Czechoslovakia
· The Czechoslovak Dendrology Section, which was founded two years ago, is aiming to found an international confederation of dendrology organizations in view of the need to solve many problems which either go beyond the bounds of one single state or are connected with studies in other countries. A first step was a meeting of Polish and Czechoslovak dendrologists which took place in June 1960 in the Arboretum Mlyñany of the Slovak Academy of Science, in which 131 dendrologists participated, 41 from Poland, three from Eastern Germany, a representative of the Hungarian Botanic Section, and 86 from Czechoslovakia. The meeting was devoted to presentation of technical papers, especially on Castanea sativa, combined with field trips. A committee was set up to continue negotiations to found the confederation, and another session is planned to be held in three yews time.
Finland
· A comprehensive history is being published in connection with the centenary of the Forest Service, but in the meantime the State Board of Forestry has issued a very attractively presented brochure on the tasks and activities of the Forest Service.
It is the task of the State Board of Forestry to manage, supervise and promote Finnish forestry. Its activity is thus not limited to caring for the forest properties of the State. State forest administration naturally aims at increasing the profitability of forest properties and includes all the measures necessary to attain the objective, thus gradually transforming the Forest Service into a large employer and business enterprise. On the other hand, the general interests of the country's forestry and especially supervising the promotion of private forestry have steadily added administrative tasks of a general nature to the duties of the Board. The Board also carries out various other tasks ascribed to it by law.
This dual role of the forest administration is clearly illustrated by its organizational structure. The Finnish State Board of Forestry, a central agency acting under the supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture, is divided into two divisions: that for state forests and that for private forests, both under the same director-general and a deputy director-general. The divisions also have common secretarial, accounting and statistical offices.
France
· La forêt privée, a Franco-Belgian periodical published from Paris (61, avenue de la Grande-Armée, Paris 16e), aims at providing a medium for the interchange of technical information between private forest owners, and its policy is to defend their interests and to foster trade between the countries belonging to the European Economic Community. Besides its circulation in Europe, the review has also a limited distribution in Quebec Province, Canada.
India
· Systematic scientific management of India's forests began in the year 1861. The government of India, with the co-operation of state forest departments, proposes to celebrate the centenary of forest administration in India during 1961 in a fitting manner. At that time, two volumes of centenary publications will be issued, describing India's forests in all their aspects. It is proposed that articles of general interest on forestry, from eminent foresters in India and abroad, should form part of the centenary publications. The President, Forest Research Institute and Colleges, Debra Dun, will gratefully acknowledge contributions for the above publications.
CANADA: The new federal forest research laboratory at Quebec, which was opened earlier in 1960.
Kuwait
The Public Works Department of Kuwait has started a tree-planting program within and outside town limits. Considering the difficult climatic conditions of the country, this is a remarkable development. During the summer the temperature rises to 63° C. in the sun and 38° C. in the shade. There are short spells of high humidity. The minimum temperature in winter is around 5° C. The annual rainfall is 6 to 8 inches (150-200 millimeters) and it occurs during the winter months.
The soil of Kuwait is, in general, sandy sand saline in nature. It is silty and 1 foot (30 centimeters) down from the surface, sand with broken gatch from 1 to 3 feet (30 to 90 centimeters) deep, and hard gatch below. The gatch layer is impermeable to water and it varies in thickness and depth at different sites.
The water used for irrigation is brackish and contains from 3,000 to 4,000 parts per million of dissolved salts.
Planting holes are I cubic meter in size. They are filled with sweet soil and about 2 to 4 kilograms of farmyard manure. Among the species tried with some success are Prosopis juliflora, Parkinsonia aculeata, Eucalyptus occidentalis, Casuarina glauca, Albyzia lebbek, and several Acacias.
New Zealand
· According to an official report to FAO, New Zealand is now by far the world's largest producer per head of population of preservatized timber for building purposes. Species of timber available, traditional methods of house construction, and developments in preservation techniques are the main reasons for this. The in creased use of exotic softwoods, which are just as liable to decay and no less susceptible to insect attack than indigenous timbers, and the difficulty of ensuring throughout the life of a building that moisture cannot enter any part, demand the wide use of preservatized timber. Much controversy has naturally arisen regarding the effectiveness of various types of treatment and the extent to which treated timber should be used in a building.
In September 1955, the government, in order to resolve these questions, set up the Timber Preservation Authority. The principal function of the Authority is to secure and maintain a high standard of timber preservation. All treatments carried out must be in accordance with the requirements of the Authority, which has established an inspecting organization under the Now Zealand Forest Service. The Authority has adjudicated on and approved a number of specifics and methods which were previously the subject of controversy. Notably the application of boron compounds by diffusion has been accepted for all timbers requiring treatment for light building construction other than those for use in contact with the ground. The regulations under which the Authority functions permit it to prescribe that no preservative-treated timber can be marketed unless the treatment and the marking of the timber agrees with the Authority's requirements. Progress in preservation practice and use of treated timber will now be quickened. Latest figures show that 144 million board feet of timber (23 percent of total timber production) were treated by diffusion and pressure impregnation in 1959.
Treatment of natural rounds from exotic forest thinnings is now fully equal to the demand. This treatment enables this otherwise low utility produce to be used for farm and engineering requirements where durability in the ground is important.
Poland
· Foresters are not able to manage the national forest domain properly unless supported by enlightened public opinion. That is why so much attention is paid in many countries to public information campaigns and school education programs. A book, Treasures of the forests (Skarby Lesnych Ostepow, by Professor Wieslaw Grochowski, Warsaw, 1959) has been published to show in an arresting way the variety of products deriving from the forests of Poland and the possibilities for their present and future utilization.
Profusely illustrated, and published under the auspices of the National Council for the Protection of Nature, the book has been recommended by the Ministry of Education for use in high schools.
Sudan
· The Forest Department carried out radio and cinema programs to celebrate the Fifth World Forestry Congress. Talks were given by the Minister of Agriculture, the Head of the United Nations Mission in the Sudan, the FAO Country Representative and forestry experts, and the Director of Forests, and these talks were also published in newspapers.
An informative leaflet about the Congress was printed and distributed to the public. Six forestry films were shown in different parts of Khartoum and Omdurman on the day the Congress opened. In addition a continuous stream of releases and news was kept flowing by radio and newspapers, before and after the meeting of the Congress.
Also in honor of the Fifth World Forestry Congress the Sudan issued a new set of postage stamps, which have been much in demand. The stamp design shows, on the right, a tebeldi (Adansonia digitate), a well-known indigenous tree growing wild in central Sudan. Its chief feature is the great diameter of the trunk which is hollowed out and used for storing rain water. This water is often the only source of drinking water for cultivators and gum pickers during the harvest season. It has an edible fruit of a sweet acidic taste. It is feared that its natural regeneration is insufficient to maintain its present numbers. On the left is a grove of another well-known Sudan species, the deleib (Borassus aethiopum). This is a beautiful erect tall palm much liked for its fruit and timber. It is gregarious and grows wild in central and southern Sudan.
United Kingdom
· Code of sample plot procedure (F.C. Hummel, G.M.L. Locke, J.M.R. Jeffers, J.M. Christie, Forestry Commission Bulletin No. 31, 1969) codifies the instructions for carrying out measurements and observations on experimental sample plots of the Forestry Commission. The bulletin is both highly condensed and very complete and will be of value to foresters throughout the world interested in forest research and in growth studies of forest stands.
· The International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) has published a remarkable work in English by J.N.R. Jeffers, Experimental design and analysis in forest research (Almqvist and Wiksell, Stockholm, 1960).
The writer is well known for his work at the Alice Holt Research Station in England and his book is just what is needed not only for research workers but for general foresters also, providing a sort of simple recipe volume, easy to read but founded on solid experience. For the amateur statistician, it opens new horizons. It is to be hoped that the book will be translated into other languages.
United States of America
· The Tenth Pacific Science Congress of the Pacific Science Association will be held at the University of Hawaii, Honolulu, from 21 August to 6 September 1961. The Pacific Science Association is an international, regional, nongovernmental scientific organization, founded in 1920 by the Pan-Pacific Scientific Conference in Honolulu. Each congress is held under the auspices of the organization which represents the Association in the host country. Previous congresses have taken place in Australia, Japan, Indonesia, Canada, California, New Zealand, Philippines and Thailand. The forestry section of the Association has divisions of forest biology, management and forest products.
· From Hardy L. Shirley, Dean of the Syracuse College of Forestry, it is learned that an assistance contract now links together the College of Forestry of the University of the Philippines and the New York State University College of Forestry.
Sponsored and supported by the Philippine Republic and the International Co-operation Administration, the technical assistance agency of the United States government, the program provides for eight professional foresters from the United States to go to the Philippines and, at the same time, 15 young faculty members of the University of the Philippines to visit the United States to familiarize themselves with American forestry techniques and methods.
· Nearly 4 million acres of public lands, mostly in the Great Plains states, have been renamed National Grasslands by the Department of Agriculture and placed under the permanent jurisdiction of the Forest Service. The step is regarded as a move to nail down the continuing effort to promote the economic stability of Great Plains agriculture. When these lands became dust bowls they were taken over by the federal government during the depression, and were managed by the Soil Conservation Service from 1938 through 1953. Under the Forest Service they will be managed under multiple use and sustained yield management plans, with the emphasis on grass production. States in which lands are situated include North and South Dakota, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Now Mexico, Idaho and Oregon.
· The Smithsonian Institution has been asked to consider reprinting Standley's Trees and shrubs of Mexico (Contr. U.S. Nat. Herb., vol. 23, pts. 1 - 5, pp. 1- 1721, 1920-1926), which has been out of print for years. The Institution would welcome expressions of interest in such a reprint, the cost of which would be approximately $20. Address inquiries to Editorial and Publications Division, Smithsonian Institution, Washington 25, D.C.
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
· An article in Lesnaia Promyshlennost reports on the use of helicopters in logging. Trials, comprising 66 flights (with load) and 18 variants (distance, load, etc.), were made at two sites in the Caucasus in oak and beech./fir forests, at 800 to 1,100 meters. Assortments, tree-length logs, and whole trees were transported for various distances up to 22 kilometers. The helicopter, a standard MI-4, was able to transport from clear fellings and group-selection fellings, but clearings 50 by 50 meters had to be made for it in selection forests proper.
From the economic standpoint, it seemed desirable to transport assortments only. A single trial was made of attaching cables to the tree before felling, and lifting the whole tree up and away before it could fall to the ground. This procedure was found lengthy and dangerous and is definitely not to be recommended. Analyses showed that costs of transporting timber by helicopter at present are 2 to 6 times those of conventional ground extraction methods.
It is thought that helicopters will be effective for extracting relatively small volumes from specific areas in mountainous regions where roads are very expensive to build. For work in forestry, helicopters should be able to take loads of 8 to 10 tons, and are best for transport distances of 3 to 8 kilometers.
WORLD DEMAND FOR PAPER TO 1975
A Study of Regional Trends
Prepared on the basis of the Secretariat Papers presented to the World Consultation on Pulp and Paper Demand, Supply and Trade (Rome, 1959) this printed version was made possible by advance orders from numerous trade associations and private groups. It was hoped that the consultation would help governments, development authorities and industries in the preparation of their medium- and long-term plans for developing the pulp and paper sector.
English only. US$1.50 or 7s. 6d.
WORLD DIRECTORY OF FORESTRY SCHOOLS
Published by the Society of American Foresters in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, this 300-page book gives information on 140 schools throughout the world that provide professional education in forestry.
In addition to the name and address of each forestry school, and the university or college with which it is affiliated, specific data for every school include:
Titles or degrees awarded
Types of curricula, and plan of studies
Number of teachers and research workers
General types of forests studied in the field
Average number of students graduated annually
Entrance qualifications for national and foreign students
Possibilities for practical work during vacations and money-earning opportunities
Approximate cost of tuition, field trips, books, and equipment, housing and subsistence
Facilities, including laboratories, libraries, working collections, and field installations
Number of foreign students acceptable, application procedure, scholarships available, housing facilities, social and cultural opportunities
This book is the most recent and only complete summary of information on the world's forestry schools.
Copies available for US$5.50 each, postpaid, from the Society of American Foresters, 425 Mills Building, 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington 6, D.C., U.S.A.
