a twenty-six mill tax levy assessed at thirty dollars an acre. As in the case of "A," "C" is entitled to fifty-seven per centum rebate on fifty acres of one hundred and fifty acres amounting to forty-five cents per acre, and on the remaining one hundred acres "C" pays one hundred per centum of the taxes of seventy-eight cents per acre. We thus have three distinct taxes on forested lands owned by "A," "B," and "C." "B" pays twenty per centum of the twenty-six mill tax levy; "A" pays forty-three per centum of the twenty-six mill tax lexy, and "C" pays forty-three per centum of the twenty-six mill tax levy on fifty acres of his one hundred and fifty acres, and pays one hundred per centum on the remaining one hundred acres. Take another illustration: "A" owns fifty acres of land within the legislative description, upon which he pays twenty per centum of the taxes levied, he being entitled to the eighty per centum rebate; "B" owns one thousand acres of land within the legislative description. "B" pays twenty per centum of the taxes levied upon fifty acres and one hundred per centum of the taxes levied upon nine hundred and fifty acres. Thus we see "A" is entitled to a rebate of eighty per centum on all taxes levied on his lands of a certain kind, whereas "B" is entitled to a rebate in the aggregate of four per centum from the taxes levied on all of his lands of the same kind. When considered in connection with existing laws, the act is impossible of practicable application. We wish to call attention to the fact that the provisions of the act in question relating to the rebate apply to all taxes levied. This must include special cash taxes which may be levied by the court of quarter sessions upon any township of the county at any time during the year. This being the case, the county commissioners, who are charged with the preparation of the tax duplicates for the collectors of taxes, and who are also charged with the notations thereon of the amount of rebate to be allowed any taxable claiming the same upon timber lands, cannot perform those duties without possible violation of the act in depriving certain persons entitled thereto to their proportion of the rebate, if the commissioners make up the tax duplicates any time before December 31 in each year. To delay thus in putting out the duplicates would be manifestly impracticable, as the county and other tax levying districts would be deprived of necessary funds for carrying on the machinery of government. And such a course would also be in flat violation of the provision of law requiring the duplicates to reach the hands of the collectors not later than August 1 in each year. If the duplicates are delivered to the collectors the first day of August each year, this leaves five months of the year in which special taxes may be levied upon which no rebate could be allowed, as there is no authority in the collector to allow any rebate under the provisions of the act in question. Indeed, the collector has no means of knowing, from the face of his duplicate, who are and who are not entitled so such rebate, as the assessor and county commissioners are the only officials having any knowledge of any claim for rebate under the act being considered. The county tax is levied early in January, the local tax early in March, the school tax any time during the month of June, after the first Monday, special cash tax any time during the year. A deduction of five per centum for prompt payment is allowed on local taxes from the date of their levy to June 1; the face of the tax is payable from June 1 to November 1, five per centum being added after November I. A similar deduction is allowed on county taxes for payment within sixty days of the advertisement by the collector. face of the tax may be paid during the four months following the sixty days, and five per centum is added after the expiration of four months. The The amount of tax depending on the time of payment, the county commissioners cannot know what amount of rebate on any individual tax should be noted on the duplicate. Any attempt to apply the act leads to inextricable confusion. For all these reasons we are constrained to the conclusion that the act is unconstitutional and cannot lawfully be enforced. L. C. Hill, the horticultural agent of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe road, in an interview, stated that in "East Texas, in the counties of Jasper and Newton, a gentlemen has leased something like 10,000 acres of pine covered land for the purpose of gathering the sap from the trees and opening up a turpentine distillery. Mr. Hill has long been an advocate of this industry in Texas, at he is confident that its success will be proven after the necessary experiments, and some two or three years ago attempted to interest some parties in the proposition, but was unsuccessful." The only obstacle which has confronted the experimenter so far is that of the labor problem. News Items in Regard to the Department of Forestry of Pennsylvania. IN N accordance with a late resolution of the Forestry Reservation Commission, a forest nursery will be established in the near future in Tioga County. A suitable location for it is now being selected, and when obtained, preparations will be made to start work on it next Spring. All of the available stock in the Mont Alto nursery will be planted on the South Mountain Reservation, and it may be necessary to purchase seedlings and plant elsewhere until the new nurseries are in condition to furnish young trees. Thus far, 200 pounds of white pine seed has been purchased for nursery planting, and it is expected to secure more while it is in the market. Efforts are also being made to raise large numbers of black walnut, white ash, white hickory, white oak, red oak and tulip poplar. A forest nursery was established this fall at the Greenwood Furnace in the forestry reservation on the edge of the Seven Mountains, in the northeastern section of Huntingdon County. This nursery is in charge of State Forester, Wm. L. Byers, and all his efforts since leaving the Forest Academy have been directed toward getting a large quantity of the seeds of the forest trees in that locality, either putting them directly in the nursery, or holding for planting in the Spring. The Greenwood nursery is expected to furnish seedlings for most of the lands in the large Central Reservations, as at places much planting will have to be done in this reserve. Some experiments will be shortly undertaken with the growing of coniferous trees not native to Pennsylvania, but of rapid growth, and valuable for timber purposes. Among these may be mentioned the Rocky Mountain form of Douglas Fir, the Norway Spruce, as well as some other species not yet determined upon. Experiments will be conducted in broadcast sowing and planting of seedlings, to determine the percentage of good growth in both cases, together with the expense, so that the results obtained can be used for the purposes of comparison, and serve as a guide for the future work of the Department. At the present time the State of Pennsylvania actually owns in fee simple about 740,000 acres of forest reserve land, with contracts outstanding for the purchase of 80,000 acres additional, most of which will come into the reservations within a couple of months. Many offers of large holdings are received from time to time, and where the lands adjoin present holdings are bought if the title is good and the price satisfactory. In new localities it is not desired to start reservations unless an area of at least 10,000 acres can be secured as a nucleus. A Practical School of Forestry. DU URING a visit to the Pacific Coast last winter, it was my good fortune to find a School of Forestry in Portland, Oregon, and to learn that even in a region of unsurpassed forests-a region where it appears to be the conclusion of many that they have timber to burn, át all events they burn it-there is a profound conception, by some, of the necessity for caring for the future as well as the present. This school is in some way-I did not inquire just howconnected with or is under the auspices of the Young Men's Christian Association of Portland, and is held in their rooms. Its aim is to give instructions to lumbermen, mill-workers, owners of timber lands, cruisers, foresters and woodworkers, and, in all respects, is thoroughly practical. Its last term ran from January 10th to March 28th. Twelve sessions were held during the time, at which lectures were delivered on the most important features of forestry, ranging from what forestry is, through forest industries and products, forest finances and management, economics of forestry, forestry as a profession, to logging methods. Manufacturing, transportation and other important points were likewise discussed and considered. It was with great pleasure that I attended one of the sessions and had an opportunity to learn what they were doing, and to tell them of the deplorable condition of our forests in the Eastern States, and admonish them to care better for the future of their's than we had for our's. The direction of this practical school is in the hands of Mr. Edmund P. Sheldon, and, as I understand it, he originated and organized it, and the credit for the work is due him. Mr. Sheldon is Secretary of the Oregon Lumber Manufacturers' Association, with headquarters at Portland, Ore. He had charge of the Pacific Coast exhibit of Forest Products at the St. Louis Fair, and also at the Lewis and Clark Exposition at Portland. For a time he was connected with the United States Government Service, and is thoroughly conversant with the forests of the Pacific Coast. He is the author of a work entitled, The Forest Wealth of Oregon, which gives the best and most complete description of the forest trees and shrubs of that portion of our country that I have ever seen. These are described in such plain words that one not familiar with technical botanical terms can comprehend and understand them. While this school does not claim to give a full course in forestry, yet its scope and effort is to impart such practical information as every one having an interest in that important subject sorely needs. It is educating, in a practical way, those who most need the education, but who, for various reasons, are unable to secure more, and it also has a tendency to create an interest in the minds of the people at large. If the Young Men's Christian Associations in the east should follow the example of the one in Portland much good might come from it, or if our high schools throughout the State should have one or two lectures on the importance of caring for our forests each term, or even once a year, great good could result. S. B. ELLIOTT. REYNOLDSVILLE, Pa. A Damages for Butchering Trees. The total number of ties reported is 77,981, 227, switch ties being reduced to an equivalent number of cross-ties. Of the total number of ties purchased, 14,459,521, or approximately 18.5 per cent. were for use in the construction of new track, leaving 63,521,706 for renewals. Assuming that the unreported 2.9 per cent. of trackage required ties in the same proportion as the reported trackage, the total number of ties purchased by the steam railroads of the United States in 1905 was 81,562,150. Estimating 10,000,000 additional ties for the electric lines, the total number of ties purchased last year in the United States was, in round numbers, 91,500,000. The The table below shows the average cost and the total value of the various kinds of ties. values given are based upon reports of representative roads in each region and are for ties delivered on the right of way. Value of Ties Purchased by Steam Railroads of the Kind of Wood. Oak.... Cypress..... Hemlock.. VERDICT of much importance to property owners and civic improvement workers was recently returned by a jury in Judge Park's division of the circuit court at Kansas City, Mo. Mrs. Ella S. Betz was awarded judgment for $200 against the Kansas City Home Telephone Company, whose employes had cut the top out of one of her shade trees. The testimony showed that the tree, a fine poplar, six inches in diameter, interfered with the telephone wires, and the workmen, without consulting Mrs. Betz, chopped out the top and centre of the tree and it died. This was in May, 1904. Mrs. Betz sued for $300. Another decision of a similar nature is reported in the October issue of Village Improvement. Mr. N. C. Brown, of Asheville, N.C., got a Supreme Court decision that the Asheville Electric Lighting Company, even after it had provided itself with the permission of the superintendent of streets, afterward approved by the board of alderman, could not ignore his protest and cut a tree standing on the outer edge of his sidewalk. Mr. Brown sued the company for Maple...... damages, and the jury awarded him a verdict for $499. Of course, the case was appealed, but the judgment of the State Supreme Court, as sum- ! marized by the American Telephone Journal, was that while the city had the power, under its charter, to control streets and sidewalks and to remove obstructions when necessary, it did not, when it condemned land for highway purposes, acquire a title to the land, but merely a right of way over it, so that the plaintiff was still the owner of the tree.-Park and Cemetery. Miscellaneous... 25,500 0.40 236,894 Total.............. 77,981,227, 565,319.70 14,200.00 13,690,80 10, 200.00 113,709.12 $36,585,446.14 The table shows that oak, the greater part of which is doubtless some variety of white oak, furnishes 44.5 per cent., or almost one-half, of the total number of ties. Assuming that the average tie contains 30 feet, board measure, the amount of timber represented by the white-oak ties is over one billion board feet, or approxi mately one-fourth of the total amount of oak lumber produced in one year, according to the Twelfth Census. Nearly all of the oak is converted into hewed ties, only 12.6 per cent. being sawed. Pine ranks next in importance, with 23.5 per cent., and while it can not be definitely stated just what proportion should be assigned to the various species, it is certain that more than three-fourths of the pine ties are southern yellow pine. The white and Norway pines should be credited with from 3 to 4 per cent. and the western yellow pine of the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Coast regions with from 17 to 18 per cent. The statistics show that 7,510,000 ties, or nearly 10 per cent. of the total number purchased, were given a preservative treatment of some character. A Forestry Revival in Great Britain. A ND now it is England's turn to sit on the anxious seat and brood over the coming of a timber famine, bearing in its train disaster to countless industries. A hundred years ago the government ceased paying any attention to home forests as a source of timber supply. There were almost twenty million acres of waste land in the United Kingdom; which, had they been planted with timber trees-following the example of continental countries, some of which had even earlier discerned the necessity of State forests-would now be furnishing a perennial supply of lumber. But the need was not then felt; and shortly afterward the introduction of steam navigation and iron ships made even the famed British oak obsolete as a necessity for the navy. All sorts of timber could be cheaply imported from abroad. So, while the imports of lumber grew and grew, the home product declined to insignificance. Such waste lands as were reclaimed were given to agriculture or parks. The dream was that the supply to be obtained from America and elsewhere was inexhaustible. But now, when the British consumption of imported lumber has grown to the enormous figure of about $150,000,000 annually, word is passed along the line that the permanency of the foreign supply can no longer be depended upon. Associations in the United States demand a prohibition of all further exports of lumber as a measure of necessity to the continued existence of many American industries. For the supply obtainable in Canada and Scandinavia, Britain must now compete not only with continental Europe, treeless China and Japan, but with the United States, whose manufacturers will "butt in" powerfully to keep their shops going. So at the eleventh hour, England turns to the consideration of home forestry. Plans are now under discussion for the organization of a national forestry board, and for the appropriation of many million of pounds sterling to the planting of trees. And experts" recommend the planting of pines and firs as two of the trees whose "rapid growth" will bring the earliest returns in merchantable lumber!—Maxwell's Talis man. Consumption of Tanbark in 1905. MR. R. H. M. HALE, Forest Assistant, in Circular No. 42, gives the consumption of tanbark in 1905, based upon the reports of 222 firms operating 477 tanneries. The total amount of bark reported is 1,104,045 cords, of which hemlock constitutes 799,755 cords, or 73 per cent., and oak 304,290 cords, or 27 per cent. The average price per cord reported for hemlock bark is $6.32, and for the oak bark $10.44, making a total value of $8,232,457. The tanneries of Pennsylvania lead in the quantity of bark purchased, the total being 428,709 cords, of which 379,806 cords were hemlock and 48,903 cords oak. This is nearly double the quantity of bark purchased in Michigan, the State which ranks next in importance. In the purchase of oak bark Virginia holds first place, with 73,871 cords. In addition to bark and chemicals, the tanneries use large quantities of extracts made from hemlock and oak bark and chestnut wood, together with a considerable amount of imported quebracho and gambier. Sumach leaves and palmetto extracts are also used to some extent. Not only have substitutes for bark been found, but the processes in use have been greatly improved, so that in the best equipped tanneries at the present time from 20 to 30 per cent. more leather can be tanned with the same amount of bark than was possible a few years ago. On behalf of the State forestry commission of Vermont, Ernest Hitchcock, commissioner, has submitted to the governor a report showing that 4,000,000 acres of land in the State are of a character suitable only for timber growth. At present this acreage is nonproductive, but Mr. Hitchcock claims that if handled properly a revenue of $1 to $2 an acre could be realized annually.. TERMS: CASH IN ADVANCE. Price of single number, 50 cents each. A liberal deduction will be made to Boards of Education or others purchasing in large numbers. NOW READY.-(These with a* as yet unprinted.) No. 1. Biennial Fruited Oaks. Black Oak and Allies. PART II.-THE NUT BEARERS. Numerous species. No. 5. The Walnuts. American, Japanese and European species and varieties. No. 6. PART III. The Hickories. American species and varieties. NEW HAVEN - CONNECTICUT A two years' graduate course is offered, leading to the degree of Master of Forestry. Graduates of collegiate institutions of high standing are admitted upon presentation of their college diplomas. The Summer Forestry is conducted at Mil ford, Pike County, Penna. For further information address HENRY S. GRAVES, Director, NEW HAVEN, CONN. CHESTNUT HILL ACADEMY, CHESTNUT HILL, PHILA. 30 minutes from Broad St. Station. BOARDING SCHOOL FOR BOYS. Illustrated Catalogue upon application. JAMES L. PATTERSON, Head Master. BOARD OF TRUSTEES: RT. REV. OZI W. WHITAKER, D.D., President. PART V. *No. 13. *No. 14) The Horse Chestnuts and allies. The Maples. (Printed in advance.) Locusts and allies of Pea Family of several genera. Wild Cherry, Mountain Ash, Sweet Gum, Sour Gum, Persimmon. *No. 15 Ashes, Catalpas, Paulownia, and others. For further information address the author, publisher and proprietor, GRACEANNA LEWIS, JAMES R. SHEFFIELD. |