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In order to learn exactly what had been done and the present status of the experiments, an interview was sought with some officer of the Italian Agricultural Department, and through the courtesy of the U. S. Consul-General I was introduced to Professor Giuseppi Cuboni, Director of the Bureau of Vegetable Pathology: the latter stated that the government was not satisfied with the results of the experiments, and had lately declined to support them further. In reply to another question the professor said that the experiments had not been based upon a study of the local climatic and soil conditions in connection with those of the native habitat of the trees, and that, so far as he knew, no other trees than various species of eucalypts had been planted. Professor Cuboni further said that the general opinion is that Senator Torelli, who had interested himself in the matter, and had induced the government to aid the experiments, was over-enthusiastic, and had announced results beyond what the facts warranted.

After this interview I went to Tre Fontane. As the monastery is approached, it is seen to lie in a nest of little hills, with all the buildings on the low land in close proximity to areas that, without | drainage, must become marshes or stagnant pools when the water of the Tiber backs up. One can easily believe that the situation might become so unhealthy that it would have to be abandoned. It apparently was abandoned for a long time, although the statement that "the members of the old brotherhood died at the rate of forty or fifty a year" is doubtless an exaggeration.

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paratively healthful? In one word--cultivation.
When the Campagna was not only the back yard
but the garden of Rome, the marshes were
drained, the ground was worked, and crops were
raised. The malarial mosquito, or whatever is
the true spreader of the disease, had little place
to breed and work. When Rome decayed, so did
the works on the Campagna, and the place was
almost deserted. It is inconceivable that an estab-
lishment as important as Tre Fontane should have
been built in a place so unhealthful as it undoubt-
edly was for many generations.
Rather must one
assume that the place was founded when the land
was cultivated, and the locality, therefore, healthy.
The Trappist monks have brought about the same
condition again by draining the marshes in the
usual way and planting gardens. They now work
30 or 40 acres thoroughly and systematically, and
find a ready market for the produce in Rome.

Let it not be inferred from these statements that the eucalyptus plantations are failures, nor that they are not good things. They occupy ground at present unavailable for agriculture, and they furnish the basis of an important industry— the manufacture of eucalyptus oil, liqueur, etc. With reference to the broad question, What influence have eucalypts upon the healthfulness of a place? no conclusion is yet warranted, as Professor McClatchie says in his paper. It is, however, quite possible that the rapid growth of some of the species when planted in wet ground causes a quick transference of soil-moisture to the leaves, and from them to the atmosphere in that way, entirely mechanically, and may serve to lessen the unhealthfulness of a locality. In other words, any tree in the condition of active growth is a sort of pump steadily taking up water through its roots and giving off by its leaves, as water-vapor, what it does not require for its internal activities. If, as is commonly the case, this process be supplemented by a generous consumption of carbonic acid out of the store set free by decaying vegetation in a moist place, the planting of trees in such situations must be a distinct advantage. How much better eucalypts are in this respect than other trees is yet to be shown; it can only be said now that the rapid growth of some of them is presumptive evidence of their fitness for this work. The extent to which that fitness may be counteracted by other qualities-the position of the leaves in checking transpiration, for instance If is a point yet to be determined.

The present community of Trappists is said to have taken up the place in 1868, and the first eucalypts to have been planted a few years after. The brothers willingly showed me around the place, and one who was said to know all about the trees freely answered my questions; but it was soon apparent that he really knew little. Briefly, the situation is this: there are perhaps 50,000 trees (my brown-robed brother said 150,ooo) of all ages up to 25 or 30 years and of various species, but chiefly E. globulus. They are standing, not on the marsh, as all the world supposes, but, with the exception of a few along the avenues, on the hills! This fact disposes of the claim that the eucalypts have drained this marsh. What they can do is another matter.

With reference to the healthful odors said to be exhaled by the trees I can say nothing. there is anything of the kind, the body of growing trees is large enough to produce some effect.

But if the value of the exhalations is doubtful and the trees have not drained the marsh because they are not in it, what has made the locality com

One or two other facts in connection with the Roman plantations remain to be noticed. The first is that many of the trees suffer severely from frost : clearly, some of the species planted there are unfit on that account, and would be even more so on

cold, swampy ground. Second, the root system: my guide at Tre Fontane told me "the roots go thirty feet into the ground and suck up the water. I found, in fact, plenty of windfalls where the roots were as shallow as those of spruces. How far this condition might have been determined by underlying rock I could not fully decide, for some of the roots exposed the rock and some did not. Undoubtedly, the trees will develop their roots to some extent according to the composition of the soil; but if the valuable species are characteristically shallow-rooted, the fact should be published, for it would be unfortunate to set out plantations and have them fail because the soil could not hold the trees against a strong wind. The windbreaks and groves in California are not entirely safe guides, for they generally stand upon firm ground. Third, the rate of growth on the Campagna is by no means phenomenal. In one of the best-looking groups I found about 225 trees to the acre (a good spacing), learned from some stumps that their age was 25 years, and by measurement that they averaged 10 inches in diameter and 70 feet high. When it is considered that for many purposes eucalyptus-wood is less valuable than pine, the question is inevitable whether the native Stone pine or the Austrian pine might not as well have been planted.

In conclusion, if eucalypts cannot be made to redeem the Campagna and render it comparatively healthful, the thing that will do it is within easy reach. If none of the species are entirely at home there because of the frosts, some of them can still be grown with a measure of success; or, other trees better suited to the conditions may be planted. Italy needs forests throughout its whole area, and properly-made plantations can scarcely fail to pay.

WE

ALFRED GASKILL.

Birds and Trees.

E hear many complaints nowadays of the decrease in our wild birds, and various theories advanced to account for their scarcity.

Some of the stories that find their way into print are gross exaggerations; but, leaving out of consideration the birds of the wilder parts of the country districts, the fact remains that about many a modern summer place there are to be found but a remnant of the birds that thronged the gardens and orchards of the old homesteads of a generation ago.

There are, doubtless, many changed conditions that influence the abundance of birds. The

The

spread of towns and villages and their outlying suburbs has converted much primitive woodland and swamp into lawns and meadows, and birds that venture into these precincts have a long way to go to find the native shelter that is a necessity for their happiness. This, to my mind, is the principal cause in the decrease of our birds. English sparrow does his share by occupying all available nesting sites about our buildings and driving away all intruders. Stray cats are also a serious menace, and small boys with rifles and air-guns come under the same class; but, if the air-rifles could be turned on the English sparrows and cats, and the township constable brought to a clear understanding of his duties under the present State law, all these influences would be checked.

Now, in reply to the frequent question, How shall we bring back the birds? what trees shall we plant? the answer is, Turn every available corner into a retreat for the birds. Berry bushes and wild cherry trees are excellent things, but there must be primitive thickets and bunches of cedar bushes and thick shrubberies in the corners of the garden. These are what the birds must have. A catbird is positively unhappy unless he has a tangle of bushes into which he can dive and into which you cannot follow him, and he must be able to find a few dead leaves and twigs on the ground to turn over in search for possible grubs.

Just as soon as the idea of converting our grounds into unending lawns with graceful shadetrees and closely-trimmed, ornamental bushes shall cease, then we shall find the birds returning to the vicinity of our doorstep. It is not implied that slovenliness is a necessity. Lawns may be trimmed, but here and there leave a thicket as Nature made it. Have somewhere a grove of cedars or other evergreens; it need not be in a conspicuous spot, but anywhere so that it will serve as a winter shelter for various native sparrows and other birds, which will soon get in the way of coming there to roost. Then a row of wild cherry trees and some dogwoods and mulberries scattered about, and in some sheltered and inconspicuous place establish some roots of pokeberry; if there are birds anywhere in the neigh|borhood you will surely have them. Another important feature, which will be much appreciated by the birds, is a place to bathe in. A shallow dish can be sunk in the ground and kept full of water and surrounded by bunches of various plants or small shrubs.

Leave here and there in the orchard a dead tree or a dead branch or two. Woodpeckers and nuthatches must have them, and if you rigidly cut them off, just so surely you drive away these most valuable birds.

Many attractive bushes or trees besides those mentioned will doubtless occur to anyone who will take the trouble to watch the birds at home in some of the wilder patches of woodland and swamp.

The main point, however, is to preserve a portion of this "wild land" close to our countryseat, or else make some patches of dense shrubbery which will answer the same purpose.

Anyone who thus draws the birds about him will have cause to be thankful for the return they will make him in destroying thousands of his insect enemies.

But this opens a new subject, which needs an article to itself.

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WITHDRAWAL OF ALL FORESTED LANDS.

Irrigated agriculture, as representing the leading industry in the future of a vast portion of the country, and, in particular, of the arid regions, is rapidly forcing to the front the question of irrigation as one of the great national issues of the day, since without water there can be no agriculture; and in like manner the need for irrigation is equally forcing to the front the question of forest preservation, since without forests there can be no water. Forests are an essential factor in

any scheme of irrigation of sufficient magnitude to contemplate the reclamation of our sixty or more millions of acres of irrigable lands which are now arid.

And, moreover, the area which would be benefited by the preservation of our forests is by no means confined to these 60,000,000 acres, which form, in fact, but a small part of the vast regions dependent largely upon such natural reservoirs. The lands already settled upon in southern California, for instance, need such provisional care on the part of the government to facilitate their development as truly as do the arid public lands of Arizona to make possible their settlement.

While the work of this office is confined to the care and disposal of public lands, the fact must not be lost sight of that a proper care of the forested portions of such lands should so expand the work at that point as to extend its benefits far beyond the limits of the public domain. It should, accordingly, in connection with forested lands, be placed in a position to work upon a policy as broad and far-reaching as the needs of the communities affected thereby, which interests clearly demand that the beneficence of the government shall not be confined to providing for the disposal of its lands, but shall be equally manifested in the retention of the fee of a portion thereof.

The future of such vast areas depends, in fact, upon our saving the remainder of our public forests, that every acre of what may be rightly termed "forested" land should be saved and applied to forest purposes.

To work upon narrower lines would be to reduce a so-called national system to serving, to a large extent, merely local purposes, at various points where bodies of land may be set apart as forest reservations. Under existing legislation the condition of affairs at this time presents the anomaly of the government setting apart certain isolated tracts of land and bestowing upon them rational protection, while abandoning the great sweep of its forested area to waste and destruction from every source.

Unchecked conflagrations and the inroads of lumbering companies are rapidly sweeping bare these unreserved lands, while, with full knowledge of the fact, this office stands powerless to check the evil.

And, clearly, until the policy of withdrawing lands and placing them under a forest force is adopted, such must continue to be the case. Conflagrations, which could be prevented or checked in their incipiency by forest guards, are now, in the main, given full sweep, while corporations and others have practically little or no limit placed upon their spoliation of public timber

lands.

The proved efficiency of a forest system in protecting and administering the reserves that have been set apart, leaves no room to doubt the advisability of extending such a system as will protect all our forested lands.

In the face of the known facts respecting the waste from fire and pillage and other sources that is rapidly reducing our forested area, there should be no delay in authority for withdrawal of such timbered regions as the Secretary should deem proper.

TH

Uses of Persimmon Juice.

HE juice obtained from the unripe fruit of the Japanese persimmon (Diospyros kaki) is called kaki-shibu, and, according to M. Tsukauroto, in the Bulletin of the Agricultural College of the Imperial University, Tokyo, is used for preservation of fish-nets and lines, and as an application to packing-papers, tubs and wooden vessels, etc., making them less penetrable by water. There are two varieties of persimmon or kaki tree in Japan. In one the fruit becomes sweet, while the other remains astringent, and is rich in tannin, yielding a large quantity of juice desirable for making kaki-shibu. When the fruit of the latter variety is fully grown, it is crushed, mixed with water, and allowed to remain three or four days in large tubs, when a kind of fermentation sets in, accompanied by the evolution of gas. The juice is usually prepared in August, and may be applied fresh or after standing for two or three years. In contact with the air, the solution leaves, on evaporation, a film, insoluble in water, that fills the pores of fibers and woods, diminishing their water-holding capacity and preventing the entrance of destructive fungi. The industrial value of kaki-shibu is claimed to be due to the tannin (containing about 31⁄2 per cent.), which differs from other tannins in being insoluble in water and alcohol and soluble in dilute acids.

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The above title tersely states what manner of book this is. No one will be misled by the title. Furthermore, it is a useful book, which has appeared at the proper time.

The forestry wave now rolling is so strong that every one who takes note of popular movements must recognize the incoming force. The student of forestry will find the book helpful, though it will, as a matter of fact, be less so to him (because he has his other professional literature) than to the publicists or the legislators who must direct thought and law making, and who are anxious to do it aright. There are grounds upon which we might differ in some minor details with Professor Fernow, but this is not the proper place to air these doubts, because, as a whole, the book is eminently trustworthy, and cannot fail to be useful to those who should read it.

The chapter on the Forest as a Resource is one which must bring the conviction to all who read it

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that we have none too soon commenced the work of forest protection and restoration; and the chapter on the Forest as a Condition will well explain the relations of the forest to climate, soil, water flow, and to public health, for Professor Fernow has thoroughly sifted the many-sided doctrines which have been advanced.

The portion devoted to Forest and Forestry is interesting, and might be studied with advantage by many of our propagandists who fail to discriminate between forestry and horticulture, civic tree planting, etc.

In this country we are, naturally, most concerned with the results obtained by governments which have long had an established forest policy. Especially interesting in this connection is the following condensed statement of Professor Fernow. See page 327, et seq.

"Judging from the results of the State administrations, it can be assumed that Germany produces annually wood values equal in amount to England's consumption, namely, somewhat over $100,000,000, or $3.00 gross and probably $1.75 net per acre, from soils that are mostly not fit for any other use, and which by being so used contribute to other favorable cultural conditions. This net income, figured at 3 per cent., would make the capital value of soil and growing stock nearly $60 per acre, and the value of the entire forest resource of Germany 2000 million dollars. The revenues have apparently risen with the increase of expenditures. In 1850, when Prussia expended only 37 cents per acre, her net income was 46 cents; in 1901 her expenditure had increased to $1.43, and her gross revenue to $2.87, although wood prices for the entire Prussian cut of 300,000,000 cubic feet have in that period advanced only 37 per cent.; while Saxony expended 80 cents per acre in the beginning of the century and netted 95 cents, to-day she spends three times the amount and has increased her revenue nearly fivefold.

"From this brief outline it will be apparent that forestry in its modern sense is not a new, untried experiment in Germany, but that care and active legislative consideration of the forest wealth dates back more than four centuries; that the accurate official records of several States for the last one hundred years prove conclusively that wherever a systematic, continuous effort has been made, as in the case of all State forests, whether of large or small territories, the enterprise has been successful; that it has proved of great advantage to the country, furnished a handsome revenue where otherwise no returns could be expected, led to the establishment of permanent woodworking industries, and has given opportunity for labor and

capital to be active, not spasmodically, not specu-, latively, but continuously and with assurance of success. This rule has, fortunately, not a single exception."

diameters from 6 to 60 inches. He has compared them in a series of tables and described their origin and mode of use. The Scribner, Doyle and New Hampshire rules are printed in full; the rest appear, in part, in the comparison tables. Descriptions are given of the methods of

The chapter devoted to Forest Conditions aims to describe, as exactly as possible, the condition and quantity of timber which we still have re-estimating standing timber in use by timber maining in the country. It is the author's aim to make approximate estimates. He especially calls attention to the fact that in the absence of exact statistics exact conclusions on his part are impossible. Nevertheless, we think his approximate estimates are especially helpful.

A very liberal appendix ends the volume. To the statistician and close student the appendix will be very valuable. Mr. Fernow's book merits a full, careful analysis and an extensive reading.

Eucalypts Cultivated in the United States. Bulletin 35, Bureau of Forestry, U. S. Depart ment of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 8vo,

106 pages.

Illustrated.

This monograph was prepared by Mr. Alfred James McClatchie, agriculturist and horticulturist of the Arizona Experiment Station, and treats only of the larger eucalypts which, during the past forty years, have been planted in various parts of the United States, especially in the southwest. In his description Mr. McClatchie points out the usefulness of the eucalypts, the ornamental feature being only incidentally mentioned. Information is given concerning the characteristics of forty-one different species, their climatic requirements and their uses, together, with directions and suggestions as to preparation, culture and identification. Ninety-one plates illustrate these different species. In many cases the growing tree, seedling, leaf, flower, seed-case and bark are shown, thus enabling the student to readily distinguish them; while still other views show the various uses to which the trees can be put. The eucalypts are stated to have been first planted in California in 1856, making rapid progress, and their use extended into New Mexico, Arizona, Texas and Florida, also into Mexico, being well adapted to the soil and climate of these sections of the country.

The Woodman's Handbook. Part I. Bulletin 36, Bureau of Forestry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 16mo, 148 pages.

This volume, which is of convenient pocket size, will be of great value to lumbermen and foresters alike. Its author, Henry S. Graves, Director of the Yale Forest School, has made the attempt to collect all the rules in this country and Canada for finding the contents of standing timber and of logs 12, 16 and 20 feet in length, of

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cruisers in different parts of the country, and of the method adopted by the U. S. Department of Agriculture. The Handbook contains also an outline for a forest working-plan and descriptions of instruments of use to the woodsman.

The second volume of the Handbook, which is to be published shortly after the first volume, will contain detailed directions for the study of age and growth of trees, including diameter, height and volume growth. A most valuable feature will be a compilation of the tables of growth, yield tables and volume tables for all the trees that have been systematically studied in this country. try. The defects, strength, durability and fuel value of timber, the amount of tannin in bark, specifications and weights of logs, and weights of lumber will be discussed. In addition, the tables, tables for converting metric to English second volume will contain compound interest

measure, and areas of circles.

North American Fauna. No. 22. Biological Survey, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. Svo, 140 pages. Illustrated.

This monograph gives the results of a biological investigation of the Hudson Bay region by Edward A. Preble, Assistant Geologist, made to obtain a representative collection of the mammals and birds of Hudson Bay, for purposes of comparison with related forms from other parts of Boreal America, especially Alaska. Mr. Preble gives an interesting account of the region traversed, and of the tree growth, together with an exhaustive description of the various mammals inhabiting this little-known region.

The celebrated "Charter Oak," at Hartford, Conn., was blown down in 1856. In a hollow of this tree the royal charter guaranteeing certain rights and liberties to the Connecticut Colony was concealed, lest it should fall into the hands of the British Governor, Andros (1687), who had com

manded that it be delivered to him. The Vice

President's chair at Washington, D. C, is said to have been made from this Charter Oak.

Mr. Adolph Sutro, a former mayor of San Francisco, and a prominent Californian, gave over sixty thousand trees to the school children of that city to plant in the parks and around their homes.

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