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SUGAR MAPLES.

One of the very finest deciduous-leaved trees of North

America is the tall Sugar Maple. It can truly be called
the noblest of all the Maples.

NO BETTER VARIETY CAN BE USED FOR STREET,
PARK; OR LAWN PLANTING,

as its growth is rapid and straight, its form symmetrical,
and it does not have the objectionable density of foliage
possessed by the Norway Maple.

For this reason it is well adapted for planting near build-
ings, as it does not obstruct light or air, and the grass
will grow up to its very trunk. It is deep-rooted, and
the wood is not brittle; hence, it is not easily damaged
by storms. The Sugar Maple will thrive in almost
all localities, except where the ground is damp or
boggy. No tree has more gorgeous autumn coloring,
as it varies in all shades of yellow, orange and scarlet
until the leaves finally fall.

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96

Editorials.

VOL. IX.

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PENNSYLVANIA FORESTRY ASSOCIATION,

CONTENTS.

1012 Walnut St., Philadelphia, Pa.

Entered at the Philadelphia Post-Office as second class matter.

Governor Pennypacker at the South Mountain Forestry Reservation.....

The United States Forest Reserves..

A Lumberman Recommends Forestry.

Forestry at Biltmore, N. C.....

The Forests of Florida...

Afforestation of a Watershed..

Pennsylvania Forestry Association Council Meeting at Ganoga Lake...

Minnesota Forestry in 1902....

Forest Protection for Our State Reservations.

Railroads Take up Forestry..

Reafforesting Ireland...

New Publications....

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Subscription, $1.00 per Year.

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Hewett.

Finance, W. S. Harvey, Chairman; William L. Elkins, Dr. Henry M. Fisher, W. W. Frazier, Charles E. Pancoast, and J. Rodman Paul. Membership, Albert B. Weimer, Chairman; Mrs. George F. Baer, Edwin Swift Balch, Hon. Lucien W. Doty, Charles W. Freedley, Dr. J. T. Rothrock, W. W. Scranton, Dr. Samuel Wolfe, and Hon, S. P. Wolverton.

Law, Hon. W. N. Ashman, Chairman; Henry Budd, Charles Hewett, and John A. Siner.

Publication, John Birkinbine, Chairman; F. L. Bitler, Alfred Paschall, and Harrison Souder.

Work, Mrs. Brinton Coxe, Chairman; Mrs. George T. Heston, Miss E. L. Lundy, Mrs. John P. Lundy, William S. Kirk, and Abraham S. Schropp.

County Organization, Samuel Marshall, Chairman: Eugene Ellicott, James C. Haydon, 1 1. Newton Hunsb.ger, and Richard Wood.

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EDITORIALS.

OVERNOR PENNYPACKER and Attorney-General Carson of Pennsylvania spent two days with Commissioner Rothrock inspecting the South Mountain Forest Reserve in Franklin and Adams Counties, as will appear from a sketch of the trip on another page. Such excursions will prove of advantage to the State, and we hope beneficial to its Chief Executive. If the Governor finds time to inspect the various forest reserves and their surroundings, he will be better able to advise the Legislature as to their administration, and suggest methods for forest care and propagation. propagation. He will appreciate their influence upon stream-flow, their beneficence as health restorers, and their value as sources for future supplies of lumber. If in such inspection the Governor secures the benefit of change of surroundings and improvement in physical condition, every good citizen of the State will be gratified. We congratulate Governor Pennypacker upon his appreciation of the necessity of seeing for himself some of Pennsylvania's forest reserves. J. B. *,

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WE regret to learn that owing to insufficient appropriation the College of Forestry connected with the Cornell University has suspended instruction, and we presume that the young men who were studying forestry will have to seek other channels for completing their education.

If we correctly diagnose the cause, a report of a legislative committee condemning the forest methods brought about this condition.

Possibly, the measure was too drastic for the good of New York State, and an easier and better way could have been found to correct what were considered errors. We do not claim to be in position to pass upon the merits of the case, but regret that one forestry school should be handicapped by legislative action.

The committee which reported adversely upon

the forestry methods followed may be credited with honest motives and a desire to benefit the State, but the action of the Legislature of New York has apparently placed an obstruction in the path of forestry.

Forestry schools are new to this country and errors in judgment are to be expected. Without passing upon the points at issue, or defending either the course followed by the Cornell school or the views of the committee, it would appear that the school could have been maintained under such conditions as would sustain the committee's views while permitting further investigation of the method followed.

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We appreciate the interest which the State of New York has shown in its forest-it was foremost in establishing reserves and has the greatest acreage under State protection. But our readers will remember that the New York forestry laws, as enacted, have been considered to have practically made the forests of no value by the restriction placed upon their utilization. J. B. * Camp and Plant, the excellent publication issued by the Sociological Department of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, devotes most of an issue to the discussion of Rocky Mountain Timber Conditions, accompanying the text with some excellent reproductions of Colorado forests and streams. The publication of such data aids. in the spread of knowledge and appreciation of forests and the necessity for their preservation. These and similar presentations are now acceptable to readers who a few years ago would have considered a plea for forest care uninviting.

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FOREST fires and the damage done by them are brought prominently to the attention of the reading public by articles in the July issue of the Review of Reviews and Munsey's Magazine. We give to our readers on another page an excerpt taken from one of these contributions.

The attention which forest fires receives from the daily and weekly press and from the monthly magazines is to the advantage of forestry, for it brings before the reading public the importance of protecting our forests. Forestry is at present in general esteem, and this fact calls for the highest discretion on the part of those who are leaders in the effort to popularize it. Our aim must be to keep forest legislation free from partisan or factional politics, and to watch that the influence of forestry advocates is not used for personal advancement.-J. B.

Governor Pennypacker at the South Mountain Forestry Reservation.

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NE of the most important events in the forestry work of the State since our last issue has been the visit of Governor Pennypacker and Attorney-General Carson to the South Mountain Forestry Reservation. They were accompanied by Col. Kennedy, President of the Cumberland Valley railroad, Judge and Senator Stewart, Mr. David Knepper, Superintendent of the Mont Alto portion of the reservation, and Forestry Commissioner Rothrock. There was an escort of eight mounted forest rangers. The latter feature was intended to give the party a practical illustration of the force at work now on the reservation.

The first day was devoted to an inspection of the burned district and to noting also the rapid growth of the timber where protected against fires. After a somewhat long and rough ride over the mountain roads camp was reached and a substantial dinner served and enjoyed. The present and prospective forestry classes were then presented to the Governor and Attorney-General. Then the residents of the region were presented. An inspection was made of the consumptive camp.

The party then took carriages, went through the young white pine plantation, walked through the Mont Alto park, inspected the nurseries, where one million young trees are started, and visited the Wiestling property, which is to be the location of the forestry school. This done, the Governor and Attorney-General returned to camp at the top of the mountain, where they spent the night.

The following day the journey through the reservation was resumed. Leaving Mont Alto, the Caledonia portion was visited. This property once belonged to and was the home of the Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, and here he conducted extensive iron industries, until the furnace was burned by the rebels when they invaded this State just before the battle of Gettysburg. The lessons of the previous day were again impressed upon the party.

At Caledonia a call was made upon the Misses Dock, Miss Mira L. Dock being the lady member of the Forestry Commission and probably the most accomplished practical lady forester in North America.

Dinner was then served by Col. D. B. Meredith, who is superintendent of the Caledonia portion of the reservation.

It is needless to say the host and the caterer had amply and delightfully provided for the occasion.

There were about forty covers laid and the mountain men had the pleasure of dining with the Governor and Attorney-General. The guests, in turn, were rewarded by the local information which they gained concerning the condition of affairs during and prior to the administration of Mr. Stevens.

The most important practical result of the trip was, that the Governor and Attorney-General recognized the immediate need of effective protective measures to guard the property against forest fires, and suggested the appointment of force enough to do the work. They, at the same time, sanctioned the opening of the School of Forestry. This is expected to be in operation by September. Pennsylvania has been favored above some other States in having had four consecutive Governors who were heartly interested in the forestry work, and who neglected no opportunity to place the work upon a productive and scientific basis.

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TEN years ago, after four centuries of increasingly ruthless tree-chopping in America, a protective policy towards forests was inaugurated. The right of the farmer or miner to seize an axe, advance to the nearest government land, and there to help himself to such material for building as he could find, was for the first time seriously denied. In the spring of 1891 Congress provided that the President may from time to time set apart and reserve any part of the public lands wholly or in part covered with timber or undergrowth."

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President Harrison, not minded to delay until the "may" of the law became a "must," immediately set aside a tract of something more than a million and a quarter acres in Yellowstone Park as a timber reserve. Since that time each President has added to the total public forest land, until now there are more than fifty million acres (now more than sixty million acres. -ED.), or about eighty thousand square miles, where every tree and bush, every blade of grass, indeed, is at least theoretically sacred. That the increase is likely to go on under President Roosevelt is indicated by the fact, that he has declared the problem which forest preservation aims to solve the greatest internal question of the day.

The figures are almost staggering to minds used to dealing with tens instead of millions. They are not, however, so terrifying when studied. It is not the case that eighty thousand square miles of woodland are being reserved as a vast pleasureground, as a gigantic nursery for trees, as a beau

tiful and unprofitable fairyland-a leafy lure for dryads, gnomes and what not. There are probably fewer trees in these square miles of forest reserve than in any other equal area in the whole country.

The whole territory lies west of the one hundredth meridian, that imaginary line which, cleaving Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas, is regarded as dividing the fertile from the barren region. Beyond it lies the great American desert, the bald mountains of New Mexico and Colorado, the sandy wastes of Arizona and Utah,

Not for the intrinsic worth of the timber have the reserves been created, but for the enormous value of all vegetation in increasing the watersupply in those desperately arid districts. On water-supply, in the final instance, not only agriculture, but cattle raising, mining and manufacturing depend.

There are at present about five hundred rangers, supervisors, superintendents and special agents in the forestry division of the Interior Department. The rangers are the rank and file; a supervisor has charge of one or more reservations, a superintendent of one or two States or Territories. These latter officers make frequent tours of inspection through their respective domains; and, in addition, there are the special agents, men with a purely scientific, instead of an executive, interest in the matter.

But the most picturesque person in the group is the actual forester or ranger. He is assigned by his superintendent or his supervisor to a given district of a forestry division. He is generally not a native of the region, though it is expected that he will be a resident of the State or Territory in which the division lies. Experiment has shown that it is not wise to appoint the men of a neighborhood to guard its forestry interests. These weigh too little in comparison with the claims of neighborliness. So it happens that the foresters enter a district as strangers, and not infrequently they have to combat all the suspicion, jealousy and inhospitality of which the rural population is capable at its worst. The foresters must live upon the reservation.

In the dry regions, where most of the reservations lie, fire spreads with lightning-like rapidity. The shrubbery, little as it is, is chiefly of the resinous woods, which seem almost self-inflammatory. A match dropped among some pine needles on the top of a hill starts a merry blaze. It runs across the ground, shoots up some slender trunk with little knobs of flame-inviting pitch all over it, and fairly leaps from tree to tree. Here a camping party moves from its over-night stoppingplace without carefully covering the remains of its

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