General
Fundamental science
Silviculture and management
Forest protection
Conversion
Utilization
New Methods
Economics and statistics
Policy, Legislation, and Administration
Meetings
The items appearing here are condensed selections of news thought to be of interest to readers Of UNASYLVA. They are grouped alphabetically by countries under headings currently used by the Division of Forestry and Forest Products for reference purposes. The Editor will be glad to receive direct from readers authenticated items of interest and news value for this part of the review.
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Forest research in Slovakia is being reorganized. The Slovakian forest research institutes, which go back to 1906, are entirely autonomous, although coordinated in a general way with similar institutes in Bohemia and Moravia. Such autonomy is dictated by the need for decentralization and because forest conditions in Slovakia are entirely different from those in the western part of Czechoslovakia. A Central Administration of State Forest Research Institutes was created in 1947 with headquarters in Banska Stiavnika. This new office is charged with supervision and direction of the work of the existing institutions dealing with silviculture, forest biology, forest pedology, forest entomology and pathology, dendrology, forest economics and taxation, lumbering and wood technology. The Central Administration is to organize an institute for forest protection and other specialized institutions. The creation of new institutions, however, will be delayed for a time by lack of qualified personnel and suitable buildings. The Forest Research Administration now operates two forest experiment stations that are to be replaced by a network of biological stations representing as many different types of forest, as are to be found in the country. The Central Administration of State Forests in Bratislava gave the Research Organization full control of a forest tract of 1,300 hectares and of a sawmill; revenue from this forest to be used for the development of research. The research staff is also being given facilities for field work and experimentation in state forests generally. The several institutions are now housed in one building in Kosice, which is also the seat of the Slovak University of Agriculture and Forestry.
FRANCE
The International Poplar Commission, which unites national Committees established in many European countries, has an active French National Committee. This group, with its chairman, P. Guinier, is conducting a campaign in favor of wider use and better utilization of poplars. It actively participated in the preparation of two regional conferences organized by the Private Forests Division of the Department of Waters and Forests of France, at Toulouse on 7 and 8 May 1948 and at Niort and Rochefort from 12 to 14 May. Many forest owners attended these conferences, which included lectures, discussion meetings, educational tours, and visits to factories.
SPAIN
In October 1948 ceremonies were held in Madrid to commemorate the centenary of the Spanish Forestry School and the creation in that country of a corps of Forest Engineers.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
To celebrate the first 50 years of its existence, the International Paper Company has produced a special publication. In surveying the accomplishments of the company, certain ideas are stressed which are very interesting as examples of the lines of thought the industry is following, especially with reference to integrated utilization. Today International companies "convert" one-sixth of their paper and board output into such products as shipping containers, grocery bags, multi-wall sacks, paper milk containers. Chemicals are produced as pulp-mill byproducts. Canadian affiliates manufacture building boards and plywood. Integrated operations make for fuller use of existing resources. Underlying all pulpmaking is forestry. In Canada and the northern United States, forests under the company's control grow as much wood as is consumed. Its objective everywhere is to achieve a balance between growth and consumption, and at the same time make maximum efficient use of the products of every forest acre.
MOROCCO
A forester in the Spanish zone of the Protectorate of Morocco has recently drawn attention to a forest range in the Tazaot Mountains, about 25 kilometers northeast of Chauen, where, at an altitude of between 1,400 and 1,700 meters, there is a stand of about 1,500 hectares of a type of Mediterranean fir closely allied to the Pinsapo firs, Abies numidica and A. marocana. It is proposed to name it A. tazoatana. Comparing the tree with A. numidica and particularly A. marocana, it appears that it is a special race of Pinsapo. It is probable that, following the breaking of the link between the continents of Africa and Europe and the forming of the Straits of Gibraltar, these species evolved various types of trees, by progressive or regressive evolution. The most regressive type would be A. marocana, the average height of which is from 12 to 15 meters in open stands, often composed entirely of malformed trees. A. tazaotana, which averages from 30 to 45 meters in height and with a more elongated cone, would represent the progressive type. The most striking general difference between this tree and the Pinsapo firs is that its crown is not pointed but flat, recalling closely Cedrus atlantica.
The local climate ranges from temperate to cold. The soil is liassic limestone with a thick layer of humus. Counts made in this forest have shown that the volume per hectare for this species amounts to between 600 and 800 m3. The composition of the stand includes up to, five trees per hectare with a diameter of between 1 and 1.50 meters at breast-height and heights of from 35 to 45 meters. There is an almost complete absence of trees of diameter between 0.10 and 0.40 meters because the local population will not fell trees of more than 0.45 meters diameter as they do not have the necessary tools. Mixed with these firs are some maples, Acer granatense, and several oak species; Quercus mirbeckii, Q. pyrenaica, and Q. toza. The most common shrub in the understory is a variety of Ilex aquifolium.
FRANCE
After the first World War, France had to convert large areas of what had been mostly agricultural land, where the Battle of Verdun was fought, into forests. An area of 13,500 hectares, on which the work was extremely difficult because of the upheaval of terrain, was planted with mixed stands of Scots pine, Pinus sylvestris, and black pine, P. laricio, or equal mixtures of spruce and hardwoods (birch, alder, maple, acacia, ash, etc.), or of black pine and broadleaf species. Some land was also restocked with sowings of pine and fly. Finally, poplars were planted in the valley of the Meuse in meadows subject to periodic flooding but which have been well drained.
After 20 years the results are beginning to show. Among the softwoods, only the black pine, which is well adapted to the heavy chalk soil and the local climate, has produced uniformly good results. Spruce and Scots pine have not proved very suitable. Poplars showed excellent results and some marketable products have already been obtained from these stands. Results vary greatly for the other broadleaved species according to the location. The general appearance of the reforested areas is still artificial and patchy. Years will elapse before the soils will have recovered sufficiently to bear real forests.
ICELAND
Forty thousand two-year-old pine seedlings and 25,000 spruce seedlings will be shipped by airplane from Norway to Iceland. The seedlings were carefully chosen from an area in Norway where the climate is very much like that of Iceland.
INDONESIA
One of the important problems in forest management in Java, which is closely tied to the exploitation of forests of teak Tectona grandis, is the afforestation and cultivation of poor soils not suitable for the cultivation of teak. Solution of this problem is more difficult in the and regions of central and eastern Java, or in the and regions, for instance, of the Lesser Sunda Isles. Though a number of species have been found locally suitable for the afforestation of poor soils, in practice only Swietenia macrophylla and Dalbergia sissoo are of economic value. The results of afforestation with eucalypts in other parts of the world justify investigation into their possibilities for Java, especially since eucalypts produce excellent timber.
MEXICO
A change in import and export duties reflects a significant trend towards conservation of Mexican forests. Whereas import duties changed only slightly, there was a marked increase in those of experts, so that export of Mexico's forest products will now be much more costly. This step followed long endeavors to interest the public in forest conservation, which have not had the desired effect.
Modern forest nurseries have been established and an extensive campaign launched in the press and the schools to protect the forests. A number of timbered areas have been set aside as national forest preserves and parks, and in certain regions cutting is absolutely forbidden. Large-scale reforestation of denuded areas has not yet been started, although a small amount of planting has begun. Lack of modern tractor-driven automatic tree planting machines is possibly the reason why the reforestation program lags. Until recent years little interest had developed in the conservation and perpetuation of the country's forest resources. The Forest Service, as now organized, generally follows methods similar to those in use in the United States, and appears to be increasingly in a position to control exploitation.
Rational exploitation of Mexico's forests will have to wait for expert knowledge of what these forests contain, the quantities available, and what they are best suited for. The cutting of logs for export will have to be discontinued, and instead they must be processed into manufactured or semifinished products in Mexico before being exported. Given the necessary technical direction and adequate government encouragement, the industry could, within a few years, be developed to a point where it could supply practically all national requirements and still export. It seems paradoxical that this country should import wood and wood products, while a large part of its territory is covered with some of the finest forests in the Americas.
UNITED KINGDOM
On waste land in the Black Isle, where even heather will not grow, Forestry Commission planters, by deep plowing, are planting forests that will one day make the area one of the most productive in Scotland. With 35 percent of the Black Isle in woodland - 20 percent of it under the Forestry Commission - forestry men working a new type of plow, designed to tear up even the roughest ground, aim to plant nearly 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) more. To combat fire, the Commission had trained and equipped a special body of firefighters. These men, operating Army Bren gun carriers fitted with hoses and water tanks, can speed over the roughest ground and act as fire-fighting shock troops until the main appliances arrive.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The annual report of the Crown-Zellerbach Corporation pointed out the successful use of a helicopter in seeding isolated forest areas with new trees. The company said it conducted the largest forest restocking program in its history in the fiscal year ending 30 April 1948. Nearly 1 million seedling trees of pulp species were hand planted in 648 hectares (1,600 acres) in the Northwest area. Another 1,400 hectares (3,500 acres) were seeded by hand or from the air by helicopter. Satisfactory results are now becoming apparent from the airplane seeding and hand broadcasting done in previous years.
CYPRUS
The problem of grazing, especially of goats, is the most serious factor involved in forest conservation in the Mediterranean region. Two recent reports published by the Conservator of Forests of Cyprus, one for the years 1939-1945 (which was submitted to the last British Empire Forestry Conference) and the second for 1946, give interesting data on the progress recently achieved in the island.
This progress can be attributed in a measure to wartime circumstances. The normal forest increment on the island would be 1.4 m3; and it is estimated that intensive grazing reduces this increment to 0.4 m3. In addition, the soil losses are even more serious. Soil recovery is practically impossible. Finally, although the presence of animals, especially goats, in the forests causes considerable harm, the shepherds themselves are responsible for the greatest damage - they cause most of the forest fires.
Almost the entire forest area where free grazing was allowed belongs to the State. The policy adopted in all sections where pasture rights belonged to individuals or isolated, clearly determined communities, has been to bargain with them and offer them substantial compensation in exchange for the relinquishment of their rights. This action was taken first in dealing with monasteries, which recognized that the pasturing of flocks in forests was an abuse of the land. It was later extended to dealings with private individuals grazing flocks in forests with no legal authority, and who were at first requested to obtain regular licenses and then' gradually persuaded to relinquish their rights. A forest law called the "Goat Law" granted villages certain privileges on condition that they would agree to restrict the pasturing of goats to specified areas outside forest lands. Finally, strict supervision was exercised to ensure the proper enforcement of the agreements reached. Thanks to this policy, most of the forests on the mountain range of the southwestern portion of the island are now protected from grazing.
The position was more difficult in the limestone northern coast range where the rights of pasturing of flocks were not in the hands of individuals, as was generally the case on the southwestern mountain range. Pressure is strong from villages isolated in the forests, which have very little agricultural lands available and where shepherds had always earned their living by raising sheep and goats. Moreover, supervision is more difficult, there. Compensation to the shepherds for the relinquishment of their rights in the south was generally provided in the form of stable employment elsewhere. Thanks to wartime circumstances and the large financial credits the Forest Service obtained from the Colonial Development Fund, such employment was expanded.
In the northern portion of the island, it would of course be possible to employ large numbers of men in reforestation and forest planting work. There are sufficient funds available for this purpose, but the work would provide temporary employment only. Therefore, consideration is being given to a policy of moving the villages in this zone and re-establishing them on more fertile and accessible lands. An experiment of this kind, which is being tried out with a village at the request of the inhabitants themselves, seems to give promise of excellent results.
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Bark beetle infestation, drought, and fires caused a great deal of damage to the forests of Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia during 1947. Insect infestations had already been reported in some places during the years 1943-1945, but they assumed epidemic proportions during the exceptionally dry year of 1947. Infestation also became widespread in neighboring countries like Austria, Germany, Poland, and even as far as Sweden and Yugoslavia. Shortage of labor, lack of transportation, neglect of barking felled trees and windfalls during the war years, all created favorable conditions for the mass outbreak of bark beetles. This mass infestation continues in some places, while it is subsiding or is entirely checked in others.
The catastrophic drought of 1947 also destroyed from 50 to 60 percent of the plantings of that year and killed many trees at the pole stage, especially the shallow-rooted spruce. Because of exceptional dryness, many forest fires raged, especially along railroads, and burned hundreds of hectares of forest.
FRANCE
Attempts have been made to combat the invasion of Bostrychidae, which is causing serious damage to European forests, by using insecticides such as DDT, Gesarol, and hexachlorohexane. Unfortunately, the same excellent results as those previously obtained against leaf parasites were not achieved. The tree trunks could not be reached by spraying from the air. There is no apparatus that can spray insecticide effectively to a height of. 20-30 meters from the ground; if there were, it would be extremely costly. The only really effective means of combating Bostrychidae are still preventive silvicultural methods of maintaining stands of spruce and fir in per-feet condition and planting artificial -stands only in a suitable environment.
CANADA
A new machine at the plant of the Powell River Company, Powell River, British Columbia, which cost approximately three million dollars, will have a production capacity of 365 meters (1,200 feet) of newsprint per minute. Its seven-man crew has been operating it on an experimental basis for several months. The machine, which is probably the fastest in the world, is capable of turning out 610 meters (2,000 feet) of newsprint per minute. Its production -of about 250 short tons per day on a round-the-clock basis will increase the Powell River production to 233,000 metric tons (257,000 short tons) per year. The new machine's production will almost equal the combined output of the four original machines installed in the plant between 1912 and 1914; they are still operating. Each of these machines produces approximately 204 meters (670 feet) of paper per minute. One of the features which has speeded up production on the new machine is a revolutionary new headbox, which cost $75,000 to design and install.
FINLAND
An account of investigations carried out at the A. B. Centrallaboratorium O. Y. in Finland shows that mechanical pulp dried to 75 percent dryness does not get mouldy. At 70 percent dryness the development of mould is inconsiderable. At a lower dryness percentage than 70, a rich growth of fungi can be found, apparently due to the fact that the air between the sheets in a bale in this case has a relative humidity of 100 percent. If drying proceeds under favorable conditions (30 percent relative humidity and 85°C.) its influence on strength is small, corresponding to a reduction by 3 percent at the most. The folding endurance, however, showed a greater sensitiveness. The breaking up of the pulp showed increasing difficulties when the pulp was dried to more than 70 percent b.d. During 6 months storage, all the samples, the air dry pulp included, had changed to such a degree that the time for breaking up the pulp was much longer than before storage. It also appeared that the moist pulp, if penetrated during the storage by hyphae, can be more difficult to defibrate than the undamaged dry or half-dry pulp.
POLAND
The factory at Bydgoszcz, which produces tools and machinery for the wood-manufacturing industry, now employs approximately 400 workers and produces 38 different kinds of machinery. It resumed operations in March 1945.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The first rayon pulp mill designed to employ a new process for producing dissolving woodpulp used in the manufacture of rayon and other synthetic products is to be built in the South by International Paper Company. Hardwoods instead of softwoods will be used for the first time in the manufacture of rayon pulps, with a new process based on the sulphate (kraft) process instead of the traditional sulphite. The mill is to have a capacity of 300 tons a day or an annual capacity of 100,000 tons. This output would increase the present estimated North American production of rayon pulp by 16 percent. This development means that dissolving woodpulp output will be sufficient for the first time since the end of the war to meet the demand for new rayon yarn capacity, existing and authorized. The new project involves radical changes in the sulphate process and novel methods of purification and bleaching. The result is a dissolving pulp which not only produces yarn and other end products of superior strength but which can be processed more rapidly by the converters, with lower operating costs and considerable savings in their capital investments.
U.S.S.R.
As a part of the plan to place the lumber industry on a highly mechanized footing, more than 10,000 electric saws were supplied to the lumber industry in 1947.
FRANCE
The French Commission for Standardization of Cellulose and Paper met last summer in Paris. Before the meeting an enquiry was made among the interested industries to find out if they would consider setting up a commission, the purpose of which would be mainly: (1) to study production, transformation, and utilization of pulp insofar as it has not been studied by existing special commissions, (2) to co-ordinate the work of these special commissions in order to arrive at a greater unity of views. In the course of the meeting, the Commission discussed pulp as a raw material, derivatives of pulp obtained by chemical treatment, and paper, textiles, celluloid, powder, varnishes, etc. Considering that it is extremely important to standardize the testing methods in the pulp -and paper industry, the Commission has entrusted the National Bureau of Standards for Paper with drafting a first project. The derivatives of pulp will be studied thoroughly by the Commission. With regard to finished products, their standardization will be assured by the Bureau of Standards. The idea of referring the study of such products to commissions is intended to ensure the best technical results by dividing the work between the most expert technicians in the field. However, no matter which commission carries out the work, the Commission for Cellulose will always centralize and co-ordinate.
CANADA
A new use for the enormous tonnage of waste-sawdust, wood shavings, end trimings, edgings, slabs, and bark is seen with the announcement that contracts have been signed for construction of a "Plaswood" plant at South Nelson, New Brunswick; cost of erection is to be $200,000. The plant is expected to be in, operation soon, to produce 59 m3 (25,000 bd. ft.) a day, and employ about 25 men. "Plaswood," a copyrighted trade name, is the result of continuous research and development during the last ten years. The process is said to convert all kinds of wood waste into a wide range of wood products through the use of special drying equipment and the admixture of a urea synthetic resin. Flat or curved boards (of the required thickness and density) are produced by the use of multiple-opening hydraulic presses. Intricate wood-work is also automatically produced through extrusion.
Canada's first cellulose sponge plant commenced operation at Vancouver early last August, when Canada Pulp Products Limited opened its $100,000 factory on Granville Island. The new plant will provide full-time employment for 30 workers and will utilize as its prime raw material high-grade white pulp supplied by British Columbia's forest industries. Commercial and domestic types of artificial sponges will be produced. A laboratory in the plant will conduct research on new cellulose products.
INDIA
Studies on adhesives are contained in leaflets Nos. 97 and 100, issued by the Forest Research Institute, Dehra Dun. Experiments on tar acid formaldehyde resins were mainly concerned with phenol-formaldehyde resins. At a certain stage of the war the position of phenol was very critical. But a limited quantity of "pale cresylic acid" was available. The experiments carried out on the utilization of this cresylic acid are described in pamphlet No. 97. Other experiments show that it is possible to produce adhesives from castor cake proteins suitable for the manufacture of commercial plywood, even though the results are not as good as those obtained with groundnut proteins.
SWEDEN
Paper parachutes produced by the Nissafors Company and successfully tested and used in Sweden are said to have aroused great interest abroad and may become an important Swedish export commodity. It is reported that 3,000 of these parachutes have been ordered for the French Army in Indo-China. The United States and other countries are also said to be showing an interest in the new product.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A new method of prefabricated house construction using an inexpensive but durable combination of wood veneer and kraft paper has been successfully tested. Known as "K-Veneer," the new material is made of a single 0.48 centimeter (3/16-in) wood veneer, slit by a unique process, and bonded to 0.,04-0.08 centimeter (.016 to .030-in.) kraft paper. Species and grades of wood formerly considered unsuitable for such purposes can be used, including hemlock and white fir. The new material is said to be stiffer, stronger, and more puncture-resistant than insulation or gypsum-board, and stiffer and stronger than 0.64 centimeter (¼-in.) plywood as normally applied. For test purposes K-Veneer was made into wall and roof panels in full-sized housing sections, and the panels were subjected to condensation tests at the Pennsylvania State College that showed them sound under extreme contrasts between inside and outside temperatures. Mechanical tests at the U. S. Forest Products Laboratory were considered to have demonstrated satisfactory stiffness for roofing, as well as showing suitable strength for racking of wall panels, and for impact, column compression, and concentrated load requirements of partition panels. K-Veneer can be manufactured in a continuous machine that slits the veneer, bonds the paper and adds the mineral-surfaced felt. The process appears simpler than the manufacture of plywood.
ARGENTINA
A decree issued by President Peron will cut consumption of newsprint to one-half that of the past year. Its issue followed meetings between publishers and the president of the National Economic Council. It placed newsprint of all types, imported or domestic, under the law governing consumption and distribution of essential articles. It instructed the secretariat for Industry and Commerce to draw up the necessary measures for the Economic Council. It is said that only about $10 million could be allocated annually for future imports. This might reduce the supply to 50,000 tons a year from the normal 140,000. Domestic production of newsprint is still small.
AUSTRALIA
The Prime Minister of Australia has assured publishers who use reel newsprint that consumption will not be reduced below the present 90,000 long tons for 1948. The sources of this 90,000 for 1948 are: Imports, 35,000 tons; Tasmania, 30,000 tons; from stocks, 25,000 tons.
Australia has concluded arrangements for the manufacture of newsprint in England that will be made from raw materials bought elsewhere by Australia It is understood that one arrangement is for the purchase of pulp wood from Newfoundland and another for the purchase of sulphite wood pulp from the west coast of North America. Another arrangement involves the purchase of 10,000 tons of mechanical pulp previously bought by the British Board of Trade from Scandinavia and 2,000 tons of sulphite pulp to be purchased elsewhere. Of the 12,000 tons of newsprint to be manufactured under this arrangement one-third will go to the British Newsprint Supply Co. in lieu of sterling payment.
BURMA
Burma has undertaken a "two-year plan" of economic development to include a survey of Burma's natural resources, which is to evolve a final policy of industrialization. New industries to be developed include paper and chemicals. Action will be initiated to set up in the Akyab District a paper and bamboo pulp mill (combined with the manufacture of certain chemicals essential to the industry) based on the utilization of bamboos grown in the district, and in conjunction with the hydroelectric power available from the Saingdin Falls. A fresh survey of the bamboo resources, the best site for the factory, and of the hydroelectric possibilities of the Saingdin Falls, will be completed not later than the 1948-49 open season. Simultaneously with the completion of these surveys, the availability of plant and machinery will also be investigated and orders placed with a view to setting up the mill at the earliest possible date and getting into production by 1951.
CANADA
Twenty-five Canadian newsprint manufacturers and 35 newspaper publishers from the United States met in a two-day session at the end of September 1948. The publishers' estimates of newsprint consumption amounted to a total of 5,437,000 tons by 1960. R. Fowler, president of the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association, estimated that there would be an additional 100,000 tons of newsprint from Canada in 1949 and that the Canadian industries would produce some further 60,000 tons per year for the next 10 years. He also thought that the publishers' estimates were too low because they did not take into account the backlog of unfulfilled demand for 1947. Canadian newsprint production in 1947 was 4,447,000 short tons and is to be 4,575,000 short tons in 1948. The U. S. is to get 84 percent of this production in 1948 (3,8,50,000 tons) and 86 percent in 1949.
The estimated 1948 shortage of supply in the United States is 455,000 tons; this shortage is to drop to 280,000 tons in 1949, with an unrestricted demand in the United States for that year of 5,705,000 tons. According to the mathematical rate of increased consumption for 1925-1950, the United States would need 6,201,000 tons by 1960. In the period between 1920 and 1935, the cost of a newsprint mill had usually been estimated to be $30,000-$35,000 per daily ton. Today mill construction would cost $75,000-$80,000 per daily ton, to which must be added woodland expenditures on a scale unknown twenty years ago. A single newsprint machine which could have been installed in 1930 for $2 million would today cost $4.5 million.
FINLAND
After lifting all controls from the forest products trade on 1 June 1947, it became apparent that the necessary supply of fuelwood would not be forthcoming. The government accordingly took preliminary steps towards reintroduction of controls. However, by May 1948, it was possible to withdraw these proposals because imports of coal were expected to increase by 50 percent during the year, and arrangements are being made to transport fuelwood from surplus to deficit areas.
INDIA
Substantial resources of bamboo forests exist in the Kanara District of Bombay Province, according to a statement by the Director of Publicity of the Government of Bombay. The bamboo is regarded as suitable for the manufacture of pulp and paper. The potential yield of air-dry bamboo is 252,000 tons annually, of which three-fourths is considered usable. Estimates indicate that if these forests were fully exploited, enough bamboo would be available to produce about 65,000 tons of pulp or paper annually. Several sites for mills have been suggested. The principal bamboo species are medar, Dendrocalamus strictus, and dowga, Bambusa arundancea. Chemical tests for both species are being carried out at the Forest Research Institute at Debra Dun.
NEW CALEDONIA
For some years Bryant and May Pty., Ltd., of Melbourne, has been obtaining considerable quantities of match splints from Canada, but the increasing hard currency shortage has compelled the company to search for new sources. The Melbourne company has the cutting rights to two areas on the island of New Caledonia, a French possession. The first contains about 104,000 m3 ® (23 million super feet) of assorted timbers, and the second more than 450,000 m3 ® (100 million super feet) of assorted timbers. The distance to Sydney is about 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles).
NEW ZEALAND
The first direct consignment of timber for South Africa is reported. The shipment consisted of 9,400 m3 (s) (4,000 super feet) of Pinus insignis.
Plans have been made to establish the first wood-pulp mill in New Zealand to begin production in 1950. The initial output of the mill, which is to be built at Maraetai, near Auckland, by a private company, is expected to be about 10,000 tons of pulp annually, probably unbleached sulphate. A government-owned pulp mill is expected to be erected at Murupara near Auckland by 1952. Pine forests in the area will furnish the raw material to be used.
NORWAY
Import restrictions in European and other overseas markets threaten to reduce Norwegian exports of wood pulp. If current negotiations with western Germany result in a sales contract, the situation might improve temporarily.
RUMANIA
A forest utilization plan has been set up in Rumania providing for a total annual cut of 14.15 Million m3 ®, of which 3.15 million m3 ® will be of coniferous wood and 11.0 million m3. ® of broadleaved wood. Of this total 200, 000 m3. ® of coniferous and 35,000 m3. ® of broadleaved woods would be available for export.
SWITZERLAND
For the early part of 1948, the wood supply has tended to stabilize. Domestic production has remained greater than before the war, import possibilities have remained relatively favorable, stocks have reached a level compatible with market conditions, and the demand for principal categories can be easily met.
The present favorable situation must be attributed to the fact that for about a year and a half it has been possible to import large quantities of roundwood, as was the case before the war. Switzerland will remain dependent upon roundwood imports, principally of softwood and to a lesser degree of hardwood. This dependence is particularly true of high-quality wood, softwoods as well as hardwoods. Proof of this is the still acute shortage in high-grade softwoods.
UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA
The launching of Masonite products in South Africa is the culmination of over six years of preparatory work and intensive investigation. The industry is being established by Masonite (Africa) Limited under the technical guidance and financial participation of the Masonite Corporation of Chicago. Because of the special nature of the South African market, the Dew undertaking is designed to produce a great variety of building boards. Several features of unusual engineering interest are to be included in the large modern factory now in course of erection at Estcourt, Natal. It is to produce a wide range of Masonite products from wattle, providing Natal wattle interests with a valuable market for their waste products. Production using some 60,000 tons of wastewood was to start toward the end of 1948.
UNITED KINGDOM
Because a glut of Scandinavian pitprops is being cleared to the pulp factories, Scottish forest owners cannot sell their plantation thinnings for pitprops and pulping. From the forests of Moray, Nairn, Inverness, and, Ross alone it is estimated that 50,000 tons of thinnings could be provided every year for pitprops and pulp. Thinning is costly, and forest owners will not carry out the job if their market is not guaranteed. One owner has had an order for 15,200 in (50,000 linear feet) of pit timber cancelled because of the glut of Scandinavian props, which the collieries, it is stated, are being forced to resell to the pulp factories.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The new integrated divisions of the Weyerhaeuser Timber Co., Springfield, Oregon, are taking shape for operations next spring. The site accommodates a 590 m3. (s) (250,000 board foot) double-band sawmill, a planing mill, a sulphate pulp mill, a 14,000 m2 (150,000 square foot) fiber-box-board plant, three 220 in (720-foot) shipping sheds, a modern cafeteria to feed 200 persons, power plant, and office buildings. About 900 persons will eventually be employed. Logging in the 63,000-hectare (155,000-acre) holdings on the Middle Fork of the Wilamette River will be on an 80-year cycle.
ARGENTINA
The Forestry Division, Ministry of Agriculture, in Argentina has been elevated to the status of Department of Forests (Direction General de Bosques), following a recent decree.
CEYLON
The Conservator of Forests has announced that the policy adopted during the war years has been revised by the Minister of Lands and Agriculture. The revised policy is to co-ordinate forest operations with the requirements of indigenous flora and fauna. It alms to make the country self-supporting in timber (including fuel), both by the systematic exploitation of existing natural resources and by reforestation of selected areas. The plan is to conserve water supplies and prevent erosion, while at the same time providing for the export of such timber and forest produce as have a world market.
ITALY
The Forestry Corps has been reorganized by a recent legislative decree laying down its responsibilities, which include: reforestation, forest and agricultural improvement in mountainous regions, technical and economic management of community property and property belonging to public institutions, fish and game control, compiling of statistics, conducting scientific forestry research work, etc. The Forestry Corps comprises 423 higher officials, 450 subaltern officers, and 5,073 forest guards and rangers. Administratively it is part of the Ministry of Agriculture and is headed by a director-general in the Ministry and by regional, departmental, and district inspectors in the field. Since the Higher Council on Agriculture and Forests has lost its former status, the functions of its forestry section are being performed by a Central Committee on Forestry which includes: the Director - General of Forests, three higher forestry officials, and four experts chosen from outside the Government.
U.S.S.R.
The Greater Volga project, aimed at improving navigation, developing electric power, maintaining the water level of the Caspian Sea, and bringing millions of acres of now dry land into cultivation has made a promising start. The general plan of development was worked out in 1933. Its realization will take many years.. The first stage was building 128 kilometers of the Moscow-Volga Canal, which made Moscow a port of three seas. Three hydroelectric stations have been built on the upper reaches of the Volga. The reservoirs have improved navigation on the Upper Volga. Several other reservoirs constructed near Shcherbakov have made possible the regulation of the water on the Volga down to the mouth of the Kama River.
The next stage is the construction of the Gorki Power Plant. Work has already begun a short distance above the city of Gorki. The dam will be 13 kilometers long and will create a water level of 17 meters that will supply power to the Moscow, Gorki, Ivanovo, Yaroslavl, and Kostroma regions. Three more large hydroelectric stations are projected along the middle and lower reaches of the Volga-one near Kazan, another at Kuibyshev, and the third at Kamyshin. On the Kama River, one of the tributaries, four hydroelectric stations are to be constructed. One of them is already under construction at Molotov. The Kama power plants will supply electric current to the entire Ural area. A hydroelectric station is also being built on the Oka River, another tributary of the Volga, in the vicinity of Kaluga. This will make it possible to link the Volga with the Dnieper through the Oka and Desna Rivers. The annual output of electric power is calculated at 55 billion kilowatt-hours. With completion of construction on the Volga-Don and the Kuma-Manich Canals, and with the linking of the Volga with a number of rivers-the Pechora and Vychegda through the Kama, with the Ob River through the Chusovaya and Iset Rivers, and with the Dnieper through the Oka and Desna Rivers-the Volga will become a great water-transport artery, connected with all the seas that wash the shores of the European Soviet Union. Such an artery will especially benefit the timber industry, providing cheap transportation for timber coming from the vast forests of the Pechora region in the north to the regions of the south and the west where wood-using industries can be established.
The land-improvement program of the Greater Volga project is confined to the territory along the middle and lower stretches of the Volga. This territory is often subject to droughts because of the proximity of the Kizil-Kum and Kara-Kum deserts; dry winds from these deserts cause frequent crop failures in this region. Water for irrigation is to be taken through a network of canals from the vast reservoirs built along the Volga River. Numerous forest strips will afford further protection against the hazards of weather, making agricultural production more dependable.
The implementation of a 15-year plan for achieving maximum production of a vast area of the U.S.S.R. through reclamation and development work has been announced through the press and radio by the Soviet Government. The gigantic program is to cover nearly 120 million hectares and 80,000 collective farms. A specially created government agency will be responsible for its execution and for the co-ordination of the activities of the Ministries of Agriculture and Forestry of the Republics of the Soviet Union with those of research stations and industries. The objective is to alter and improve geographic and climatic conditions on a vast area of the globe. It will ensure the protection of the rich wheat lands of the Volga Basin, of the North Caucasus, of the Eastern Ukraine, and of Central Russia against drought and erosion, particularly wind erosion - a persistent menace which reduces productivity by destroying the very substance of the land. The forest, as natural protector of the soil and regulator of water flow and climate, is the keystone of the Soviet plan.
Forests are to be used especially as protection against the dry winds from the southeast, in the form of vast shelterbelts covering 6 million hectares. They will comprise eight main belts of varying width extending over 5,000 kilometers and will bar the way to these winds on carefully chosen stretches. The longest will stretch more than 1,100 kilometers from the southern foothills of the Urals to Gurev, at the mouth of the Ural River on the Caspian Sea. Another system comprising two parallel belts each about 100 meters wide will follow the Volga from Saratov to Astrakan and will be backed on the opposite bank by another belt running from Kamyshin to Stalingrad. Besides these main belts, minor shelterbelts will constitute a field-by-field defense system on all the collective farms in the area covered by the plan.
With the shelter thus provided, it will become possible to go ahead on the agricultural development plan. Forty-five thousand ponds and artificial lakes are to be created, their water supply assured by planned forestation work. They will be used for irrigation purposes and to generate electric power. A modern crop rotation plan is envisaged, once the shelter is established.
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION
The International Labour Organization's Permanent Commission on Migration has met twice, once in August 1946 in Montreal, and again from 23 February to 2 March 1948, at Geneva. These meetings were for the purpose of establishing a basis for an International Convention for the Protection of Migratory Labor which would revise the 1939 Convention, or rather adapt it, to present-day conditions.
Although the 1939 Convention firmly established the protection of migratory labor, it made no reference to the setting of technical and professional standards for the selection of migratory labor, which would entail a uniformity in describing professions and professional qualifications. The Commission has given a great deal of attention to this matter. At the same time it drafted a standard agreement between countries regulating both migration and immigration. This document was inspired to a large extent by the Franco-Italian Agreements now in force. It provides for the protection of workers by means of a bilateral technical Commission divided into two subcommissions, one to be located in the country of emigration which would deal with the problems of selection and recruitment; and the other, located in the country of immigration, to be entrusted with the establishment of suitable criteria so as to eliminate all difficulties in the employment of immigrant labor. The Commission further studied methods of co operating with the other specialized agencies of the United Nations.
Since labor shortage is one of the principal obstacles to the development of unexploited forests and, in some countries, even hampers the increase in yield from productive forests, the use of migratory labor, either on a temporary or permanent basis, is important to forestry.
INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS ASSOCIATION
The International Woodworkers Association of America at its Convention held in Portland, Oregon, 11 to 15 October 1948, adopted resolutions on forest conservation, fire protection, reforestation, and private forestry:
On the subject of forest conservation, it resolved that "the most urgent need in forest conservation is to put the existing timber stands under scientific forest management whereby overcrowded and overmature trees are removed, healthy trees are left to grow, watershed and recreational values are protected, and wildlife values are increased"; and to carry this out, they recommended:
"(1) adequate government appropriation for the development of logging roads and technical forestry plans for government -owned timber;
" (2) a carefully developed program of incentives to all private forest owners and logging operators to practice good forestry in the management of privately owned timber."
With regard to forest fire protection and reforestation, the Convention restated its support for forest fire protection and reforestation but condemned "the failure of the dominant propaganda groups of the wood industry to... support a program that would stop the destruction and high-grading of forests by reckless and indiscriminate use of the ax" and asked for a program which, "by means of proper road development and scientific forest management, would save the huge amounts of valuable timber which today are permitted to die and rot to waste in unmanaged forests."
On the subject of wood utilization, the Convention urged the development of a system of integrated logging and utilization of forest and mill waste by various branches of the wood industry with the co-operation of labor, management, and government conservation agencies, but it, opposed monopolistic means of achieving such integration.
On the subject of subsidies for private forestry, the Convention urged the government, to develop a program of assistance patterned after the National Farm Program to include low-cost credit, conservation payments, technical assistance and increased research, including appropriate payments to any forest owner who will place a permanent restriction on the title to his forest to provide that such forest must be managed as a permanent forest under technical forestry supervision unless subsequently reclassified for nonforest use by appropriate public authorities.
