Vol. XV.- No. 9

AP

PRIL 15th representatives of The Pennsylvania Conservation Association, the Wild Life League, The United Sportsmen and The Pennsylvania Forestry Association, having many interests in common, met in Harrisburg to ascertain if it were possible to combine under one name and work together as a whole for such ends as all could approve.

The meeting was a sincere, friendly effort in the conservation interests of the State.

The Pennnsylvania Forestry Association alone declined to drop its name, because of paid up life memberships and bequests which belonged to it under its specific name. It was thought that it would be a breach of trust to divert these to any other name, or control. The Forestry Association however will, beyond doubt, render any aid or coöperation possible in furthering the interests common to all.

The April issue of "In The Open," page 31, remarks: "it would not be surprising if the proposed union will consist of a federation rather than a combination into one state body"*** "there seems to be strong sentiment among The League Members to oppose any plan which would do away with the identity of this League, or lose the splendid name which it has built up for practical work for wild life.”

This is just what might have been expected. We all wanted forests and wild life; but we wanted them for different purposes. In spite of honest, entire sympathy and willingness to render loyal, mutual help there was a certain incongruity which stood in the way of a perfect Union.

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the contracting memberships. There, for the present, the matter rests.

So far as the writer can see, there is every reason why The Pennsylvania Forestry Association could and should join in a federation, retaining its old name and internal direction and at the same time work heartily in accord with the other bodies. Such union seems practicable and likely to lead to good results. J. T. R.

terest.

THE 1916 Out-meeting of the Pennsylvania Forestry Association at Reading, June 27th, 28th, and 29th, promises to be an occasion of great inAcceptances for the program, which is practically complete and which will be mailed to members, have been received from forest representatives in many of the adjoining States, and acceptances of the invitation to attend the meeting are being received almost daily from prominent persons having to do with forestal interests both in Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

As many of the members and friends of the Association as can conveniently do so, are urged to be present in Reading on the morning of Tuesday, June 27th. At this time a trolley ride over the Mountain Trail for the purpose of seeing the Reading mountains, will be had. The first session will be held at 2.30 P.M. of that day and continued during the evening.

The outing for Wednesday to the Nolde and Horst plantations, and to be completed by a run over the Wyomissing Trail, probably promises to be the most interesting outing occasion of the series. The private forest plantations on the estates of these two gentlemen are worthy a visit and careful study by those who are today engaged in planting forests or who expect to do so. Sessions will be continued Wednesday evening.

The Berks County Conservation Association, the host of the occasion, expects to furnish the visitors a luncheon on Mr. Horst's estate, at which time it is probable that a number of 5-minute talks from visiting friends will be had.

which a portion of the city's water supply is derived. A session will be held Thursday afternoon and a concluding session Thursday evening.

The President of the American Forestry Association, Charles Lathrop Pack, of Lakewood, New Jersey, will be present representing that association, and representatives of the State Game Commission and the Department of Fisheries will be present to point out the intimate relationship existing between the interests which they are promoting and protecting, and the very vital question of reforesting the cut-over lands of this State.

In order that the generous host of the occasion, the Berks County Conservation Association, may be enabled to provide in advance the necessary conveyances, the members are requested to advise Secretary F. L. Bitler, as soon as possible, whether they will attend, and in which of the outings they will participate. This is especially necessary for the trolley ride on Tuesday morning and the excursion to the Nolde and Horst plantations.

The Reading meeting should be made the occasion for one of the largest outpourings of our members which has taken place in recent years. Easily accessible from all parts of the State, the city of Reading and the forest activities generally in Berks county at this time, offer impelling inducements for the largest attendance the Association has enjoyed for years.

The members are also urged to invite friends of forestry who are not members of the Association, to be present and see for themselves the great progress now being made in awakening among our people a better sense of the meaning of what is being done in Pennsylvania Forestry.

IN

Bird Notes.

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N view of my study window I have a mass of beef suet on a fine copper beech tree. wished to provide winter food for the birds, to attract them to the grounds and to enjoy their enjoyment.

The most persistent visitors to the food were the English sparrows. There was room for several of them to feed at once, but I do not remember seeing more than one eating at a time. I have seen no contest among them, or with any bird of a different species-though I have frequently seen the white-breasted nuthatch sitting unmolested on a limb waiting for his turn.

The downy woodpecker, male and female, made frequent daily visits, sometimes together, though I never actually saw them eat together. This bird has been the least timid of any of our feathered visitors.

The little brown creeper comes occasionally, usually head downward from the trunk above. He seems to prefer seeking a living in the bark crevices of two large white pine trees near by.

We have a pair of cardinal red birds wintering near by. I have seen one of them once near the suet by my window, though both male and femaleprefer to make early morning visits to suet that I have placed in a more secluded tree. This shyness here is a surprise to me, for elsewhere I have had these birds come to the kitchen door and take suet from the side of the house.

We have had two visits from a crow. second visit he carried the suet off bodily.

On his.

March 3rd my attention was called to a single, male robin, shivering on the limbs of the beech tree. I was surprised to see him alone. And as the weather has since been inclement I was still more surprised to see him again on March 6th on the same tree. He appeared to be in vigorous condition, but the suet did not attract him.

Late in February a large flock of starlings suddenly appeared in an apple tree in the yard and ate the frozen apples that remained on the tree. A few days later they found a pile of semi-decayed apples under the tree and made several meals there.

The suet does not tempt them. They are sorely tried because of the snow which covers the ground; though they find most acceptable food at such times in the dried fruit of the Japaneseivy on the walls of a neighboring house.

J. T. R.

York County Tree Study Campaign.

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trees.

N August 27, 1915, County Superintendent Strine assembled the teachers of York. county in a special one-day institute session preliminary to the opening of the fall school term. Hon. A. B. Farquhar, President, and H. C. Ulmer, Secretary of the City Shade Tree Commission, of York, delivered addresses upon the study, care, and planting of the native trees of the county. The teachers, some 500 of them, unanimously agreed to devote some time to the study of the native A committee was appointed to plan and supervise a campaign of procedure. A leaflet was prepared and distributed among the teachers, outlining the plan and scope of the undertaking and stating some of the objects to be accon plished. The primary object of this first leaflet was "to secure coöperation of all the teachers and pupils in the public schools of York county, in collecting data which will eventually be arranged and published in book form, giving names and photographs of all the native trees. The book will be entitled The Native Trees of York County

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compiled by the teachers and pupils of the public schools."

An enterprising citizen of York county has assumed the responsibility of financing the cation which will not only embrace the description of the different species of trees, but also contain much information concerning the beautifying of school grounds and historical data and landmarks associated with trees.

To give greater impetus to the movement, County Superintendent Strine arranged to have talks on "Trees" as a part of his district institute programs. The speakers urged the teachers themselves to make a careful study of the native trees and then instruct their pupils about these common nearby objects.

At an early date, it was learned, that more than a verbal appeal was necessary to interest the teachers of a distinctly agricultural region in this work. The Woman's Club of York realized what was wanting, and consequently offered one first prize of ten dollars ($10) and two club members each offered an additional prize of five dollars ($5) for the best essay on "How to get pupils in ¦ our public schools interested in the study of native trees of York county." Prizes seemed to be the proper solution of the problem. To encourage the pupils, several of the business firms and banks of York offered five-dollar ($5) prizes for the best essay on individual trees. About one hundred dollars ($100) is already available for such prizes. The Davey Institute of Tree Surgery offered one hundred and five dollars ($105) in prizes for the best essay on the "Native Oaks of York County.” Stark Bros. Nurseries Co. offered 75 selected apple trees for the best essay on the "Native Hickories of York County." To further encourage the im provement of school grounds a local Department Store offered one hundred dollars ($100) in cash to the school making the greatest improvement in a specified time.

The promoters of this movement have spared no time nor effort, but have attempted to secure proper and sufficient inducements, and have tried to make available many sources of information for both teachers and pupils. A recent printed circular pamphlet gave the common and scientific names of about 80 native trees of the county, listed the best available literature on the subject, and informed all the prospective competitors for the prizes where they can secure authoritative information and advice free of charge. The movement surely promises success, and as soon as the goal of its originators, benefactors, and promoters is reached, York county will stand in the van of the counties of the Keystone State in this particular line of endeavor. H. C. ULMER.

Land Purchase for Pennsylvania State Forests.

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N an editorial writing in a late number of a sporting magazine, à very just claim is made for the extension of the Pennsylvania State Forests. FOREST LEAVES has always stood steadfastly for the regular and orderly extension of these forests. It has taken the high ground on a number of occasions that every county in Pennsylvania. is entitled to such a forest wherever it is possible to procure necessary land for that purpose. As a matter of forest administration, it is necessary that an initial area of a given size be in hand before a forest may be established. The purchase of small scattered tracts is not economic administration. A nucleus of at least 5,000 acres, as a result of experience, is believed to be an initial area small enough to justify forest administration. In regions where great difficulty is had in procuring contiguous bodies of land, even smaller areas might be used and used well for beginning this work, but in every instance there should be a reasonable promise that an opportunity exists to procure adjacent lands for the enlargement of the area.

Quoting from the article in the magazine in question, the following statement is made:

"More than two-fifths of the State lies west of the crest of the Alleghenies, and yet at present the State forest area in this two-fifths of the State totals about 10,000 acres as against more than 1,000,000 acres in the other threefifths of the Commonwealth. We need more State forest areas in Western Pennsylvaniaand now, since we have sufficiently raised the limit price to allow their purchase and since we are paying more than one-half the State taxes, we demand that for the next decade the appropriations for State forest extension be so applied that at the end of that period we will have on the watersheds of our two rivers at least two-fifths of all the State forest lands.

"We know that until a year ago the limit price permitted per acre in forestry land purchase was too small to permit of the gathering of extensive acreages in the western counties, but we have remedied that and we are going to ask our brethren east of the mountains to sit back until we have gotten on an equality with them in the matter of forest acreage."

It is true the purchase price of forest lands has recently been raised from $5.00 to $10.00 per acre, but even this is inadequate when one comes to consider the procuring of large bodies of land in

western Pennsylvania where practically everything is covered by some kind of an outstanding lease, be it oil, coal, or natural gas. To demand that the State shall purchase lands so encumbered is, we believe, not in accordance with the wisdom which has been dictated by experience. The State purchases nothing but fee simple titles. To do otherwise would be to divide ownership, which is always a source of disagreement and contention. Nearly all the leases encumbering land in western Pennsylvania are coupled with the privilege to use as much of the timber growing on the surface as may be necessary for the purposes of the lessee. | For the State to purchase the surface rights bearing the timber, and hold it subject to the whim or caprice of the lessee who refuses to sell out his interest at a price within the limit fixed for the purchase of forest land, is to invite speedy disaster to any State forest established under such conditions. We believe the demand above quoted arises from a misunderstanding of conditions, and that if the situation were fully understood such demand would be followed by a retraction and an explanation.

We learn from the Department of Forestry at Harrisburg that numerous offers of tracts of greater or less size have been made west of the Alleghenies, but in almost every instance the purchase was impossible because of the reasons above cited. If the Legislature be willing to raise the purchase price to $50.00 an acre in order that the State may become the owner in fee simple, there would probably be less difficulty in procuring the necessary State forests west of the Alleghenies. The Depart ment of Forestry is committed to the purchase of suitable State Forests wherever it is possible to locate them, but such purchases must be made in accordance with an orderly plan based primarily upon a fee simple title and considered with respect to costs of administration, protection, development, and future enlargement.

The fact that the larger part of the State forests now lie east of the Allegheny mountains is not because of a want of desire to erect State Forests west of the mountains, but because the cheap lands of the State lie in this region and fee simple titles may be had for a reasonable price. They are not encumbered with leases relating to oil, gas, or coal, and their purchase is possible within the price limit fixed by law.

The original purpose in the establishment of State Forests in Pennsylvania as set forth in the act of 1897 was that in order to augment, maintain, and control the water supply, purchases of land should be made by the State at the headwaters of the three great river systems, the Delaware, the Susquehanna, and the Ohio. In this

act it was provided that at least 40,000 acres should be procured on the headwaters of each stream. This has been accomplished in the cases of the Delaware and Susquehanna, but thus far it has not been possible to procure more than 10,000 acres on the drainage area of the Ohio.

The statement has frequently been made that there is abundant land west of the Alleghenies to be had at a nominal price. To this writing the Department of Forestry advises us that it has no knowledge of the existence of such land in the abundance stated. It would not even have been possible to have purchased the 8,500 acres now comprising the Stuart State Forest in Westmoreland and Somerset counties if it had not been for the fact that the land had to be sold to close an estate, and the only purchaser available at the time to whom they might dispose of the whole area was the State of Pennsylvania; consequently this land was had at the then limit price of $5.00 per If the friends of forestry in western Pennsylvania know of any 5,000 or 10,000 acre tracts which may be purchased free of encumbrance for the present price limit of $10.00 per acre, the Department of Forestry will welcome the information, make the necessary examinations to determine the fitness of the land for forestry purposes, and do what it can to procure a substantial land purchase appropriation from the next Legislature to meet the wishes of our friends, stated in a rather more than didactic manner in the above quotation.

It may be said in conclusion that there is no feeling of discrimination whatever against western Pennsylvania. In fact this is the only region in the State into which members of the Forestry Commission have actually gone seeking lands suitable for State Forests, which might be purchased by the Department. A very considerable time in the spring of 1908 was spent by the Secretary of the Commission in southwestern Pennsylvania and in consulting with large land owners in the city of Pittsburgh for the very purpose of procuring land, and the quest was entirely barren of results except in the case of the purchase of the Stuart Forest, which resulted therefrom.

It is entirely probable that the foregoing declaration was inspired by a proper desire to extend the State forests and to have them where they will do the valuable service of protecting and augmenting the water supply, growing timber, and affording a refuge for wild game, birds, and protec tion to fish in our streams; and while we believe it is entirely proper, we feel that the regular and orderly businesslike procedure adopted by the Department of Forestry in the purchase of lands should be respected, and that its appropriation