Forestry
Forest Products
Meetings and conventions
Personalities
Letters to the Editor
The items appearing here are condensed selections of news thought to be of interest to readers of UNASYLVA. The Editor will be glad to receive direct front readers authenticated items of interest and of news value for this part of the review.
General Forestry
EIRE
The forestry program envisages the planting of 10,000 acres (4,000 hectares) annually towards a goal of 600,000 acres (240,000 hectares) of commercial timber. It is estimated that 30 million tree plants will be needed. As such a quantity is not available in the country, the question of their provision is under consideration. The government will pay a subsidy per acre to those who undertake planting. Technical advice will be available, and it is planned to provide equipment and to create an organization for this purpose. The Forestry Division intends to grow in its State nurseries all the plants necessary for State forest lands.
ETHIOPIA
According to recent data the country's total surface is 380,000 square miles (984,000 km2). The area covered by thickly growing forests is estimated at 10,000 square miles (26,000 km2). Distribution of ownership is very complicated and title is usually very difficult to determine. The forests can be divided roughly into three principal types: (1) the moist climatic forest with three main subdivisions (a) tropical mountain rain forests with a variety of tree species and with three stories; (b) the tropical high mountain and conifer forests containing softwoods, particularly Juniperus procera and hardwoods; and (c) bamboo Arundinaria alpina, mountain forests of very little economic importance; (2) the dry climatic forests divided into (a) the tropical wooded savannah with sparse and small trees, and (b) the tropical brushwood growths covering a very large area; (3) the moist soil forests along rivers and water courses. The most promising species are Juniperus procera and Podocarpus spp.
TURKEY
Since 1941 and 1942 the Forest Service has been reorganized into a special department with 88 administrative units, each directed by an inspector and divided into 5-8 cantonments. A number of forest stations have been established and a number of forest ranger schools are being started. The forests contain a large proportion of softwoods, especially in the central plateau and in the inland region near the Black Sea. As in the Mediterranean countries the greatest problems are goats and, especially in the south, the habit of setting fire to the brush to clear land for agricultural use. Numerous reforestation projects are being initiated. For this purpose, the country has been divided into eight regions, each with a central plant nursery. In central Anatolia, the region where the problem is most urgent, there are four nurseries. Seven of these nurseries are already supplying plants. By law, each village can be obliged to reforest a certain surface which is to serve as communal forest. Interesting and large-scale use has been made of Eucalyptus rostrata for afforestation of marsh lands, particularly around Tarsus.
Testing Timber
BRITISH EMPIRE
Many timbers available for export from the British Empire have a higher reputation for durability in their countries of origin than other woods which are well known on overseas markets. In some cases, timbers which have been exported for many years have established such a reputation that buyers are not persuaded easily to accept alternative timbers less well known but probably of similar or even better durability. Such is the case with Australian jarrah, Eucalyptus marginata, while other eucalypt hardwoods are not readily accepted abroad because of unfamiliarity of buyers with their properties. It has been suggested, therefore, that an inter-Empire durability test might be laid down in order to obtain a comparative picture of the durability of less well known timbers. Such a test must be considered desirable, as a reputation established in the country of origin is not sufficient to convince overseas buyers and is actually no guarantee that performance will be satisfactory. In other countries, the biological hazard may be very different. The best index of durability is satisfactory performance under varying conditions of decay and termite hazard. A listing would be available of 30-50 Empire timbers, including well known timbers such as jarrah, Eucalyptus marginata; teak, Tectona grandis; and iroko, Chlorophora excelsa, to serve as bases of comparison. A suitable specimen size would be pieces approximately 2 x 2 x 24 in. (5 x 5 x 60 cm.) and testing sites should be selected in at least six different countries. Where possible, sites should represent a combined decay and termite hazard. Each timber species to be tested should be represented by a suitable number of trees and the specimens divided into matched sets for testing.
Silviculture and Management
CANADA
An ever recurring question is that of the supply of Christmas trees. In 1946, 1.6 million Christmas trees were sent to the United States from the Province of Quebec. Grave concern has been expressed about these inroads into the forest. It should be kept in mind, however, that harm is done only when cutting is unplanned and unchecked. Otherwise, if Christmas trees are cut as part of clearing operations or if the tops of felled trees are used for this purpose, it is not only harmless but even beneficial to the forest and is a source of revenue which is very valuable when setting up management plans.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The first Sustained Yield Unit in a federal forest has been officially established in the Carson National Forest in New Mexico. This is the first application of the Sustained Yield Unit Act of 29 March 1944 and comprises public forests covering an area of 73,600 acres (29,800 hectares) of which 27,000 acres (10,900 hectares) are virgin forest. For the first thirty years, fellings will apply exclusively to the virgin forests to allow for 38,000 acres (15,400 hectares) of forest which were cut over 35 years ago to have matured sufficiently to supply future output. The main species is Pinus ponderosa and the estimated annual crop is of 1.5 million board feet (6,800 m3 (s)). Organization of the unit to ensure best possible utilization of the crop will include the moving of a sawmill to a more favorable location and the building of a packing-case factory. This would increase employment in this area by about 400 percent and would ensure constant employment to the population of the surrounding towns and communities.
Experiments in tree seeding by helicopter are being continued in Oregon and have now even progressed to the extent of commercialization. The pilot controls even distribution of seeds by an ingenious acoustic method. It is reported that 2,600 acres (1,100 hectares) in a number of plots have been seeded in this manner.
Experimentation by the Brewton branch of the Southern Forest Experimentation Station in Alabama has shown that the best and cheapest method of freeing the ground of scrub oak, Quercus macrocarpa, to make way for more valuable species, is the use of sulphamate of ammonium. The crystals are deposited in a slash made with an axe at the base of. the tree. The leaves begin to fall 5 days later and the amount of young shoots is negligible.
Mensuration, Increment, and Yield
UNITED STATES or AMERICA
The Forest Service of South Carolina has been experimenting with helicopters for forest surveying. The usual method is to use aeroplanes for taking photographs on which the forest areas are classed according to type of stand and type of density. The sample plots to be surveyed on the ground are then determined with the help of these photographs. Helicopters have been used to distinguish between the different types of forest. Observations were taken at low altitude at regularly spaced points along flight lines at regular intervals. It was thus possible to cheek the correctness of the data supplied by these observations. The data proved to be 85 percent correct This is a very encouraging result as compared with the correctness of data obtained from direct interpretation from photographs taken from aeroplanes and the cost is not much higher. Furthermore, a number of future uses for the helicopter have become apparent, such as direct evaluation of volume, and low altitude photogrammetry.
Forest Protection
AUSTRALIA
Plans have been considered to make boys the spearhead of a "Save the Forests" campaign by establishing permanent camps where schoolboys will be trained in forestry and become forest conscious. The reason for marshaling all possible forces for fire fighting is obvious when one considers that in Victoria, for instance, bush fires in one year destroyed 2,000 million board feet (9 Million m3 ® of mountain ash of saw-milling quality. It is feared that another such fire would wipe out for nearly a century the great forests of this utility timber, as mountain ash seed will not live through flame. Each experimental camp consists of dormitories, mess hut and kitchen, recreation room, showers, offices, and stores
CANADA
Recognizing the serious threat to the national economy in the destruction of Canadian forests by insect pests and the shortage of trained investigators in this field, a Canada-wide system of eight annual awards, to be known as Forest Industries Entomological Scholarships, has been sponsored by the Dominion's four leading forest industrial associations. The scholarships will be available for forestry students registered in the second year, or beyond, at universities, the awards to continue for a period of four years. They are offered through the Forest Insects Control Board.
GERMANY
Artificially regenerated stands of Picea in Western Germany are being seriously endangered by infestation with Bostrychidae. The propagation of these insects has been favored by dry periods of spring and early summer which -have occurred since 1943. The quantity of dead standing timber is estimated at 4 million m3 ® in Thuringia, 4 million m3 ® in Baden, and 1 Million m3 ® in Wurtemburg. Infestation has spread to Silesia and Austria.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
In some of the Southern States, expenditure for protection against forest fires, which is federally subsidized in part, does not cover all forest lands. In 11 of these States something like 100 million acres (40 million hectares) of forest land were protected, apart from government-owned forests. Nevertheless, in those 11 States 73 million acres (30 million hectares) of forest land were unprotected and it was on those lands that, in 1947, 93 per cent of forest fires were counted.
Among the new projects to be tested for fire-fighting equipment is a newly developed rocket projector or mortar for the purpose of throwing fire-extinguishing material several hundred yards. Also to be conducted is an over-all investigation of the use of water, wetting agents, -and other chemical additives to water. Among the projects in progress are the use of the helicopter in fire control, spray nozzle studies, tests of military and commercial type vehicles, development of tractor tankers with trailers for them and of slip-on pumper tanker units, and the use of power flame throwers. Studies to date indicate that helicopters in present production need an increase in hovering ceiling, increase in useful load, and improvement in the stability of the craft to reduce pilot fatigue.
An industrial concern has now undertaken the development of a power flame thrower to meet fire-fighting needs. Experiments are to be carried out at the three fire-control equipment centers located in Portland, Oregon; Arcadia, California; and Roscommon, Michigan.
Bombs may now be used as effective weapons against forest fires. They are triggered by proximity fuses and charged with fire-fighting chemicals. The bombs can be dropped from aircraft and explode at tree-top level.
VENEZUELA
In view of the heavy damage caused by forest fires in 1947, the Ministry of Agriculture has started a far-flung propaganda campaign for fire fighting. The press, the cinema, schools, and private organizations have been asked to cooperate in this drive against forest fires.
Conversion
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Chemists at the Madison Forest Products Laboratory have developed a nonswelling wood by giving the wood a steam bath in a vapor composed of pyradine and an acid closely resembling that of vinegar. The vapor permeates the wood, swelling it permanently.
A new method of barking logs has been developed and is now in use in a plywood plant. The new equipment removes bark by compression and shearing action. It gives a clean separation which leaves the log free from bark, without cutting into the sapwood. One man operates the machine from a carriage which moves the bark-removing compression head across the log as it turns in a lathe. Controls mounted upon the carriage guide a rotating wheel which compresses and shears off the bark. An air cylinder and piston furnish the power for the compression head, which automatically follows the log's contours. The new barker makes practical application of the simple principle that less force is required to crush bark than to crush green wood.
A fire-resistant paint intended to stop small fires before they spread has been developed in a number of shades. It is claimed that exposure of a wall covered with this paint to the blue flame of a Bunsen burner for one minute merely forms brown blisters and that the flames die down within 8-15 seconds after the burner is removed.
A liquid plastic recently marketed is said to be the first phenolic resin coating material which can be cured without heat or pressure. It can be brushed or sprayed and is said to be waterproof, fireproof, solvent-proof and chemical-proof. It is not a plastic paint but rather a phenolic resin in liquid form.
Utilization
UNITED KINGDOM
The possibility of preserving the various kinds of wallboard against mold by means of impregnating them with chemicals is being investigated. Owing to the lack of other building materials, the use of different kinds of wallboard is increasing considerably. The investigation is particularly important because wallboard cannot, in most cases, be kept in a dry state. It was found that chlorophenol is the most lasting preservative agent against decay and mold and even against insects. The most appropriate chemicals are pentachlorophenol and its sodium salt. These chemicals can be mixed with the raw material during the manufacturing process.
An interesting practical application of the use of stress grading was given recently in London in rebuilding a damaged house containing a wall that had previously been carried on a series of 6 in. x 9 in. 15 cm. x 23 cm.) beams. In order to save timber, a stress-graded beam was used with a consequent over-all saving of 33.3 percent. The beams used were 4 in. x 9 in. (10 cm. x 23 cm.) Douglas fir, stress-graded to a bending stress of 1,200 lb./sq. in. (85 kg./cm2).
Timber used in the construction of three emergency bridges placed across the Thames in wartime is to be removed and used in housing. It is hoped to recover 2,000 tons of weatherbeaten timber, mostly best quality Douglas fir or pine imported from Canada in 1939.
UNITED STATES 01, AMERICA
Research has developed new and interesting uses for dust from the redwood, Sequoia sempervirens, bark. This dust, a waste product from the making of insulating material, is being used as a fungicide in wine making and in the petroleum industry to replace tannin, which oil field drillers have in the past relied upon to lower the viscosity of oil mud. It has to be treated chemically to thin it to the point where it can be brought to the surface easily, yet viscous enough so that it will carry to the surface the cutting made by the drill. By sampling the cuttings, the driller knows when be has reached oil-bearing sands. Now that tannin is in short supply, oil men have been keenly interested in finding a substitute. Redwood bark dust is made to yield a product which has been named sodium palconate and which performs all the functions of tannic acid compounds and more. Tests -are said to show that it is superior to any other oil mud thinner. It is also believed that the new material will be used as a water softener and as a filtering agent for removing metallic salts from water. Furthermore, the new redwood by-product appears to have certain applications in the oil flotation process required in the reduction of certain ores.
With the steadily increasing and particularly advantageous practice of handling lumber in unit packages comes loading and shipping stock in unit bundles on flat cars. Apart from the considerable saving in handling time, there are other advantages to this method of loading and unloading lumber. As each unit is tallied individually and identified, it remains intact until the unit band is cut. Thus, the tally does not change and the lumber does not have to be counted over again. In this connection, the banding of lumber also tends to reduce pilfering. Thieves hesitate to steal lumber left in the yard or at a job when it is bound and scaled. Units are now made up containing 4,000 board feet (1,200 m3 (s)) of finished lumber. These are bound at each end with steel strapping 1¼ in. (3 cm.) wide.
Economics and Statistics
ALGERIA
Efforts are being made to widen the circle of buyers of Algerian cork. The U.S.S.R. is being given first consideration, since the attempts to introduce cork oaks on the shores of the Black Sea did not succeed. In exchange, the U.S.S.R. might deliver asbestos, which is used in large quantities by Algerian industries.
BRAZIL
A new paper mill has been producing newsprint at the rate of about 60 metric tons daily and sulphite pulp at a daily rate of about 40 metric tons. The newsprint output represents half of the anticipated output of the mill and one-third of the country's newsprint consumption, as indicated by import figures.
CHILE
The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development has sent a mission to make economic and technical studies in view of the country's application for a $40,000,000 loan to be used in financing hydroelectric development, forest industries, railway electrification, transportation facilities, and port mechanization.
NORWAY
The government program for the timber-felling season 1947/48 shows the highest figure ever before recorded: as much as 8 million m3 ® of wood are to be felled. In order to achieve this end, working methods will be improved, chiefly by employing mechanical saws and by using more efficient means of transportation.
POLAND
Poland is said to wish to export various kinds of furniture to Great Britain in the next year. Most of the orders received concern bedroom and kitchen furniture. A sample lot of furniture is to be sent to the United States.
SURINAM
A postwar boom of unprecedented size has brought 40 to 50 times higher sales of timber in the last two years than in any previous years. This was caused, it is said, by urgent demands in the Netherlands for all kinds of timber for reconstruction and by increased interest in the United States in Surinam timber for manufacturing veneer and plywood. For these purposes, baboon wood, which could not be sold profitably before the war, seems to meet all the requirements. Baboon trees grow on ground which is swampy most of the year, thereby precluding the use of tractors. Thus far, trees have been cut only along waterways and floated down.
UNITED STATES or AMERICA
A postwar increase in papermaking capacity of 3,250,000 tons annually in the United States is reported. The figures follow:
|
|
Tons |
|
Capacity (31 Dec. 1945) |
20,282,050 |
|
Increases in: | |
|
Paper |
1,372,060 |
|
Paperboard |
1,410,950 |
|
Building board |
475,850 |
|
Total Increases, 1946-48 |
3,258,860 |
|
Capacity (31 Dec. 1948) |
23,540,910 |
Manufacturers of paper, lumber, furniture, and plywood, and others using wood or wood by-products as raw materials should be combined into one organization for mutual benefit. This would allow for exchange of information on costs and other problems, and would especially be of advantage in small industrial units.
Policy, Legislation, and Administration
ARGENTINA
The Dirección Forestal (Forestry Department) has now become independent of the Dirección General de Tierras y Bosques (Department of Lands and Forests). It is now directly responsible to the Ministry of Agriculture.
BURMA
It is officially announced that the timber industry is to be nationalized on 1 June 1948. Two Burmese and five British companies will be affected.
FINLAND
Private forest owners have organized an association in order to put their technical and economic forest interests and activities on a co-operative footing. The association is to be a very large one and will only start after it has achieved a membership of 15,000 and the necessary amount of capital.
KENYA
A national park is to be established with an area of 7,000 sq. mi. (18,000 km2). The Tsavo National Park will thus become one of the greatest game sanctuaries in the world.
Softwoods are being grown by the government Forest Service and there seems to be an exceptional opportunity for easing the world scarcity of timber. The effort is badly hampered by lack of scientific experts and the government is anxious to recruit from the universities and from the European personnel of the Indian and Burmese Forest Services.
UNITED KINGDOM
A Forestry Section was established in the British Federated Home Timber Associations in July 1947. Membership is now 55. It is its intention to act in close co-operation with the land owners, the Forestry Commission, and other interested parties and to agree on a policy which shall include the dissemination of information on all matters concerning the interests and welfare of those engaged in forestry operations. Another aim is to establish friendly business relations with the nursery trade organizations and to arrange a plan for the bulk buying of plants.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
There are more than 230,000 farmers in Alabama, nearly all of whom have small wooded lots. All of these together, in addition to some small private forests, add up to 30 million acres (12 million hectares, or 69 percent of the total wooded surface of the State. It is believed that at present the output of these forests does not exceed 10 percent of their potential productive capacity. A campaign under the slogan "More Trees for Alabama" has been launched by the State Forestry Committee, which comprises representatives of all local, state, and federal services concerned with the forest lands, of the forest industries, of farmers, and of business men. The Committee has 73 trained foresters at its disposal.
In 1936, a program was initiated to encourage rational tapping for resin production in the farm forests of the Southern States. By 1948, 8,5 percent of those concerned were sharing in the application of this program. They undertook to follow the regulations laid down for fire protection and logging and received special subsidies for each tree tapped and worked during the year. These subsidies are much higher if tapping is carried out on a selective basis, and additional subsidies are paid to those who experiment with chemicals to stimulate production of resin.
Use of the recreational facilities provided by the forests is not only an interesting trend but also provides a source of revenue for the Forest Service. Generally speaking, recreational use of the forests is free but there-are lodges, resorts, and hotels, as well as sport aids such as ski lifts, operated by private individuals as commercial undertakings and on which the government levies a permit fee. There are 4,537 approved recreation areas in the forests in 41 States. They include camp groups, picnic areas, and organization camps (for groups). There are 236 winter sports areas. Besides these formalized playgrounds, there are wilderness tracts and primitive areas which attract an astonishing number of persons. These visitors are described as hunters, fishermen, horsemen, hikers, and persons interested in nature study, photography, or some other hobby. The Forest Service, however, also recorded a great number of visitors who seemed to enjoy the woods even where there were no particular recreational facilities.
A Franco-British Colonial Conference was held in Paris in February 1948. An agreement was reached to open the African territories of the two countries to private and foreign investment and to accelerate development of Africa's resources along international rather than imperial lines.
Sponsored by the Forest Farmers Association of the United States, the Southern Forestry Conference was held in Jackson, Mississippi, on 18 and 19 February 1948. The theme of the Conference was "Trees for Market."
The French Association for the Advancement of Science met in Biarritz from 18-23 September 1947. Notable importance was given to forest sciences.
The Forest Products Research Society held its Annual Meeting at the Furniture Mart, Chicago, U. S. A., from 20-24 March. Papers were centered around utilization of low-grade logs and integration of industries.
Clyde S. Martin, Chief Forester for the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, Tacoma, Washington, has been elected President of the Society of American Foresters for a two-year term (1948-49), succeeding Shirley W. Allen, Professor of Forestry at the University of Michigan. Mr. Martin served as Vice-President for the term 1946-47.
Sir,
May I call your attention to a news item in the November-December issue of Unasylva, Vol. I, No. 3, page 47. Under the heading of Union of South Africa the Jonkershoek Forestry Research Station is referred to-as being in the Transvaal. It is, however, in the Cape Province, near Stellenbosch, and about 30 miles from Capetown.
L. P. D. GERTENBACH
Sir,
Would you please indicate, in your next issue of Unasylva, that the photograph of the warden of a sanctuary on the Atlantic Coast of France (Vol. 1, No. 3) has been supplied by courtesy of the Société nationale d'Acclimatation. The picture was taken by Ed. Dechambre.
JEAN E. GOBERT
