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VIEW OF ROAD BUILT BY FORESTRY DEPARTMENT ON TOP OF SOUTH MOUNTAIN, WITHIN RESERVATION.

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PANORAMA OF SOUTH MOUNTAIN RESERVATION LOOKING EASTWARD OVER FLAT TOP OF
MOUNTAIN TOWARDS GETTYSBURG.

VIEW THROUGH THE GAP OVER THE VILLAGE OF MONT ALTO INTO THE CUMBERLAND VALLEY,
FROM THE "LOOKOUT" POINT NEAR SANATORY CAMP.

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THE ELM TREE FORMERLY AT BROAD AND WALNUT STREETS, PHILADELPHIA. (See page 65.)

shade trees along public streets in boroughs, and who are willing to subscribe and agree to be along the roadsides of the Commonwealth.

What is now for convenience known as the Central Reservation includes the large areas lying in Union, Centre, Snyder, Mifflin and Huntingdon Counties, approximating 200,000 acres. This magnificent reservation, stretching in a northeasterly and southwesterly direction from Spruce Creek and Barree Furnace in Huntingdon County to within a few miles of Williamsport on the northeast, is destined to become one of the principal reservations in the State. When the few remaining gaps are closed it will be possible to travel over a tract seventy miles long and from three to ten miles wide without leaving the bounds of the reservation.

The 55,000 acres now comprising the reservation in Pike and Monroe Counties is simply a nucleus for further large purchases in the northeastern corner of the State. Other nuclei are found in southern Lackawanna, central Wyoming, eastern Lycoming, northwestern Clearfield, southern Bedford and the North Mountain region between Franklin and Fulton Counties.

The 3300 acres in northern Dauphin will in all likelihood be extended, while purchases will shortly begin in the watershed of the Ohio Valley.

It was the idea of Governor Stone, the champion of the Pennsylvania forestry movement, that these reservations, in addition to serving the purposes of growing timber for future lumber supply and for preserving at full flow the headwaters of our creeks and streams, should be held as great natural parks or outing grounds for the citizens of the Commonwealth, wherein they may enjoy the privileges of camping, hunting and fishing in season, and other forms of recreation, subject always to the rules of the Commission and the laws of the Commonwealth. That this idea is being rapidly laid hold of is evidenced by the fact that upwards of 2200 permits were issued by the Forestry Department during the latter half of the year 1904 for camping upon the State Forest Reservation Lands. Most of these were hunters during the fall season, some were fishermen, and many those who went simply for the enjoyment of camp life.

In order to protect the reservations and to know who are upon them, the Forestry Commission has adopted certain rules for the government thereof, and among these rules is one requiring that all persons who desire to camp upon the reservation lands shall first procure a permit from the Commissioner of Forestry, in which the camp site is designated. No charge is made therefor, and it is issued for the asking to all proper persons

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bound by the rules adopted for the government of the reserves. The purpose of the permit is that the department may know who are upon these public lands and at what place, so that violations of the law, if any, may be the more easily traced and the violators punished. This rule has been readily acceded to and complied with by the citizens of the Commonwealth. It imposes no hardship and is what any intelligent private owner would demand for the protection of his private holdings. Inasmuch as the citizens of the State in their collective capacity are the actual owners of the forest reserves, their ready compliance with the rules and regulations has been obtained in almost every case, and this after a lapse of a little more than a year, during which time these rules have been in force. The State Forestry Reservation Commission, therefore, encourages the citizens of the Commonwealth to avail themselves of the privileges offered upon the forest reservations. All lawful hunting and fishing are allowed, unless for good reasons a stream or tract may be temporarily closed, and permits therefor are not required where persons do not remain upon the reserves over night. In return for the privileges thus conferred, the Commonwealth simply asks that the laws of the State and the rules of the Commission be obeyed, and that those who are accorded privileges should take the same interest in protecting the reserves from spoliation as they would in case of their own private holdings.

Camping permits may be procured upon addressing the Commissioner of Forestry at Harrisburg. The permit should be applied for at least a week before the time the party desires to go out. Copies of the rules governing the Forest Reservation Lands may also be procured from the Commissioner of Forestry, while copies of the Fish, Game, and Forestry Laws may be obtained from the Governor of the Commonwealth, the Secretary of the Commonwealth, the Game Commission, or the Commissioner of Forestry, all at Harrisburg.

It is hoped by thus throwing open the reserves to the people they will avail themselves of the opportunity, act upon it, see the work that has been done, learn of that now in contemplation, and thus become acquainted with a great economic movement, which, if well carried out in accordance with the present plans, will be of untold value to the State in years to come.

The Pike and Monroe County Reservation may be reached over the Pennsylvania Railroad via Manunka Chunk to East Stroudsburg; also over the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western. This reservation may also be reached from Hawley, in Wayne County.

The Central Reservation may be reached over the Pennsylvania Main Line and Northern Central from Lewisburg, up the Buffalo Valley, in Union County, from Williamsport on the north, from Bellefonte on the west, or from Huntingdon on the southwest.

The Rothrock Reservation may be reached over the Pennsylvania Main Line from McVeytown, Mifflin County, while the Hopkins Reservation is accessible from Renovo, Clinton County, upon Philadelphia and Erie Railroad. The lands in Cameron County are accessible from Driftwood, while those in Tioga and Potter are probably best reached by journeying to the respective county seats, and there procuring the services of guides. The lands in Clearfield County may be reached over the Pittsburg and Allegheny Valley Low Grade Division to Penfield, or over the Clearfield Division running from Tyrone on the Pennsylvania Main Line to the borough of Clearfield.

The South Mountain Reservation is reached over the Cumberland Valley Railroad from Harrisburg to Chambersburg, and thence over the Waynesboro Branch of this line. It is also accessible from York and Gettysburg by way of the Western Maryland to Waynesboro. The lands lying in the North Mountain along the western edge of Franklin County are most accessible from Chambersburg, where teams must be procured, while the reservation in southern Bedford may be reached from Huntingdon over the Huntingdon and Broadtop Railroad to the borough of Bedford. The Dauphin County Reservation lying in the Lykens Valley may be reached over the Lykens Valley Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad, or over the Philadelphia and Reading, both of which enter Lykens.

The work of forest preservation, the preservation of stream-flow, and incidentally furnishing pleasant hunting, fishing, and recreation grounds for the people, is yet in its infancy. Many of our citizens know little or nothing about it, and no better means for becoming acquainted with this movement can be employed than an acceptance of the privileges herein above detailed.

An important adjunct to the forestal work in this Commonwealth is the State Forest Academy at Mont Alto, located upon the western edge of the South Mountain Reservation, where students are prepared to become scientific foresters, afterward to enter the employ of the State upon the Forest Reservations.

The Academy is now entering upon the third year of its existence, and its full quota of students is earnestly engaged in their studies. The Academy has thus far been a success, and now has before it the promise of great usefulness.

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Planting Chestnuts.

ORE than forty years ago a rough hillside farm came into the possession of a man who understood how to make it pay, and who had faith to plant trees. On the farm were three bearing chestnut trees, no two alike, but each yielding a good crop of large, fine flavored nuts. From these, seedlings were planted in a double line along the lane. These trees are now about forty years old and have been bearing for years but tolerable crops of small nuts. As he was selling to the nurserymen bushels of chestnuts from his old trees, the seedlings from which he was assured were "all right," the owner did not think it worth while to graft these trees. The mistake has cost him thousands of dollars; for not one of all these fifty trees is at all like the parent tree. These trees have never borne more than a bushel of nuts, while one of the old trees has frequently given five, and another as high as six, bushels in one season. One of these old trees seems to be immune to the chestnut worm; seasons when the crop from a nearby tree is all sorted out "wormy, this one has perfect fruit. This tree Charles Parry has named as a new variety, the Bartram, in honor of its owner, Hibberd Bartram.

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In the days when big chestnuts brought $10 a bushel the crops from these trees were an inspiration; and so two small orchards were planted: one now fifteen years old was planted with trees raised by a neighbor and grafted from record trees of several varieties; the other, about the same age, was set with grafted Numbos from a nursery. While the Numbos are just now coming into bearing and very sparingly, the other orchard has been producing for ten years a uniformly good grade of chestnut.

The necessity of grafting seems to be fixed by this experience. The one real difficulty remaining is the chestnut worm, for which no satisfactory remedy has been found. Yet even at present prices chestnuts pay. Even these ungrafted trees are worth several dollars apiece for posts, they being from two to three feet in diameter. Several hundred grafts were cut from the "Bartram" tree last year and given to a neighboring nursery to put in seedling trees, to be planted at a suitable time in a new orchard. The trees will be set fifty feet apart each way, should begin bearing in five years, and keep it up during the lifetime of another generation.

ALFRED S. HAINES.

[We wish others of our readers would send us data in regard to chestnut culture.-ED.]

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