be prepared for anything which might arise. Local ski clubs decided to hold races on the area and were constantly calling on the foresters for aid. The traf- fic during the week-ends presented a gigantic problem. When we left our cabin at seven in the morning for the ski school, we would find the foresters and the state highway police already directing a heavy traffic, with cars end to end for a distance of four miles or more. When
Five
^ 1
FO REST LEAVES
Published Bi-Monlhly at Narherth, Pa., by The PENNSYLVANIA FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
Disseminates information and news on forestry and related subjects.
PUBLICATION COMMITTEE
H. Gleason Mattoon, Chairman
J*"^LiP A. Livingston Ralph P. Russell
Mrs. Paul Lewis Mrs. R. C. Wright
DiVEREux Butcher e, ^ b^o^^^e
Dr. J. R. Schramm
Ihe publication of an article in Forest Leaves does not necessarily imply that the views expressed therein are those of the Pennsylvania Forestry Association. Editorial and ad- vertising office. 1008 Commercial Trust Building, Philadel- phia. Please notify us of any change in address.
JULY - OCTOBER, 1942
Don't Burn Your Property
T T WON'T BE long now before a piece ^ of your property will burn. Per- haps you think you don't own any real estate, but if you live in Pennsylvania and have paid taxes you own a piece of forest land. Your taxes and mine bought the State Forests of Pennsylvania and your taxes and mine pay to extinguish fires on these forests. When trees burn, your money and mine goes up in smoke.
It won't be long before hunters will be tramping through the forests, hoping to wmg a bird for the pot and some of those hunters will burn up more birds than they ever hit, by carelessness with fire. It won't be long before families, having saved their gasoline coupons, will be driv- ing to the forests to see the fall coloring and there will be some who will burn up more leaves than they can see through carelessness with fire.
It won't be long before oak timber badly needed by shipbuilders for boats to protect our coastal shipping from the depredations of Axis U-boats will be lost forever because some resident of Pennsyl- vania IS careless with fire.
Last spring, Pennsylvania had 2,000 forest fires, an average number for recent years — considerably less than the aver- age of twenty years ago but still 2,000 Four
too many. Sixty thousand acres were burned m those 2,000 fires. The report did not say how much timber was on that acreage but if it had only a fair stand of trees it might amount to more th;in 500,000,000 board feet.
In peace time such carelessness is stupid; in time of war, it might well be considered sabotage for it permits de- struction of needed war material. Pro- tecting our forests is a never ending fight. Even in normal times, taking the country as a whole, fires sweep over more than 30,000,000 acres of woodland each year, destroying timber and property worth more than $35,000,000. That is just the commercial damage. It does not in- clude the destruction of young growth, the loss of woodland birds and animals, the loss of equipment, the stoppage of industry and the damage to watersheds. This year our forests are in added danger. They are in danger of sabotage. Destroying a stand of war time timber would be a stroke of luck for under-cover agents of the Axis to gloat over. There is always the possibility of incendiary attack from the air. There is nothing fantastic about such possibilities. We can not forget that submarines have landed Nazi saboteurs on our shores or that the R. A. P. found it worthwhile to start great fires in the forests of Germany.
With the emphasis upon steel, alumi- num and other metals we are apt to forget that wood is playing a major role. The estimated requirements of this country for 1942 are 38 billion board feet, a pro- digious amount, yet the demand for 1943 will be considerably greater. We can not cut that much timber if we are going to burn 30,000,000 acres of for- est land every year.
Every fire in our fields or forests this year is an enemy fire. In the end it makes no difference whether a forest blaze has been started intentionally by enemy ac- tion or through the carelessness of a loyal American. Remember the foresters' slo- gan, "Careless Matches Aid the Axis."
H. G. M.
FoRKsr Lkaves
Forestry Goes Skiing
by Mrs. Max Dercum
TO view skiing from a skier's view- point is one thing but to view it from a forester's must be another. Even though my husband is a forester, I know little or nothing about forestry, but I must admit that I have become appreci- ative of his profession through skiing. It is rather phenomenal how the foresters in charge of the snowy regions, have tak- en over our sport and made it theirs, while at the same time they have improv- ed it for us.
During the summer of 1938, we visited Timberline at Mt. Hood, in Ore- gon, to do some summer skiing. While we were there, we found Forest Ranger Max Becker busy with forest fires, tour- ists, and a hundred and one other things. However, in the middle of this certain summer, there was one special thing which was taking up much of his time and interest. He told my husband and me that it was highly possible that the Olympic Ski Tryouts for 1939 would be held on Mt. Hood. At that time, the committee, which was to decide the scene of the tryouts, was trying to decide be- tween an area in Colorado and that of Mt. Hood. Therefore, the foresters and ski enthusiasts of the Mt. Hood area were very much preoccupied in laying out a downhill course that would defy any- thing which they thought Colorado might be offering.
The year previous to our visit to Mt. Hood, we had spent on the Stanis- laus National Forest in California, where "^y husband had a ski school. Here I had every opportunity to become ac- quainted with the relationship of fores- ^[y to skiing, but I was too busy enjoying ^he sport to take much time off for ob- servation. However, as I look back on that year of both recreational and com- petitive skiing, and on the more recent
J'^'^ - OcroijKR, 1942
Championship Skiing Is a Sight on the State College Trails
years of skiing in the east, I have begun to realize how the sport has been affected by those in charge, and more times than one imagines, those in charge are fores- ters.
On the Stanislaus National Forest it was not unusual to find the Forest Supervisor enrolled in the ski class. Supervisor Hall had no doubt anticipa- ted, with the opening of the highway for the winter, that there would be hordes of skiers swarming over the hills, and along with them would come numerous problems never dreamed of in a forest training school. He had decided to learn every angle, from the ground up, so as to be prepared for anything which might arise. Local ski clubs decided to hold races on the area and were constantly calling on the foresters for aid. The traf- fic during the week-ends presented a gigantic problem. When we left our cabin at seven in the morning for the ski school, we would find the foresters and the state highway police already directing a heavy traffic, with cars end to end for a distance of four miles or more. When
Five
INTENTIONAL SECOND EXPOSURE
If
we returned at six in the evening they were still at it. In between this time they had probably been called upon for first aid assistance, to help time a race, or to locate a lost party of skiers. Now, after four years, I like to look back and see what they have done with what must have often seemed an impossible task.
Today, if one looks through any of the numerous ski publications, it is not uncommon to see many an article written by foresters. Take the Western Ski Annual, for instance, which has around a dozen articles written by Forest Service men. Also in the lists of com- petitive skiers one finds their names. It seems that they are not only helping to run the show these days but are taking a part as well!
On our National and State Forests, where one finds snow, skiing has made it- self felt during the other seasons, for it is only during the time when there is no snow on the ground that the clearing and marking of trails is possible. Besides touring trails and novice trails, there has been a great demand for good expert downhill trails. This means, of course, that some knowledge of the requirements of downhill racing was necessary. No- thing is more disappointing to a compet- ing skier than to have to race on a trail that is not well planned. An example of a poorly laid course was a downhill course chosen for a state championship out west in which I was entered. Perhaps the fores- ter who was responsible for that trail never heard the comments of the competi- tors, but we were all rather surprised, to put it mildly, to find an "uphill climb" in the middle of the downhill race. Fortun- ately, such a case is almost unheard of now, and the skier in America, whether he skis for recreation, competition, or both, can thank those who have cooper- ated in advancing the sport, both safely and sanely, for the pleasure of all.
Recently, there have been voices here and there, bringing up new ideas and more problems. One hears there is a need for more ski huts, especially scattered
Six
throughout the high country of the west where skiers can take trips back into these sections which are seldom explored in the winter. There is a need for a greater backing of the National Ski Patrol, for more ski instructors with good training for more defense work in skiing, and for ski-trained foresters. For the last men- tioned need of the future, the forest schools nearby to ski areas have a won- derful opportunity for developing train- ing courses in the various phases of skiing. There is no doubt in the minds of most skiers that the foresters who are develop- ing our ski regions are doing so today with far more training and experience than formerly. One reads of training courses in the methods of handling the winter sports problems, given especially for Forest Rangers employed on the areas affected by these problems. However, a previous training, knowledge and experi- ence would seem to be even more desir- able.
A few years ago, when my husband started the ski club at the Pennsylvania State College, little did he or the first members of that club realize how the sport was to grow within the school. Out of their enthusiasm grew the desire for a centralized ski area and in constructing the first ski trail they called upon the foresters in the forest school for aid. This was not hard to do since most of those first members were forestry students. In one autumn they built a ski trail and cleared a novice practice slope. That same year they organized a college ski team. Many of these boys had never had any previous skiing knowledge but they learned quickly. Two years after the building of the first trail, we had a letter from one of the students, who, after his graduation had gone out west and was at the time working in building a ski trail on Mt. Baker. A year ago we heard of another graduate forester, who had decided to build his own ski area near Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and ac- cording to all reports, he was making 3 success of it. Another graduate of both
Forest Leaves
"Wm
forestry and skiing at the col- lege is now a ranger on the Cochetopa National Forest, and last winter made the first ascent on skis of Mt. Elbert. These are a few examples of how skiing has helped those forestry students who took an active interest in it.
At Penn State the varsity ski team enjoys the distinc- tion of being the only official- ly recognized varsity ski team in the state. This fact, and the fact that they have been able to build up their ability as a team to enable them to
compete against the best college teams in the east, is due mainly to the efforts of the forestry students along with the aid of some others. The practice areas, trails, slalom glades, 30 meter jump, a six-mile cross country course, and two adiron- dack-type lean-tos, were built almost en- tirely by the forestry students at the col- lege. It is gratifying to see the pride some of these boys have taken in their part of the development. Many of them come out in the ski season to see how their work is being utilized and also to fully enjoy it themselves by bringing their skis with them. On the ski team squad of six letter men, every year there have been one or two forestry students. This is a good representation out of a student body of 5,000 of whom the foresters number around 275.
Besides the builders, recreationists and competitors among the forestry stu- dents we find some volunteering their services in helping conduct races. In the last two years the State Ski Champion- ships of Pennsylvania, both meets sanc- tioned by the United States Eastern Amateur Ski Association, have been held ^ere. For these two major races, the forestry students and also many of the forestry faculty have co-operated in sev- ^ral official ways, such as timing, check- JuLY - October, 1942
The Adirondack Type Lean-tos Are a Popular Feature
ing, scoring and first aid. One year there were three of the forestry faculty entered in the competitions along with skiers from ten different clubs, representing four different states in the east.
To an ordinary skier-observer, as myself, it seems that these students are contributing a great deal, not only to the college and the community, but to their own future and the future of their coun- try. Out of their spontaneous enthusi- asm, if it is correctly led, grow many useful projects and icleas. One of these ideas, which is in the process of develop- ment at present, is the organization and training of a group of students in Mili- tary Ski Tactics. The results of such a training should not only help build phy- sical strength and endurance but will also help in the moral defense of our country as well as actual defense. This should be brought home to all of us at this time, when we realize that 3,000 miles of our National Border, not including snow- covered Alaska, are under snow up to six months of the year. And last, but not least, it would seem to follow, that a development such as skiing has become, would bring about a better appreciation of our forests, even if it be only for the pleasure and peace it brings so many of us.
Seven
A\
we returned at six in the evening they were still at it. In between this time they had probably been called upon for first aid assistance, to help time a race, or to locate a lost party of skiers. Now, after four years, I like to look back and see what they have done with what must have often seemed an impossible task.
Today, if one looks through any of the numerous ski publications, it is not uncommon to see many an article written by foresters. Take the Western Ski Annual, for instance, which has around a dozen articles written by Forest Service men. Also in the lists of com- petitive skiers one finds their names. It seems that they are not only helping to run the show these days but are taking a part as well!
On our National and State Forests, where one finds snow, skiing has made it- self felt during the other seasons, for it is only during the time when there is no snow on the ground that the clearing and marking of trails is possible. Besides touring trails and novice trails, there has been a great demand for good expert downhill trails. This means, of course, that some knowledge of the requirements of downhill racing was necessary. No- thing is more disappointing to a compet- ing skier than to have to race on a trail that is not well planned. An example of a poorly laid course was a downhill course chosen for a state championship out west in which I was entered. Perhaps the fores- ter who was responsible for that trail never heard the comments of the competi- tors, but we were all rather surprised, to put it mildly, to find an "uphill climb" in the middle of the downhill race. Fortun- ately, such a case is almost unheard of now, and the skier in America, whether he skis for recreation, competition, or both, can thank those who have cooper- ated in advancing the sport, both safely and sanely, for the pleasure of all.
Recently, there have been voices here and there, bringing up new ideas and more problems. One hears there is a need for more ski huts, especially scattered
Six
throughout the high country of the west where skiers can take trips back into these sections which are seldom explored in the winter. There is a need for a greater backing of the National Ski Patrol, for more ski instructors with good training, for more defense work in skiing, and for ski-trained foresters. For the last men- tioned need of the future, the forest schools nearby to ski areas have a won- derful opportunity for developing train- ing courses in the various phases of skiing. There is no doubt in the minds of most skiers that the foresters who are develop- ing our ski regions are doing so today with far more training and experience than formerly. One reads of training courses in the methods of handling the winter sports problems, given especially for Forest Rangers employed on the areas affected by these problems. However, a previous training, knowledge and experi- ence would seem to be even more desir- able.
A few years ago, when my husband started the ski club at the Pennsylvania State College, little did he or the first members of that club realize how the sport was to grow within the school. Out of their enthusiasm grew the desire for a centralized ski area and in constructing the first ski trail they called upon the foresters in the forest school for aid. This was not hard to do since most of those first members were forestry students. In one autumn they built a ski trail and cleared a novice practice slope. That same year they organized a college ski team. Many of these boys had never had any previous skiing knowledge but they learned quickly. Two years after the building of the first trail, we had a letter from one of the students, who, after his graduation had gone out west and was at the time working in building a ski trail on Mt. Baker. A year ago we heard of another graduate forester, who had decided to build his own ski area near Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and ac- cording to all reports, he was making a success of it. Another graduate of both
Forks r Leavks
forestry and skiing at the col- lege is now a ranger on the Cochetopa National Forest, and last winter made the first ascent on skis of Mt. Elbert. These are a few examples of how skiing has helped those forestry students who took an active interest in it.
At Penn State the varsity ski team enjoys the distinc- tion of being the only official- ly recognized varsity ski team in the state. This fact, and the fact that they have been able to build up their ability as a team to enable them to
compete against the best college teams in the east, is due mainly to the efforts of the forestry students along with the aid of some others. The practice areas, trails, slalom glades, 30 meter jump, a six-mile cross country course, and two adiron- dack-type lean-tos, were built almost en- tirely by the forestry students at the col- lege. It is gratifying to see the pride some of these boys have taken in their part of the development. Many of them come out in the ski season to see how their work is being utilized and also to fully enjoy it themselves by bringing their skis with them. On the ski team squad of six letter men, every year there have been one or two forestry students. This is a good representation out of a student body of 5,000 of whom the foresters number around 275.
Besides the builders, recreationists and competitors among the forestry stu- dents we find some volunteering their services in helping conduct races. In the last two years the State Ski Champion- ships of Pennsylvania, both meets sanc- tioned by the United States Eastern j^niateur Ski Association, have been held nere. For these two major races, the forestry students and also many of the forestry faculty have co-operated in sev- eral official ways, such as timing, check-
J^^'^' - OcioBiR, 1942
The A(li)<>)Kl(i( f{ 'I'xfx' Lcan-los Arc (i P()j)ul(n Feature
ing, scoring and first aid. One year there were three of the forestry faculty entered in the competitions along with skiers from ten different clubs, representing four different states in the east.
To an ordinary skier-observer, as myself, it seems that these students are contributing a great deal, not only to the college and the community, but to their own future and the future of their coun- try. Out of their spontaneous enthusi- asm, if it is correctly led, grow many useful projects and ideas. One of these ideas, which is in the process of develop- ment at present, is the organization and training of a group of students in Mili- tary Ski Tactics. The results of such a training should not only help build phy- sical strength and endurance but will also help in the moral defense of our country as well as actual defense. This should be brought home to all of us at this time, when we realize that 3,000 miles of our National Border, not including snow- covered Alaska, are under snow up to six months of the year. And last, but not least, it would seem to follow, that a development such as skiing has become, would bring about a better appreciation of our forests, even if it be only for the pleasure and peace it brings so many of us.
Seven
Timber Cutting on the State Forests
{Co7itinii(d from page 2)
short time. In the openings, seedlings of both pine and hemlock were plentiful. Fortunately, in that locality, according to Mr. Mulford hemlock produced a heavy crop of seed in 1940, while 1941 was a seed year for white pine. This, no doubt, accounts for the multitude of seedlings. In several places, we noticed large accumulations of unlopped slash which disturbed me, but Mulford point- ed out that the operation was far from completed and that the provisions of the timber sale agreement regarding brush disposal will be enforced. He went on to say that some of the large accumulation of brush was to be burned in the open- ings when snow was on the ground, some was to be lopped and spread to prevent erosion on the steep slopes and the re- mainder was to be lopped and piled away from the live trees where it will de- compose.
Governor Pinchot and I viewed the same cutting operations together, but we did not see the same things. It was to me a striking example of variation in inter- pretation influenced by consideration which had no bearing on the situation. We were in wholehearted agreement that the local supervision of the operations had been excellent, but we could not agree as to the reasons that dictated the type of timber sale agreement. These dif- ferences were brought out in subsequent letters so it seems wise to append them to this account.
Shortly after our trip, Mr. Pinchot wrote an open letter to Governor James which described what he saw. A draft was transmitted to me on June 30. My refusal to commit the Association to the over-statements in this letter and the im- plied assumption by Mr. Pinchot that the operations were completed inspired the subsequent correspondence:
Eight
His Excellency Arthur H. James
Governor of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
My Dear Governor:
Our State Forests are in danger from destructive lumbering, now going on under the largest sales of State Forest timber ever made. No such threat to their welfare has appeared since they were established half a century ago.
Our State Forests are of vital concern to the people of Pennsylvania. As a citi- zen, a forester, and a former Commis- sioner in charge of State Forests, it is my clear duty to report to you what I have learned and urge you to stop the damage.
Stories of bad lumbering led me re- cently to examine two areas of State Forest timber sold to lumbermen in the last two years. On both the Department of Forests and Waters had sold for cut- ting all sound trees of merchantable kinds above certain sizes. Whether or not they should have been left to furnish seed for new growth, to maintain the forest cover, or to protect the soil from washing; whether for any other reason, they should have been kept standing, made no difference. They were all cut anyhow. This is not forestry, but for- est butchery.
The war calls for wood, but not for forest destruction. We shall have need of our forests after the war is won. They can be used and safeguarded too. That is what forestry is for.
On the first area, between Eaglesmere and Hillsgrove, I found that all Poplar trees 14 inches in diameter and up, breast height, had been sold without discrim- ination; all Beech. Birch, and Maple 12 inches and up. The Birch needed to be cut. Much or most of the Beech, Maple and Poplar was too young for cutting.
The local forester was authorized to mark for cutting trees below the diameter limit, but not to save from cutting trees above the limit which should have been saved.
Forest Leaves
This lumbering made great holes in the forest. No tops were burned. That left a dangerous fire trap.
On this area young trees already started were unusually well protected by the local forest officers. I find no fault with them here or on the second area. But I do find fault with the failure of the tim- ber sale agreement, approved by Harris- burg, to protect the State Forests. Under it lumbermen cut too much and too soon. It has endangered the forest.
On the second area, on Pine Creek near Ansonia, all Pine and Hemlock was sold down to a diameter of 14 inches, again without discrimination. Much of this cutting was on a steep slope, where erosion threatened.
This lumbering too left great gaps. In one spot twenty stumps stood in a radius of 100 feet; in another, twenty-eight. No tops were burned, leaving another fire trap.
That the Department would thus in- crease the danger from forest fires seems impossible. But I saw it myself.
What I saw on these two areas is like taking for the Army all boys over six- teen, without regard to whether they had reached their growth, whether they were needed at home, or how they could best help win the war. and then needlessly exposing them to smallpox.
The present cutting also gives a bad example to lumbermen, farmers, and other forest owners. When they see the State Forests abused, they are not likely to treat their own woodlands any better.
Pennsylvania has been the leader of all the States in the practice of forestry. All of us, men, women and children, farmers and miners, workers and planners, busi- nessmen and sportsmen, have a vital interest in the welfare of her forests. We ^ant them used, but we also want them protected and preserved for the prosper- ity, the health, and the pleasure of us all. ^ I he purposes of our State Forests are, y law: "To provide a continuous sup- ply ot timber, lumber, wood and other or^st products, to protect the water-
JiLv . October, 1942
sheds, conserve the water, and regulate the flow of rivers and streams of the State and to furnish opportunities for health- ful recreation to the public.''
As Governor of Pennsylvania, you have power to enforce the law, stop these violations, and this destructive lumber- ing, and put sound forestry in its place. I believe I speak for our people generally when I urge you to do so.
I am making this letter public because I believe the people of this Common- wealth, to whom the State Forests belong, have a right to be informed of what is being done with their property. Sincerely yours,
GiFFORD Pinchot.
In answer to this and other letters sent me by Governor Pinchot, I replied on July 2:
Dear Governor:
When you called me from Washing- ton early in May and suggested a joint tour of some of the State Forests to see how the cutting was being done, I was happy to accept as I was equally inter- ested. Now that the trip is over I want you to know how much I enjoyed it.
Fortunately, or otherwise, our discus- sions plus your subsequent letters have impressed upon me the divergence of our views on forestry, particularly the future role of public forestry in this country. Since we are both sincerely interested in the improvement of cutting practices on all forest lands, I had hoped we might devise a common statement concerning our observations. This, I now see, is quite impossible because our disagree- ment is fundamental, stemming from op- posing political philosophies.
Two years ago in Forest Leaves I urged the Department of Forests and Waters to set up a management plan for each State Forest. I pleaded also for a program of selective cutting to demon- strate to private forest owners that tim- ber is a crop to be harvested when mature. I urged this action also to provide raw
Nine
tjllf =j
III
11 !
I !
II
li I-
material for small wood-using industries to be established to rehabilitate towns surrounded by State forests with no other source of income.
You see, Governor, I believe one of the primary purposes of the State Forests is to aid private enterprise. I believe in private enterprise.
In time of war, we sacrifice willingly for the preservation of the Nation. We give up many of the cherished perquisites of democracy. We regiment ourselves in order to wage a victorious war, but we, in a democracy, do not look forward to a regimented peace. We strive for victory that we may return to a system of free enterprise circumscribed as little as pos- sible for the public good.
I said earlier in this letter that our dis- agreement is fundamental. Because of that fundamental difference in viewpoint we looked at the results of the cutting in the Wyoming and Tioga districts with different eyes. You saw deviation from ideal forestry practices; I saw an attempt of an under-manned Department to do as good a job as possible. You saw great holes in the stand with no understory left; I saw an understory of as many as 300 trees per acre, surprisingly free from felling damage. You saw a "destructive attack" on the State Forests; I saw need- ed timber for barracks and crates and for other war uses.
I do not condone temporizmg but I do recognize the limitations placed upon the Department by a reduced personnel. By its political attitude toward the Depart- ment of Forest and Waters and its financial indifference to its needs, the ad- ministration is in part to blame, but in addition, several Department foresters, who might have given assistance, are in the armed forces.
I regret sincerely that our viewpoints are so diametrically opposite. Were it possible to divorce our opinions on for- estry from extraneous, political and soc- ial attributes we might find ourselves in complete agreement. Since that, how- ever, can not be done, therein lies the crux
Ten
of the matter. Such being the case, I presume you will wish me to return your letter to Secretary Stewart. This I en- close together with the draft of the pro- posed letter to Governor James.
Time alone will determine the merits of our respective ideologies. In the mean- time, my every good wish.
Sincerely yours,
H. Gleason Mattoon.
Secretary.
This elicited a lengthy reply which should be included:
Dear Mr. Mattoon:
By your letter of July 2nd you refuse to go on with the joint effort we had undertaken to protect the State Forests of Pennsylvania from the destructive lumbering, in progress under much the largest selling of their timber ever made during the half century of their existence.
The purpose of our trip of June 26th and 27th, in which we examined together two recently cut over State Forest areas, was fully understood between us in ad- vance. It was to ascertain whether or not this cutting was being done carefully and conservatively, with due regard to the welfare of the State Forests, or whether it was not.
During those two days we discussed very thoroughly the whole question of the cuttings which we visited. What we saw, we saw together, and we agreed on what we saw. We agreed that the lum- bering was destructive: that it was not the fault of the local forest officers, but of the timber sale agreement sent out from Harrisburg; and that such lumber- ing was highly dangerous to the future of the State Forests.
Indeed, the only subject on which we did not agree was an incidental reference to the matter of State as against National control of forests, which could have nothing whatever to do with whether or not the cuttings we were examining had been well or badly done, whether they amounted to permanent forestry or de- structive lumbering.
FoRFST Leaves
We noted and discussed the fact that none of the trees had been selected and marked with the future of the forest in mind, but that all the trees above a fixed diameter limit had been cut without dis- crimination. In mixed forests like these, that is nothing but tree butchery.
When the trip was over, at Wilkes- Barre, we agreed together that I should draft a letter for our joint signatures to the Secretary of Forests and Waters, ask- ing for certain information, and submit it to you for your approval. We agreed, also, that each of us should make a draft of a letter to the Governor of Pennsyl- vania, describing what we had seen and setting forth our common conclusions upon it, each of us to submit his draft to the other, and the final form to be ap- proved and signed by both.
To this plan you gave your full as- sent. On June 30th I sent you the two drafts I was to make. You now return the drafts and decline to proceed with our plan. Your letter alleges three reasons for your change of front.
The first is "the divergence of our views on forestry, particularly the future role of public forestry in this country. *'
The second is that you believe '*one of the primary purposes of the State For- ests is to aid private enterprise."
Your third reason is that "were it pos- sible to divorce our opinions on forestry from extraneous political and social at- tributes, we might tind ourselves in com- plete agreement.''
This is merely to sidestep the issue. Extraneous political and social attributes are indeed extraneous. None of your reasons have any bearing whatever on the bald fact of the destructive attacks on the State Forests which you and I saw together, which we discussed together, and over which we developed no dis- ^^^^^"^^nt whatever on the ground.
Whatever your political and social at- ^"Dutes may be, facts are facts. Either you agreed with me on the facts when we ^ere together on the ground, or you con- <^ealed your disagreement. If you did con-
JLLY . OCTOBKR, 1942
ceal it, your reason for so doing is for you to explain.
In any case, it is completely clear that whatever political and social attributes may have led to your revised opinion, they can not alter the facts in the forest. They are certainly not for me, as you assert they are for you, "the crux of the matter.'' For me the crux of the matter is the condition of the forest after the cutting, and nothing else. We are dealing with the forest, and not with ideologies. I ought to know destructive cutting when I see it.
This statement of yours makes the reason back of your change of sides as clear as day. It shows that your interest in stopping forest devastation vanishes the moment private interests stand in the way. My position is that, in the words of Theodore Roosevelt, "The public good comes first.''
The question, and the only question at issue, is whether or not this timber was sold by the Department of Forests and Waters, and cut by the lumbermen who bought it, so as to ensure, or so as not to ensure, the future welfare of the forest. You and I, standing in the woods and looking at it, agreed fully that it had not done so. Since then your political and social attributes seems to have changed your mind.
The great holes your letter refers to, left in the stand by the first cutting we visited, are actually there. The fine under- story of smaller trees you mention out- side of these holes, to which I called your particular attention on the ground, is there. My draft letter to the Governor specifically recognized the excellent work done by the forest officers in preserving these young trees.
Your letter does not deny any of the statements in that letter about the con- dition of the lumbered forest we saw to- gether. I challenge you to deny them. And I ask that you carry out your prom- ise to send me copies of the photographs of this forest destruction which you took at my suggestion.
Eleven
The "needed timber for barracks, crates, and other war uses/' which this cutting represents to you, could of course be supplied under forestry as well as under destructive lumbering. The United States Forest Service, which ought to know, maintains uncompromisingly that it can be and should be. There is no ex- cuse, and there can be no excuse, for the Department of Forests and Waters to as- sist in bringing needless damage upon the State Forests, for whose safety it is re- sponsible.
Neither is it an excuse that the Depart- ment has a reduced personnel. I am suf- ficiently familiar with its work, having been in charge of it, to be certain that it would have been possible to find the for- esters for marking the timber as it should have been marked, in spite of this reduced personnel. And in any case, if the timber could not be cut properly, it should not have been cut at all.
I am disillusioned and completely un- impressed by your letter. If your point of view would not permit you to rec- ognize facts on the ground, and testify to these facts when the safety of the State Forests required it, the least you could have done was to notify me in advance that there was no use in your accepting my invitation to make the trip.
Yours truly,
GlFFORD PlNCHOT
After receiving this, I quite naturally felt that it was presumptuous of me to take a view of what we saw contrary to that of so able a forester, but I did reply and at the same time mailed the photo- graphs of which he spoke. The illustra- tions are made from some of them.
Dear Governor:
I enclose an enlarged set of the snap- shots I took on our trip on June 25 and 26. You will find them poor, partly the fault of the photographer and partly due to the rain which made it difficult to get depth in the pictures.
If I might choose one phrase to illus-
Tweh)e
trate the difference in our viewpoints of the cutting operations on the State for- ests, it would be ''forest butchery," the last two words of the third paragraph of your open letter to Governor James. In that letter, you speak of great holes in the forest. Two years ago I saw equally great holes in the canopy of a National forest after a cutting operation, carried on under the direction of the supervisor. He explained that such holes were the results of the removal of a group of over- matured trees and contended that if any had been left they would have blown down, hence the removal of all. I believe a similar situation exists on the tract near Ansonia.
You, also, mentioned that no tops were burned, thereby leaving a dangerous fire trap. Neither of the operations we visited had been completed. I recall Paul Mulford saying that much of the slash would be burned after snowfall next winter. Frankly, I did not see "forest butchery" and am glad now to know that foresters not in State employ who have visited the cutting operations did not see "forest butchery.'*
Those who believe that deviation from selective cutting by marked trees can never be made may find fault with the cutting operations, but most foresters with whom I have talked since our trip can see that such an ideal is not always feasible.
I believe I am as zealous as any forester in championing management practices which will conserve and perpetuate our forests. I deplore overcutting. I believe understocking of forests to be waste. Management practices, however, must be suited to the conditions and adjusted to the times.
I shall want to see these operations again when they are completed, but in the light of what has been done so far little criticism can be made of them.
Sincerely yours,
H. Gleason Mattoon,
Secretary.
(Continued on page 15)
Forest Leaves
Wooci Substitutes for Metals
MORE than 1 00 ways in which wood can be used in place of tin or steel have been listed by the Department of Agriculture's Forest Service in response to a growing number of requests for sug- gestions about possible substitutes for materials no longer available in quanti- ties for civilian purposes.
Many items such as fence posts, freight car roofs and sidings, furniture, and grain storage bins, represent familiar wood uses of long standing, and although metals have displaced considerable wood in re- cent years, the wood revival will be rela- tively easy.
Technicians of the Department's For- est Products Laboratory point out that substitutes for steel can in many cases be made by using wood in its natural form, that is, shaped and turned as lumber to replace steel items. Wood may be treated with preservatives that make it resistant to fire, decay, and injury by insects. On the other hand, substituting wood for tin frequently calls for conversion products, such as paper and pulps from wood.
Some uses in which wood is already displacing steel are arches in buildings (up to 150 feet spans) ; barges; tempor- ary buildmgs; snow fences; lookout towers; agricultural implements; silos; trucks and trailers; and wheelbarrows. With some further technological work or development of production facilities, wood can also replace steel in automobile license plates; fire doors; gutters; putty and paint, kegs, mechanical refrigerator cabinets, acid and hot grease tanks and "^any other items.
Possibilities of wood substitutes for
m include compregnated wood bearings,
ontainers for paints, liquids, vegetables
ana truits, compregnated wood tubing
non-corroding), refrigerator trays, col-
^apsible tooth paste tubes, shoelace tabs,
^anous plastic household utensils, and
^^uulose coatings instead of tin coatings
JiLY - October, 1942
on such items as pins, clips and wire.
"Compregnated" is a word coined by the Forest Products Laboratory to de- scribe the promising new materials made up of wood veneer impregnated with chemicals and pressed into solid pieces.
Research on wood uses at the Forest Products Laboratory has been stepped up to meet emergency needs, and it is expect- ed that the use of wood substitutes for strategic materials will continue on a widening scale.
THE MYERS ARBORETUM
(Continued from page 3)
sia, and the giant Wye oak at Wye Mills, Maryland, are thriving in the arboretum.
Among the foreign oaks are the Japanese tan bark oak, Q. dentata; Tur- key oak, Q. cerris; the English oak, Q. robur; and Q. robur fastigiata, the pyra- midal English oak. From the western part of this country in addition to the California blue oak mentioned above there is a nice specimen of the valley oak or California white oak, Q. lovata, the California black oak, Q. kelloggii, and the Texas oak, Q. texana, which is close- ly related to Q. shumardii.
Here in the East because of the many native species of oaks blossoming at ap- proximately the same time there have developed numerous natural crosses. Mr. Myers recently has become much interest- ed in these hybrids with the result he has an unusually fine collection. It is quite possible that from his collection will come some interesting and worth- while types which have particular merit for shade or ornamental purposes. If so, they can be propagated by clones and disseminated by nurseries.
The principal crosses have occurred between the scrub oak, Q. ilicifolia, and the black, red or scarlet oak. Some inter- esting hybrids of the southern red oak,
Thirteen
Q. rubra, and the willow oak, Q. phellos, arc also to be found.
Anyone who believes oaks arc slow growing should visit the Myers Arbore- tum and this misbelief will soon be dispelled. Several of the species and hybrids are making from two to three feet of growth a year, a rate that com- pares favorably with most other trees.
Because he has specialized in oaks, one is apt to forget the worthwhile col- lections of ash trees, hickories, named varieties of walnuts, as well as individual specimens of numerous other species. While the shrub collection is not as out- standing it likewise has considerable merit. Those interested in trees are in- debted to Mr. Myers for this valuable and instructive collection.
^ V
m/.:^:\
"V4
r\^'^-^ • '• \
*SV'.^-
■L^' ^ U
At left: the laurel oak, Qxiercus laurifolia, one of the most attractive natives. 7V>p: A California blue oak, Q- Douglasii. Bottom : Q. conferta from southern Europe, all specimens in the Myers Arboretum, near Hanover, Pa-
Fourteen
Forest Leaves
Improved Radio for Fire Fighting
TWO new devices in emergency radio communication are aiding the U. S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Serv- ice in this year's fight against fires which might seriously impede the war effort. One is a simplified radio antenna perfect- ed recently at the Forest Service's Radio Laboratory. Another is an improved re- ceiver for use on mobile fire control equip- ment.
Pioneering in forest radio activities for the past 1 5 years, the Forest Service has developed specialized equipment to meet the problems of rapid communication in remote areas and rough terrain. Because prompt attack is necessary to keep fires from developing into large and costly conflagrations, quick and reliable com- munication is vital to eff^ective fire con- trol. Approximately 3500 semi-perma- nent mobile and portable radio stations are now in operation in National Forests, and more than 1,000 are maintained by State forestry agencies.
Out of the Forest Service Radio Labor- atory have come several types of radio equipment, including portable sets rug- ged enough for transportation on mule back, and the two-way "pocket" voice radiophone weighing only six pounds, first used two years ago by the Service's parachute fire fighters. Similar equip- ment has since been adopted by a number of other federal, state and local authori- ties concerned with portable radio com- munication.
The new forest radio antenna has no insulators, requires no elaborate installa- tion, and can be pre-tuned before installa- tion. Costing but a small fraction of yhat the usual commercial antenna costs, It is called the PD ("plumber's delight") antenna by forest rangers because it can easily be made from simple materials like pipe and fish poles and installed with the ^la of a few plumbers' tools. The fact '^^t no insulation is necessary prevents
Jlly - October, 1942
power losses and reduced efficiency due to insulator leakage. Resistant to snow and ice, the antenna is especially suitable for lookout stations at high elevations.
It is equally effective on wood and metal buildings. Another asset is that instead of representing a lightning haz- ard, it acts as a lightning rod, adding to the safety both of the structure to which it is attached and the occupants. Reduc- ed to barest essentials, the PD antenna consists of a vertical radiator, working against a ground established by four hori- zontal c^uarter-wave radials. For For- est Service radio frequencies, the antenna is only six to seven and one-half feet long.
Both the PD antenna and the new mo- bile radio receiver used on Forest Service fire trucks and patrol cars will be invalu- able in efforts of Forest Service personnel this year to suppress incendiarism or pos- sible sabotage in the 160 National For- ests. The mobile receiver discriminates against ignition noises and is therefore more effective than previously used types in establishing quick contact with fire crews enroute to fires.
TIMBER CUTTING ON THE STATE FORESTS
(Continued from page \2)
There ends the correspondence. If I seemed to Gifford Pinchot to have agreed with him in his deductions from our tour, it was perhaps because I was some- what hypnotized by his persuasive elo- quence in describing the laxness of the Department of Forests and Waters and the iniquities of the form of Timber Sale Agreement in use. I shall be grateful if I possess half as much mental and physi- cal energy when I reach his age as Mr. Pinchot exhibited on the trip, but I pray that I shall be more tolerant and less given to impugning the motives of those with whom I disagree.
Fifteen
i
Q. rubra, and the willow oak, Q. phellos, are also to be found.
Anyone who believes oaks are slow growing should visit the Myers Arbore- tum and this misbelief will soon be dispelled. Several of the species and hybrids are making from two to three feet of growth a year, a rate that com- pares favorably with most other trees.
Because he has specialized in oaks, one is apt to forget the worthwhile col- lections of ash trees, hickories, named varieties of walnuts, as well as individual specimens of numerous other species. While the shrub collection is not as out- standing it likewise has considerable merit. Those interested in trees are in- debted to Mr. Myers for this valuable and instructive collection.
Improved Radio for Fire Fighting
At left: the laurel oak. (hirrrus laurifolia, one of the most altrailivc natives. Tof): A (alitornia blue oak, Q.- Douglasii. Bottom : Q. conferta from southern Europe, all specimens in the Myers Arboretum, near Hanover, Pa
Fourteen
Forest Leaves
TWO new devices in emergency radio communication are aiding the U. S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Serv- ice in this year's fight against fires which might seriously impede the war effort. One is a simplified radio antenna perfect- ed recently at the Forest Service's Radio Laboratory. Another is an improved re- ceiver for use on mobile fire control equip- ment.
Pioneering in forest radio activities for the past 1 5 years, the Forest Service has developed specialized equipment to meet the problems of rapid communication in remote areas and rough terrain. Because prompt attack is necessary to keep fires from developing into large and costly conflagrations, quick and reliable com- munication is vital to effective fire con- trol. Approximately 3500 semi-perma- nent mobile and portable radio stations are now in operation in National Forests, and more than 1,000 are maintained by State forestry agencies.
Out of the Forest Service Radio Labor- atory have come several types of radio equipment, including portable sets rug- ged enough for transportation on mule back, and the two-way "pocket" voice radiophone weighing only six pounds, first used two years ago by the Service's parachute fire fighters. Similar equip- ment has since been adopted by a number of other federal, state and local authori-
«
ties concerned with portable radio com- munication.
The new forest radio antenna has no msulators, requires no elaborate installa- tion, and can be pre-tuned before installa- tion. Costing but a small fraction of )vhat the usual commercial antenna costs, It is called the PD ("plumber's delight") antenna by forest rangers because it can easily be made from simple materials like pipe and fish poles and installed with the ^iQ of a few plumbers' tools. The fact nat no insulation is necessary prevents
J*'^ - October, 1912
power losses and reduced efficiency due to insulator leakage. Resistant to snow and ice, the antenna is especially suitable for lookout stations at high elevations.
It is equally effective on wood and metal buildings. Another asset is that instead of representing a lightning haz- ard, it acts as a lightning rod, adding to the safety both of the structure to which it is attached and the occupants. Reduc- ed to barest essentials, the PD antenna consists of a vertical radiator, working against a ground established by four hori- zontal quarter-wave radials. For For- est Service radio frequencies, the antenna is only six to seven and one-half feet long.
Both the PD antenna and the new mo- bile radio receiver used on Forest Service fire trucks and patrol cars will be invalu- able in efforts of Forest Service personnel this year to suppress incendiarism or pos- sible sabotage in the 160 National For- ests. The mobile receiver discriminates against ignition noises and is therefore more effective than previously used types in establishing quick contact with fire crews enroute to fires.
TIMBER CUTTING ON THE STATE FORESTS
(Coutiuued from fxigc 12)
There ends the correspondence. If I seemed to Gifford Pinchot to have agreed with him in his deductions from our tour, it was perhaps because I was some- what hypnotized by his persuasive elo- quence in describing the laxness of the Department of Forests and Waters and the iniquities of the form of Timber Sale Agreement in use. I shall be grateful if I possess half as much mental and physi- cal energy when I reach his age as Mr. Pinchot exhibited on the trip, but I pray that I shall be more tolerant and less given to impugning the motives of those with whom I disagree.
Fijteen
I
t
INTENTIONAL SECOND EXPOSURE
Mountain Troops at Mt. Rainier
BY AGREEMENT between the Na- tional Park Service of the Interior Department and the War Department, ski and mountain troops used certain areas in Mount Rainier National Park last winter on a temporary basis for test training purposes.
The 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Mountain Regiment (Reinforced), was activated at Fort Lewis, Washington, on November 15, 1941, and went into train- ing at the park. The Tatoosh Club and Paradise Lodge serve as winter quarters for the soldiers, but the new national park ski lodge is open for the public. Ac- cording to the National Park Service, there were 136,000 recreational skiers at Rainier in the winter of 1940-41, and there was an even heavier week-end use of the ski slopes last season.
The Army is developing the present small force of mountain troops in order to test the best procedures for training soldiers to travel over rough mountain terrain in winter and summer, as well as to determine the best means for bringing up equipment and supplies for such troops. This experimental force is also testing the new equipment items designed by the Quartermaster Corps for winter and mountain warfare.
Official assurances have been given that preservation of scenic and wildlife values will not be relaxed for the new training program. Realizing the interference with wildlife that might result from firing of rifles, machine guns and artillery, the Army did not request that any exception be made to the National Park Service reg- ulation against firing weapons in the park. Notwithstanding the lurid imag- ination of the artist who pictured enemy troops on Mount Rainier in the March 2 issue of Life magazine, the possibility of this area being "invaded" is fantastic.
Winter use of Mount Rainier for test training purposes should have no appreci-
Sixtecn
able effect upon the park, but summer use by mountain troops would be detrimen- tal to natural conditions. During the period when ample snow cover does not protect the ground, even the experimen- tal force should be transferred to areas outside of the National Parks.
When the Army mobilizes its pro- jected thousands of mountain troops, other areas should be used for their prac- tice maneuvers on an extensive scale. Many less restricted and equally suitable areas are available in the National For- ests, and the Forest Service has long since furnished a list of them to the War De- partment.
A BEARING McCALLISTER AT ALLENTOWN, PA.
Maligned and discredited, the McCal- lister Pecan, one of the most beautiful shade trees known and one of the largest nuts ever grown except the cocoanut shows signs of vindicating itself in the east.
True, the two trees at Milford, Dela- ware bear beautifully when fed. Ford Wilkinson reports a bearing tree now and then in southern Indiana. But still those who are sure that ''whatever you recommend new or different is wrong used the argument that they hadn't borne in Pennsylvania . . . that what few have borne are not well filled and are irreg ular bearers.
From a conversation with Henry L Guth of Wescoeville, a suburb of Allen- town, I gleaned the following notes from my file.
Planted about '34 size 4-5;. Bore 40 nuts — size normal. Filled fairly well as expressed by the planter.
One Busseron Pecan — these never fall Busseron always blooms ahead of Mc Callister, therefore, McCallister must have self pollenated or crossed with wil(^ hickory. Soil low — wet — rich.
Forest LEA^t^
Pennsylvania Nut Growers' Association
A Practical Body of Nut Growers Whose Aim Is to Stimulate Greater Interest in Nut-Tree Planting
Black Walnut Kernel
Your Part in the War Effort
by H. Gleason Mattoon
ONLY wishful thinking bolsters our hopes that this war will be conclud- ed in a year or two, for there is no tangible evidence upon which to base such an ex- pectation. Production of war materials and food stuffs will, in the end, determine the victor. Production of guns, tanks, shells and ships is speeding along at a pace undreamed of, but the production of food stuffs has not kept pace with the needs of our people and our allies.
This may sound fantastic when we recall that not so long ago this country was wrestling with surplusses and penal- izing over-production. But the picture has changed. Countless farm workers are in the Army and Navy. Others, at- tracted by high wages, have migrated to centers of war production, where they are niaking more in a week than the farmer could afford to pay them for a month's ^ork. Food produced on the farms is actually going to waste because help can "ot be had to harvest it. Moreover, the problem of transporting food stuffs is be- coming increasingly difficult. All means of transportation are being taxed to the utmost in our all-out war effort.
All of this was realized this spring ^hen the victory garden movement was started. But we must do more than raise ^ few carrots, peas and cabbages. We
i'l.
V
OCTOBKR, 1912
should plan for maximum production on the space available. Berries, tree fruits and nuts should be included in our plans for the coming year.
You may say that it takes too long for apples, or chestnuts, or walnuts to come into bearing; that there is little use in planning for five or ten years ahead. How do we know? We have no assur- ance that five or ten years from now the food situation will not be more acute rat- her than less. Whether the war will have been won in ten years or not, you who plant tree crops and berries now will be grateful for having done so. The satis- faction of being able to pick chestnuts or other nuts from your own trees will make you appreciate your foresight. Moreover, nuts are high in protein and may be a necessary substitute for meat.
As this is written, items are appearing in the newspapers indicating that our armed forces and our allies require such a large percentage of our supply of meat that the civilian allotment will have to be cut drastically. Meat rationing is in the offing. No finer or more palatable sub- stitute for meat to supply proteins can be found than the black walnut. Chestnuts and hickories contain proteins, as well as carbohydrates. These are all dual pur- pose trees, that is they are distinctly orn- amental, as well as food producers.
You should plan now for fall plant- ing. It will take time to decide upon the location for these trees and which to choose for the space available.
FERTILIZER RESEARCH UNDER WAY
L. K. Hostetter, of Lancaster, Pennsyl- vania, R. D. No. 3, writes this office that Professor Pagan of State College sent him the fertilizer announcing that Professor Pagan was continuing the set up as dis- cussed in these columns before, except that representatives of State College and Cornell expected to supervise this work personally, but since we are trying to fertilize Hitler under, many activities are being curtailed everywhere.
Seventeen
Mountain Troops at Mt. Rainier
BY AGREEMENT between the Na- tional Park Service of the Interior Department and the War Department, ski and mountain troops used certain areas in Mount Rainier National Park last winter on a temporary basis for test training purposes.
The 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Mountain Regiment (Reinforced), was activated at Fort Lewis, Washington, on November 15, 1941, and went into train- ing at the park. The Tatoosh Club and Paradise Lodge serve as winter quarters for the soldiers, but the new national park ski lodge is open for the public. Ac- cording to the National Park Service, there were 136,000 recreational skiers at Rainier in the winter of 1940-41, and there was an even heavier week-end use of the ski slopes last season.
The Army is developing the present small force of mountain troops in order to test the best procedures for training soldiers to travel over rough mountain terrain in winter and summer, as well as to determine the best means for bringing up equipment and supplies for such troops. This experimental force is also testing the new equipment items designed by the Quartermaster Corps for winter and mountain warfare.
Official assurances have been given that preservation of scenic and wildlife values will not be relaxed for the new training program. Realizing the interference with wildlife that might result from firing of rifles, machine guns and artillery, the Army did not request that any exception be made to the National Park Service reg- ulation against firing weapons in the park. Notwithstanding the lurid imag- ination of the artist who pictured enemy troops on Mount Rainier in the March 2 issue of Life magazine, the possibility of this area being "invaded" is fantastic.
Winter use of Mount Rainier for test training purposes should have no appreci-
Sixteen
able effect upon the park, but summer use by mountain troops would be detrimen- tal to natural conditions. During the period when ample snow cover does not protect the ground, even the experimen- tal force should be transferred to areas outside of the National Parks.
When the Army mobilizes its pro- jected thousands of mountain troops, other areas should be used for their prac- tice maneuvers on an extensive scale. Many less restricted and equally suitable areas are available in the National For- ests, and the Forest Service has long since furnished a list of them to the War De- partment.
A BEARING McCALLISTER AT ALLENTOWN, PA.
Maligned and discredited, the McCal- lister Pecan, one of the most beautiful shade trees known and one of the largest nuts ever grown except the cocoanut shows signs of vindicating itself in the east.
True, the two trees at Milford, Dela- ware bear beautifully when fed. Ford Wilkinson reports a bearing tree now and then in southern Indiana. But still those who are sure that ''whatever you recommend new or different is wrong used the argument that they hadn't borne in Pennsylvania . . . that what few have borne are not well filled and are irreg- ular bearers.
From a conversation with Henry L Guth of Wescoeville, a suburb of Allen- town, I gleaned the following notes from my file.
Planted about '34 size 4-5;. Bore 40 nuts — size normal. Filled fairly well as expressed by the planter.
One Busseron Pecan — these never fall Busseron always blooms ahead of Mc Callister, therefore, McCallister must have self pollenated or crossed with wil^ hickory. Soil low — wet — rich.
Forest LEA^^^
Pennsylvania Nut Growers' Association
A Practical Body of Nut Growers Whose Aim Is to Stimulate Greater Interest in Nut-Tree Planting
Black Walnut Kernel
Your Part in the War Effort
by H. Gleason Mattoon
ONLY wishful thinking bolsters our hopes that this war will be conclud- ed in a year or two, for there is no tangible evidence upon which to base such an ex- pectation. Production of war materials and food stuffs will, in the end, determine the victor. Production of guns, tanks, shells and ships is speeding along at a pace undreamed of, but the production of food stuffs has not kept pace with the needs of our people and our allies.
This may sound fantastic when we recall that not so long ago this country was wrestling with surplusses and penal- izing over-production. But the picture has changed. Countless farm workers are in the Army and Navy. Others, at- tracted by high wages, have migrated to centers of war production, where they are niaking more in a week than the farmer could afford to pay them for a month's Work. Food produced on the farms is actually going to waste because help can not be had to harvest it. Moreover, the problem of transporting food stuffs is be- coming increasingly difficult. All means of transportation are being taxed to the utinost in our all-out war effort.
AH of this was realized this spring When the victory garden movement was started. But we must do more than raise ^ fw carrots, peas and cabbages. We July . Octobkr, 1942
should plan for maximum production on the space available. Berries, tree fruits and nuts should be included in our plans for the coming year.
You may say that it takes too long for apples, or chestnuts, or walnuts to come into bearing; that there is little use in planning for five or ten years ahead. How do we know? We have no assur- ance that five or ten years from now the food situation will not be more acute rat- her than less. Whether the war will have been won in ten years or not, you who plant tree crops and berries now will be grateful for having done so. The satis- faction of being able to pick chestnuts or other nuts from your own trees will make you appreciate your foresight. Moreover, nuts are high in protein and may be a necessary substitute for meat.
As this is written, items are appearing in the newspapers indicating that our armed forces and our allies require such a large percentage of our supply of meat that the civilian allotment will have to be cut drastically. Meat rationing is in the offing. No finer or more palatable sub- stitute for meat to supply proteins can be found than the black walnut. Chestnuts and hickories contain proteins, as well as carbohydrates. These are all dual pur- pose trees, that is they are distinctly orn- amental, as well as food producers.
You should plan now for fall plant- ing. It will take time to decide upon the location for these trees and which to choose for the space available.
FERTILIZER RESEARCH UNDER WAY
L. K. Hostetter, of Lancaster, Pennsyl- vania, R. D. No. 3, writes this office that Professor Pagan of State College sent him the fertilizer announcing that Professor Pagan was continuing the set up as dis- cussed in these columns before, except that representatives of State College and Cornell expected to supervise this work personally, but since we are trying to fertilize Hitler under, many activities are being curtailed everywhere.
Seventeen
I
INTENTIONAL SECOND EXPOSURE
HERE FOLKS— A CHANCE FOR A REAL INVESTMENT
Dear Mr. Hershey:
From a card I received from Chas. Stephens, Columbus, Kas., I saw that you are still in the pecan tree nursery business. I often saw your name in the American Nut Journal while it was published.
As you are an experienced pecan nurs- eryman and have come in contact with many pecan tree enthusiasts I make this proposition to you. As I am now nearly 86 years old I wish to retire, and sell my place to a pecan lover to carry on.
The total number of pecan trees on my 236 acres is 4,000, 1,000 natural seedlings 2 ft. in diameter, 2,200 of the 100% Harris pecan about one-half of them in bearing 326 topgrafted to Bus- seron, Indiana, Green River, Wiblack, Warrick, Posey, Butterick, Marmiton, Osage, McMurray, Collins, 1 Squirrels Delight, 1 Williams, 1 Texas Prolific, 1 Burcket, 1 Alexander, 1 Robinson, 480 in Orchard rows, which are Max- miton Osage, Stump, Lite, Busseron and Indiana.
Will sell for $8,000.00 cash. It is worth easily three times that much to a younger man or a man having children. I, myself, was never married and have only one old maid sister living, nearly 70 years old. Glad to answer any questions from you.
J. F. TiEDKE,
Rich Hill, Mo.
Located in Bates County south of Kansas City near Kansas border. — Ed.
Dear Mr. Hershey:
So far the Stambough and Stabler are the most dependable varieties as to bear- ing. The Stambough bears almost too heavy; for then this year is the off year but the Stablers are full. The Thomas is full too, but over half of them have
Eighteen
black kernels. This spring I put about 12 lbs. of 10-6-4 fertilizer around the tree which is from 15 to 20 feet high, trunk diameter 10 or 12 inches. The tree has nice dark green leaves this year.
The Ohio is a pretty good bearer but I don't think so much of it. Too poor a cracker. Ten Eyck is a heavy bearer but not much better than the Ohio. The Mintle and the Elmer Meyers bore a few nuts last year. The Elmer Meyers appears to be a very good walnut, but the Mintle is a little small. The Korn is bearing its first crop this year. It's a young tree with about 17 walnuts on it.
Enos D. Peachey,
Belleville, Pa.
July 28, 1942 Mr. John W. Hershey,
Downingtown, Pa.
Dear Sir:
About Pinecrest and Waite Black Walnuts. With me the Pinecrest seems to bear young and quite heavy at times. A large nut, but not as good quality as Thomas. Thin shell. Trees shed leaves early.
The Waite bears quite well — a large nut has a thin hull but a hard thick shell quality very good.
Yours truly,
E. G. Rice,
Alisher, Ky.
NOTICE — NOTICE Walnut Kernels Wanted
The Grigsby Nut Kitchen owner, 13 Watchung Ave., Plainfield, N. J' stopped in the other day and says he would like to contact orchard men who have quality walnut kernels to sell- Write him if you are looking for ^ market.
Forest Leaves
The Influenza of Mycorrhiza on Growth of Korean Nut Pine
by John W. Hershey
«
tNTHE spring of 1938 we had stand-
1 ing in our nursery at Downingtown 24 of these plants, running from 6 to 15 inches tall 13 years of age. These had been transplanted from the seed bed. Some time later, probably 6 years, they were moved to their present site, for they had been making no growth and we had to keep moving them out of the road of commercial nursery practice.
In the spring of 1938 a cigar box full of soil from a thriving Pinas Koriensis, standing in Warren, N. H., was spread over 12 of these trees. Being in a single, continuous row, it is natural that the cultivator dragged the bacteria from the trees inoculated to all of them in the row.
On November 6, 1941, after 4 grow- ing seasons, these 24 trees measured from
2 to 4H feet. A 37" tree was dug, bare root, and the roots carefully examined, showing a heavy infection of mycorrhiza. This individual tree measured 15" in the spring of 1938, making a phenomenal growth in 4 seasons of 25" in height, with an excellent spread and nicely devel- oped shape.
This proves the value of inoculation of soil with mycorrhiza in the planting , of forest species in soil that has been plowed for centuries.
FINDINGS IN GUINEA HEN'S CROP
August 4, 1941
Nearly 2 dozen Japanese beetles, one s^ing bug. one praying mantis, large number of grasshoppers. In addition to
3 mass of unidentifiable crushed bugs ^ith grass.
In the gizzard: 8 wild cherry stones, ^nis shows the value of these fowl in a f3rm program.
jlI.Y - OCTOBKR, 1942
y
Winter Meeting
The Farm Show will not be a show this year. Exhibits have been banned because of the war and its attendant strain on the transporta- tion systems of the country. Organ- izations which normally meet during the Farm Show week are invited to hold their meetings in the Farm Show Building on January 12, 13, and 14. On one of those days, the winter meeting of the Pennsylvania Nut Growers Associa- tion is to be held.
There will be a round-table dis- cussion of the problems of and prog- ress in nut growing to which every- one, whether he is a member of the Association or not, is invited. Each person should be prepared to take part in the discussion. Frequently, more points of practical value are brought out in such informal meet- ings than with prepared papers.
H. Gleason Mattoon,
President.
PECANS IN UTAH
"The story is told that in 1854 Syl- vester L. Perry and three others took their axes and left Mount Fort, a place built by the Mormons for protection from the Indians, and went down the Weber River about eight miles, and staked their homestead claims. In 1856 Mr. Perry, with others, took their teams and went to Winter's Quarters, a place nearly opposite Council Bluffs, on the west side of the Missouri River, for freight, a distance of more than a thou- sand miles from Ogden. While there, Mr. Perry dug up three small pecan trees and brought them back with him in the jockey box of his wagon.
"The return trip required at least three months. These trees were dug up in the middle of the growing season and were
Nineteen
f
carried for ninety days in a wagon and were planted on his claim at what is now known as Slatersville. Two of them grew.
*'The subject of our story was planted on a little elevation (a knoll) about sev- enty feet from a swale, which is now used as an irrigation ditch, and a small ditch is now close to the foot of the tree.
**The tree is nearly seven feet in cir- cumference; has a spread of more than fifty feet and is about sixty feet tall. It is very vigorous and healthy and bears a crop of nuts each year.
The above story was sent to us by P. L. Orth, Ogden, Utah.
The rainfall in the region where this pecan tree is growing is 1 6 inches, accord- ing to the county agent. The fact that it has stood there and produced annual crops for so many years is undoubtedly due to the fact that there is a small ditch (a ditch in the west means it's full of irri- gation water) near the foot of the tree.
WALNUT SHELLS SPEED BOMBER OUTPUT
A few walnut shells, a baker's bread mixer and a copper kettle — and you have a plastic compound used in the produc- tion of flving fortresses. The process was perfected by "Mop" Basolo, foreman of the Lockheed wood shop. The walnut shells are ground to a fine flour-like pow- der and then mixed with an oil resin and a catalyst or accelerator. This mixture is placed in an ordinary baker's bread mixer, stirred thoroughly and poured into molds which previously were made from a special compound mixed in a cop- per kettle.
After being allowed to set for a few minutes the "walnut bread" is placed in a cookie oven and allowed to bake at a temperature of 175 degrees until it is done. When completed the plastic cast- ing may be used as a drill jig, a forming die that will stand up to 8,000 pounds pressure per square inch, a formed router
Tufrnty
black, a shaper block, saw jig, p^jj^j jig, checking fixture or forming die for plexiglass noses. Anyway, it saves metal and time.
From Chemergic Digest
EVERGREEN SEEDLINGS
Grow Christmas Trees for Profit
Per 1000
Douglas Fir (2 year) - - - - jyQQ
Red Pine (2 year) 7.00
White Pine (4 year transplants)
per 100 3.50
Write for Complete List
ULRICH NURSERY
38 Waverly Street, Shillington, Pa.
Plant CHINESE HYBRID CHESTNUT TREES for Pleasure and ProHf
Blight Resistant and Early Bearers, Sweet Like the Old American, Send for Catalog:.
RUMBAUGH CHESTNUT FARM
DUNCANNOX, PA.
Cherry Trees ^^ Mazzard Roots
* One of Our SpeoialtieH
ENTERPRISE NURSERIES
Geo. K. Stein & Son
K- 1>. 1 WRIGHTSVILLE, PA.
Complete catalog: furnished ii|>on request.
CHESTNUTS
Bearing Blight - Resistant
Easily grown, heavy yielders. Northern strai*
Plant in the dooryard for Beauty - Profit - Shadf Nuts - Fun. Send postcard today for FREE boote and price list on English Walnuts, Stabler Black Wil nuts, etc. Excellent for ornamental purposes. I bav experimented with nut trees for over 44 years.
SUNNY RIDGR NIRSERY Box F. I.. SUARTHMOKE. F»
NUT BEARING TREES
Since 1896 fjoneN* Nurseries liuve been fCrowiuK: imiiroved varieties of nut trees. Deseriptive eatalofcue free.
J. F. JONES NURSERIES
I>ept. 1441 L.ANCASTKR, PA,
When you're stumped as to how to make your farnj i)ay, just writ<' "•' for list of nut and crop trees and how to use them. Fifty yours
NUT TREES and
TREE CROPS experience in twenty gives us f^
good background as a consultant-
of
NUT TREE NURSERIES
JOHN AV. hf:rshiov
DOWNINCiTOUN, PA.
Box
6Sf'
FORE-ST LEA«'
y
LIVINGSTON PUBLISHING COMPANY NARBERTH, PENNA.
THE PENNSYLVANIA FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
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Honorary President |
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Samuel L. Smedley |
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President |
Honorary Vice-President |
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Wilbur K. Ihomas |
Robert S. Conklin |
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Vice-Presidents |
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Victor Beede Francis R. Cope^ Jr. Dr. O. F. Jennings F. G. Knights |
Wm. S. B. McCaleb Edward C. M. Richards Dr. J. R. Schramm |
Francis R. 1 aylor Dr. E. E. Wildman George H. Wirt Edward Woolman |
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Secretary |
Assistant Secretary |
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H. Gleason Mai toon |
M. Claire Meyers |
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Treasurer |
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Roy a. Wright |
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EXECUTIVE BOARD |
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Victor Beede E. F. Brouse r. s. conklin Francis R. Cope, Jr. Dr. G. a. Dick John W. Hershey Philip A. Livingston |
H. Gleason Mattoon Wm. S. B. McCaleb Stanley Mesavagi: Edw. C. M. Rk;hards Dr. J. R. Schramm ■ H. L. Shirley |
Samuel L. Smedley Francis R. Taylor Wilbur K. Thomas Dr. E. E. Wildman George H. Wirt Edward Woolman Roy A. Wright |
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FINANCE COMMITTEE |
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Edward Woolman, Chairman |
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Samuel F. Houston |
Frank M. Hardt |
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PUBLICATION COMMITTEE |
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H E. F. Brouse Devereux Butcher |
[. Gleason Maiioon, Chairman Mrs. Paul Lewis Dr. J. R. Schramm P. A. Livingston Mrs. Robert C. Wrighi Ralph P. Russell |
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LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE |
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Edward S. Weyl F. R. Cope, Jr. |
F. R. Taylor, Chairman AUDITING COMMITTEE |
Wm. Clarke Mason W. W. Montgomery |
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E. F. Brouse |
Ralph P. Russell, Chairman Edward Woolman |
Dr. Arthur W. Henn Edward C. M. Richards
TIONESTA COMMITTEE ,
Francis R. Cope, Jr., Chairman
Dr. J. R. Schramm Dr. H. H. York
FOREST LEAVES
THE PENNSYLVANIA FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1942
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Content
Luzerne County Looks at Her Forests 1
by Hardy L. Shirley
An Appreciation of Robert S. Conklin 3
by George H. Wirt
Editorial 4
Bulletins on Maple Syrup Production 4
Wood as Emergency Fuel 5
Strip Mining of Coal 8
England's Wooden Walls Reborn - - - - 1 0
by Geoffrey Partner
Wood Pulp and Cotton Have Gone to War 12
Pennsylvania Nut Growers' Section 15
Report on Chestnut Breeding 15
by Arthur Hannount Graves
THE PENNSYLVANIA FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
Founded in June, 1886
Labors to disseminate information in regard to the necessity and methods of forest culture and preservation, and to secure the enactment and enforcement of proper forest protective laws, both State and National.
ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP FEE, THREE DOLLARS
One Dollar of which is for subscription to Forest Leaves
Neither the membership nor the work of this Association is intended to be limited to the State of Pennsylvania. Persons desiring to become members should send their names to the Chairman of the Membership Committee, 1008 Commercial Trust Building, Philadelphia.
President— WiLnvvi K. Thomas
Honorary President—SAMVF.L L. Smedlev Honorary Vice-President— Kot^ert S. Conklin
Vice-Presidents
Victor Beede Wm. S. B. McCaleb Francis R. Taylor
Francis R. Cope, Jr. Edward C. M. Richards Dr. E. E. Wildman
Dr. O. E. Jennings Dr. J. R. Schramm George H. Wirt
F. G. Knights Edward Woolman
Secretary— H. Gleason Mattoon
Treasurer— K. A. Wright, C. P. A.
FOREST L EAV E S
PUBLISHED BI-MONTHLY
Entered as second class matter at the Post Office at Narberth. Pennsylvania, under the Act of March 3. 1879
Volume XXXII — No. 6 Narberth, Pa., November-December, 1942
Whole Number 312
Luzerne County Looks at Her Forests
by Hardy L. Shirley Allegheny Forest Experiment Station
LUZERNE, in common with other Penn- sylvania anthracite counties, is coal poor. So much of her prosperity is de- pendent upon coal mining and accessory industries that when chronic depression gripped the anthracite industry, the base of local prosperity became as uncertain as the soil over abandoned workings. The textile industry, long considered para- sitic, became a real bulwark in the dark- est period. The dismal outlook for a return to prosperity based on mining alone caused leading citizens to search for other industries to employ their thous- ands of jobless workers. It was only natural that they should early have looked to the other natural i:esources of the County. Among these are the for- ests. They frankly asked themselves, "Do the forest lands of Luzerne County contribute their fair share to local wel- fare, and if not, can we improve them so that they will? What will the cost of improvement be, and how many men will be employed to do the job?" These are simple and direct questions, but to answer them intelligently requires spe- cific information on the area and owner- ship of forest lands, the volume, growth, and quality of the timber, and the eco- nomic contribution forests make to the bounty in terms of income to landown- ers, wages for workers, and products for industry.
Realizing the magnitude of the task, and lacking the resources and trained per- sonnel to undertake the job themselves, ^hey appealed to the federal government
for assistance. Their appeal was granted in the form of an allotment to the Alle- gheny Forest Experiment Station for forest economics investigations in the Anthracite Region. Work began in the fall of 1939. The first task undertaken was to discover what immediate steps, clearly in the long time interests of bet- ter forest practice, might be taken that would furnish useful work to unem- ployed and be within the resources of local and state government sponsorship. Projects designed to improve access to forest land for better fire protection and utilization appeared most satisfactory in meeting this need. Having a reasonable backlog of work projects lined up for immediate use if needed, attention was then directed to the long term job. Data on forest land ownership were obtained directly from coal and water companies, and indirectly from county records for small landholders. At the same time, information on the amount of land tax delinquent and the duration of delin- quency was determined. Lacking spe- cific information on the condition of for- est land a field forest inventory was planned and set in motion. This involved gridironing the county with forest cruise lines spaced three miles apart running across the topography. Along these sam- ples of timber size, volume, and growth were taken at one-tenth mile intervals. Special timber volume tables were con- structed to convert field tallies into board feet and cubic feet of timber, and tons of mine props.
The Work Projects Administration, O. P. 165-2-23-834 and -1605, furn- ished indispensable aid in the field and office. From aerial photographs, base maps, and others showing land devoted to urban use, mining use, agriculture, and forest were built up. Mining compan- ies, railroads, lumber yards, farmers, and others were interviewed to determine the annual requirements of the County for forest products. Timber operators and sawmill owners furnished information on the amount of timber harvested from forest lands of the County. Special studies were made of utilization stand- ards for mine timbers and saw timber.
The data so collected were analyzed, correlated, and interpreted in terms of present county welfare. Further anal- yses were made to form a basis for pre- dicting the ultimate potentialities of the forest land if it were all placed on sus- tained production at a high level, and suggestions as to how soon and by what means such a level could be attained were set forth. A sample of the data is given in table 1.
Armed with this specific information, citizens of Luzerne County can appraise accurately the present value of forests in the local economy, and they can intelli- gently plan for improving the forests. They now know that forests cover 63 per cent of the land area, and that neither agriculture nor mining use is likely to encroach much on the timber area. They know that almost 60,000 acres, covered with brush, will require planting before they contribute appreciably to county income. The forest is predominantly young growth and current cutting prac- tices press hard on the immature forests as soon as they bear a merchantable crop of small props. Because timber of mer- chantable size occupies such a small pro- portion of total area, growth is less than one-third the potential productive power. Board foot volume should be increased almost six-fold. Current income from forests is substantial but hardly one-sixth what it might be. A yield of 45 million
Two
PRESENT STATUS AND FUTURE POSSIBILITIES OF LUZERNE COUNTY'S FOREST LAND
Item Luzerne Co. Luzerne Co.
Pres. Forests Pot. Forests
Forest Areas, acres
Sawtimber 28,600 240,000
Merchantable cordwood... 82,000 60,000
Unmerchantable cordwood 188,500 40,000
Scrub growth 59,400 5.200
Recreation lands 6,700 20.000
Total 365,200 365,200-f
Merchantable Forest Volumes Total
Sawtimber, M bd. ft 138,715 800.000
Mine timbers, tons 1.600,000 4,500,000
Forest Growth Annual
Sawtimber, M bd. ft 13,025 45,000
Mine timber, tons 204,000 360.000
Forest Drain Annual
Sawtimber, M bd. ft 6,380 45,000
Mine timber, tons 122,500 360,000
Value of Forest Products
Annual $650,000 $4,000,000
Income to forest owners $120,000 $ 675,000
Taxes on timberland .... 40,000 80,000
Year-long jobs, number 276 3,000
board feet annually can be attained by the year 1982 if the county begins today to divert the cutting of some 5 million board feet of props from trees that can make saw timber to trees suitable for props but unsuited for sawlogs. An an- nual deposit of 5 million board feet in the county's timber savings bank where it draws interest at 5.6 per cent com- pounded annually will within 40 years increase forest growing stock to the 800 million level. This need cause no im- portant disturbance in present income to labor or landowners, and no decrease in tons of props for the mines. Labor and landowner income can in fact be increased by concentrating saw timber cutting on the larger trees that yield good lumber. provided this in turn is remanufactured into such products as patterns, toys, fur- niture, handles, etc., that use much labor but little wood. Timber requirements are in excess even of ultimate forest prO' ductivity ; hence an active market for for- est products is likely to remain V^^' manently.
Few will deny that Luzerne's forests offer an excellent opportunity for i^' i
An Appreciation of Robert S. Conklin
(Continued on Page 11)
Forest Leaves
THE GREATEST teacher of the world stated that greatness is in direct pro- portion to service. On that basis there passed from our midst a great man, when Robert S. Conklin, honorary Vice-Presi- dent of the Pennsylvania Forestry Asso- ciation died September 26, 1942. It is not unusual in newspaper work to have important activities and personalities crowd each other from front page space. It is not unusual for quiet, persistent, and unspectacular service to be unnoticed and unsung. Such were the situations and conditions with respect to Mr. Conklin in the field of forestry in Pennsylvania. After ten years of service at the head of the Department of Forestry, Mr. Conklin, himself, paid a beautiful tribute to Dr. J. T. Rothrock and expressed his own loyalty to him in these words:
'To have been the successor of Dr. Rothrock in the office of Com- missioner of Forestry is by me es- teemed in a manner far higher than I feel I am capable of expressing. The man who won the fight for forestry in Pennsylvania: who laid its broad foundations so well: and who, while he filled that office, ad- hered so admirably to the principles for which he contended, makes it difficult for his successor to reach, or, indeed, in any way make a near approach to the high mark of his achievement. As the head of the Department which he founded, it has always been my aim to follow the well known lines pursued by Dr. Rothrock. ''
Once when the newspapers of the State were mis-stating facts with respect to Department activities, he was asked why he did not reply and correct the stories. His answer was to the effect that the Work would speak for itself louder and for a longer time than anything he could say.
November - December, 1942
Robert S. Conklin was born In Mountville, West Hempfield township, Lancaster county, July 24, 1858. He attended the public schools and then served an apprenticeship in a printing office. He became a foreman in the plant of the Columbia News and worked for a time in the State printing establishment at Harrisburg. For a time he was associ- ated with his father-in-law, William Pat- ton, in a merchant tailoring firm.
In 1893 he was appointed as message clerk of the House of Representatives in Harrisburg. On November 8, 1895, he was appointed to the position of clerk in the Bureau of Forestry, Department of Agriculture. Dr. J. T. Rothrock had become the Commissioner of For- estry in this new function of State gov- ernment on September 14. At that time these two men began a long period of close association and cooperation and their friendship grew with each passing year.
On February 25, 1901, by legislative enactment approved by the Governor, the Bureau of Forestry of the Depart- ment of Agriculture was promoted to the position of a full fledged Depart-
(Continued on Page 12)
Three
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FOREST LEAVES
Published Di-Monihly at Narherth, Pa., by The PENNSYLVANIA FORESTRY ASSOCIATION
Disseminates information and news on forestry and related subjects.
PUBLICATION COMMITTEE
H. Gleason Mattoon, Chairman
Philip A. Livingston Ralph P. Russell
Mrs. Paul Lewis Mrs. R. C. Wright
Devereux Butcher E. F. Brouse
Dr. J. R. Schramm
Tlie publication of an article in Forest Leaves does not necessarily imply that the views expressed therein are those of the Pennsylvania Forestry Association. Editorial and ad- vertising office, 1008 Commercial Trust Building, Philadel- phia. Please notify us of any change in address.
NOVEMBER - DECEMBER, 1942
Maple Sugar in Pennsylvania
'n ATIONING of sugar should give impe- -*^ tus to the maple sugar industry in Pennsylvania. In the northern half of the State from Mercer County which borders Ohio to Wayne County on the Delaware River, the sugar maple tree, Acer saccharum, grows naturally and is plentiful. Since the days of the Indians this species has been the source of the sugar and syrup produced by Pennsyl- vania woodland owners.
In the southern half of the common- wealth, the silver maple, Acer sacchar- inum, and the red maple, Acer rubrum, are native and sometimes abundant. While the amount of sap and the per- centage of sugar to be had from these species is not as great, owners of such trees may find tapping of them worth while in order to supplement their re- duced allotment of cane sugar.
Yankee ingenuity and clever advertis- ing have created the belief that the maple sugar and syrup from Vermont is supe- rior to that of other states. In Pennsyl- vania it is common gossip that the finest Vermont maple sugar is produced in Somerset, Tioga, Crawford, Mercer and McKean Counties of this state and then shipped to Vermont for repacking and
Four
labelling. This is an unverified rumor but there is little doubt that Pennsyl- vania produces as fine maple products as any other state.
The harvesting and processing of a maple sap crop is strictly a winter occu- pation when other activities on the farm are at a minimum. January and Febru- ary are the two months of greatest sap flow in most of Pennsylvania and the en- tire operation is completed before the weather moderates sufficiently to start spring work.
While priorities will likely prohibit the purchase of new evaporators, metal spiles and buckets, the average rural household has equipment that may be adapted for a small operation. In other words, to attem.pt commercial produc- tion now would likely be unwise for any but those who have the necessary equip- ment, but the production of enough sugar and syrup for home consumption is possible for nearly every one to whom maple trees are available. Moreover such a move would be a patriotic gesture.
H. G. M.
Bulletins on Maple Sugar and Syrup Production
Four years ago Pennsylvania State College, Division of Agricultural Exten- sion, State College, Pa., published a cir- cular, No. 136, entitled "The Sugar Maple Crop," which gives pertinent facts for those who are interested in pro- ducing maple sugar or syrup. It may be had without charge by writing for it.
In addition to the bulletin mentioned above, one by G. L. Collinwood and J A. Cope entitled "Maple Sugar and Syrup" available from the New York State College for Agriculture, Ithaca, N. Y., is worth while. Farmers Bulletin No. 1366 issued by the U. S. Depart- ment of Agriculture also furnishes infor- mation on the subject. This may be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Department of Agri- culture, Washington, D, C.
Forest Leaves
Wood As Emergency Fuel
MILLIONS OF cords of wood are now going to waste on the farm wood- lots of the United States and Canada, as well as the larger forests in public and private ownership. This situation is a serious obstacle to the practice of for- estry. Nature is supplying us with a valuable product for which at present there is only a limited market. If this condition can be remedied, landowners will be able to secure some return from their timber stands during the period when they are being built up to a profit- able basis, and the opportunity for em- ployment of labor in the woods will be greatly increased. In lumbering opera- tions, tops and limbs make up another form of waste.
Cordwood is not generally a profitable crop, but it is an essential by-product of forestry operations. Woodland brings the highest return when producing saw logs of high grade. To strip off^ the stand by clear-cutting, or to cut out the better trees as soon as they are big enough to use for fuel, is a losing proposition. In the long run the owner will make more money by judicious thinning. This leaves his timber capital intact, besides increasing the rate of growth. But the average timber owner cannot be expected to improve his woodland by thinning unless there is some immediate return: he must be able to sell the fuel-wood which be takes out. A profitable market for fuel-wood is one of the biggest needs in American forestry today.
Comparative Fuel Values
In heat value, wood compares favor- ably with other fuels. Our best species, if well seasoned, are capable of producing as much heat per cord as a ton of coal or 200 gallons of domestic fuel oil. whether wood will be an economy in any particular case, depends on the price of Wood as compared with the price of
November - December, 1942
other fuels. In a fuel shortage the use of wood may be a necessity. The heat value of wood is roughly proportional to its dry weight.
In the following table, the first col- umn of figures gives the weight of green wood per cord, and the second column the weight of a cord of wood in air-dry condition (20% moisture content), on the basis of 75 cu. ft. of solid wood per cord, which is a fair average for New England hardwoods. The gross fuel value of air-dry wood in the third col- umn is stated in Btu (British termal unit, the amount of heat required to raise one pound of water through one degree Fahrenheit) figured at 6,880 Btu per pound (7,200 Btu for red and white pines). In fuel consumption, the per- centage of efficiency, that is the propor- tion of the gross fuel value actually util- ized, ranges from 50 to 75 per cent. With modern equipment wood compares fa- vorably in efficiency with other fuels.
species Wgt. per Wgt., air- Gross Heat vat.
cord grn. dry, tbs. air-dry, Btu
Shagbark Hickory... 4800 4010 27.600.000
White Oak 4650 3860 26,600.000
Beech 4050 3620 24.900,000
Sugar Maple 4200 3540 24.400.000
Red Oak 4725 3540 24.400.000
Birch 4275 3540 24,400,000
White Ash 3600 3380 23,200.000
Red Maple 3750 3060 21.000,000
American Elm 4050 2810 19.300.000
.Red Pine 3150 2730 19,600,000
Aspen 3230 2130 14.600.000
White Pine 2700 2010 14.500,000
Maximum Btu, based on Connecticut experience: Domestic Anthracite, per ton, 25.000,000, Buckwheat Anthracite, per ton. 24,000.000
Steam Coal, per ton. 29.000.000
No. 2 Domestic Fuel Oil. per gallon. 140.000
No. 5 Industrial Fuel Oil, per gallon. 150,000
The Slow Combustion Method
Why has wood, with its high heat value, been steadily losing ground to competing fuels, such as coal and oil? The answer is that, under present meth- ods, it costs too much to burn wood,
Five
from the standpoint both of money and convenience. Fuelwood in the forest is relatively cheap, but by the time it reaches the consumer, antiquated methods of log- ging and distribution have offset this advantage. Furthermore, the efficiency of the old-fashioned type of wood stove or boiler may be low, and the fire must be stoked at frequent intervals.
In European countries the problem of a fuel-wood market has been even more acute than here. Their forest research laboratories set out to discover an efficient method of burning wood. Because of its high gas content, wood requires a special type of stove or furnace. Instead of al- lowing the combustible elements to es- cape up the chimney or to be deposited on the flues in the form of soot and cre- osote, they can be passed along a cir- cuitous route where they will be mixed with an air current of high temperature and practically all consumed. That is, by slow combustion the wood is distilled into gas, which is then burned under fa- vorable conditions. The stoves designed on this principle have a high efficiency. Wood is fed automatically to the grate by gravity from a fuel magazine.
The advantage of the new type of stove may be summarized as follows: 1. Greater convenience. The fuel mag- azine needs to be filled only once every 8 to 24 hours, depending on the weather, and the stoves require little other atten- tion. 2. Economy. The efficiency is substantially increased, so that less wood is required. Lower grades of fuel-wood can be utilized. 3. Relative freedom from soot and tar, which should reduce the fire hazard. 4. As compared with coal, wood is comparatively free from ash, and such ash as there is has a ferti- lizing value. 5. The owner of woodland can provide his own fuel from thinnings and other forest waste, worked up by his own labor. 6. By making wood cheaper to burn, we shall create a new demand for it, especially in rural areas. That has been the experience in various countries of Europe. When less fuel is required for each stove now burning
Six
wood, many more wood stoves will come into use.
Our first step was to arrange for the importation from Germany of a number of stoves of this improved type. The "Juno" stove works well when direc- tions are carefully followed. It takes sticks up to 4x4x8 inches, weighs packed 340 pounds, and can be used to heat a cabin or single room. A limited number of "Juno" stoves are still obtainable from Robert E. Miller, Inc., 35 Pearl Street, New York, at a reduced price of $25.00, plus truck or freight charges from New York
The Char-Wood Heater After experimenting with the "Juno," the Marketing Committee cooperated with Professor Lauren E. Seeley of Yale University in designing a slow-combus- tion stove adapted to American needs. Although certain defects developed in the early models which would require rem- edy, our ''Char- Wood Heater" was giv- ing general satisfaction and aroused a surprising amount of interest. The in- quiries which poured into our office from all over the United States and Canada. as well as from a number of foreign coun- tries, bear witness to the demand for an efficient and convenient wood stove. Un- fortunately the manufacturers felt obliged to discontinue production, ow- ing to the pressure of war orders in their regular line. We are negotiating with another reliable company to undertake the production of an improved model Research along the same line is also being carried out by other agencies. While wait- ing for the ideal heater, we list below some other stoves now on the market; no complete tests are yet available, but as they are equipped with thermostats they should give an even heat and arc designed to operate for long periods with- out refueling.
Other Improved Wood Stoves
The Ashley line of steel stoves, inaac
by the Ashley Automatic Wood Stoyc
Co., Columbia, S. C is widely used in
the South. They are equipped with oi-
Forest Leaves
metal thermostats and patented down- draft, and require refueling only twice a day. The retail price for the Regular models runs from $32.95 to $45.95.
Riteway Heaters are made by the Rite- way Products Co., Harrisonburg, Va. They are oval in shape and equipped with automatic temperature regulators and humidifiers. The Radiant model is priced at $47.50.
Shenandoah Equipment Corporation, Harrisonburg, Va., makes an automatic Wood-burning residence Heater, ranging in price from $13.50 to $18.90. This company also supplies a line of wood- burning poultry equipment. The price of the Brooder, complete with canopy, is $24.00. The Ventiheater, which is a combination heating and ventilating sys- tem, sells for $108.00 up.
Setting up a Stove
In spite of their limitations, old-fash- ioned types of wood stoves are useful for heating a room or a small house, or for heating water. A stove can be set up wherever there is an opening for a stove- pipe into a separate chimney flue. (Two heating units on the same flue tend to interfere with one another. ) In order to avoid a fire hazard, care should be taken to have the joints of the stove-pipe tight and the flue clean, and an insulated stove board should be placed on the floor under the stove.
When running the stove at low tem- perature, do not use green wood, which will deposit moisture and creosote i^i the pipe and flue. With a hot fire, fairly green wood can be burned. In other words, save out some thoroughly seasoned sticks to use in starting a fire or when you want only a slow fire.
Wood Furnaces
The slow combustion furnaces for steam or hot water which we introduced TOm Sweden (Horrahammers line, han- dled by the Sandvik Saw and Tool Cor- Porati()n, 47 Warren Street, New York) nave given good satisfaction but are not ^^ present available. Wood-burning November - December, 1942
furnaces of the older type are still on the market. As in the case of wood stoves, green wood should be avoided when run- ning a low fire, on account of the danger of soot and creosote. This danger may be reduced somewhat by insulating the pipe connection between the furnace or stove and the chimney. To maintain a good draft and reduce the fire hazard, chimneys should be cleaned periodically and inspected for cracks and loose pointing.
Adapting Furnaces for Wood
Ordinary coal-burning equipment can be used for wood, although the attend- ance periods will be more frequent. The use of wood in the boiler of a common hot-water heating system is not recom- mended. When the boiler-water temper- atures are relatively low, a large deposit of creosote will result and frequent clean- ing will be necessary. The same objec- tion does not apply to steam boilers. In general, excessive creosote formations do not appear when the water in the boiler is above 160° F. With steam boilers, it is possible in some cases to secure larger storage capacity in the combustion cham- ber by taking out the grate and maintain- ing a wood fire on the ash-pit floor, with a row of fire brick to insulate the ash-pit casing. There is less ash with wood than with coal, and a certain amount of ash helps to hold the fire.
A certain amount of wood can be mixed with coal or coke in regular do- mestic furnaces, in order to reduce fuel cost. Wood can be used in the propor- tion of one part wood to two of coal, up to two parts wood to three of coal, depending on whether there is a notice- able condensation of moisture. The wood may be in the form of either sticks or chunks, and wood that is only partially seasoned has been burned satisfactorily. The best results are obtained by having each piece of wood surrounded by a layer of other fuel. In case creosote forms on the furnace pipes and flues, it can be burned out by putting a small amount of salt in the fire-pot.
Seven
Strip Mining of Coal
The increased production of coal is necessary to meet war and domestic needs. The scarcity of fuel oil has placed an added respon- sibility on the coal mine operators to produce to the utmost. To meet this increased demand the operators are opening up new acces- sible veins in great numbers.
The results of such strip mining operations are illustrated on these pages. That such denuding of the landscape is necessary, no one can gainsay, but some plan for replanting these barren refuse piles and guUeys should be studied. Such replanting should be considered a legitimate charge against the mining of coal.
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Nine
Strip Mining of Coal
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The increased production of coal is necessary to meet war and domestic needs. The scarcity of fuel oil has placed an added respon- sibility on the coal mine operators to produce to the utmost. To meet this increased demand the operators are opening up new acces- sible veins in great numbers.
The results of such strip mining operations are illustrated on these pages. That such denuding of the landscape is necessary, no one can gainsay, but some plan for replanting these barren refuse piles and gulleys should be studied. Such replanting should be considered a legitimate charge against the mining of coal.
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November - December, 1942
Nine
INTENTIONAL SECOND EXPOSURE
I
England's Wooden Walls Reborn
IN THE DEADLY M. T. B/s by Geoffrey Farmer
THERE IS a great rustling in the woods throughout Britain as autumn draws on, and the moving leaves reveal an abundant crop of acorns on the great oaks. Last year there were hardly any; this year the trees are laden. And our poultry keepers and farmers can do with every one of them.
"Sole king of forests all," sang Spen- ser of the oak, and once again in time of need is the monarch of trees coming to our aid. As mentioned, it is supplymg thousands of tons of valuable food to our agriculturists and, as well, oak tim- ber is still going to the making of ships for the Royal Navy. In the days of the Saxons, oak mast, as the acorn harvest was known, fed their swine. Now, all over the country the school children are once again gathering the acorns which, crushed and mixed with other food, can be safely fed to animals. In the peasant countries of Central and Southwest Europe the ancient custom of driving the pigs into the woods to feed in autumn still survives.
Even more important than this is the contribution the oaks are making to the country's war effort in the shape of tini- bcr. As in the days of Nelson, the oak is enabling us to assert our supremacy on the oceans. Then English oak from the New Forest and the Forest of Dean went to build Nelson's men-o'-war, bulwarks of Britain. These won the battle of Trafalgar, and Nelson's famous com- patriot, CoUingwood, when at home used to go about with his pockets full of acorns, sticking them in here and there on his country rambles because he feared the day would come when there would be a dearth of oak for ship-building.
Then came the iron age, and the de-
Reptinted by Courtesy of Forest & Outdoors, Montreal, Canada.
Ten
mand for oak ships fell off. Now, how- ever, its timber is being used for the building of some of the Navy's deadliest craft, the M. T. B.'s for short, officially motor-torpedo-boats, which carry such a sting in their tails that Nazi U-boats have come to fear them almost more than any other craft pitted against them. They skim over the water at a terrific speed, and are able to approach almost within a stone's throw of the enemy's shore.
In the days of Nelson it was custom- ary for the fallen giant to be * pickled^ in a pond for a long period before bd|j1 handed over to the shipwrights. Mooerf' warfare cannot afford such leisurely methods. Today the cry is for more and more M. T. B.'s, for faster and faster building. Science has devised new meth- ods of treating the timber so that it can be handled immediately after felling; a forest tree one week, a ship the next. By new processes the beams can be pressed and treated so that they will not warp or crack. In some ways this proc- ess-seasoned wood has advantages over the old slow seasoned timber. Shells from enemy craft go through it instead of exploding and blowing a large hole in the hull.
Although in the olden days the chief reason for growing the oak was to sup- ply timber for ships, it is still a very im- portant timber tree. One reason is that whereas before the last war there were only about 400 uses for timber, now there are well over 4,000. Proof that the oak is still wanted is apparent from the fact that in normal times as many as 70,000 lbs. of acorns have been gathered on Forestry Commission property id East Anglia for seed purposes. But there is a difference in the growing of oaks to- day as compared with the days of Nelson- Then they were spaced far apart, with
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plenty of room for the huge branches to spread and bend, and for massive trunks to grow. Such were the timbers beloved of the shipwrights. Now industry de- mands long, straight trunks with no branches for a long distance, for which reason the trees are planted closer.
Acorns from the noted oaks, such as the Boscobel Oak, which sheltered Charles the Second, Kett's Oak, beneath which the Norfolk rebel dispensed just- ice, and some from the royal estates, have been sent to Canada and Australia to perpetuate the race. Britain must always have her oaks. The story is told of the famous French colonizer, Marshal Lyau- tey, that a storm blew down some mag- nificent ones in his park. He mournfully surveyed the wreckage, and said to his gardener, "We must plant some more."
"Some more," was the dour reply, "Why it takes centuries to grow such oaks." "Then," exclaimed the marshal, "we must indeed plant them immedi- ately." The anecdote has a lesson for us.
^
LUZERNE COUNTY LOOKS AT HER FORESTS
(Continued from Page 2)
proved management and that it is clearly in the interests of the county as a whole to encourage better management. What are some of the possibilities? Private landowners holding timber that is now merchantable will find it a very profitable venture to begin good forest practice. The merchantable timber as a whole now grows at the rate of 5.6 per cent. Few stable investments today offer owners comparable yields. Moreover, adopting good cutting practices can increase the money yield beyond 5.6 per cent through improving the quality of the forest and harvesting trees that otherwise would die. Por example, one timber owner offered $500 in a lump sum for his 30-acrc tract
November - December, 1942
of young timber chose instead to have it cut selectively by the Industrial Forestry Division of the Wyoming Valley Cham- ber of Commerce. As a result, he re- ceived $450 today for one-third of the volume and the possibility of repeated cuts yielding like amounts at eight to ten year intervals hereafter.
Scrub oak and pin cherry land on the
other hand are not profitable for private
management, because planting will be necessary to restore most of these to pro- ductivity and returns must be delayed for at least 40 years. Strategic watersheds, particularly those like Solomon Creek that flood populous centers and those that contribute heavily to mine water, require special management. Many tax delinquent lands are suitable for county forests and can be protected by existing county workers at no great additional cost. Much can be done to screen un- sightly dumps and prevent blowing of ash and coal dust by village plantings around mining areas.
And so a whole series of useful public and private works projects unfold them- selves around a better forest economy for the county. It is the privilege and duty of local citizens to study the forestry facts that have been collected, to weigh the suggestions proposed, and to organ- ize a county forestry board to plan for improved use of a major resource. The opportunities are clearly available, and with imaginative and vigorous action they can be realized. The decision as to whether or not they will be realized and if so, how, rests clearly with the local people and their local governing and quasi-public bodies. Local members of the Pennsylvania Forestry Association can do much to help, and the parent or- ganization can stimulate other counties to review their forest lands in similar light. In this way can the next great step forward be taken, namely, the ex- tension of good forest practice to the 12,000,000 acres of private forest land in the state.
Eleven
Wood Pulp and Cotton Have Gone to War
OLDEST OF ALL the fabulous plastics and a tried veteran of World War L cellulose nitrate is back in uniform in this war. Made first by Hyatt in 1869 as a new hard material for billiard balls, cellulose nitrate plastic today is one of three essentials of modern war manufac- tured from the same base — nitrocel- lulose.
Cellulose from cotton linters or wood- pulp, nitrated with a mixture of nitric and sulphuric acids, gives nitrocellulose. By varying the degree of nitration and the ingredients subsequently added, chemists derive smokeless powder, plas- tics or lacquers.
Smokeless powder is a military pro- pellant. Cellulose nitrate plastics are used for transparent enclosures of trainer planes, auxiliary primers for munitions and a host of thinjs military. Nitrocel- lulose lacquers protect ammunition, planes and tanks against sea water, sun and weather.
Cellulose nitrate was the first trans- parent plastic used for enclosures on mili- tary airplanes. Today 'Pyralin" cellu- lose nitrate and similar plastics are in demand for airplane mileage indicators, parts of binoculars, containers in soldiers* toilet kits, fittings on soldiers* ba^s, gog- gle frames, grommets for control cables on airplanes, and military map con- tainers.
Airplane knobs and handles, heads of metal working hammers, motorcycle windshields, navigation guides, photo- graph holders for military bases, parts of range finders, vaccination shields and a number of confidential parts are other applications.
Very little cellulose nitrate is available for such well-known peace-time uses as fountain pens, toothbrush handles, piano keys, dominoes, spectacle frames, shoe- lace tips, toys, watch crystals, woodheel coverings, cutlery handles, eye shades, pencils, rulers and oil pipe line coverings.
Twelve
An Appreciation of R. S. Conkli
in
{Continued from Page 3)
ment of its own. On the 27th, Dr. Roth- rock was appointed head of the Depart- ment and Mr. Conklin was transferred as clerk.
The work of the new Department grew in amount and in recognized im- portance. The legislature of 1903 au- thorized the appointment of a Deputy Commissioner of Forestry and an addi- tional clerk in the office of the Commis- sioner. Mr. Conklin became the first Deputy Commissioner of Forestry on April 1, 1903 and I. C. Williams came to the Department as a clerk.
In 1 904 when Dr. J. T. Rothrock felt that his health was no longer such that he could carry satisfactorily the duties of Commissioner of Forestry, he went to Governor Pennypacker and submitted his resignation on condition that Robert S. Conklin would succeed him. He told Mr. Conklin that the Governor would call him with respect to the matter, which he did.
Governor Pennypacker asked Mr. Conklin what he knew about the scien- tific and common names of trees and about the technical phases of forestry. Mr. Conklin replied that he knew noth- ing of such things but could hire men who did. He knew the policies of Dr. Rothrock thoroughly, having worked with him since 1895. He knew the State lands, the men working on them and the details of the management of the Depart- ment. He told the Governor that it would be difficult to find anyone any- where who knew the technical side of forestry and who at the same time could manage a department as it then existed. Certainly he would have to go out of Pennsylvania to do so. Governor Pen- nypacker said he would not do that under any circumstances. He called his Secretary, Mr. Bromley Wharton, and instructed him to announce the resigna- tion of Dr. J. T. Rothrock as Commis- sioner of Forestry and the appointment of Mr. Conklin to succeed him.
Forest Leaves
Mr. Conklin thanked the Governor and suggested that the vacancy in the position of Deputy Commissioner of Forestry be filled at once in order to avoid the trouble which would certainly arise by reason of politicians requesting the appointment of their particular friends. The Governor said, *'Whom do you recommend?'' Mr. Conklin referred to Mr. I. C. Williams, who had been em- ployed in the Department as a technical clerk at the request of the Governor, and stated that Mr. Williams was capable and satisfactory to him. The Governor then told Mr. Wharton to announce the ap- pointment of Mr. Williams as Deputy Commissioner to succeed Mr. Conklin.
Mr. Conklin then said, ''Now Gov- ernor, Dr. Rothrock ought not to be al- lowed to be divorced entirely from the Department and its work. There is a vacancy on the Commission and I would like to suggest that he be appointed to that vacancy.'' The Governor inquired as to the vacancy and Mr. Conklin in- formed him that Mr. Hopkins had re- signed sometime previously and that the vacancy had not been filled. The Gov- ernor told Mr. Wharton to announce at the same time as the other matters the appointment of Dr. J. T. Rothrock as a member of the State Forestry Reserva- tion Commission.
Mr. Conklin thanked the Governor for his very gracious and prompt accept- ance of his suggestions and for the very happy settlement of Departmental af- fairs. Mr. Conklin, therefore, became Commissioner of Forestry, May 27, 1904 and continued in that capacity un- til March 10, 1920.
When he took the responsibilities of directing the Department work there )yere four outstanding policies estab- lished:
1- The investigation of forest condi- tions within the State.
2. The promotion and encourage- ment of forestry practice through- out the State.
November - December, 1942
3. The purchase, care and develop- ment of State Forests.
4. The encouragement of protection of forests from fire.
The major part of the work of the Department was concerned with the purchase and care of the State Forests.
On June 1, 1904, the State Forest area was 443,592 acres. From then until January 1, 1920 the area was increased by 605,100 acres purchased, with ap- proximately 78,000 acres under con- tract.
The State Forestry Reservations, as the State's forest holdings were first known, had to be protected. But it was also important that they be developed as demonstration areas of this new land management idea, called forestry. One trained forester had been employed by the Department. At Mont Alto, the for- ester had established a small forest tree nursery, made a forest tree plantation, improved several roads, made some for- est improvement cuttings, organized some forest fire crews, and established a school, The State Forest Academy, in which to train young men in the funda- meritals of forestry necessary for the pro- tection and development of the Forestry Reservations.
Unquestionably the Forest Academy was the most effective factor in the sub- sequent development of forestry in Penn- sylvania. It had been in existence less than a year when Mr. Conklin became Conjmissioner. He saw to it that the school was improved in every possible way. The second and subsequent classes were admitted only on competitive exam- inations. The instructors were increased, the course was strengthened. The facili- ties were increased. The first class was graduated in 1906 as foresters and not as forest wardens. Year after year the graduates were placed upon the State forest areas and each one put into prac- tice what he had learned at Mont Alto.
Thirteen
The number of foresters grew from one to 7 1 . State Forest rangers increased from 5 to 85.. The Mont Alto nursery was increased and three other large nur- series developed as well as many small ones. Forest tree planting on State land became a regular part of the yearly pro- gram gradually increasing until in 1918 over six millions of trees were planted. In 1909, legislative authority was grant- ed to raise and distribute forest tree seed- lings to private planters. Plans were completed for an annual production of 25,000,000 forest seedlings.
The State Forests were intended to be recreation grounds for the people of Pennsylvania. Under Mr. Conklin's jurisdiction the State Forest use was ma- terially increased along many lines. Tem- porary camp permits were issued first in
1904. Permanent camp leases were be- gun in 1913. Rules for the use of State lands by the public were first approved by the Reservation Commission in 1904. Game refuges were first established in
1905. From time to time authorizations were obtained from the legislature to grant rights-of-way for various purposes. Water from forested valleys was made available to many communities. The Sanatorium at Mont Alto was contin- ued with success until 1907 when it was turned ov^r to the newly established De- partment of Health. Other State insti- tutions were aided in finding satisfactory sites on State forest land. Parks were developed and maintained.
i From the beginning of forestry work in Pennsylvania, the protection of for- ests from fire has been recognized as one of the most important lines of activity. Mr. Conklin realized that not only the State owned land had to be protected but that some kind of protection had to be provided for all forest land. On State land fire observation towers were built. Telephone lines were built and just be- fore the end of his Commissionership, the radio was being investigated. In
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, CT «! t a !<■•!.- -S,.! f ^fc- • •- -
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1907. State forest employees were made ex-ofiicio forest fire wardens. In 1909 the constables were relieved of the fire duty and a new system of forest fire war- dens was set up. This system was super- seded in 1 9 1 5 by the organization which is still functioning and which through the years has brought back to produc- tion at least 4 million acres of forest desert.
In spite of the fact that Mr. Conklin was a local political leader in his home county, he did not allow politics to enter into his handling the affairs of the De- partment of Forestry. Dr. Rothrock said of him, *'Bob handles the politicians bet- ter than I could.'' And yet it was the change of ''politics" which was largely responsible for his being displaced when he was.
Shortly after March 10, 1920, Gov- ernor Sproul, who had promised him within the month that he would con- tinue as Commissioner of Forestry, ap- pointed him to the Water Supply Com- mission. He continued in that capacity until 1923 when he retired from State service. From then on till his death he interested himself in community proj- ects in and near Columbia and served well as a good citizen.
In 1930, the dormitory at Mont Alta which he built between 1907 and 1910, was formally dedicated to him and named Conklin Hall.
He had two sons, both of whom v^rerc graduated as foresters from the State Forest Academy, and who also served the State in forestry work. W. Card Conklin is now employed by the State Game Commission. There were also four daughters in his family.
As he said, what he has done will be his memorial. It is of considerable mag- nitude and will demand more attention as time goes on.
George H. Wirt
Pennsylvania Nut Growers Ass n.
WINTER MEETING THURSDAY. JANUARY 14, 1943 - 10:30 A. M.-1:30 P. M.
Assembly Room — Chestnut Street Hall
(on Chestnut St. between 2nd and 3rd Sts.)
HARRISBURG, PA.
The Farm Show Building is not available this year, hence the change in location of meeting. Be sure to be present. No other notice will be sent you. ' ■
REPORT ON CHESTNUT BREEDING
by Arthur Harmount Graves
Fourteen
Forest Leaves
THE SEASON of 1940 was the poorest for effective cross pollination of the chestnut that we have experienced since we began the work in 1930. The spring was abnormally cold, and continued so into the month of July.
Pollen of the chestnut was received toward the end of June and in early July, from several institutions or persons whose cordial cooperation we take pleas- ure in acknowledging.
As a result of this season^s work we harvested 401 nuts, as against 767 in 1939 and 930 in 1938. Twelve of the combinations from which we obtained nuts are new to science, making a total of 48 new hybrid combinations made since we began this work in 1930.
Because our own available land at Hamden, Connecticut, is now fairly well stocked with species and hybrids, we are extending our plan of establishing coop- erative plantations on land of responsible persons interested in bringing back the chestnut tree to North America. The trees growing in the first three of these cooperative plantations are listed in our 1939 report, but plantations are now too numerous even to name here. During
^^printed from Forest Notes, April 1942.
NOVEM
BER - December^ 1942
1940 we distributed more than 1,500 seedlings in New Hampshire, Massa- chusetts, Connecticut, New York State, and New Jersey. In cases where partic- ularly valuable hybrids have been dis- tributed, the owners are required to sign the following statement:
The undersigned agrees to grow this material for test purposes only, and further agrees not to propagate, sell, give away, or otherwise distribute the mate- rial until authorized to do so by Arthur H. Graves, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn, N. Y.
The area planted to trees is thus in- creased many times, so that the total number of trees growing is far larger than we could handle on our own plan- tation. As all plant breeders know, large numbers increase the chances of success, when a definite object is to be realized through breeding. Further, by this meth- od of extension plantation, the trees are tested in a variety of soils and sites which we alone could not furnish.
In the summer of 1918, when we made a survey of the American chestnut trees then growing in the New York City region, a large amount of variation was shown in the amount of disease resistance manifested by different individuals, an-
Fifteen
Or
other evidence of the variability of the species. '
We are confronted with a situation extending over the whole range of the native chestnut tree, characterized by a succession of young shoots arising from the stumps (or bases) of diseased and dead trunks. These shoots develop for a few years, but are at length penetrated by the blight fungus. This condition is due to the fact, as we have learned, that the roots of the trees are more resistant to the attacks of the fungus than is the trunk or its branches. This continued development of a very large number of new shoots from adventitious buds offers abundant opportunity for bud variation to occur.
Now, it is fortunate that many of these basal shoots live long enough to flower and bear nuts. The qualities devel- oped through bud variations, if they are hereditary, may be represented in these embryos.
It is on account of the above reasoning that we are trying to obtain as many nuts as possible of wild American trees or shoots of C. dentata. At present we have growing on our plantation at Hamden, Connecticut, more than 100 young trees of Castanea dentata. These Americans have been growing during the past fifteen years from nuts obtained from many of the states where Castanea dentata is na- tive. They are being tested for disease resistance. If the results are favorable they will be used for breeding stock. Last fall we received nuts from interested per- sons in the following states: Massachu- setts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky.
We find that the best method of han- dling the nuts is to plant them immedi- ately after gathering. If any nuts are to be mailed to us, they should be wrap- ped in damp sphagnum moss, moist cot- ton, or paper napkins, to prevent drying out. A few days in a heated room may be fatal, for drying kills the embryo. Any nuts sent us will be planted immediately
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in our cold frames at the Garden and labelled with the name of the sender and the locality of the parent tree. Address: Arthur H. Graves, 1000 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, New York.
EVERGREEN SEEDLINGS
Grow Christmas Trees lor Profit
Per 1000
Douglas Fir (2 year) - - - - $7.00
Red Pine (2 year) 7.00
White Pine (4 year transplants)
per 100 3.50
Write for Complete List
ULRICH NURSERY
38 Waverly Street, Shillington, Pa.
[ Planf CHINESE HYBRID CHESTNUT
I TREES for Pleasure and Pro/if
I Blight Resistant and Early Bearers, Sweet Like
I the Old American, Send for Catalog.
I RUMBAUGH CHESTNUT FARM
I
DUNCANNON. PA.
Cherry Trees ^ ^*"*/^ .^?^*»
' One of Our Specialties
ENTERPRISE NURSERIES
Geo. E. Stein & Son
R. D. 1 WRIGHTSVILLE, PA.
Complete catalog: fumiHhetl upon request.
n
CHESTNUTS
Bearing Blight - Resistant
NUTS IN 4 YEARS
Easily grown, heavy yielders. Northern strains Plant in the dooryard for Beauty - Profit - Shade • Nuts - Fun. Send postcard today for FREE booklet and price list on Englisli Walnuts, Stabler Black Wal- nuts, etc. Excellent for ornamental purposes. I have experimented with nut trees for over 44 years,
SUNNY RIDGE NURSERY 443 NEW ST. SWARTHMORE, PA.
NUT BEARING TREES
Since 1896 Jone8* Nurseries have been irrowing: improved varieties of nut trees. Descriptive catalogue free.
J. F. JONES NURSERIES
Dept. 1441 LANCASTER, PA.
Jf JON!
When you're stumped as to how to make your farm pay, just write us for list of nut and crop trees and VRH ^» *^°^ *^° ^^^ them. Fifty years of ^
TREE CROPS experience In twenty gives us 0^
good background as a consultant.
NUT TREES and
NUT TREE NURSERIES
JOHN W. HERSHEY DOWNINGTOWN, PA.
Box 65Fi
Forest Leaves
t"
LIVINGSTON PUBLISHING COMPANY. NARBERTH, PENNA.
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