General
Fundamental science
Silviculture and management
Mensuration, increment, and yield
Forest protection
Logging and engineering
Conversion
Utilization
Economics and statistics
Policy, legislation and administration
Personalities
Meetings
Reviews
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 of news value for this part of the review.
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
· Forest research organization is divided among 12 so-called "institutes." The staffs of these institutes consist of a leader and one or two associate specialists. There are 43 persons engaged in forest experimental work in the entire Bohemian territory; of these, 21 are specialists with higher education. What they lack in numbers, however, they make up in quality. The leaders for the most part are highly qualified scientists of international reputation, motivated in their work by ideals of public service. Until 1938 forest and agricultural experimental work, as well as the supervision over the middle and lower forest schools, was handled administratively in one unit of the Ministry of Agriculture. Under present organization the administration of the forest schools was transferred to the Ministry of Education. Forest research, although it still remains in the Ministry of Agriculture, is entirely separated from agricultural experimental work, forming an independent administrative unit there.
In Slovakia, which enjoys autonomy, the forest institutes, although working in close cooperation with all other forest institutes, are directly under the jurisdiction of the Slovak representative of agriculture and land reform in Bratislava; only forest matters affecting the whole republic are referred to the Ministry of Agriculture in Prague.
The enumeration of the forest institutes, their location, and their official designations give some idea of the character of the work they do.
Forest Institutes in Prague (Bohemia)
The Institute for Biochemistry and Pedology is concerned with studies of forest soils, nutritive demands of forest trees, use of fertilizers in forest nurseries, improvement of degraded soil, and similar problems.
The Institute for the Protection of Forests studies pests and diseases attacking wood and living forest trees.
The Institute for Huntsmanship protects and propagates game birds and wildlife as a source of state revenue through hunting privileges.
The Institute for Forest Policy and Administration confines itself to training forestry workers in the use of improved tools and their care as a means of increasing the productivity of labor and the standard of living of the workers.
The Institute for Forest Exploitation and Wood Technology studies improved methods of sawing timber, impregnating wood with antiseptics, drying, and care of tanning bark, preparation and drying of chunks of wood for use in wood-gas generators, and so forth.
The Institute for Forest Engineering, Transport, Melioration, and Torrent Control has as its main task the study of various types of forest roads and equipment for the most economic transport of forest products. It also studies the forest as a regulator of waters.
The Institute of Forest Dendrology and Geobotany studies the morphological and physiological variability of tree species, past changes in regional forest floras, and selection of new varieties.
Moravia
At Brno in Moravia there are three more forest institutes:
The Institute of Silviculture and Forest Biology. Forest planting, test of species not native to the country and selection and propagation of more desirable tree varieties are the projects that receive most attention.
The Institute for Forest Economy studies forest mensuration. Its main task, which will take several years to complete, is the preparation of volume and growth tables for the Bohemian pine forests. At the same time it is testing the applicability of Schwappach's growth tables to spruce, fir, pine, oak, and beech under Czech conditions.
There is also a research station for forest geodesy and air photography.
Slovakia
Slovakia has two forest institutes located at Banska Stiavnica; they are similar to those in Brno and Prague: the Institute of Forest Exploitation and Wood Technology, and the Institute of Silviculture and Forest Biology.
Dissemination of the results by publication of technical papers, by radio, and by lectures constitutes an important activity of the forest research organization. A popular magazine, "Lesnicki praci," is published by an organization for the promotion of forestry in the City of Pisek in Bohemia. Recently the Ministry of Agriculture authorized the publication of an annual symposium on the work of the forest research institutes. The first volume covers the work for 1947.
UNITED KINGDOM
· Educational Publicity Limited of London has begun the issue of several series of film strips on the subject of timber and forests. The first film is called "The Story of Timber" and includes 26 photographs showing methods of felling, extracting, transporting, and storing of timber and the manner in which it is sawn, cut into veneer strips, stacked, seasoned, and transformed into construction material. The second, "The Growth and Structure of Wood," shows the functions of the various parts of the tree and the structure of the various parts of the tree stem. Others deal with the utilization of timber, plywood manufacture, and the identification of timbers, and preservation; further films are in preparation. Each series of film strips is accompanied by clear commentary, frame by frame, prepared by the Timber Development Association which collaborates in the making of these films. Some of these films merit the attention of schools for training foresters or wood technicians, while others are well suited for use, in public education courses.
· The following publications, Timber Information Leaflet No. 36 Introduction to Sawmilling; No. 37 Siamese Timbers; Timber Development Association Design Sheet No. 1 Roof Type "A," and Constructional Research Bulletin No. 1 Timber Connectors, have been issued in accordance with the policy of United Kingdom Timber Development Association Limited to give every assistance to industries concerned with the use of timber. As far as possible they are issued free of charge to organizations engaged in works for the reconstruction of British industry and the provision of essential services such as housing and education. One of the aims of this circulation is to establish means whereby particular requirements of different timber consuming industries can be clearly defined and met.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
· A code of ethics for the forestry profession has been adopted by the Society of American Foresters. The code was developed by a special committee of the Society which made a study of the ethical practices of older professional groups. The newly adopted canons will be broadly construed in the interest of the public welfare and professional advancement. They are now deemed to be the duties, obligations, and responsibilities of the technical forester to all those with whom he comes into contact in the course of his professional work and life.
AUSTRALIA
· Bulletin No. 34, Carbohydrate Absorption by Boots of Pinus taeda, issued by the Department of Agriculture and Stock, Brisbane, Australia, gives the results of experiments which demonstrate the role of organic matter in pine nutrition. Seedlings of Pinus taeda were used as test plants. It showed that the seedlings can exist and grow in carbondioxide-free atmosphere, and that the fungus Boletus granulatus is capable of providing pine roots with a carbohydrate sup ply derived from cellulose and suitable for pine nutrition. Maltese supplied in solution also supports growth much longer than sugar-free media, but not for so long and not so well as that provided by mycotrophic means. It was also shown that mycorrhizas, with the aid of organic matter, are able to supply carbohydrate to the plants by means of the roots, and that this supply can be at least accessory to that supplied by photosynthetic activities.
CANADA
· A bulletin entitled The Trees of Quebec - a Simple Method of Identification, by L. Z. Rousseau, recently published by the Forest Service of the Province of Quebec, has abundant illustrations and constitutes a valuable guide for the rapid recognition of the trees of the Province. Following a definition of the terms used in the description of the characteristic parts of the trees, it gives a key to the identification of local tree species both in winter and summer which would enable even the beginner to recognize them.
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
· Dr. Bonuslav Moran of the Research Institute for Biochemistry and Pedology at Prague has carried on studies of soil moisture in several forests on soils ranging from brown earth to typical podzols, at different depths, and under very humid and semi-arid conditions. The observations were made on spruce and fir undergrowth in pine, birch, and oak forests; of beech, oak, and hornbeam undergrowth in forests of pine and larch, and also of oak. Although no final conclusions can be drawn from these observations as to whether undergrowth dries out the forest soil or on the contrary increases the soil moisture, some generalizations are more or less definitely indicated.
1. Pure even-aged spruce forests in a warm, dry climate have for almost the entire vegetative period the lowest soil moisture content.2. The highest average soil moisture for the year has been found mostly under coniferous and deciduous stands of light-demanding species having no undergrowth.
3. In most cases the soil moisture was higher in stands that had undergrowth than in stands without undergrowth. Deciduous undergrowth in this respect had a decidedly more favorable effect than coniferous undergrowth. A dense undergrowth of fir had the worst effect.
4. Pine forests with an undergrowth of spruce in a humid climate had more moisture in the soil than a similar stand without undergrowth.
5. The greatest soil porosity was found in stands with all kinds of undergrowth. The least porosity was found in an even-aged spruce pole stand.
6. The soil moisture varied considerably at the different seasons of the year. In general, however, during winter and spring the soil moisture was highest in stands without undergrowth, but in summer the highest moisture was found in both deciduous and coniferous stands of light-demanding species with undergrowth, irrespective of whether this undergrowth was deciduous or coniferous.
7. During critical periods when the minimal amounts of moisture in the soil have a deciding influence, especially important in warm, dry climates, the presence of undergrowth in a forest has a favorable effect.
8. Deciduous undergrowth exerted a more favorable influence than coniferous undergrowth, not only on the physical properties of the soil, namely its water-retentive capacity, but also on its chemical properties.
BELGIAN CONGO
· In 1945 planting experiments were conducted in the Belgian Congo using seed of ten species of eucalyptus. Only the Eucalyptus grandis which was originally obtained from New South Wales and Queensland produced worthwhile results. Two plots were established, one at an altitude of 1,750 meters and the other at an altitude of 2,050 meters. In 34 months, trees on the first plot attained an average height of more than ten meters with an average circumference of 34.5 cm., while on the second, trees attained an average height of 9.43 meters with ail average circumference of 29.8 cm. On the first plot, a volume per hectare of 68 m³ has already been attained. This species has thick foliage and throws a dense shadow which effectively protects the soil. The thick layer of dead leaves which it deposits conserves soil humidity well. Finally, the wood-at least in the country of origin-is of high quality. It is therefore apparent that this species should be of great value for reforestation purposes in the high altitudes of the Kivu, the Ruanda-Urundi and probably of the Katanga regions.
CANADA
· A considerable time has now passed since the early reforestation work was carried out in Canada, and the results obtained with the many different species used are of interest. In the prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, more than 200 million young trees have been distributed to farmers over the past 40 years and the Dominion Forest Service has been able to maintain records of the successes achieved. It is interesting that the species which showed the least success were Pinus strobus and Pseudotsuga taxifolia. Amongst the conifers, the Siberian larch, Larix sibirica, was outstanding in rate of growth and usefulness. White spruce, Picea glauca, and Colorado spruce, Picea pungens, were very successful for shelterbelts. Scots pine showed good growth but has bad form, the same experience having been met with in British Columbia. Amongst broadleaved-species, certain poplars showed the best results, together with species of ash, alder, and maple.
CHINA
· The common method of producing a sustained supply of fuelwood is exemplified by the following. Twenty years ago the villagers of a hill area about 24 km. (15 miles) southwest of Nanking started a forestry cooperative in order to supplement their income by growing trees for fuel. At present five villages belong to this cooperative and derive a large part of their income through the sale of fuelwood from over 400 ha. (1,000 acres) of pine trees that they have planted and are managing on a sustained production basis. In the spring of the year after the tree has attained an age of five years, the tree is cut leaving one or two lateral branches to continue growth. Every two years thereafter, similar growth is removed. The material thus obtained is sold for fuel to nearby lime kilns and the markets at Nanking, in exchange for cash to buy food and clothing. Each tree produces over 9 kgs. (20 pounds) of fuel every two years. In the autumn the villagers cut the grass growing between the trees for local consumption as fuel and as hay for their work animals. Besides reducing the fire hazard, the removal of the grass exposes the trees to better growing conditions.
UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA
· A South African geographer, Mr. T. W. Gevers, recently analyzed the effects of bad soil utilization in the Great Escarpment region in the northeastern part of the Transvaal. This mountain chain is of paramount importance in relation to the streams which water the dry regions in the east and the west. However, since 1926, flow of the rivers which have their sources in these mountains has gradually declined. The destruction of the vegetative cover and the advance of erosion are attributed to the increase in the number of farmers and the overpopulation of native reservations. It has been pointed out that the introduction of the eucalyptus would perhaps further intensify this phenomenon. The role played by this exotic tree species has been the subject of many controversies. "There is no need for complicated research," this author writes, "when we observe that of two comparable tributaries draining the two opposite sides of a low narrow mountain ridge, the one whose watershed is covered with a dense plantation of eucalyptus has completely dried out, while the other, which has retained its original cover of thickets, brushwood and grass is still active."
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
· In the northwestern section of the State of Montana alone, Christmas tree cutting brings in approximately one million dollars annually. The growth of this industry, which prolongs the employment season of a large number of lumbermen, has led the Northern Rocky Mountain Experiment Station to investigate the possibility of managing this harvest on a scientific basis and to study the proper silvicultural methods. Valuable information has already been obtained concerning certain types of cultural operations applicable to young trees, such as pruning, thinning and "stump culture," which consists of growing a new crown from the lower branches of the trees, or from an adventitious bud after removal of the upper portion of the crown.
· For the past two years a large pulp and paper firm on the west coast has been developing a widespread reforestation program which is now near completion; it covers 4,000 hectares (10,000 acres) in the states of Oregon and Washington. Seeding and planting are both used. Amongst the trees planted are 50,000 one year-old Monterey pines, Pinus radiata, produced at a forest nursery in the State of Washington from New Zealand seed. It is well known that this species, native to a small area of California, where it was only a secondary species, has given astonishing results when introduced to New Zealand. The present experiment is, therefore, of great interest.
Seeding was mostly done by helicopter. The use of helicopters and planes for seeding is extending in U.S.A. In the State of Minnesota, seeding from aeroplanes was tried last year on 490 hectares (1,200 acres) of land burned over in two consecutive fires. A recent survey shows abundant regeneration, but a further check will be made when the trees are two years old to gain more precise information.
· The October 1947 fires which occurred in the southwestern portion of the State of Maine burned over 53,000 hectares (130,000 acres) of forestland including 19,400 hectares (48,000 acres) of marketable wood, principally white pine, Pinus strobus. Salvage operations were begun in the winter of 1947/48 and the immediate task was to determine which damaged trees could be left standing without incurring the risk of having them decay in a few years time; how natural forces will act to reconstitute these stands and what influence can be exerted to obtain forests containing the greatest possible proportion of pine species. Studies have been conducted by the Northeastern Forest Experiment Station. By July 1948 the probable composition of the future stands seemed clear for the greater part of the burned over areas. Wherever the fire had been intense, all that is seen now are shoots and seedlings of grey birch, red maple and oak. Where it was less severe, there was good regeneration of pine and hemlock, Tsuga canadensis. The year 1947 was a good seed year for these two species. However, the hemlock cones had not opened when the fire occurred, while the pine had already shed most of its seed. There is every indication therefore that hardwood regeneration will be favored to a large extent, and that it will be necessary to undertake plantings, followed by careful weedings, in order to ensure the restocking of the growing stands with softwoods. The survey recommends that non-damaged coniferous seed trees should be retained or at least the felling of seriously damaged trees which still appear able to produce seeds for one or two seasons, should be delayed. As a guide to these operations the compiling of maps is proposed, showing on the one hand the volume per unit area and on the other the degree of damage caused by the fire to the humus layers and the organic ground cover and, finally, the nature of the site. Trees suffered particularly from ground fires wherever the humus layer and organic debris were burnt to considerable depths. The danger of windfalls is particularly great in wet areas or swamps. Such maps would enable land owners or logging operators to determine approximately the extent of the danger which they would incur by delaying salvage operations in the damaged stands.
· Among the experiments conducted at the Institute of Forest Genetics at Placerville (California), those which appear to have the greatest future for the production of fast growing timber involve the hybridization of the white pine.
It has been possible to obtain a, hybrid by crossing the western white pine, Pinus monticola, and the eastern white pine, Pinus strobus, which at four and one-half years of age is twice as tall and three times as heavy as either parent tree at the same age. Further experiments are now being conducted on selected plantations. Work initiated at the Royal Botanical Gardens of Denmark is being followed up with a view to discovering a white pine hybrid resistant to blister rust, Cronartium ribicola, which attacks almost all five-leaved pines. Denmark has sent pollen to Placerville from resistant hybrids, as well as pollen from the white pine of the Balkans used in its own experiments.
· In the United States site classification is generally based on the height of the average dominant type species in a 50-year-old stand. However, a marked trend in forestry research has been noted in this country to seek a correlation between these site indices and other factors which have the advantage of being determinable by pedological means, especially before the stands have attained this age.
An experiment of this type was recently conducted in aspen stands, Populus tremuloides and P. grandidentata, which cover approximately 8 million ha. (20 million acres) in the Lake States and the management of which raises many problems.
It has been possible with respect to these stands to distinguish five site indices, based on the texture of the soil in the A and B horizons, and presence or absence of lime in the subsoil. Class I, for example, is characterized by a silt plus clay content of more than 35 percent, but less than 20 percent of clay and a slightly calcareous reaction. Class V has an average content of less than 10 percent, with an acid reaction.
Among other indicators for site-index prediction for aspen, the following may be mentioned: the former cover before the aspen is introduced, this being nearly always brought about after fire has wiped out the original stand; the nature and abundance of the ground vegetation covering the site; finally, the type and abundance of the seedlings of other species which install themselves under the cover of the aspen during the process of reconstitution of the original forest.
INDIA
· General Standard and Commercial Volume Tables for Terminalia tomentosa is one of the new series of the Indian Forest Records. The work was started in 1935; the tables compiled in 1942; but publication was held up until 1947 on account of the war. The tables for standard timber were based on 723 single tree measurements, while those for commercial timber were based on 317 single tree measurements. Although these volume tables have been considered incomplete, due to scanty data used especially for the upper and lower diameter classes, they present interesting information that will be useful locally for the silvicultural treatment of Terminalia tomentosa.
CANADA
· Experts of the Entomological Laboratory at Sault Ste. Marie (Canada) will study in 1949 the long-term effects of DDT which was sprayed over thousands of hectares in 1945 to combat spruce budworm, Cacoecia fumiferana, infestation. The effects of the DDT on the pest were completely satisfactory, but it is most important to study its possible harmful effects on other insects and forms of life. For instance, in some eases, a high mortality rate amongst fish resulted, not directly from the effects of the DDT, but because their normal sources of food had been all but eliminated.
· The Province of Quebec has opened a school for the training of specialists in forest fire protection at Duchesney, approximately 60 kilometers (37 miles) from Quebec City, where there is already an important ranger school.
The school receives graduates from the ranger school and the teaching staff consists of 6 professors and 2 instructors. Subjects taught relate to the system of protection in force for the Province's forests, how forest fires spread, prevention, law, organization, fire spotting, fire fighting, meteorology, forest entomology and other basic work. Practical work covers the installation of watch towers; the laying, maintenance and operation of telephone lines; installation and operation of radios; use and maintenance of tools and fire-fighting equipment; counter-firing, fire fighting, preparation of plans and the organization of fire protection, and the drafting of reports. Twenty candidates are admitted to the school each year. Refresher courses for existing staff will also be given.
· Quebec Forest Service Bulletin No. 12 calls attention to the extent of losses in the Province of Quebec caused by various fungi which lead to the decay of the heartwood of fir trees. It includes a brief description of the various types of blight and-indicates means of combating them. The means consist essentially in the maintenance of the stands in healthy conditions and the lowering of the felling age to about 80 years of age, a maximum beyond which losses due to decay may attain considerable proportions.
· The Department of Lands and Forests of Ontario, in Technical Circular No. 167, publishes the results of the experiments it conducted in inducing artificial precipitation by the sprinkling of clouds with dry ice. The results do not yet enable any definitive conclusions to be drawn. However, it seems that the only clouds which lend themselves to the type of operation envisaged consist of water droplets which are below the freezing point, but have not yet become crystallized. Such clouds can be identified by the temperature of the air, the formation of ice on the aircraft passing through them, the presence of a halo surrounding the shadow of the aircraft and by the peculiar appearance of the sun viewed through these clouds. In order for the dry ice inoculation to produce any appreciable effect, the cloud must be at least 1,200 meters (4,000 ft.) thick and its base must be at least 1,500 meters (5,000 ft.) above ground level. The dry ice used must be crushed into pellets approximately 10 mm. (3/8 inch) in diameter. Seeding should preferably be done from above the cloud. The aircraft should have equipment to control the distribution of the dry ice.
FRANCE
· Encouraged by the achievements in America and Switzerland in combating Scolytidae attacks on elms by using powdered DDT in solution in petroleum derivatives and heavy oils, experiments are now being conducted in France, Switzerland, Germany and elsewhere to discover an effective weapon against the Bostrychidae attacking spruce, fir and pine which are now ravaging the forests of Central and Western Europe. Insecticides with a Hexachlorocyclohexane base have proved effective. Unfortunately, this treatment, which is easily applicable to felled trees and eliminates the necessity for barking, and which consequently makes possible the large-scale use of the tree-trap technique, is difficult of application to standing trees due to their height and the need to apply the product around the entire tree trunk. The use of high-power machinery mounted on trucks or tractors might solve the problem on level areas but not, of course, in mountain regions or on steep hillsides. Despite the value of these experiments, the best protective methods still consist in following proper silvicultural and felling practices, the removal of decaying trees from stands and removal from the felling sites of felled trees which have not been debarked or have become infested, instead of allowing them to lie around on the ground indefinitely.
FRANCE
· French forestry services are at present investigating the possibility of using helicopters for the loading, transportation and unloading of timber. A machine has been designed especially for the transportation of heavy loads and could be used for the exploitation of tropical forests. Helicopters using jet propulsion can lift logs weighing up to eight metric tons. They are simple in structure and strong and require only a small amount of maintenance. The load is lifted as follows. Once the slings are adjusted around the logs, the helicopter rises slightly to draw the cable taut. Then the pilot accelerates while gradually reducing the angle of incidence of the rotor blades. In this way the blades can be made to attain their maximum speed without raising the helicopter. Once this speed is attained, the pitch of the blades is gradually increased, producing sufficient force for lifting the load and transporting it. This method had already been used experimentally in Germany. Experiments indicate that jet propulsion helicopters could be adapted to the transportation of logs in equatorial regions, and thereby reduce by 80 percent the labor force used in forest enterprises. The helicopter could also be used for inventories, loading and unloading equipment shipped to coastal areas which had no port facilities, forest fire fighting, for spraying insecticides, etc. There still remains the major question of the cost of utilization. This has been studied very thoroughly, and calculations show that the cost of transportation by this means is less than the freight rates per ton for moving the logs by caterpillars, narrow gauge railway lines or by truck for a distance of 35 kilometers.
AUSTRALIA
· A bulletin issued by the Division of Forest Products, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, shows that a survey of possible methods of extracting native lignin from immature Eucalyptus regnans led to the conclusion that one of the most promising solvents was methanol. Treatment with this solvent for 24 hours at 150°C. removed a little more than one-quarter of the lignin, estimated as Klason lignin, present in a specimen of E. regnans sapwood sawdust. Treatment for 148 hours, using fresh methanol every sixteen hours, removed about 70 percent of the original lignin estimated as Klason lignin. Evidence was obtained to show that the methanol extraction of wood is essentially a mild acid hydrolysis accompanied by the solvent action of methanol. During the process some of the extracted lignin was degraded to materials soluble in water and ether. The remainder could be precipitated as a buff powder which gave the color reactions of native lignin and which was soluble in bisulphite solutions.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
· In the State of Washington, employment in sawmills and shingle mills has dropped 52 percent in twenty years, owing to the rapid exhaustion of the virgin timber stands on which these industries grew up. But employment has increased 57 percent in those industries which practice a closer utilization of the forest crop, such as pulp mills and Plywood plants. The State Forest Products Commission has recommended that the Forest Products Institute should make an inventory of all unused sources of raw material, whether in the forest or in the mills. This should reveal the quantities and kind of unused waste which could be used for new industries and also where such industries could best be sited. It will also constitute the basis for a real plan of integration aimed at the maximum utilization of the State's forest resources.
CANADA
· A whole new industry and, in Canada, a very important one, has developed from the use of waste sulphite liquor for the manufacture of ethyl alcohol. The process is not new, having been in use commercially in Scandinavia as well as the U. S. and Canada for some time.
The world's largest plant of this kind is now in operation near the Canadian International Paper Co. pulp mill on the Gatineau River in Quebec, north of Ottawa, when Commercial Alcohols, Ltd., officially opened a specially designed $3,000,000 plant which is expected to produce 9.1 million liters (2 million Imperial gallons) annually. Previously, the largest plant of this type was that of the Puget Sound Pulp & Timber Co., at Bellingham, Washington, built in 1945, with a capacity of 5.7 million liters (1.5 million U. S. gallons) annually.
The mill, from which the plant draws its raw materials, turns out approximately 730 metric tons (800 tons) of newsprint and 150 m. tons (160 tons) of dissolving pulp daily. Commercial Alcohols, Ltd., will handle about 3.2 million liters (700,000 Imperial gallons) daily of sulphite waste liquor from the mill.
The paper company has 16,000 km² (6,000 sq. mi.) of Crown timber limits tributary to the Gatineau River and an excellent record of steady operation ever since its completion in August 1927. These timber resources should assure the paper mill of a continuous supply of wood for making pulp and paper, and the alcohol company an excellent source of supply of the waste liquor for making alcohol. About 4.5 liters (one Imperial gallon) of ethyl alcohol can be made from the sugars in every 450 liters (100 Imperial gallons) of the sulphite liquor.
A new magnesia insulation factory now under construction nearby will use the carbon dioxide formed as a by product in the fermentation process. At capacity, about 25 tons of carbon dioxide will be produced daily and piped to the insulation plant, a completely mechanized unit. This process was perfected only recently, after years of study by the Johns-Mansville Corp. Magnesia insulation output will be sold under contract to the Canadian Johns-Mansville Corporation.
INDIA
· Twenty-eight timbers which deserve attention from users are described in Some More Commercial Timbers of India, (Indian Forest Records (New Series) Utilization Vol. 4, No. 3). None of these timbers were much used before the last war. The object of the publication is to bring to the notice of industries further natural resources of India which might be made use of in the future, and to induce forest officers to grow these trees to increase timber supplies.
UNITED KINGDOM
· A memorandum has been submitted by the United Kingdom Timber Development Association to the President of the Board of Trade on the subject of the economies of timber substitution. This memorandum states that it would hardly be possible to exaggerate the importance of coal and steel to Britain's industry or to her credit abroad. The relationship of coal, steel and other basic materials to timber is not perhaps obvious, and the T.D.A. wishes to draw attention to certain ideas which are offered as a contribution towards easing difficulties of foreign exchange.
The restrictions placed on the import and use of timber are due to a shortage of foreign exchange rather than to any shortage of world supplies. Although timber is a basic raw material, required in one form or another by almost every branch of British Industry, the present volume of imports is well below the average of all imports in general, calculated in relation to pre-war figures.
The deficiency of United Kingdom timber imports has been met by the exercise of a rigid economy which may be described under three main headings:
(i) the refinement of design and the elimination of wasteful forms of construction;
(ii) the prohibition of the use of timber for non-essential purposes;
(iii) The use of substitute materials.
After nearly a decade of experience in timber economy, it is probable that the limit of development under headings (i) and (ii) has been reached.
The Committee of European Economic Cooperation recognizes that timber substitutes are usually uneconomical. Experience has shown the main disadvantages of the manufactured substitute to be: an increase in production costs leading to increases in the cost of living, demands for higher wages and other symptoms of inflationary pressure; the diversion of manufacturing capacity from export to domestic consumption; the indirect increase of dollar expenditure on substitute materials.
The proposal to regard timber as a substitute for steel, reinforced concrete and aluminum appears at first to be revolutionary. However, conditions in Britain today are not unlike those in which the United States of America found herself after Pearl Harbor. In her efforts to save in steel consumption, the United States used timber for purposes which were novel even in the history of a timber producing country: bridges for the Alaska Highway, floating docks, aircraft and dirigible hangars of unprecedented size, ships and buildings of all kinds-all striking examples which cannot fail to influence trends in years to come.
The increased import of timber will enable the United Kingdom to increase its exports. Timber is one of the cheapest raw materials and is one of the few used in its raw state with the minimum processing, thus releasing manpower and productive capacity engaged in the manufacture of substitute materials.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
· On 17 September 1948, in co-operation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Northeastern Wood Utilization Council brought together representatives of pulp mills and others interested for a discussion of the Chemistry and Utilization of Bark. The meeting was held at Cambridge, Mass. The papers and discussion are published in Bulletin No. 25 of the Northeastern Wood Utilization Council, Inc. and summarize present knowledge on bark chemistry and utilization, and suggest some of the further lines of research that are needed. The Council plans to continue its work with public and private research staffs in promoting these possibilities for bark utilization.
· The first United States plant to utilize waste from pulpwood for the production of yeast has recently commenced operations in Wisconsin. Results from this experimental product may be important to the animal feed industry, and to suppliers of other kinds of yeasts, as well as offering a partial solution to the serious problem of stream pollution. Other pilot plants have been working on cultured yeast grown for human food, which it is hoped can be directed toward relieving the food shortage in many parts of the world.
In other countries, where there is still a marked shortage of proteins, yeast may be more important. During the war, production of food yeast in Germany reached 14,000 m. tons (15,000 tons) a year. A plant in Jamaica has capacity to produce 11 m. tons (12 tons) of dry yeast daily from sugar-mill residue. This plant exports most of its production to Asia. Plans for an experimental food yeast plant in Puerto Rico include direct distribution to local bakers for protein fortification of bread at three to five percent. Other foods generally consumed by the low-income groups in Puerto Rico will also have yeast added.
Another possible growth medium for yeast is the 4 million tons of canning wastes available annually in the United States. A pilot plant to produce yeast from pear waste at the Olympia Canning Company is now supplying material for nutritional experiments at Washington State College. The U. S. Forest Products Laboratory is producing yeast from wood sugars on a small scale for poultry and animal feeding experiments.
UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS
· Various intensive methods of tapping Scots pine, Pinus sylvestris, were tried in 1945/1946 in western White Russia on trees that were to be cut in one to three years. The highest yields were obtained by a new method in which faces were cut on two levels on each tree, one vertically above the other. These faces were worked alternately. Three refreshings were made at each level before the cup was transferred to the other. Each face rested for nine to ten days between tappings. The seasonal average interval between freshenings was 3.6 days for normal, and 2.3 days for intensive working of the faces at a single level. The combined yield for the two faces exceeded by 66 percent the yield obtained from the ordinary German method.
BOLIVIA
· The first forestry bulletin published by the Faculty of Agronomical Sciences in Bolivia contains two very interesting articles. The first gives an estimate, based on detailed surveys, of Bolivian resources of coaba, Swietenia macrophylla, one of the most sought-after mahoganies. Its importance is increasing because, ever since the discovery of America, the natural stands of Swietenia mahagoni have been subjected to intensive exploitation, which has greatly reduced the reserves of this species.
The author indicates the distribution of this mahogany (the Bolivian name of which is mara) in Bolivia and estimates the average density at from 8.2 to 13.6 m³ ® per hectare, a figure which is rarely reached in other South American countries within the area in which this species grows. In certain regions there are only 27 adult trees per hectare. The richest zone consists of a triangular area located between the Rio Grande on the East, the Rio Isiboro on the West to their confluence formed by the Rio Mamore, and limited on the south by a line running between the 17th and 17.55 parallel south.
The second article gives interesting information regarding the five-year plan formulated by the Bolivian Development Corporation for the development of the forest resources of the country. In a large measure this plan was based upon data obtained through the research of the author of the preceding article. The implementation of this plan was recently initiated by the erection of a small sawmill having a daily capacity of 19 m³ (s) (8,000 board ft.) in the Rio Espejo and Rio Piray areas. It should be mentioned that the felling operations in this area are being carried out in private forests, the Corporation having obtained a ten-year license, renewable for an additional ten years, to perform logging operations. This article, although informative as regards the industrial projects planned by the Corporation, supplies no information as to any measures intended to insure the re-stocking of exploited stands. The plan even seems to provide that after the exhaustion of the forest resources in this area the sawmills will simply be removed from their original sites to new areas.
EGYPT
· Newsprint is being produced for the first time in Egypt, by a paper mill in Alexandria. Wood pulp is being obtained from Scandinavian sources. The rate-of production is currently 25 tons per day which should provide an annual rate of more than 7,000 tons. This figure may be compared with the total annual requirements of Egypt, as imported in 1947, of roughly 9,000 metric tons. Of this, 381 tons were imported from the United States and 901 tons were imported from Canada. The remainder was supplied principally by countries accepting sterling in payment.
FINLAND
· It was reported in UNASYLVA, Vol. III, No. 1, page 47, that it had been agreed that the Finnish-Soviet rayon factory Viskoosa Oy. would be erected in Oulu. Later information indicates that the plans have been rejected, because construction costs are much higher than originally calculated. It is believed that the part of the contributed capital in Russian bands will be used for other purposes, and the project of establishing a joint company has now been abandoned.
NEW ZEALAND
· The capacity of a new sulfate-pulp mill now under construction near Tokoroa, New Zealand, will be increased to 23,000 metric tons (25,000 tons) annually from the originally planned capacity of 9,000 metric tons (10,000 tons). This expansion is made possible through further investment in the New Zealand firm by an Australian paper manufacturing company. The mill is expected to be in full production by the end of 1951. Present plans call for full integration; the company eventually will manufacture kraft paper and multiwall sacks, in addition to pulp. Tentative plans for the production of newsprint have been dropped, and it is not likely that the company will enter this field.
POLAND
· To assist Poland in regaining her former position as an exporter of timber to the United Kingdom, provision is made in the Anglo-Polish trade agreement signed recently for the purchase over the next five years of a number of Polish timber products. It is hoped that in the year 1949 some 70,000 standards of softwood will be shipped, together with redwood sleepers (50,00 pieces), pitprops (130,000 m³ ®), oak staves (300 m³ (s), plywood (300 m³) and hardwood (10,000 m³). A certain quantity of pulpwoods is also expected. To this agreement there is a proviso that import licenses for proportionate quantities of Polish furniture and other timber products shall be granted. Tentative figures for purchases over the years 1950 and 1951 have also been drawn up.
SWEDEN
· The present technical capacity of the Swedish chemical and mechanical wood pulp industry is said to be about 3.5 million metric tons. Because of the shortage of pulp wood in some areas, however, between one-sixth and one-fifth of this capacity is not likely to be in operation. The total yearly production of pulp is about 2.9 million metric tons, of which some 1.1 million tons are converted into paper by the domestic paper industry. The remainder, about 1.8 million tons, is made available for export. This figure may be subdivided as follows: chemical pulp for paper making, 1,225,000 tons; chemical pulp for industrial purposes, 350,000 tons; mechanical pulp, 250,00 tons.
Cellulose stocks early in 1949 amounted to about 300,000 metric tons, as compared with 170,000 tons at the beginning of 1948 and 241,000 tons in 1947. Sweden's export capacity in 1949 can be estimated at about 1.7 million metric tons.
Swedish cellulose exports to the United States in 1948 totaled about 340,000 metric tons, nearly two-thirds of which were shipped during the first half of the year. In 1947, about 500,000 tons of Swedish cellulose were exported to the United States. Before the war, the U.S. imported nearly one million tons of Swedish cellulose annually.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
· Record paper consumption in 1948 raised per caput consumption for that year to an estimated 162 kg. (357 lbs.), an increase of 6 kg. (14 lbs.) over 1947, according to the December Statistical Summary of the American Paper & Pulp Association. (February 1949) The Summary states that prospects for the industry in 1949 are related to prospects for general industry, in that the paper industry is a "service" industry, the welfare of which is tied in closely with that of general business. A further analysis of the industry's 1949 prospects brings out the fact that inventory building by customers has apparently ceased and that 1949 demand for paper should more closely reflect consumption. Pulpwood, wood pulp and waste paper remain in ample supply. Estimates place total receipts of pulpwood for 1948 at 2.6 million m³ ® (one million cords) above 1947. Wood pulp production in 1948 reached a new record high of approximately 11.8 million metric tons (13 million tons). Waste paper receipts for 1948 reached an estimated 6.8 million metric tons (7.5 million tons), a decline of 270,000 metric tons (300,000 short tons) under 1947 because of the tapering-off in demand.
UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS
· Uzbekistan is a constituent Republic of the U.S.S.R. in south-central Asia. It is located between the Rivers Amu-Darya and Sir-Darya, occupying the central part of Turkestan. It has an area of some 322,000 km², and a population close to 5 million. With a long history of continuous deforestation, now only 6 percent of the country is wooded. Of the natural forests still remaining 89.5 percent are found in the mountains. They lie chiefly in remote tracts where logging is difficult. Their main function is soil and water conservation. Cutting in them, therefore, is restricted to thinnings and cultural improvements. The annual yield from such operations in the mountainous forests is not more than 50,000 m³ ®. The chief species is called "Archa" (a juniper). The forest growth in the valleys of Sir-Darya, Amu-Darya, Zeravshan, and other rivers consists mainly of poplars, willows, and Elaeagnus sp. of the same genus as the Russian olive, which is extensively used in shelterbelt planting in the North American prairies. The trees are poorly formed and are good largely for firewood. The annual yield in timber is estimated at only 700-750 m³ ®. A 10-meter wide strip along the river banks is kept intact as a safeguard against bank erosion. The desert steppe plant formations consisting of such drought-resisting shrubs as tamarix and halozylon are being protected because they prevent the sand from blowing and also because, if properly tended, Pan yield firewood. Some 20,000 m³ ® of tamarisk firewood are obtained annually in this manner. This firewood is taken by camel to settlements within a 12-kilometer radius.
· Incomplete estimates by the government place the damage caused to the forests by the war at more than 3,000 million rubles (about 600 million dollars). Great as this damage is, it is only one-half of one percent of the entire loss suffered by the Russian people in the form of cities (1,710), villages (70,000), industrial plants (32,000) destroyed, 65,000 km. of railroads seriously damaged, 109 million head of cattle slaughtered, etc., estimated at about 679 billion rubles, to say nothing of the seven million people killed. The forest destruction in some places assumed a wholesale character, especially in poorly forested Ukraine, in the Baltic Republics, in the region south of Leningrad, and in all accessible forests of Orel, Tula, Smolensk, Kalinen, White Russia, and Karfelia. In the southern semiprairie region, particularly between the Don and Volga, 900,000 hectares of forest plantations and 1,500 hectares of forest nurseries were put to the axe and torch. To combat the partisans, who were hiding in the forests, the enemy cut clean and burned lanes from 200 to 500 meters wide along all railroads and main thoroughfares. The total forest area destroyed in the war is estimated at 20 million hectares.
· Wood is still one of the most used fuels for industrial and especially heating purposes in the U.S.S.R. It constitutes on an average nearly 50 percent of all the wood cut in the entire country. The plan for 1941, for instance, called for cutting 123 million m³ ® of fire wood for European Russia and about 25 million m³ ® for Asiatic Russia. The City of Moscow alone consumes from 3 to 5 million m³ ® of firewood a year. To transport such an enormous quantity of firewood places a heavy burden on the railroads. To relieve the railroads from transporting firewood, the government is seeking to devise means for transporting it by water, which of course is also cheaper, and to develop other sources of fuel. It learned during the war that it is practical to float small round timber and firewood in rafts, and a great deal of this material is now reaching the capital in this manner from the Upper Volga by way of the Moscow-Volga Canal. Still even this involves floating firewood to Moscow from a distance of 600 to 900 km. from the forests of Vologda, Lenin grad, Gorki, etc. To decrease in general the use of wood for generating power and for heating purposes, the mining of coal, burning slates, and peat is being greatly stepped up as well as the use of natural gas. For instance, even during the war (1943-45), a pipe line 843 kin. long was laid to pipe natural gas from Saratov to Moscow. The City of Lenin grad obtains a gas supply from the comparatively nearby large slate deposits in Estonia. Kiev, on the other hand, must pipe it in from the Carpathian foothills, a distance of 300 kilometers. It is planned that by 1950 most of the large cities in the Soviet Union will be obtaining a total of 8.5 thousand million m³ of natural gas, with a 3,000 km. pipe line extension. While the total amount of fuelwood is still very large, its relative place is diminishing. In the 20's, fuelwood constituted 41 percent of all the fuels used; today it is only 20 per cent.
· The area of productive forests of U.S.S.R. before the war was estimated (1941) for both European and Asiatic Russia to be close to 500 million hectares, and the annual consumption or cut (including firewood) at a little over 307 million m³ ®. As a result of the war, new forest areas and possible annual fellings were added. (See next column.)
The forest area of the U.S.S.R. has thus been increased by about 3 percent, and the possible annual cut by 11.3 percent. Against these additions, however, must be placed the devastation of some 20 million hectares of forest in the area of the Soviet Union overrun by the Germans.
|
Region |
Forest area (million hectares) |
Annual cut (million m³ ®) |
|
Southern Sakhalin (formerly Japanese Karafuto) |
2.8 |
5.0 |
|
Karelia (eastern Finland) |
3.0 |
5.5 |
|
Latvia |
1.7 |
6.2 |
|
Estonia |
0.9 |
2.5 |
|
Lithuania |
0.9 |
3.2 |
|
Western Ukraine and western White Russia (formerly eastern Polish region) |
5.5 |
10.4 |
|
Bessarabia, Bukovina, and Transcarpathian Ukraine |
1.3 |
2.0 |
|
TOTAL |
16.1 |
34.8 |
· Transcarpathian Ukraine, which became part of the Ukrainian S.S.R. in 1945, has a land area of 1,263,000 hectares, of which 613,000 hectares, or about 50 percent, are under forest.
Annual production is estimated at over 2,000,000 m³ ®; of this, 30 percent is industrial timber and 70 percent is firewood. The forests are predominantly broadleaf. Beech forms 58.8 percent; silver fir, 25.4 percent; oak, 7.9 percent; spruce, 3.7 percent, and other species, 5.2 percent.
ALGERIA
· In Algeria the forest cover which, according to divergent estimates, at one time covered from 7 to 20 million hectares has now been reduced to less than 3 million. Although it is only possible to obtain local figures as to the damage caused by erosion, it is certainly enormous. It is aggravated by the fact that the forest and agricultural zone consist primarily of rugged strips lying parallel to the coast. All plains have already been placed under cultivation, so clearings must be extended further up the sometimes very steep hillsides. Unfortunately, the development of agricultural production reflects the results of the continuous stripping of the soil by wind and water. The average production of cereals has remained at a constant level, but domestic production for local consumption tends to diminish. Livestock is also seriously on the decrease, except for goats, which can accommodate themselves to even the worst terrains. The only progress is in orchard cultivation. The Department of Waters and Forests attempted many years ago to solve the problem of forest protection and reforestation. Since 1885, a reforestation program encompassing 110,000 hectares has been carried out and in 1907 a special reforestation service was created. However, it must be noted that the measures taken have not proved adequate, except perhaps on lands belonging to the State itself. In 1939, several experimental areas were established, one of which- 3,300 hectares in size - was in the Oued Barek watershed; it is intended to control cultivation in this area with a view to soil protection, and to reforest only uncultivated lands or wastelands to the extent of 500 hectares. This work was interrupted by the war. A law of 2 February 1941 formulated the following principles as regards soil restoration in Algeria:
1. obligatory erosion control work to be performed at the expense of the State, within the perimeter of the areas declared to be public domain;2. the imposition upon private landowners of certain conditions or regulations concerning the application of protective measures and the proper management of their plantations;
3. the indemnification of all landowners and rightful claimants to the land in instances where the damage resulting from such activities is greater than the appreciation acquired by the land.
After eight years experience it seems that, although there is still the necessity for setting aside additional watershed areas for compulsory reforestation, the developments have greatly surpassed previous limits. These do not yet have legal status, but with the active collaboration of proprietors are spread by the help of publicity and example.
This development is due to the efficient organization of the work of the Soil Protection and Restoration Service, created in September 1941 and reorganized in 1945. This service actually is under the Department of Waters and Forests and is directed by mountain forests specialists. It includes a special group of district heads and lesser officials. At the end of 1947, it was composed of only 20 officials, but this number increased to more than 140 in 1948. It works in liaison with the Services of Bridges and Roads, Colonization and Engineering.
Until 1945 this work was rather experimental in character and, in all, affected 600 hectares over an extended area. In 1945, 460 hectares of land were placed under protective management, including 300 hectares planted to fruit trees and 76 reforested; in 1946, 1,097 hectares, of which 750 were planted to fruit trees and 236 reforested; in 1947, 2,130 hectares of which 1,500 hectares were planted to fruit trees and 300 reforested. For 1948 the plan was to place 5,000 hectares under this type of management. This Service has its own tree nurseries which are expected to distribute 300,000 fruit trees and 1,500,000 forest trees during the 1948/49 season. In three or four years, it is anticipated that their production will increase to one million fruit trees and three million forest trees annually.
CANADA
· A new policy has been started in British Columbia with the objective of maintaining the principles of free enterprise and at the same time assuring all forests of sustained yield. Actually only 7 percent of forest land in this province is privately owned, the rest is owned by the Government. The latter has, however, disposed of cutting rights on its own land in the form of licenses and leases. With some exceptions, no such leases or licenses have been granted since 1907 and 75 percent of the merchantable forest area contains unalienated government forests. Under the new legislation, the forest management license will guarantee a private individual or a corporation continuous use of a certain surface of land as long as the forestry operations are managed in a way to assure sustained yield. The forests operated under these licenses form a unit which, in forestry terminology, is called a "working circle" the exploitation of which assures the supply of industry in general or a specified group of industries. If such a license is requested by an individual who is already the owner of forests, the latter must be combined with Government forests for management purposes. A license will be granted only after consideration of all conflicting interests. It seems to be the intention of the Government to apply this system to 50 percent of its forest area in order to protect small industries which could not take on the load of managing large forest areas. The other 50 percent will be operated under Government sustained yield management. The legislation provides for the protection of public interests against all possible abuses of forests operated under licenses and also protects license owners against discriminatory decisions which could call for the cancellation of the license in the case where the clauses are not respected. The annual taxes for growing forests are reduced to a strict minimum (2 ½ cents per hectare); the main portion of forest taxation is deferred until the time of cutting and is then based on the value of the cutting (16 percent of the value). The license can be sold or transferred at the same time as the industry to which it attaches.
· Under the signature of the President of the Executive Committee of the Canadian Forestry Association, and under the title "Canada Needs a National Forest Policy," several Canadian forestry magazines have recently pointed out that there is a danger that the methods now generally used in forest management in that country will bring about a serious situation in the not too distant future.
In 1947, one-third of the country's export revenue was derived from forest products and, in 1946, the sale of wood, wood products, and paper to the United States brought in one-half of each U.S. dollar entering the country. The author is of the opinion that the provincial and the federal governments are under obligation to ensure the perennial renewal of their forests. Although some of the provinces have understood this obligation, so far others have devoted only an extremely small portion of the income derived from their forests to this purpose. Moreover, although the majority of private owners of forestlands and forest industries are concerned with the proper care of their forests, there are a few who are interested only in deriving the maximum immediate profits from the forest.
The author suggests the creation of a National Forestry Board, composed of provincial and federal government officials and the representatives of the forest industries. The principal problems to be solved include forest inventory-taking, fire fighting and combating insect pests and tree diseases. It is also necessary to promote a program of road construction and a research program for forest products. Finally, research on management and silviculture should be expedited, so that by the end of this century Canada will be in a position "to apply proper management methods to all accessible forests and double its annual cut."
· Mr. Horacio Recart has recently joined the Forestry Branch of FAO's Division of Forestry and Forest Products from Santiago, Chile. Mr. Recart is a graduate of the College of Forestry of the University of Washington. In 1927 and 1928 he attended the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, and on returning to Chile was connected first with the Compania Maderera Malvoa (Malvoa Lumber Company) as Branch Manager in charge of Production at Temuco in southern Chile, and later was engaged in private activities in the lumber business. In 1936 he organized and taught a forestry course in the Escuela Industrial de Temuco, the first course of this nature ever established in the country. In 1942 he left the school at Temuco to join the Forest Industries Division of the Corporación de Fomento de la Producción (Chilean Development Corporation), an instrument of the Chilean Government to foster the industrial development of the country, and he remained with the Corporación until joining FAO. Mr. Recart was one of the organizers of the first national Forestry Congress in Santiago in 1943, and in 1946 also served as Professor of Silviculture at the College of Agriculture of the University of Chile.
The Canadian Society of Forest Engineers held its Fourteenth Annual Congress at Fredericton, New Brunswick, from 5 to 7 October 1948.
Amongst the resolutions adopted were references to fire prevention and protection; recommendations to pulp and paper industries to utilize sawmill waste; and the protection and administration of wild-life reserves, especially for beaver. Two are of special significance as indicating tendencies in forestry and the wood industries-the resolution that integrated utilization should be introduced into long-term forest management whenever possible and that research should be intensified on the silvicultural, economic and utilization factors involved; and that the Society strongly endorses the integrated utilization of farm woodlot products on a co-operative basis.
· The following meetings dealing with forestry or forest products are scheduled for 1949:
Latin-American Forestry and Forest Products Commission, Rio de Janeiro, May 23-28.Third World Forestry Congress, Helsinki, July 10-20.
Forestry Education (informal meeting), Helsinki, July.
UN Scientific Conference on Conservation and Utilization of Resources, New York, August 17-September 6.
Wood Chemistry Committee, Brussels, August 25-27.
European Forestry and Forest Products Commission, Geneva, September 5-9.
Mechanical Wood Technology, Geneva, August 29-September 4.
ECE Timber Committee, Geneva, September.
Fifth Session of the FAO Conference, Havana, November 21.
Unexploited Forests Committee, Havana, November.
Methods Used to Control Pollination of Pines in the Sierra Nevada of California. W. C. Cumming and F. I. Righter, Pp. 17. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Circular No. 792. September 1948.
This brief circular describes techniques originated at the Institute of Forest Genetics at Placerville, California, for the controlled pollination of pines under conditions prevailing in the Sierra Nevada. It furnishes detailed information regarding the equipment used and means of handling it for the isolation of the ovulate flowers, the harvesting of the male catkins, the extraction and conservation of pollen, the pollination process itself and, finally, for the protection of the cones against insects and squirrels until they have reached maturity. The methods and apparatus used, which have been improved during the past 20 years, have proven themselves practicable and effective. The description of this equipment and these methods is of practical value for all researchers engaged in forest genetics work. The bibliography at the end of the circular cites about thirty articles and pamphlets on the same subject.
Lumber Production in the United States 1799-1946. U. S. Department of Agriculture. Miscellaneous Publication No. 669. Washington, D. C., October 1948.
This volume collects in one place records of lumber production in the United States. The work summarizes statistics originally printed in about 50 publications, most of which are out of print.
The announced purpose of the publication is "to provide in condensed form for ready reference (1) all of the available records of lumber production, both as reported to the Bureau of the Census or to the Forest Service, (2) revised figures for total lumber production for certain years as estimated by the Forest Service, (3) the record of lumber prices for the years for which prices were obtained."
The report gives specific information with respect to the species from which lumber was produced and the state in which the lumber was manufactured. In other publications there is available still further information, with respect to specific years, as to the production within counties of the state.
The value of the book to readers is enhanced by the concise explanation of the means by which the figures were collected in the censuses and why it was found necessary to make corrections in the results obtained.
A Manual of the Timbers of the World. Alexander L. Howard. Pp. 751, 52s. 6d. Macmillan & Co., Ltd., London.
A revised Third Edition of this Manual was nearing completion when the author died in 1946. It has now been finished and published, forming a valuable work of reference. Besides an index to scientific names, the volume includes useful index of vernacular names and list classifying timbers according to their countries of origin.
Efficiency of Technique in Swedish Forestry. Distributed by Föreningen Skogsarbetens och Kungl. Domänstyrelsens Arbetsstudieavdelning, Regeringsgatan 46, Stockholm, Sweden.
This book has been published in English by the Scientific Management Institute, a research institute established by the large timber companies of northern Sweden and the Swedish Forest Service.
The book contains a series of summarized articles, previously published in booklets, leaflets or forestry journals by different Swedish experts. They deal with general applications attained by the research institute in its investigations for improving logging equipment and methods, and for discovering a fair and objective basis for determining wage agreements between forest employers and employees. The contents of this book of about 150 mimeographed pages is divided into five main sections covering the whole field of the institute's present activity. The first chapter deals with general problems, such as efficiency measures, time studies, and their use in forestry. The second chapter discusses the use and maintenance of logging tools, skidding and hauling equipment, and the construction and maintenance of main haulage roads. The major part of the book concerns the results obtained in investigations on the technique and organization of logging, studies of work output, analysis of working day in logging, the different problems arising in connection with the use of horses in forest transportation, and landings. The review is completed with a series of summarized articles on accident prevention and general safety in forestry work, and on the practical application of the results of the investigations upon the wage agreements in forestry and upon the publicity work of the institute.
Forests and National Prosperity: A re appraisal of the Forest Situation in the United States. United States Department of Agriculture Miscellaneous Publication No. 668. United States Government Printing Office.
The Forest Service in the U. S. Department of Agriculture has issued a report bringing together for the first time in concise form the over-all findings of the nation-wide forest reappraisal, field work for which it completed in 1946. The report outlines the principal federal measures which the Forest Service holds "necessary to assure ample timber supplies for the future" and "to build up and maintain the forest resources so as to insure their maximum contribution to lasting prosperity for our country."
After several sections devoted to forest land and timber resources, and how they are being managed, the report discusses the raw material supply and wood waste problems of the major forest industries. Watershed, range, recreational and wildlife uses and services are considered in relation to timber supply and forest management. Another section is devoted to forest protection from fire, insects and disease, and the report concludes with a discussion of how forest ownership affects the outlook for improvement in the nation's forest situation. Separate reports covering the various individual phases of the reappraisal, the most extensive study of the country's forests ever made, have been issued previously.
Warning that "if the United States is to maintain a place of economic leadership in the world of tomorrow, it can ill afford to temporize with its forests," the report declares not only that the sawtimber supply is declining under the impact of an annual cut which together with natural losses is 50 percent greater than current annual growth but also that its quality is deteriorating.
At the same time, the summary says, indications are that the nation's long-range potential timber requirement is considerably greater than the present annual cut, especially if prospective new uses for wood, export and a back-log for national security are taken into account. These needs include dependable timber supplies sufficient "to sustain and expand the supply of consumer goods and employment in the wood industry," to provide for national security, and "to contribute to international peace and well-being" through helping meet world timber needs in time of shortage.
Setting a long-range, flexible goal, the report suggests that if these needs are to be met the country should aim to grow from 18 to 20 billion cubic feet of all timber, including 65 to 72 billion board feet of sawtimber, a year. At present annual growth is put at 13 billion cubic feet of all timber, including 35 billion board feet of sawtimber. However, the report states that even if good forest protection, management, and, practices were generally applied to American forests within the next few years it would still take several decades before this growth goal could be achieved.
Tomorrow's wood supply is in the forest trees growing today, but for the nation as a whole, according to the report, the forest growing stock is "below par in quantity, quality and distribution," while 164 million acres of the country's commercial forest area, or 35 percent, is "deforested or has less than 40 percent of full stocking." And the further the long-time depletion which produced this condition is allowed to go unchecked the more difficult and costly becomes the job of putting the forest resource in shape to meet the nation's need.
The report recognizes substantial progress in forestry, both public and private, in recent years. There is ample evidence, especially in the South and Pacific Northwest, where timber grows rapidly, that forestry pays and is good business. Throughout the country a growing number of owners are putting their lands under good forest management. The best showing is reported to be by the lumber and pulp companies which together own 15% of the commercial forest land in private ownership. Small holdings, which comprise three-fourths of the private forest land are said to be "the toughest problem." More vigorous action, concludes the report, is needed to get good forestry generally applied.
The action proposed requires the cooperation of federal, state, and local governments, private owners and interested agencies. It falls into three parts, (1) public aids to private forest landowners, especially small owners; (2) public control of cutting practices on private land sufficient to stop forest destruction and keep the land reasonably productive; and (3) expansion and intensified management of the national forests. The public aids, some requiring new federal legislation, others in effect but in need of strengthening, follow:
(a) More and broader technical assistance to private owners, particularly small owners, in establishing and tending forests, and in harvesting and marketing forest products, and corresponding assistance to mill operators and other processors. In this connection, the report says that in 1948 under a federal-state cooperative program 173 farm foresters gave such assistance to private owners in 650 counties in 40 states but that an adequate program in this field would cover some 2,000 counties.(b) Stepping up of educational and demonstration work in forestry such as is done by federal and state agricultural extension services and private forestry agencies.
(c) Increasing federal aid to states in the production and distribution of nursery stock for forest planting, and making planting stock available to non-farm as well as farm owners. Emphasizing the need for more widespread forest planting, the report says there are 62 million acres of private forest land either denuded or so poorly stocked as to be practically idle; that prior to 1947 only about 2 ½ million acres of private land was successfully planted, and that in 1947 about 114,000 acres were planted.
Creation of a federally sponsored forest credit system to make long-term loans on terms and conditions suitable for forestry purposes, adapted to the needs of private forest operators, and contingent upon sound forest practices, together with a federally sponsored insurance system to protect such loans and to reduce the risk inherent in forestry enterprises.
Other measures proposed in this part of the program are additional federal aid to speed adequate forest fire protection for the 439 million acres of state-owned and private forest land in need of it; strengthening of cooperative protection against forest insects and diseases; expansion of all phases of forest research; encouragement of forest cooperative associations among small landowners; and service to states in the improvement of forest tax laws.
As to the second part of the action program recommended - "public control of cutting on private land sufficient to stop forest destruction and to keep the land reasonably productive" - the report recommends basic federal legislation setting up standards as a guide for local forest practices and authorizing federal financial aid to states which have regulatory laws consistent with its requirements. It would also provide for federal administration in states that request it or which, after a reasonable time, do not put regulation into effect. The law would not require sustained yield management nor, so long as cutting practices met required standards, would it regulate when or how much of his timber any owner might cut.
Dealing with National Forests, the program's third part recommends their further development and expansion "as a great public asset" capable of producing much larger returns in sustained output of timber, livestock forage, water, wildlife and recreation, if more intensively managed. As to expansion, it is recommended that there be added to the present National Forests and to state and community forests, a considerable acreage of land so badly depleted that it is unlikely private owners will restore them to productive condition, and certain areas of special importance for watershed protection and other public services.
Twenty-Eighth Annual Report of the Forestry Commissioners for the Year Ending September 30th, 1947. Pp. 68. His Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1948.
This is a report on the post-war forestry program being carried out in England Scotland and Wales. The program represents an intensive effort, commencing in 1947, on the part of the British Government to plant or replant an area of about 148,000 hectares (365,000 acres) by state action and by assistance to owners of private woodlands. The program provides also for the acquisition of land; for increased facilities for education, training and research on all branches of forestry; for up-to-date houses for forestry workers; for national forest parks; and for the maintenance and development of the large areas of young plantations already established by the Forestry Commission. It is gratifying to note from the report that much progress has been made. A total of 10,666 hectares (26,356 acres) were planted for the year ending September 1947 of which 10,082 hectares (24,914 acres) were conifers and 584 hectares (1,442 acres) broadleaved species. Much research work was carried out in silviculture, mensuration, forest pathology and forest entomology. A census of all woodlands, private and state, was taken. Three schools, in addition to those at Benmore and the Forest of Dean, were opened during the year, each to accommodate 60 students. Short courses for foresters and woodsmen were conducted at various private estates. A total area of 10,320 hectares (25,501 acres) were acquired during the year, of which 9,034 hectares (22,322 acres) were classified as plantable; and this brings the total area of land acquired for forestry purposes to 583,000 hectares (1,440,500 acres). All these operations were financed from a special government forestry fund. The figures for the year under report and the preceding year are as follows:
|
|
1947 |
1946 |
|
Gross payments |
£3,871,688 |
£1,937,614 |
|
Receipts |
£660,690 |
£562,504 |
|
Net payments |
£3,210,998 |
£1,375,110 |
The government subsidy to the forestry fund was £2,750,000 in 1946/47 and £4,856,000 in 1947/48.
Great Britain learned a bitter lesson in forestry during the last war. It is not surprising, therefore, that such a great effort is being made to practice forestry within her own boundaries to safeguard her future needs.
Industria Madeireira (Wood Industries). Portuguese. Imprensa Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1949.
Technologia de Productos Florestais (The Technology of Forest Products). Paulo Ferreira de Souza. Pp. 409. In Portuguese. Imprensa Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1947.
The author, a member of FAO's standing Advisory Committee for Forestry and Forest Products, has summarized the substance of lectures given during certain courses held under the auspices of the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture. The volumes are based not only on personal experience covering a period of 30 years, but also on a wide knowledge of the methods used in research work carried out in Brazil and other countries. The work on wood industries deals with saws and saw mills, logging, transportation and storage. It covers wood seasoning and preservation, including the application of modern methods to the production of sleepers, poles, and to the fire proofing of wood. The author deals with lumber and lumber markets, and types of construction and industrial lumber native to Brazil. He discusses also the manufacture of laminated wood and plywood, the production of fiberboards, and the manufacture of briquettes, wood flour, rayon and plastics. The work on technology gives an overall study of forest products in the world economy and in the national economy of Brazil. The author then studies in detail a number of wood uses which are important in South American countries, and finally reviews certain so-called minor forest products such as rosewood essence, quebracho, maté and rubber which are locally of great importance.
Forest Administration Plan, Nigeria 1946-55. Under a Ten-year Plan of Development for Nigeria, 1946. Price 9d. Government Printer, Lagos, 1948.
This plan results from recent studies and discussions based on experience and previous plans going back to 1905. Forest policy-the first essential-includes:
"(i) The main object of the forest policy of the Government of Nigeria is the production of the maximum benefit to the greatest number from the minimum amount of forest which is essential for the general well-being of the country.
"(ii) To achieve this object, two main principles should be observed: (a) The climatic and physical condition of the country must be preserved by the control, by maintenance or rehabilitation of vegetation, of the rainwater run-off in those areas where lack of control would cause damage to other lands or waterways and endanger the water supplies and soil fertility. (b) The supply in perpetuity of all forms of forest produce to satisfy the wants of the people must be assured by the acquisition and preservation of an adequate forest estate.
"(iii) These two primary principles having been accepted, the following additional principles are natural corollaries: (a) agriculture must take priority over forestry; (b) the satisfaction of the needs of the people at the lowest possible rates must take precedence over revenue; (c) after (a) and (b) are satisfied the aim should be the production of the greatest revenue compatible with a sustained yield."
II
"Greatest stress will be laid upon the control, management and development of the savannah woodlands and high forest patches which contribute so largely to the supply of the every day needs of the people in the greater part of Nigeria."
III
"(i) Since planned management is impossible without security of tenure, first attention will therefore be given to the secure establishment of the Forest Estate, with a balanced distribution throughout Nigeria as far as natural and other circumstances permit.
"(ii) Reserves which have been put under planned management, with the approval of the Governor, shall be regarded as humanly speaking inviolable and not open to adjustment.
"(iii) The Forest Estate will be separated into two main divisions, the first of regional value consisting of the larger reserves, the second of strictly local value consisting of plantations and communal forestry areas."
IV
"(i) And any plan for the management of a reserve of more than 50 square miles shall require the approval of the Governor.
"(ii) The objects of management any reserve shall be decided with due regard to the expressed interest of the forest owning community.
"(iii) The rotation of the crop and the methods of growing shall be decided under the advice of the Chief Conservator of Forests after consultation with other interests and taking into full consideration the maintenance of soil fertility."
V
"(i) Wherever the competence and will to undertake it exists, the control and management of forest reserve shall be devolved upon Native Administrations, Policy shall be to encourage the acceptance of responsibility by Native Administrations. "
"(ii) Where the surplus products of a district are, or will be, required by Nigeria as a whole, and they can only be grown in a few limited localities, forest management shall provide for a sustained yield of such surplus produce for general use, but all revenue from sales shall accrue for the benefit of the local forest-owning community which has sacrificed land for its production."
VII
"It is most necessary that subsidiary industries using forest produce as raw material shall be developed and handed over to private enterprise, preferably African."
VIII
"(i) The use of natural or artificial forest growth as a fallow crop for agriculture and anti-erosion work will require the closest co-operation of the Agricultural and Forest Departments."
"(ii) Trained Forest Officers should be used only for such work as demands their technical and scientific knowledge and judgment, particularly for duties of an advisory or supervisory character.
"In the application of Forest Policy the very definite aim of the British Government must be kept clearly in view, eventually to establish a self-governing Nigeria. No attempt must be made to build up a highly efficient system of forest management which is effective only so long as it has European supervision, lest it prove unworkable when supervision is withdrawn.... The aim... must be to save for them their forests, to establish these as profitable working concerns, under plans which sacrifice the highest efficiency to simple continuity of treatment, and to train an African cadre which will manage them effectively.... It is the aim... to achieve... something which exists in concrete form, a working forest, trained staff or a simple recorded plan of operations, which can be handed over as a going concern to the African...."
The first object of the plan is creation of a Forest Estate, including much land now fallow, common or waste, staffed by Africans, and adequate for an increased population with an improved standard of living. The plan sets up working units based on the Administrative Provinces, establishes provincial priorities, and specified staff organization for the various administrative levels. The rigid sequence of operations includes: 1. Reconnaissance and defining areas to be reserved. 2. Constitution of the primary forest estate, in general, which thereafter must be managed under plan for sustained yield. 3. Detailed consolidation of the forest estate - small changes in boundaries, etc. 4. Preparation of management plans, framed for application by an African staff. 5. At the same time, creation of a secondary forest estate to meet local demands not filled by the primary estate.
Provision is made for establishment of an African cadre. The field staff will continue with three grades, technical, uniformed and wardens. Training will continue and expand.
Increased utilization is required-more species, more areas and more efficient milling and recovery through several types of sawmills.
Changes in strength and character of staff required by the plan are set forth. Finally, safeguards are set up so that in its application the plan shall not be abandoned or distorted.
This is a thoughtful, workmanlike job of seeing the forest problem of a country as a whole, working out solutions suited to its own people and needs, emphasizing simplicity, setting up a long-range plan and program, taking due account of all factors. It disposes of any assumption that piecemeal, unco-ordinated development of forestry is the answer.
Our National Forests, Report of the Chief of the Forest Service, 1948, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 15 cents. U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C.
This report commemorates a milestone in public forestry in the United States of America and looks both backward and forward. Mr. Watts says: "Half a century has elapsed since administration of our national forests began. It seems appropriate at this time, therefore, to review some of the accomplishments in the development of our national-forest system and to outline major objectives for the years ahead.
"Our national-forest system is one of the largest, and in many ways it is the finest, public forest system in the world. It has developed steadily through the years, with encouraging support from the public, from Members of the Congress, and from the administration, regardless of what political party was in power. It has been and will continue to be the very foundation on which scientific forestry - forest conservation - in America is based. The national forests are performing useful and important services for the people of the United States; they are an important element in the national economy. With continuing support, they are capable of making even greater contributions to public welfare."
The establishment of forest reserves by the President was authorized in 1891, and some were set up. It was not until 1897 that Congress outlined a broad policy for their managed use - a policy with amendments which is still followed. Today, the system of national forests in 36 states and 2 territories contains 180 million acres of Government lands, This represents the largest tangible forestry accomplishment in the country; it is the keystone of American conservation and an increasingly important part of the whole national economy.
These forests are dedicated to the proposition that conservation is wise use and that their purpose is the "greatest good to the greatest number in the long run." Two basic principles govern their management: sustained yield of all their resources; and multiple use, under which coordinated use of all the resources on a given area is encouraged, rather than exclusive use of a single resource.
The many-sided values and problems of the national forests are analyzed - timber, forage, wildlife, recreation, and water. For each, the extent of use, significance in the national economy, opportunities and needs for increased use, problems yet to be fully solved, are set forth. For the enterprise as a whole, the relation of costs and returns is to be viewed not alone on the basis of dollar income and of support to local governments, but by an appraisal of the very considerable monetary public developments furnished.
What, then, is needed to develop the system for maximum public service? Several things, says the report:
1. A stepped-up program of management and improvement for all the resources, expanding and intensifying practices of proven worth, moving from extensive to more intensive management, providing the operational facilities required.2. Stability of public ownership, so that single uses such as mining, reclamation or hydroelectric power may no longer disrupt general resource programs until it is fully established that exclusive use is in the general public interest.
3. Consolidation and extension, so that the patchwork ownership pattern which grew up under the old public land laws may be rectified in the interests of effective unit management in the established national forests, and so that the authorized purchase program in areas not in the original national forest system may be pushed toward its established goals.
In a section on the national forests' place in the total resource picture, the report re-emphasizes the need for better practices on private lands, and for measures to attain that result.
In discussing the year's work on the national forests, the report records the appointment of a National Forest Board of Review, made up of private citizens, to advise on solution of problems arising in connection with use by the public. This is a new feature.
The work of the year includes many accomplishments of great interest and significance. The beginning of a pulp and paper industry in Alaska after 30 years) work; the generally successful combatting for the moment of organized livestock operators' efforts to prevent effective range management; continued progress on four upstream flood-control projects; expansion of recreational facilities; increased attention to critical wildlife problems; weathering one of the most severe fire seasons on record; expansion of roads to open unused timber areas; these are reported in detail.
The other major arms of Forest Service activity-cooperation in state and private forestry, forestry and forest products research and tropical forestry-have many significant developments to report in the work of the year.
This series of reports centers its attention from year to year on various major aspects of the diversified Forest Service job, and the problems and needs of American forestry. In emphasizing the national forests it brings to the fore the basic and inescapable conclusion that a strong, extensive, expanding, and aggressively and competently managed system of public forests is the indispensable leader in a national program of conservation.
Forest Farming and Rural Employment - A Study of Two Areas in Northern Wisconsin and Southwestern Arkansas. Charles H. Stoddard. Pp. 29. The Charles Lathrop Pack Forestry Foundation, Washington, D. C., 1949. For free distribution.
This publication is the report on a study started in 1945 of two areas in Northern Wisconsin and Southwestern Arkansas. It clarifies the opportunities and limitations of forest farming in the United States of America as a factor in postwar population and employment adjustments; it brings out the importance of co-ordination in tackling the problems of agriculture and rural employment in regions of "mixed economy" where forest land predominates; and it serves as a guide and stimulation to future studies which must be undertaken on the management of small forest holdings in the U. S. A. for more timber production for domestic use. The fact that 76 percent of all the forest land in the United States is held in private ownership, the fact that "the farmers' woodlot is in decadence and approaching extinction," and the fact that all efforts, national and sectional made so far to stimulate forest farming in the forest area and to solve the problems pertaining thereto have been rather "spotty," and applied with little or no co-ordination between them serve to enhance the importance of the question.
The author concludes that it seems unlikely that full-time forest farming will take a large place in the rural economy of either of the places studied. Part-time forestry farming in spite of all its limitations, such as indifference to good forestry, etc., appears more applicable to the needs of the resident population and the prevailing level of social and economic development. Part-time forestry employment will certainly supplement other farming activities in the rural communities. Recommending the measures for advancement of forestry by small owners, the author discusses for the Wisconsin study area fire protection, agricultural extension, agricultural conservation programs, county forest and the state forest crop tax law; and for the Arkansas study area, fire protection, farm woodland management project and the soil conservation district program. Concluding, the author recommends that some "service agency" be established on a co-operative or nonprofit basis, as envisaged in Report 6 (Forest Co-operatives in the United States, from A Reappraisal of the Forest Situation, U. S. Forest Service, 1947) and that the soil conservation districts, now set up under state law would be the logical agencies or units to undertake the functions of such a service agency. The districts are usually set up on a county basis and are governed by local landowners who are members. "This study points to the conclusion that the acceptance of forest farming as an integral part in our agricultural tradition, whether on a part-time or full-time basis, can be hastened by developing institutional arrangements - such as soil conservation districts or cooperative organizations, as channels for complete forest management service to supplement and support programs of public assistance to individual forest landowners."
Geology of the San Gabriel Mountains, California, and Its Relation to Water Distribution. H. C. Storey, United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, in co-operation with California Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry.
By pointing out how geologic processes have produced rock formations with distinct effects on the distribution of local water supplies - both in time and in place - this new booklet illustrates one kind of information needed to plan for the efficient management of all mountain, watersheds. Information on the modifying effects of soils, vegetation, and climate is also needed. Together, such knowledge will permit effective development of the State's water resources.
The booklet takes the view that "Basic to the maximum development of local water supplies, as well as to practices leading toward increased conservation of such water, is an understanding of the geology of the watersheds. Not only the types of rocks and their distribution, but also the past history of faulting, uplifting and erosion of the mountains, and the formation of alluvial fans, all have their places in determining the present occurrence of water. Events that date back some 50 million years have a direct bearing on water distribution today."
It discusses the geology of the area under such headings as Areal Geology, Structure and Geologic History. A great amount of work on these subjects has been done, and is cited in the bibliography.
The report then analyzes hydrologic relations, discussing the effect of topography on rainfall, water stored in rock; the types of rock and summer streamflow; natural underground barriers, faults and dikes; underground basins; alluvial fan composition and water spreading; rock types and soil characteristics.
A concise summary includes the principal facts and conclusions and re-emphasizes that "the analysis presented in this discussion illustrates the type of information desirable in studying the water relations of a drainage basin. In making a study of an individual watershed, such as analysis, together with a detailed knowledge of the hydrologic characteristics of the soils, the modifying influences of vegetation and variations in precipitation, will provide a complete picture of water relations for the area. This information forms a sound basis for planning the most efficient management of mountain watersheds."
The Nations accepting this Constitution, being determined to promote the common welfare by furthering separate and collective action on their part for the purposes of raising levels of nutrition and standards of living of the peoples under their respective jurisdictions, securing improvements in the efficiency of the production and distribution of all food and agricultural products, bettering the condition of rural populations, and thus contributing toward an expanding world economy, hereby establish the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations... through which the Members will report to one another on the measures taken and the progress achieved in the fields of action set forth above.
Preamble to the Constitution of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
FAO Member Nations
AUSTRALIA
AUSTRIA
BELGIUM
BOLIVIA
BRAZIL
BURMA
CANADA
CEYLON
CHILE
CHINA
COLOMBIA
COSTA RICA
CUBA
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
DENMARK
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
ECUADOR
EGYPT
ETHIOPIA
EL SALVADOR
FINLAND
FRANCE
GREECE
GUATEMALA
HAITI
HONDURAS
HUNGARY
ICELAND
INDIA
IRAQ
IRELAND
ITALY
LEBANON
LIBERIA
LUXEMBOURG
MEXICO
NETHERLANDS
NEW ZEALAND
NICARAGUA
NORWAY
PAKISTAN
PANAMA
PARAGUAY
PERU
PHILIPPINE REPUBLIC
POLAND
PORTUGAL
SAUDI ARABIA
SWITZERLAND
SYRIA
THAILAND
TURKEY
UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA
UNITED KINGDOM
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
URUGUAY
VENEZUELA
YUGOSLAVIA
