Silviculture J. Köstler. by M. L. Anderson. Oliver and Boyd. 1956. Edinburgh. pp. 416. 45s.
This is the first English edition of Waldbau which was noticed in Unasylva, Vol. 10, No. 3. Following a brief introduction of silviculture's position in forestry as a science, the role of the prescribed cut, the importance of stand diagnoses, and the possibilities of silvicultural treatment, the author discusses most absorbingly the concept of the forest as a living community, and silvicultural treatment as interference with such living communities.
As a text book, this English edition gives much of value for forestry students in the chapters on forests as vegetation types, genetics, the effect of environment, life processes and forest sociology. The discussion of forest types and associations is instructive. The brief chapter on man as an environmental factor is thought-provoking.
The second part of the book is a clear presentation of selection forests, tending operations, and regeneration problems and methods. The concluding chapter on the biologically managed forest is worthy of careful reading not only by students but by practicing silviculturists as well.
The Form and Taper of Forest-Tree Stems. H. R. Gray. Imperial Forestry Institute. 1960. Oxford. pp. 78. 12s. 6d.
Tree form is usually taken as an indication of the potential recovery of good quality timber from a forest-tree stem. Various efforts have been made to express mathematically the form or shape of trees. Taper of a given form or shape of stem is the rate of narrowing of diameter from the base toward the small end. Thus there can be cone, parabloid, or cubic parabloid forms, each with a high, medium or low taper. It is possible to compute form factors which are functions of the underbark volume of the stem, the overbark sectional area at breast height, and height of stem. Such factors are useful in computing the usable volumes which can be expected from stems of various shapes and dimensions:
In this presentation of an obviously complex subject, the author compares various theories of stem form, the factors that influence this form, as a basis for application of theoretical considerations in computing volumes and measuring standing trees.
For those with specialized interest in this phase of forest mensuration, Mr. Gray's thesis will be of value.
Shifting Cultivation in Africa (THE ZANDE SYSTEM OF AGRICULTURE). P. de Schlippe, pp. 304. Illus. Routledge and Kegan Paul, Carter Lane, London, E.C.4. 42s.
Studies on the vexed question of shifting cultivation are few. An FAO Development Paper, recently issued, gave two case histories relating to Africa. This very interesting book offers a third.
The author has carefully studied the way of life and customs of the Azande people whose hose economy is based on agriculture. He shows how the problems of shifting cultivation cannot be understood or solved except by also studying social anthropology.
The Azande territory lies between the frontiers of the Sudan, the Belgian Congo and French Equatorial Africa. In the Sudan, between 1946 and 1950, a project known as the Zande scheme resettled the families of about 60,000 cultivators on individual plots consisting of long strips of 800 to 1,000 meters long and 160 meters wide, divided into a certain number of villages composed of 50 to 60 holdings. The scheme was based on the introduction of the cotton industry into the country and, from the industrial point of view, is a great success. But industry on its own was only supposed to employ 2 percent of the population and the rural population was affected by the social aspect of the scheme. With industrial development came roads, dispensaries, schools, shops and training centers. The weak point is the fact that cotton growing is not yet "integrated" into the Zande agricultural system.
The author restricts himself, in this first volume, to an analysis but it is sufficient to show the dangers of a system of shifting cultivation by a rapidly growing population, primarily the progressive degradation of the soil. The author considers the problem as an agricultural one. However, one assumes that the forest itself could play a much more important part in furnishing a livelihood for these people; up to now this has been impossible owing to lack of outlet for its products, forest industries and means of communication.
A second book is promised by the author in which he proposes solutions to the problems studied here.
Genetics in Silviculture. C. Syrach Larsen. Transl. by M. L. Anderson. Oliver and Boyd. 1956. Edinburgh. pp. 224. 30s.
Seeking to impress on foresters, forest owners, and all who have interest in living trees, the importance of genetics in forestry, the author emphasizes the great influence of inherited characteristics on tree growth. There are very readable chapters on aims and possibilities of genetics work in general, on a historical review of the subject, progeny trials, controlled pollination, vegetative propagation, seed-gardens, special genetics arboreta or "tree-shows", breeding and disease hybrids, and special discussions of breeding of larch, and a simplified presentation of the principles of genetics. The final chapter is a philosophical plea for keeping pace with technological development in mechanization of agriculture and forestry by taking advantage of the potentialities of genetic principles and methods in the development of silviculture.
This book deserves widespread attention among foresters, as another reminder of what genetics research can accomplish if properly supported.
Forest and Range Policy: its Development in the United States. Samuel Trask Dana, McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York. 1956. U.S. $6.50
"Policy", says the dictionary, is "a settled or definite course or method adapted and followed by a government, institution, body or individual." Thus, says the author, a single forest, range and natural resource policy for an entire country is possible only when the central government, has complete authority to dictate to both public and private agencies. The other extreme has been found in the United States where many government units and private individuals have set their own policies and courses. This excellent book, then, treats policy in the broadest, rather than in a narrowly technical, sense, indeed as a major manifestation of the evolution of American government, institutions and life.
The history begins in early colonial times when, in 1626, Plymouth Colony forbade the selling or transportation of timber out of the colony without the approval of governor and council, and continues to the present. To cover so long a period, a major problem is to organize and arrange the vast and complex material. The author has solved his problem by a primarily chronological treatment, but adopting subject matter grouping within each chapter.
The chapter indicate the main stages. They are: colonists, kings and forests, ending with establishment of the United States of America in 1789; acquisition and disposal of the public domain; exploitation of timber and forage, which long went along with the freehanded disposals; forestry in the offing, the early challenges to exploitation; forest reserves arrive, 1891, and finally are put under some form of administration in 1897; prelude to progress, the accelerating pace leading to transfer of the reserves to the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1905; forestry in practice and politics, the dynamic early years of the Forest Service under Gifford Pinchot; new approaches, the troubled but productive years from 1911 to the end of the first world war; controversy and co-operation, from the first fight for regulation of private cutting to the New Deal of President Franklin Roosevelt; conservation under the New Deal, in the main a new and powerful surge of advances, with belated attention to the vast public ranges; and forestry comes of age, with strengthened state and private forestry, and further expansion of the role and activities of the National Government which, during most of the long history, was the dominant leader. Finally, there is a summary and analysis, in which are treated origins, status and remaining issues in Federal, State and private forest policies dealing with ownership, cooperation, regulation, research and education.
Supplementing the text are:
1. A survey of federal policy on wildlife, soil, water and minerals. This is valuable because of the often close relation of forest and range policy and of policies regarding the other resources.2. A chronological summary of important events in the development of colonial and federal policies relating to natural resources This valuable section is comprehensive indeed, and summarizes concisely each event.
3. A selected bibliography.
4. An admirably complete index.
Into this scholarly and comprehensive work have gone not only vast labor, but the seasoned and mature judgment of a senior forester, who kiss participated in much of the history of the highly significant last half century. His judgment of significance, of probable or possible future direction, of relative stability of different forms of ownership and of the relative force of the several components in the current scene may be argued and challenged. But his conscientious objectivity will hardly be doubted.
During the past thirty-five years there have been several other very good books on American forest policy, only the last of which (Greeley, 1963) was by a professional forester. Each has its own point of view and emphasis, sometimes overemphasis. Dana's book has, of course, drawn on them. But it supplements rather than supplants them. It covers a broader field. It is more widely comprehensive. It is better balanced in scope of treatment of events and forces. Above all, it brings things up to date.
This is not only a textbook. It is a much needed work of reference. It draws the picture for the layman as well as for the professional. It puts under one cover a truly significant and vastly important segment of American history. Thus it merits attention outside the United States by those who see in historical analysis something more than the mere record of events.
Hout In Alle Tijden (WOOD THROUGH THE AGES). Volume V. Chemische en Mechanische Hout-technologie. (CHEMICAL AND MECHANICAL WOOD TECHNOLOGY). W. Boerhave Beekman. pp. 619, illus. A. E. Kluwer, Deventer 1956. Fl. 47-50.
The Director of the Wood Academy of the Netherlands, in collaboration with many experts, compiled in this book the latest methods used in the mechanical and chemical woodworking industries. As an introduction to both sectors, the physical and chemical properties of the different tree species are described. In fourteen sections are described the modern techniques used for processing charcoal, pulp, wood sugar, tannin, resin, gum, oil, dyeing material, sawnwood, veneers, plywood, fibreboard and particle board.
The manufacture of the different commodities derived from forest products is described in a way that even the non-technician may follow. For reader who wants more details, an extensive bibliography is attached to each chapter, and there are carefully prepared indexes at the end of the book.
Houteelt der Gematigde Luchtstreek. (SILVICULTURE OF TEMPERATE ZONES). Volume II - Het Bos (THE FOREST). G. Houtzagers, pp. 438, illus. W. E. J. Tjeenk Willink, Zwolle 1956. Fl. 41.
The first volume of this standard work, written by a professor of the Agricultural University in Wageningen and dealing with individual forest species, appeared in 1954. This second volume deals with the forest as an entity. Both volumes are more than students' textbooks, in fact they constitute a compendium of more than a thousand pages for forest owners and technicians.
The first part of the new volume deals with silvics and starts with a brief discussion of the efforts made to classify the world's forests. An important section follows on the different factors influencing a forest association: temperature, light-requirements, wind, physical and chemical properties of the soil as well as the biotic factors are dealt with, on the basis of the latest English, French German and Dutch literature on the subject.
The second part deals with applied silvics, the different sections being very well illustrated. A first section describes the problems involved in the creation of new forests, including the use of heavy equipment for soil preparation and planting, and is followed by a discussion of the different thinning methods used in North America and Europe. It ends with a description of the classic silvicultural systems such as clear cutting, shelter-wood system, selection system, etc.
The third part deals with plant formations and forest types of North America, Europe and the Soviet Union and ends with a short history of forestry and forest policy in the Netherlands.
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Commonwealth Forestry Bureau - Oxford, England FORESTRY ABSTRACTS This presents the essence of current world literature extracted by an experienced permanent staff from publications in about 30 languages (over 550 periodicals, 700 serials and innumerable miscellaneous papers, books, etc.) and now totalling over 4,500 abstracts each year. Special features include: the abstracting at length of literature published in the more unfamiliar languages (e.g. Slav, Hungarian and Oriental languages); notices of the more important critical reviews; notices of translations into English; notices of new journals and serials, or of changes in their style; and notices of atlases, maps and patents. Each issue normally contains a leading article synthesizing authoritatively the literature on some particular subject and also items of world news. Annual subscription is £3 or $8.40 U.S.A. or Canada. GUIDE TO THE USE OF FORESTRY ABSTRACTS Containing a directory of publishing sources, analysis of an abstract notice, a key to abbreviations and many other aids, available in a trilingual edition (English, French, Spanish) for 5s. or $0.70, post free. CENTRALIZED TITLE SERVICE A quick-service postal auxiliary to the Abstracts bringing to subscribers four times a month exact copies of the index cards made from the world stream of forestry literature during the Bureau's day-to-day work totalling about 6,500 annually. Full particulars and samples from: The Director, Commonwealth Forestry Bureau, Oxford. Orders should be sent to: Central Sales Branch, Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Farnham Royal, Buckinghamshire, England. |
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Yearbook of Forest Products Statistics 1956 Prepared by the Forestry Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the tenth Yearbook of Forest Products Statistics includes information from more than 120 countries for 1955, with revisions made in 1954 figures as available. The publication carries world production tables, technical notes, country notes and a leading chapter entitled "Salient Features of the World Situation, 1955". Returns from countries reporting to FAO, as well as other official sources and estimates, cover approximately 95 percent of the total world production of roundwood, 97 percent of lumber, 97 percent of plywood, 96 percent of wood pulp, and 99 percent of newsprint. Statistical coverage, particularly in Europe and Latin America, has been greatly improved during 1955 through better co-operation of statistical offices and greater activity in this field by experts of the FAO Technical Assistance Program. In an increasing measure, this Yearbook is a definitive and authoritative report of world forestry output, trade and consumption. Issued in one trilingual (English, French and Spanish) edition, the Yearbook is available on order through any authorized FAO sales agent at U.S. $2.50 or 12s. 6d. or the equivalent in local currencies. |
WORLD FOREST PLANTING MANUAL
FAO is publishing a series of volumes on phases of forest planting. Each volume is being prepared by special consultants expressing their individual views and is intended as a self-contained publication.
Some titles of papers in this series are:
Eucalypts for Planting
Forestry and Forest Products, Study No. 11, $3.50 or 17s.6d.
A monograph which sums up the highlights of world experience up to the present with this important genus with particular reference to subtropical and Mediterranean type climates. September 1956, 403 pp., illustrations, bibliography. English, French and Spanish.
Les Peupliers dans la production du bois et l'utilisation des terres
(POPLARS - THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO TIMBER PRODUCTION AND LAND USE)
Forestry and Forest Products, Study No. 12, $3,50 or 17s.6d.
Prepared at the request of FAO by the Permanent Committee of the International Poplar Commission. 1956, 525 pp., illustrations, tables. In preparation.
Tree Planting Practices in Tropical Africa
Forestry Development Paper No, 8, $3.00 or 15s.
This paper is one of the geographical sections of the World Planting Manual, and deals with the seed, nursery and planting practices in the tropical zone of Africa. 1956, 302 pp. In preparation.
Tree Planting Practices for Arid Areas
Forestry Development Paper No. 6, $1.50 or 7s.6d.
Deals with shell, nursery and planting practices for artful and semi-arid zones in the Near Ease. March 1955,126 pp., illustrations. In English and Spanish, French edition in preparation.
Tree Planting Practices in Temperate Asia: Japan
Forestry Development Paper No. 10, $1.50 or 7s.6d.
March 1956, 156 pp., English.
Tree Planting Practices in Tropical Asia
In preparation.
