the local legal machinery which must be employed in such cases, all protective measures are brought into disrepute. The easy escape of the culprit amounts to an invitation to do it again.

Chief of U. S. Forest Service Resigns.

A

FTER ten years' service as Chief Forester of the United States Department of Agriculture, Colonel Henry S. Graves has notified the Secretary of Agriculture that he will retire on May 1st.

"Since the pecuniary returns afforded professional and scientific men in the Government service inadequately provide against the exhaustion of the working powers which must inevitably take place in time, and entail sacrifices from which employment elsewhere is free," Colonel Graves wrote, "the only course consistent alike with self-respect and a regard for the public interests seems to me to be retirement from office before efficiency has been impaired.

"Present conditions, which amount to a heavy reduction in the rate of compensation in practically every branch of the Government service, emphasize this point of view."

During Colonel Graves' administration of the Forest Service great strides have been made in national forestry. The system of operating the public forests has been improved and developed, both in business methods and in the application of technical forestry to the problems of management, while marked opposition to them has been transformed to general support.

Their use by the public has been vastly in

creased. Individual timber sale transactions have risen from 5,398 to over 12,500 annually, and the timber cut from 379 million to 705 million board feet. The grazing permittees have increased from 25,687 to 39,152; the number of stock grazed under permit from 9,140,000 to 10,230,000, and the annual receipts of the forests from $2,090,148 to $4,358,414.

A gigantic task of land classification has been nearly completed. This segregates and opens to settlement agricultural lands while insuring that the real forest land will be permanently held and administered as a public enterprise. In the East, negotiations have been conducted on behalf of the National Forest Reservation Commission for the purchase of nearly two million acres of mountain lands, and administration of the purchased lands has been inaugurated.

A large and forward-looking policy of developing the National Forests by road building has

been entered upon and recognition of this policy by Congress has been secured, with appropriations totaling $19,000,000 for this work.

As the contribution of the Forest Service to winning the war many men were sent to participate in the forestry operations of the American Army in France, for which the preliminary organization was effected by Colonel Graves in per

son.

At the same time the administrative activities on the National Forests were maintained essentially unimpaired and a very large task of aid to the Government in problems relating to war supplies of forest products and their use was successfully assumed.

Finally, a new movement that looks to the right handling of private forests and the halting

of extensive forest devastation has been set on foot.

Resignation of Albert F. Potter as associate chief of the Forest Service also is announced. Mr. Potter, in asking that his resignation be made effective on April 15th, says he feels that "the time has now arrived when I should retire from the Government service and give my attention to private interests."

In asking that the effective date be deferred, Colonel Graves wrote to Mr. Potter that "Your retirement will be a very great loss to the public service. The work that you have done in building up a system of management of the National Forest ranges is a gigantic achievement. Previously millions of head of stock ranged over the western mountains without any regulation whatsoever. The ranges were overDangerous erosion grazed and abused.

66#

was starting in a multitude of places. It was your work which built up a regulation of the National Forest ranges, and substituted orderly use for the chaos which existed before."

Secretary Meredith has selected Col. W. B. Greeley Assistant Forester in the Forest Service to succeed Col. Graves as Chief Forester. Col. Greeley is from California, and has been in the Forest Service continuously since 1904, except for two years' military service with the American Expeditionary Forces, and brings with him a thorough knowledge of the important duties he will be called on to perform in his new office.

As far as is known there are 278 species of native trees and shrubs in the State of Pennsylvania, of which 125 are trees. Of these not more than 25 species are of sufficient importance to deserve to be developed into future forests.

T

Pocono Forestry Association.

HE Pocono Protective Fire Association entered the eighteenth year of its career in November, 1919, and in the following month it assumed the name of Pocono Forestry Association. On the first of January, 1920, there was a roll of 319 members.

In the spring "fire season" 24 fires were reported, spreading over 4,287 acres. The largest of these fires (1,471 acres) was undoubtedly the result of well planned incendiarism. In another section of the country five fires occurred within 10 days in huckleberry tracts and burned 2,050 acres. The remainder of the spring fires were small in extent. In the autumn only 3 fires have been reported, burning a trifle over 20 acres. An area of 4,300 acres for the year at a cost of about $6,000, is far below the average annual loss by forest fires in Monroe County.

Under the efficient direction of State District Forester R. W. Stadden the fire wardens' service has been maintained throughout the sixteen townships of the county. Five of the wardens have served as patrolmen. The Board of Directors has made efforts to extend the patrol to two sections in which forest fire protection is needed and should be provided. In each of these districts there are residents who are anxious to obtain the benefits of fire patrol, they have not been able to impress the rest of the people with the importance of forest protection, nor to secure substantial contributions towards the cost of maintenance.

In March the fire wardens held their sixth annual meeting, as guests of our Association. The State Department of Forestry was represented by Commissioner Hon. Robert S. Conklin, and by Chief Forest Fire Warden George H. Wirt, both of whom made addresses. Addresses were also made by members of the Board of Directors of the Association and by fire wardens. An interesting and instructive lecture was also given by Prof. John H. Kunkle on the work of birds as protectors of trees.

During the year the objects of the Association and the subject of forestry in general, have been kept before the public in many ways. In June the secretary made an address at the Tobyhanna High School commencement, and again in October at an Arbor and Bird Day celebration at Pocono Summit, and Rural Life Day at Tannersville. The thanks of the Association are due to the press of the county for generously opening the columns of the newspapers for the publication of much material on topics of forestry. Besides full re

ports of meetings articles have appeared, from time to time, on tree-planting in general and especially on memorial tree-plantings; on incendiary fires, and on other similar subjects.

The annual meeting of the Association was held at Tannersville in August, and a few days later Barrett Township Fair was held at Buck Hill Falls. Both of these events furnished excellent opportunities for bringing the Association before the general public. District Forester Stadden presented an interesting exhibit at the forestry booth of the fair, where 500 potted seedlings of white pine and spruce were given away to persons who promised to plant them. These little trees were furnished by the State Department of Forestry. They act as educators, and call attention to the larger distribution which the Department makes every spring to promote reforestation throughout the State by private individuals and corporations.

In the spring of 1919 Monroe County received 117,000 trees from the State, and 40,000 of them were planted by members of Pocono Forestry Association.

The Farm Bureau Extension Service is preparing to reach the farmers; to interest them and to instruct them in practical ways in the best methods to be followed to care for and to develop their wood-lots.

It is hoped to interest the farmers of Monroe in the advantages of the proposed extension work at an early date. It is expected that a large increase in tree-planting will follow the demonstrations which are to be given by experts in forestry and that more of our farmers will become interested in the Pocono Forestry Association and its objects. The financial condition of the Association is good, there being a balance on hand December 31, 1919, of $717.20.

Seventh Annual Meeting of Fire Wardens of Monroe County, Pa.

T

HE Seventh Annual Meeting of the Fire Wardens of Monroe County was held at the Fairview Hotel, Mount Pocono, on Saturday, March 13th, one of the most stormy days of this tempestuous winter. Professor Clarence R. Anderson, of Pennsylvania State College, was the principal speaker. His theme was the proposed extension of Farm Bureau work in the direction of the wood-lots of our farmers. This is intended to teach farmers how to care for and develop their wood lots; to carry a knowledge of forestry, as applicable to farm life, to the farm

ers in a practical way; to demonstrate in the open how to plant, and what, and when, and why; and the value of improvement cuttings; to show the influences of soil and moisture, elevation, forest fires, and so on, upon tree production. Professor Anderson covered a wide range of subjects in his informal "talk" and held the interest and attention of his hearers to their great profit and entertainment.

District Forester Robert W. Stadden then gave full instructions to the wardens upon their duties as fire fighters.

Dinner followed. In the afternoon an open session was held which was attended by a large number of residents of Mount Pocono. The directors of Pocono Forestry Association were the hosts and every member of the board was present. Short talks on forestry topics by many speakers filled up the time until adjournment was compulsory so that the visitors might catch their trains. In spite of formidable obstacles the seventh annual meeting was one of the most successful of the series.

Dynamite Rejuvenates a Fine Old Tree.

M

R. P. L. NEEL, of Philadelphia, purchased a place in Merion, Pa., which was vacant for about five years, heavily overgrown with grass and in bad shape. The grass was cut and all the dead wood removed from the beautiful shade trees. All the rotten cavities were cleaned out, waterproofed and then filled with waterproof cement, guy wires and bolts being used when necessary.

The question was how to most readily feed the roots of these trees so that the greatest results could be obtained in the shortest possible time. Realizing that if they were simply manured on the top of the ground and the rain allowed to act thereon, a great part of the nutrient qualities of the fertilizer would run off on the surface and simply be absorbed by the grass and upper strata of earth, the following method was suggested:

Dig a ditch at the tips of the branches about two feet wide and three feet deep, filling the ditch with alternate layers of composted manure, that is, a layer of manure on a layer of dirt and so on. However, it was further suggested that if the ground could be loosened up and manure placed on the top of the ground, this costly work I could be avoided.

The most inexpensive, efficient and practical way of doing this was by putting charges of one

half stick of dynamite in a circle around the tree about ten feet apart, the circle following the line of the tips of the branches. This was done and the results were very gratifying.

This tree was found to be but a shell, the entire center rotted out and twenty feet up into the branches. So badly was it gone that a professional landscape man gave it up as worthless, but Mr. Neel said he would take a chance. The success of the undertaking and the renewed life and beauty of the old tree are proof that the professional mind does not always know everything. Norman Supplee.

Airmen Help Control Forest Fires.

A

T the conclusion of the first season in which aviators have maintained an organized fire patrol in the United States, the officials of the Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture, state that the record made by the airplane has proved beyond question its effectiveness as an aid in discovering and locating forest fires.

This new flying undertaking was performed by the Air Service of the War Department, with its personnel and equipment, and at the expense of that organization. For three months uniuterrupted service was maintained, and a total of 745 flights covering 92,605 miles were made. Many fires were discovered, located, and reported in advance of the regular Forest Service detection organization.

Six patrol routes covering national forest areas of high value in California were followed, and twice each day six Curtis airplanes covered the better part of 9,000,000 acres of rough, mountainous, heavily timbered country. The average nonstop run was 160 miles; the average round trip, 320 miles.

With the opening of the hunting season in the middle of the second month of daily flying above the forests, the fire situation in northern California became critical and an extension of the air patrol was asked. This was one of the principal factors necessitating a complete reorganization of the whole air patrol in California. De Haviland planes were substituted for the slower planes of smaller gasoline capacity and less climbing power. Two new bases were established. New daily routes were laid out, one of which covered 560 miles, and the service was extended from the original 5 to 15 national forests in California.

Beginning September 1st, 8 airplanes covered twice each day more than 16,000,000 acres of national forest, and, incidentally, 5,000,000 acres of privately owned timber lands. Eight additional airplanes were used on alternate days to allow for necessary repairs and relief of pilots. Sixteen pilots and 22 mechanics were assigned to the work. Up to the first of October only 6 forced landings, with one fatality and no injuries to pilots or observers, occurred. Damage to the airplanes, considering the number of miles covered and the rough country patrolled, was negligible. No figures as to the cost of the experiment have been made available.

In the discovery of fires the air patrol showed

itself 85 per cent. efficient and it is declared that it can be made practically 100 per cent. efficient, either by providing for a longer period in the air or possibly by making the time of flight correspond more closely to the hours of the day when the largest percentage of fires start.

Experience shows that while the effective "discovery radius" varies with atmospheric conditions and the height of the observer, an observer at an altitude of 5,000 feet can detect a fire at least 30 miles distant.

Though experience and familiarity with the country are important factors in accurately determining the exact location of fires, wonderful results were obtained by pilots entirely new to the region but equipped with such maps as were available. One lieutenant, flying a De Haviland over an entirely new route, placed within one-half mile of its actual location a 200-acre fire that was 35 miles away. To see it he had to look almost directly into the sun.

On a whole, the reporting of fires-as distinguished from discovering and locating themwas not so satisfactory.

Parachutes with messages attached, which were occasionally used, proved to be uncertain. Carrier pigeons released in the air and reports made by telephone and telegraph after landing were found to be too slow to insure best results.

It is believed that the wireless, preferably the wireless telephone, offers the solution of this difficulty in the air service fire patrol.

Without wireless or some other method of hastening the reports, the airplanes can never function as efficiently as the present lookout system, say the Forest Service officials. In the matter of procuring reports of the progress of fires already known to be in progress, it has been found entirely practicable to get quicker, more complete, and more satisfactory reports by means of the airplane than by any other method so far tried. This applies either to small, widely scattered fires or to large conflagrations.

It seems possible that the use of airplanes has been beneficial also in lessening the number of fires. One valley in southern California until this year has been the scene of repeated devastating fires, due, no doubt, to carelessness. With airships flying overhead twice daily, the valley has been without fires. The moral effect of the air patrol is credited with the change.

As a result of this season's record a request has been made for continuous daily airplane patrol of all the national forests in California.

Forest Service Opposes Light Burning

T

of the Forests.

HAT the Forest Service is unalterably opposed to the practice of "Piute Forestry," or the so-called light burning of timberlands at frequent intervals, was stated emphatically by Col. Henry S. Graves. California, according to the Chief Forester, appears to be experiencing a wave of propaganda for "Piute Forestry," a term given to the frequent burning over of timberland because this practice was followed by the Indians many years before the advent of the white man. A pamphlet advocating this practice has been issued recently by the Land Department of the Southern Pacific Railroad, and its general use has been preached, it is said, by many of the large lumber companies.

"The advocates of light burning," said Colonel Graves, "claim that by burning the woods every few years the forest will be kept clean of inflammable debris without injuring the merchantable timber. Hence serious conflagrations which, fed by small growth, underbrush and litter, run up into the tree tops and kill the large timber supposedly would be rendered impossible. As a matter of fact, this process of repeated burning, beginning back in the Indian days, has steadily depleted the forests.

"There are today nearly 2,000,000 acres of land in the National Forests of California which were once heavily timbered but now have been reduced to barren brush fields by fire. This is not the work of one fire or a few fires, but of repeated burnings, extending over 50 or 100 years.

"It is impossible to fire the pine woods of California on any extended scale without destroying with every burning at least a considerable portion of the small growth and at the same time eating out little by little the butts of the old trees. The next fire, whether following in one year or several years, extends this destruction. Every traveler through the Sierras is struck by the openness of many of their pine forests, by the patches of brush encountered everywhere from which trees have disappeared. Many a fine sugar or yellow pine has been burned out at the base until the wind toppled it over. 'Piute Forestry' was steadily wiping out these forests until they were placed under Federal protection."

Colonel Graves asserts that the light burning advocated by the Southern Pacific Railroad and other timber-owning interests in California would simply continue this slow but irresistible destruc

tion. Forest Service men, he declares, have studied all of the areas deliberately fired by advocates of the light-burning theory, and there is no real difference between the effects of such burning and of the fires which the carefree Indian or settler started promiscuously in earlier days. They mean simply the end of the forests in time.

The best argument that can be made for light burning, according to the Forest Service, is that the immediate loss of merchantable timber is comparatively small and that the destruction of the young growth may afford a degree of protection against crown fires. In other words, at its best, this practice is simply part of the process of timber mining which values nothing but the old growth, guts a forest of its merchantable timber, and turns the land into an unproductive waste. "Piute Forestry" is held responsible by the Forest Service for wiping out from the California pine forests, in the National Forests alone, at least 37,000,000,000 board feet of timber and reducing their value to the State and Nation today by at least $74,000,000. With continued light burning, it holds, no young growth can take the place of the virgin timber, and the pine forests of California in private ownership will be at an end when their present mature stumpage is cut.

Colonel Graves recognizes the difficulty in pro- . tecting the forests of California efficiently from fire. He asserts, however, that the solution does not lie in the steady destruction of forest growth by light burning but rather in a much more effective and united effort by all agencies, public and private, to prevent and suppress forest fires. As the first step he advocates State legislation which will require the disposal of slashings on cut-over lands, enlist all timberland owners in organized fire prevention, and afford a basis for a much larger degree of co-operation between the Federal Government, the State and the private owners of forest land in controlling the fire

menace.

"The practical results of protection may be seen," he concludes, "on hundreds of thousands of acres of pine forests in the Federal holdings, where fires have been kept out successfully for 12 or 15 years. These areas afford a striking contrast to the 'clean' land where light burning has been practiced. Instead of there being no vestige of young growth, the open spaces have been filled with thickets of pine saplings. In these forests future timber crops are assured. This is the kind of forest which the State of California needs for the protection of its irrigation and water power sources, for insuring a perpetual