The items appearing 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.
General
Fundamental science
Silviculture and management
Mensuration, increment, and yield
Forest protection
Logging and engineering
Conversion
Utilization
Economics and statistics
Meetings
Malaya
· Forest research in Malaya is centered in the Forest Research Institute at Kepong. The Institute, established in 1928, includes departments of silviculture, botany, and entomology. It also conducts a Forest School, located at Kepong, which gives a yearly course of instruction to members of the field staff of the Department of Forestry. The student body numbers about forty and includes men from adjacent territories as well as the Federation of Malaya. Assistance from other Government services is given on immediate problems on subjects for which there are no departmental specialists, e.g., chemistry, soils, and plant pathology. The future of the research organization and the widening of its scope are under consideration by the Government.
There is a Timber Research Laboratory at Sentul, to be rebuilt soon at Kepong in which the investigation of the mechanical properties, seasoning, and preservation of Malayan timbers is carried out in conformity with the methods in force at the Forest Products Research Laboratory, Princes Risborough, England.
Contributions to the funds of the Institute and the Timber Research Laboratory are made by the Governments of Sarawak, North Borneo, and Brunei, and work is carried out for these countries.
A series of Malayan Forest Records has been published, presenting the results of major research projects. By the beginning of the Japanese war, sixteen of these Records had been issued. A quarterly journal, The Malayan Forester is produced by officers of the Department of Forestry, it is not a Government publication although it is issued with the approval of the Government. The journal carries articles of a technical and general nature, the scope of which does not warrant their production as a Forest Record. There is also a series entitled Regional Notes, contributed by officers of North Borneo, Sarawak, Brunei, and Singapore, which gives current information on forestry topics in these territories.
United Kingdom
· Educational Publicity Ltd., in collaboration with the Timber Development Association Ltd. of Great Britain, has published the first four in a series of wall charts under the general title Wood Technology. These charts form useful visual aids to timber publicity. Chart 1 describes diagrammatically how a tree grows. Charts 2 and 3 deal with the structure of hardwoods and the structural differences between broadleaved trees and conifers. Chart 4 outlines the basic manufacture of plywood. Further wall charts in this series will be issued. In many countries the failure of "wood" to arouse a vivid reaction in the public mind can be traced in large part to inadequate publicity. Charts of this nature are a useful aid towards remedying this situation.
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
· Estonia - According to a Soviet report based on prewar statistics (1938-39), and total forest area of prewar Estonia was 931,000 hectares. Of this, 742,000 hectares or 79.8 percent belonged to the state; 1.4 percent to municipalities, 15.6 percent to peasants, and 3.2 percent to various corporations and large estates. By species, 41 percent was pine and 29.2 percent spruce; conifers, therefore, formed the largest part (70 percent) of Estonia's forests. Of the broadleaved species, birch made up 24.6 percent of the total; aspen 2.1 percent; alder 2.2 percent; and other species 0.1 percent. The total annual increment was figured at 3.3 million m³, and the fellings (including brushwood and stumps) averaged 4 million m³. The annual increment in the state forests alone was 2,150,000 m³ and the annual cuttings in 1938-39 were 2,224,700 m³, consisting of 1,181,800 m³ of timber, 1,034,500 m³ Of fuelwood and brushwood, and 8,400 m³ of stumpwood. Forest industries formed an important source of the country's revenue. There were 69 woodworking plants employing some 4,600 men and 13 pulp and paper plants with 2,300 workers in all. With the exception of one veneer and furniture factory and one cellulose plant, each of which employed more than 1,000 workers these were small enterprises employing 20 or more people.
It is evident, however, that the Estonian forests, even before the war, had been exploited in excess of their growth. German occupation set them still 'further back. It may take several decades before their productivity can be restored to normal level.
· Latvia. - Forest products have played a large part in the economy of Latvia and its two sister Baltic states, Estonia and Lithuania. Good waterways made it possible to float the timber down to seaports, and exports of timber products, mainly to Britain, were considerable. Latvia had a number of sawmills and woodworking industries, but their production was limited by the lack of raw materials. Its forest area before World War I was estimated at 1,800,000 hectares; of this the bulk, or 1,380,000 hectares, belonged to the state. The composition of the forest, by area, was as follows: pine 52.0 percent; spruce 20.3 percent; birch 18.7 percent; aspen 4.5 percent; black alder 3.4 percent; white alder 0.8 percent, and oak, ash, and basswood 0.3 percent. Nearly three-quarters of the forest was thus made up of conifers. During the 21 years that followed World War I nearly 64 percent of all the original standing timber was cut; this situation was still further aggravated during the German occupation when, according to incomplete estimates, at least 20 million m³ were felled. All this brought Latvia's forests to the brink of complete exhaustion.
Under the circumstances, the forest administration of Latvia faces a difficult problem of rehabilitating its forests and its lumber industry. It has done a great deal, but more remains to be done. The forests of the Latvian Republic are divided into two classes: (I) Municipal forests, health resorts, forests attached to schools, sanctuary, and protection forests, in these forests only thinnings and such cultural operations as tend to improve the growth are permitted. (2) Forests in which cuttings of commercial character are allowed on condition that they do not exceed in volume the annual growth. It is planned to add some 116,000 hectares to the forests of Class 1 at the expense of the commercial forests. While in some districts the forests are overcut to an extreme degree, amounting to 22 years ahead of the permissible annual cut, in some more distant districts there are many coniferous stands which are overmature. Thus there are 3.6 million m³ of pine and spruce that-should be cut immediately to prevent their determination. Some 20 percent of all the birch, 30 percent of the black alder, and 30 percent of the aspen have passed their physical maturity and ire goad only for firewood. Latvia's forests do not form massive bodies but occur in the form of "islands." It is impossible, therefore, to concentrate place. All this calls for a radical reorientation of Latvia's forest policies.
· Lithuania. - According to a Soviet report based on prewar statistics (1939) the total forest area of prewar Lithuania was 1,200,000 hectares, of which 1,040,000 hectares, or close to 86 percent, were owned by the state and 160,000 hectares by private owners. The principal species were pine (41 percent) and spruce (32 percent), which together made up 73 percent of the forests. Of the broadleaved species, birch accounted for 11 percent, aspen and other soft-wooded species 6 percent alder 8 percent, oak 1 percent ash and other hardwood species 1 percent. The total annual increment was estimated at 3.9 million m³ and the entire growing stock at 139 million m³. The annual cuttings, even before the war, grossly exceeded annual increment. The war inflicted great losses upon the forests which will affect their productivity for a long time.
Ireland
· Despite some disadvantages, particularly its susceptibility to low minimum temperatures and its difficulty of establishment owing to formation of a long tap root, Monterey pine (Pinus radiata) has many good qualities. The most important are that it is probably the greatest bulk producer and the fastest growing exotic pine; it does not need a highly fertile soil, it is a good soil-improving species; its dense shade is effective in killing weeds; it is a storm-firm and wind-resistant species; it is a prolific and early seed producer, it withstands sea spray; and, so far, it is not subject to any serious disease.
In the Irish plantations there are several strains of Monterey pine, differing in form and value. In some plots it was found that, in the very early years after establishment, Monterey pine did not grow faster than Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), European larch (Larix decidua) and Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga taxifolia) but that when vigorous growth did commence, it soon outstripped the other species. More widespread use of Monterey pine to meet the urgent timber problems of Ireland would thus appear to be well worth further investigation.
Malaya
· The destruction of many accessible areas of Malayan forest during the war has brought the problem of their rehabilitation into prominence. In most eases one or more food crops were taken off the ground, which is now covered with secondary growth, the constitution of which varies with the intensity of the cropping and the number of times the growth has been burned. Where young secondary growth has been repeatedly burned for subsequent cultivation, soil degradation is marked, and stumps and roots that would have sent up coppice shoots and suckers have been killed. The resulting delay in obtaining vegetative cover permits the introduction of wind-borne colonizers such as Imperata arundinacea, which, once present, is very difficult to eradicate. The importance, therefore, in the wet tropics of preventing the repeated burning of vegetation for temporary cultivation cannot be overemphasized. Sample plots have been formed to study plant succession in such areas, experimental planting of timber species in secondary growth has also been carried out.
United Kingdom
· The scarcity of transplants and their high cost are directing attention to natural regeneration of forest crops in northern Scotland. Serious deterrents to obtaining natural regeneration are the grazing of woodlands and damage by rabbits and deer. These must be suitably controlled before success can be expected. In one ease, that of a beech forest, a good natural regeneration has been obtained by proper cutting of the over-wood and fencing, and a substantial net profit has been obtained from the cuttings. Further studies with other species such as sycamore and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), are under way.
United States of America
· A new and comprehensive study of the brush conversion problem in California is being undertaken by the California Forest and Range Experiment Station in co-operation with other agencies. For decades, the treatment of many brush lands has been in controversy between range livestock operators and forestry operators, the former generally desiring to burn the brush with the idea of increasing available forage and the latter generally objecting to such practices because of their effect on the watershed value of these hill and mountain lands. The purpose of the studies will be to find out where and how brush can be converted to more useful vegetation without damage to soil and water, and where the conversion will pay its way in terms of stock feed produced.
· The United States Forest Service has just issued a 416-page, illustrated Woody-Plant Seed Manual that will be a valuable working tool for seed collectors, nurserymen, and conservationists generally. Based on more than 20 years of Research in handling seed for reforestation and afforestation work, it brings together material previously available only in numerous papers and articles. The manual lists 444 species useful for forest plantings, farm woodlot plantings, etc.
· The U. S. Department of Agriculture reports the development of three new chestnut varieties which produce a great quantity of large, sweet nuts and are resistant to chestnut blight. Graft trees of the new varieties, called Naking, Meiling and Kuling, are already available through tree nurseries. Developed in the Beltsville, Maryland, Research center, the new trees are the culmination of nearly 40 years of research.
· One purpose of forest management in the Allegheny hardwood forests is to provide hardwood browse as winter forage for deer. Studies show that, in typical winter concentration areas, deer and rabbits are in competition for much of the forage, and that rabbits cause far more damage than do the deer, thus depriving the latter of critical food supplies and leading to losses through starvation.
Silvicultural practices in themselves may not solve the problem of forage supplies for deer so long as the rabbits are uncontrolled, and various suggestions for rabbit control are made to supplement selection cutting practices which will leave a protection canopy and accelerate the increase in density and height growth of the low browse cover. The interaction of forestry practices for wood production and for game production is a particularly acute problem in these forests.
· In the pine region of New Jersey the forest that develops after clearing is usually pine, either short leaf (Pinus echinata) or pitch (P. rigida), even though adjoining stands may contain both hardwoods and pines. After the pure stands of pine are 15 to 20 years old, scattered oaks begin to appear and progressively assume greater and greater importance as the age of the stands increases. However, pure pine stands, undamaged by severe fires, form the most profitable type of forest. To obtain such stands, proper management practices need to include not only silviculture but prescribed burns as well. If the burns begin when the dominant pines are over 2 inches (5.1 cm.) in diameter, the establishment of pine is favored and that of oak is discouraged. Repeated light fires, at intervals of probably five years until the pine overstory is ready for harvesting, will completely kill the small hardwoods.
In addition, this practice will fully control the subordinate ground cover which tends to become dense in the absence of fire, so that prescribed burning may be more safely and surely carried out.
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
· Extensive forest planting in the prairies of the Soviet Union has forced a critical review of existing knowledge on some root-infesting fungi and their effect on the growth of trees and shrubs. That certain mycorhiza which live on the minute hair-roots are essential to the growth of trees is now established beyond any doubt. In the prairie regions however, where most of the planting is now done, these fungi are lacking in the soils and must be introduced to insure good growth of the forest plantations. This, however, is not easy. To begin with not all fungi found on the roots of trees are true mycorhiza, and not all are beneficial to growth; some of them are harmful. Yet the botanical identification of these fungi is not well worked out. For pine, larch, spruce, birch, and aspen it is fairly well established that the beneficial mycorhiza comprise species of such genera as Boletus, Amanita, Cortinarius, Lactarius, Russula, and Tricholoma, and some phases in the development of these fungi have been obtained in pure cultures. The beneficial species for oak and many other trees however, are still undetermined. The inoculation of the soil with pure culture fungi is difficult because thus far only incomplete phases of the fungi have been obtained. The only practical method of inoculation is to transfer soil, at the time of planting, from forest nurseries in which the seedling are known to be infested with beneficial fungi, although even in this ease it is possible to introduce with the soil some fungi such as Fusarium, Rossellinia, and others which cause disease among seedlings. How the mycorhiza get into the soil - whether they generate in the soil itself or are carried there by the seed of the trees (for instance, acorns) - is still unknown. Knowledge of the botanical classification, the biology, and the ecology of mycorhiza has now become of practical urgency since the success of the new plantations in the prairie soils depends to a large extent upon the presence of beneficial mycorhiza on the root tips of the trees and shrubs.
· Experiments have been in progress in Uzbekistan on the possibility of large-scale planting of eucalypts for timber production and essential oils and also for the drainage of land having an excessively high water table. Experiments in the Surchan Darjin and Hamangan areas in 1946 and 1947 gave excellent results. Within the next three years it is intended to raise 200,000 eucalypts for planting in Uzbekistan.
Indochina
· The peoples who practice shifting cultivation or rai in Indochina can be grouped into two categories: (1) those who get their entire subsistence from rai, and (2) those who use rai to supplement the ordinary diet which they get from permanent cultivation of paddy.
The latter group of cultivators are not really harmful, as rice from the paddy fields is their main food and they are not nomadic. The area of the rai which they clear is relatively small, and they do not cultivate one particular spot for more than a few years. Moreover, as the villagers do not wish to go far from their villages, they take care not to spoil the land too near it, returning to the same area about once in every 8 to 15 years. A few simple rules can easily be devised and established to prevent this kind of rai from becoming a menace.
But the problem is quite different for the backward peoples whose only means of subsistence is rai. For one thing, these peoples do not know how to make and cultivate paddy fields, and cultivation by the rai method is an ancestral tradition with them which it is very difficult to change. Besides, they have been driven from the fertile plains where they were originally established by the more advanced people who now live there; and in the land which they now own, paddy fields can be made and cultivated only with great difficulty. As they must get all their food products from rai, these peoples are obliged to clear large areas of forest. They tend to stay a long time in one spot to avoid having to clear new areas of tree growth each year. The long period of cultivation kills the roots of the trees, deprives the soil of the forest seeds which normally would regenerate it and makes it possible for grasses and weeds, particularly Imperata cylindrica and Eupatoria, to invade the area and make it relatively sterile.
When after four or five years of cultivation the rai is abandoned, there is nothing left to regenerate the forest, as the grass has covered everything. Each dry season it burns, and the fire prevents the forests from re-establishing them selves. The tribes which have abandoned a rai do not return to it, as it has become sterile, each year they penetrate deeper and deeper into the forests, which they progressively destroy.
The forests where the destruction takes place are usually situated in high valleys. This has another unfortunate effect as their destruction gives rise to torrents which carry away the soil and flood the paddy fields in the lower valleys, leaving a sediment of sand and gravel which may make them sterile too. The service which is entrusted with the task of conserving the nation's resources must therefore act quickly and firmly in order to stop this destruction.
Unfortunately this is difficult, as the food supply of whole tribes is involved. Any arbitrary rules or restrictions applied to these peoples might lead to serious food shortages, and in that ease it would be impossible to enforce them, or to ask any tribe to submit to them. Something may be done immediately by limiting the extent of the rais, but the tribes must at the same time be taught to use more permanent methods of raising the food they need.
Since 1942, the Forest Service in Indochina, especially in Laos, has devoted its attention to this particular task. It first tried to find lands in the high valley bottoms which could be turned into rice fields, but the areas capable of being used in this way were too small to provide enough food for the tribes. Then a model farm was set up with irrigated terraces for crops, and a demonstrator chosen from among the few men of these tribes who understood this method of agriculture. But this method is a long-range job, for the making of terraces requires an immense amount of work and the villagers can construct them only little by little. It seems, therefore, that for a long time to come, rai will be the main source of food supplies for many tribes, and foresters will have to accustom themselves to the idea of rice or maize being one of the principal forest products.
The rai may really be compared with a coppice with a short cycle of about 10 years which is destined to provide fuel-wood and ash for fertilizer, and finally rice. It is estimated that in Indochina two to three million people live on rai systems of agriculture and that between half a million and one million hectares are brought under cultivation each year in this way. As has already been said, the method of working the rai may permit the forest to regenerate itself, but also the forest may be rendered incapable of re-establishing itself, thus destroying the very means of existence of the people who use it. It is, therefore, not enough for the forester merely to limit the size of the areas to be cleared. He must first of all decide upon the methods by which they are to be worked, the length of the actual cultivation period, and the rotation or cycle - considerations which have an enormous influence on the future of the forests He must also make out a real management program for every forest where tribes of this sort are to be found. The result of limiting the rais is that the area of forest destruction is restricted only to certain forests. But as this destruction is final,- the tribe to which it has been allotted comes finally to the end of its resources. As its people cannot be allowed to die of hunger, new forests have to be given them, to be destroyed in their turn.
In evolving reasonable working methods, there is an immense amount of experience available, gained by tribes who have lived off rais for the last century or so. The general rules are simple:
1. Cultivation period. Cultivation must be stopped as soon as Imperata cylindrica or Eupatoria appear; in most eases this will be after about two years. If cultivation is continued beyond this period the tree roots suffer, grasses multiply, and, as soon as the rai is abandoned, they cover everything and strangle all the seedlings and coppice shoots which could regenerate the forests.2. Rotation or cycle. This must be long enough to allow the coppice to suppress the grasses and weeds which have grown up and to allow the forest soil which has been destroyed by the heat of the sun and by being trampled over to rehabilitate itself, at least in part. For a cultivation period of two years, the rotation or cycle should generally be about 10 years.
3. The maintenance of seed-bearing species. Some tribes attach great importance to keeping four or five trees per hectare as seed bearers. This practice has the great disadvantage to the cultivator, however, of reducing the yield of rice per hectare because it is next to impossible to grow anything within a circle of 50 meters around a big tree.
4. The introduction of soil-enriching species. Some very conclusive tests have been made in introducing quick-growing Leguminosae, which rapidly renovate the soil after the rai has been cultivated. The best results have been obtained with Indigofera tasmanii and Leucaena glauca. By the introduction of these species, the two-year cultivation period can be extended to five or six years, and the yield is definitely larger. The seeds must be sown at the same time as the last crop sown on the rai, and the plants should be cut back when they reach about the height of the crop,
The proper management of forest in combination with crop cultivation is only in its experimental stage, and so far only a few elementary principles have been determined. In view of the number of people who live on rais or taungyas in Southeast Asia, the improvement of such methods of cultivation must be given at least as much attention by foresters as the management of forests to produce fuelwood.
Canada
· The Department of Bands and-Forests of the province of Alberta has awarded a contract to a commercial air survey company for the aerial surveying and mapping of 180,000 square miles (466,000 km²) of unmapped provincial territory. The photographs covering 95,000 square miles (246,000 km²) of forests will also be used in the preparation of a forest inventory. This is reported to be the second largest commercial air survey contract ever granted in Canada. The photography is expected to be completed 'by the end of 1951.
United States of America
· The Southern Forest Experiment Station reports the data on forest land acreage and on standing timber volume, growth, and drain collected by the Southern Forest Survey in Mississippi in 19461948, and compares the findings with those of the first survey made 14 years earlier. Since the first survey, the standing-timber balance in the state has been swinging from pine to hardwood. Total acreage of pine types has dropped from 9.6 million acres (3,890,000 ha.) to 7.4 million (2,990,000 ha.). Hardwood types now make up 55 percent of the state's 16.5 million acres (6,678,000 ha.) of commercial forest land. Total growing stock is 7,770 million cubic feet (218 million m³®). Of this, 57 percent is hardwood and 43 percent softwood, largely pine. In the last 14 years, the rapid increase of small hardwoods has about offset the decline of the large. Softwood growing stock has declined a fifth. Sawlog growing stock totals 29,300 million board feet (133 million m³®). Nearly six-tenths of the total is hardwood. Hardwood sawlog volume dropped 20 percent between the two surveys, softwood 29 percent. Declines have been heaviest in the larger tree sizes. Two-thirds of this hardwood sawlog volume is in Grade III logs, and 62 percent of the softwood sawlog volume is in Grade III trees. Twenty-four percent of the total basal area in Mississippi forests is in merchantable trees.
United States of America
· A disease of oaks, known as "oak wilt," is now causing much concern in the United States because of the rapidity with which it has spread since 1949 in certain states, particularly in parts of Missouri, northwestern Indiana, and Illinois
The disease is caused by a fungus described in 1944 and named Chalara quercina; it is related to the fungus, Graphium ulmi, which causes the Dutch elm disease. The fungus penetrates into the cambium through wounds and spreads rapidly through the entire tree, the effects appearing in the discoloration of the leaves. The upper portion of the crown is usually affected first, but the discoloration quickly spreads downward. In a cross-section of a diseased branch, the presence of the fungus is evidenced by a brownish discoloration of the outer sapwood, in fact, it is in this region of the sapwood that the mycelium and spores of the fungus develop. No spores appear on the exterior surfaces of the bark.
It is known that the disease can be spread by natural root grafts (anastomosis) which are very common in oak stands and it has therefore been possible to control the disease to some extent by destroying all oaks within a certain radius of a small infected area. It is not clear how the disease is disseminated from one center of infection to another, since wind-borne spores do not seem to be the answer. Many other factors are also not understood so that a systematic attack on the disease is not yet possible.
All species of oak in the United States appear to be susceptible, and infected trees may die within a few weeks; since the roots of the trees are killed, all possibility of regeneration by coppice shoots is eliminated.
· The Southeastern Forest Experiment Station is now able to make quite accurate predictions of the number of fires to be expected in the different National Forest and range district units within its territory. The basis is that, with a large resident population and a relatively constant degree of use, the human risk becomes nearly a constant, particularly when applied to relatively large units. Then the number of fires depends directly on burning conditions or on the ease of ignition, both of which are measurable as a result of past research. Thus, as burning conditions change, the expected number of fires in each unit can be quite accurately predicted.
In retrospect, when the actual number of fires and the expected number are compared, it is possible to identify units in which fire prevention activities are relatively successful or unsuccessful, and thus to provide a guide to the administration in determining where fire prevention efforts must be strengthened.
· Broadcast burning of the large volume of slash resulting from logging operations in the Douglas fir region has long been an accepted practice for reducing fire hazard.
The forestry objectives in burning slash are: (1) To remove small material in which dry-weather fires spread with such speed and heat that they can seldom be controlled inside the slash area; (2) to separate and burn crossed and closely lying logs, so that accidental dry-season fires will be less intense and easier to control; (3) to cheek the growth of brush; (4) to remove excessive debris that would prevent tree seed from reaching a suitable seed bed (5) to accomplish the foregoing without scorching adjacent standing timber or causing undue heat injury to the soil and seed trees within the slash area.
A common practice has been to burn slash just before a heavy rain is expected. If the rain occurs, this practice may be desirable; but if the rain does not come, it is often difficult to confine the fire to the slash area. New experiment shows that careful advance planning for each slash area is the first requisite for carrying out the forestry objectives. This includes consideration of the following factors: topography, the relation of the slash area to uncut timber an advance determination of the weather and fuel moisture conditions; the best time of day to set fires; the size of the crew, the estimated length of time needed for the job; the equipment and communications needed.
Experience now indicates that it is best to wait until about 3 inches (7.6 cm.) of rain has fallen so that there is reasonable certainty that timbered areas will not dry out again. After a variable period, the fine slash will have dried out while the duff in the slash area and the fuels in the adjacent timbered area will still be wet. Under these circumstances, it is possible to carry out most of' the burn without danger of fire breaking away. To determine the correct conditions, a systematic examination of the slash and uncut areas is, of course, necessary so that the right conditions may be utilized. Care must be taken to set fires near the most dangerous edges first so that safety strips may be created before the main body is fired, and systematic mop-up after the burning, particularly in dry-weather conditions, is always necessary. The results of this method have been generally successful.
· Tests with DDT spray applied by airplane and helicopter for control of the spruce budworm (Cacoecia fumiferana) were recently conducted in the Douglas fir and grand fir stands in Oregon. About 4,200 acres (1,700 ha.) of infested forest were covered. Excellent control was obtained, both with 1 pound of technical grade DDT in 1 gallon of fuel oil per acre (1.1 kg. in 9.4 liters of fuel oil per ha.) and with double this amount per acre. The smaller dosage produced nearly as good results as the larger; a dosage of one-half this amount, however, gave unsatisfactory control.
The spray was applied during the short period in budworm development when the larvae are most vulnerable to insecticidal attack; i.e., when they are actively feeding on the expanding foliage.
The ability of the helicopter to operate from an improvised landing area close to the plots compensated for its limited carrying capacity in comparison with the airplane.
· Additional light on the controversial question of the effect on the desirable wildlife species of spraying with DDT for pest control has been provided by recent tests in the United States Bull 'a Island, South Carolina, which is made up of woodland and marsh, was sprayed by airplane at the rate of 3 pounds of DDT per. acre (3.4 kg. per ha.). The highest rate of DDT deposit at ground level in the forest was .91- pound per acre (1.1 kg. per ha.), but the average was only .14 pound per acre (0.16 kg. per ha.) because of the interception of the spray by tree crowns. On the treated areas ticks were reduced by 85 percent whereas on untreated areas-their numbers continued to increase. The bird population increased by 10 percent in the treated forest areas and by 19 percent in untreated areas' The treatment had no apparent effect on nesting birds. No reaction to DDT was observed on mammals. Some of the amphibians were killed by the treatment.
A test conducted to determine the critical dosage level and the conditions of application which create definite hazards to wildlife was conducted at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center with DDT applied at the rate of 5 pounds per acre on an area which because of a recent burn, is covered with scrub and sapling growth. In the cheek areas that were laid out and studied' three species of birds were reduced by 80 percent, one by 35 percent, and one was unaffected. The total decrease for the five species was 65 percent. It is believed that this reduction was due to feeding on: poisoned insects rather than to a general exodus of birds from the sprayed area.
Finland
· Finnish forestry circles have been paying attention to the feet that stumps left in the forests are, 4 inches (10.2 cm.) too high. At this height they not only cause inconvenience in hauling; they also represent a very great loss of butt timber of the best quality.
By cutting the stumps 4 inches shorter, a significant quantity of timber that is now abandoned to decay in the forests could be recovered for utilization. The additional amounts that could be recovered annually by this means have been estimated as follows: in sawtimber forests, about 3.3 million cubic feet (93,500 m³ ®); in pulpwood and pitprop forests, about 200,000 m³, piled measure; and in firewood forests, where usually the biggest stumps are left, about 250,000 m³, piled measure. In terms of prevailing stumpage prices, the total annual saving would correspond to about 105 million markkas, or more than US$ 450,000.
The Finnish forest owners have been advised, in their own interest, to improve the discipline in forest works and to eliminate the present practice of leaving too high stumps.
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
· A type of logging is being advocated in the U.S.S.R. which resembles an assembly line process, the different stages of work dovetailing into one another in a continuous succession. This method uses a logging unit of 55 to 60 men, made up of 3 independent gangs of 18 men each. Each gang includes timber cutters and skidders, and, in addition, the unit as a whole has a marker and grader, a sawfiler and repair workers, and a general foreman. Each gang is responsible for felling and skidding to the road or railside timber from a strip of predetermined extent and position. Before logging begins, a basic rate of work is fixed for each strip in accordance with the character of the timber, the density of the stand, the presence or absence of underbrush etc. As wages are calculated by differential tariffs on the basis of the actual timber cut and delivered by the team as a whole, each member has an interest in both high individual output and in the teamwork necessary to secure continuity of operations. The method has raised productivity by 20 to 40 percent in the Eastern Urals.
· A new truck, powered with a wood gas generator, was put in operation in 1949 in some Soviet forests for transporting loge. What distinguishes it from similar gas generators is that instead of short wood lengths, specially sawed and dried, it uses ordinary, fuelwood (mostly birch and aspen 0.5 m. long and 60 x 80 mm. in cross-section) as well as branchwood and dried-out wood of dead trees. In its initial teat the truck covered 1,200 kilometers and hauled out 252 m³ of logs. It carries a load of about 8 m³ and, when fully loaded, develops a speed of 16 to 16 kilometers per hour. Empty, it can travel at a speed of about 21 kilometers per hour. The tests further showed that the long billets of firewood at a moisture content of about 21 percent burn freely and that the gas generator works easily and does not contain tar substances; it also requires less wood. The use of long billets of ordinary fuelwood for generating the gas greatly simplifies the fuel problem and lessens fuel costs.
United States of America
· Final statistics on the amount of wood given preservative treatment in the United States during 1948 have been released by the American Wood-Preservers' Association. The record shows the following approximate production of treated ties, piles, and poles: crossties - over 41,000,000 pieces; switch ties - 140,000,000 board feet (330,000 m³ (s)); piles - 16,000,000 linear feet (4,880,000 meters); poles - 5,500,000 pieces.
As compared with 1947, the amount of lumber and other wood products given fire-retardant treatment in 1948 increased by more than 90 percent, from 5,024 893 board feet (11,860 m³ (s)) in 1947 to 9,579,787 board feet (22,610 m³ (s)) in 1948. Stimulated by the extensive use of fire-retardant wood for military structures in World War II, civilian uses have increased rapidly.
Yugoslavia
· Production of charcoal or "carbonization of wood" was practiced for a long time in Yugoslavia by slow burning of wood with little access of air. The Institute of Technology at the University of Zagreb has conducted experiments with speeding up the process by burning the wood at a more rapid rate and learning the effect of such fast burning upon the quality of the charcoal. The following results were recorded:
1) The time necessary for burning by the rapid method is shortened by one-third for a charcoal pile of 20 m³ capacity.2) The carbonization of the wood by the speeded-up method gives 2 percent less charcoal.
3) The chemical qualities from the standpoint of ash content, quantity of volatile oils, and the coke residue are of lower quality than when the pile is burned by the old method.
4) The calorific value of the rapidly burned charcoal is 4 percent lower than that of the usual method.
5) The compression strength of the rapidly burned charcoal, because of numerous radial cracks due to the rapid drying in the charcoal pile, is 16 percent lower than that of the charcoal burned by the ordinary method. This makes it unsuitable for use in metallurgy. These results apply only to charcoal piles of 20 m³. In larger piles (about 130 m³) the time of completing the carbonization process may be shortened by two-thirds of the time required by the ordinary method.
Canada
A recent Canadian magazine gives additional specific information on the question: "In an integration of forest industries, what is the dividing line in the allocation of softwood as saw logs and pulpwood material?" In the forests of Manitoba, the principal species are white and black spruce. (Picea glauca and P. mariana). In general, the former is best suited for lumber or boxwood and the latter for newsprint; but often it is desirable to cut white spruce to a lower diameter than could economically be used as saw logs, and the question arises as to what trees or portions of trees should go into pulpwood.
Decision depends on consideration of many variables, including composition of stand, utilization, marketability and prices, stumpage value when appraised for different products, accessibility, and exploitation facilities. Thus each individual stand or area must be judged on its own merits. Detailed analyses indicate that in many eases, increased utilization of material formerly left in the woods is feasible on an economic basis.
As to spruce in Manitoba generally, trees 9 inches (23 cm.) and over in diameter will give a greater return in stumpage if made into lumber than if made into pulpwood, while the opposite is true of trees under 9 inches.
Malaya
· Descriptions of important Malayan timbers have been published in the journal, The Malayan Forester, during 19481949. The information given is that required by commercial users of the timbers and is classified under the following heads: general properties, defects, working qualities, seasoning properties, natural durability and amenability to preservative treatment, mechanical properties (including safe working stresses)' importance and uses, confusion with other species, and supplies. To date, keruing (Dipterocarpus spp.) has been described in Vol. XI, No. 4; red meranti (Shorea spp.) in Vol. XII, No. 2; and white meranti and yellow meranti (both Shorea spp.) in Vol. XII, No. 3. A table of: allowable working stresses for all common Malayan timbers was included in the first of these numbers.
United Kingdom
· A plant is being installed at Aberdeen,. Scotland, to utilize softwood in the round coming from an area of 60 miles (100 km.) radius. Small-sized material from 1 ¼ inches (3.2 cm.) to 8: inches (20 cm.) in diameter, resulting from thinnings, and lop and top from fellings will be taken, and two defibrators will convert it into a type of pulp to be used as raw material for the manufacture of cardboard. Marketing of such small timber has been one of the most difficult problems of the forest owners, and it has frequently had to be left to rot or has been burnt. The leek of markets has thus been a deterrent to conducting proper cultural operations. The project will start on a scale of about 4,000 tons per annum and, if successful, the output may be doubled. The plant is expected to be in operation by the middle of 1950.
United States of America
· A new and cheaper wallboard that may be used for a wide variety of purposes and that is said to be equal to any wallboard-now available has been developed at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. By converting a substance that is already in the wood into a; glue: which binds sawdust into a smooth grainless panel, there is no need to add plastic glues. It is believed that a way has been found to reactivate lignin so that under heat it becomes a plastic cement.
A small amount-of a relatively cheap chemical is mixed with the wood waste this chemical puts the lignin to work. The sawdust and chemical are mixed, put into molds, and electrically heated under pressure. The whole process takes about twelve minutes, and the board can be formed into almost any shape. Boards made in the experimental plant at the Institute are easy to handle, take paint just as well as natural woods, and are superior to natural woods in resistance to rot, moisture, and termites. Sawmills which now burn sawdust can turn it into profit. It is estimated that a plant costing $400,000 can produce $1,000,000 worth of wallboard in a year, handling about 25 short tons (23 metric tons) of wood waste a day.
Australia
· It is estimated that Australian consumption of newsprint in 1950 will be about 160,000 tons. Of this amount, 30,000 tons will come from Tasmania, and orders have been placed so far for 65,000 tons from the United Kingdom, 25,000 tons from Scandinavia, and 5,000 tons from Canada. This leaves 35,000 tons to be procured elsewhere. Poland is offering newsprint in Australia at £35 per ton, but HO far no orders have been placed with Polish firms.
British Guiana
· It is reported that a new timber company, formed largely with United States backing, intends to establish a pilot sawmill and begin logging operations in an area which contains good stands of hardwoods. A fairly large development is planned.
Canada
· In his annual report for 1949, the President of the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association stated that the past five-year record of development was an extraordinary one. In 1944 the Canadian pulp and paper industry produced $370 million worth of goods. The year 1949 yielded well over $800 million in total production. Tonnage of all products of the industry rose from about 5 ½ million tons to more than 8 million tons in the five years. The increased activity of the industry was reflected in a corresponding rise in its contribution to other Canadian activities such as transportation, chemicals, hydro-electric power, food and fodder, and fuel, and in taxes paid to the local, provincial, and federal governments.
Chile
· In 1948, Chile manufactured 8,000 m³ of plywood, compared with 12,000 m³ in 1947, when production was approximately at capacity. The outlook for full operations in 1949 was reported to be promising. In the 5-month period, January-May 1949, Chile exported 2,400 m³ of plywood, principally 3-ply stock in standard-size panels, bonded with casein glue. Argentina, traditionally the largest buyer of Chilean plywood, purchased 1,700 m³, and shipments to the United Kingdom, normally not a market for Chilean plywood, amounted-to 680 m³ The remainder of Chilean plywood exports went to Bolivia and Peru.
India
· The following information is available concerning the output of government forests in provinces and major states in India. Output from private and smaller state forests is believed to be approximately 25 percent of the figures shown, but no reliable statistics are available. The original data on which the table is based gave volumes with bark and piled volumes of fuelwood, and these figures had to be converted to solid volume without bark.
It is estimated that Pakistan now has about 15 percent of the total forest production of undivided India. As a very large proportion of this production was of coniferous woods, the small production of domestic coniferous woods available to India is further reduced.
Roundwood output of India's state forests 1
|
Item |
1945/46 |
1946/47 |
1947/48 |
|
|
1000 m³ solid volume without bark | ||
|
Total Output |
9,550 |
9,300 |
8,230 |
|
Fuelwood 2 |
6,350 |
6,360 |
5,860 |
|
Logs |
2,630 |
2,380 |
1,720 |
|
Poles |
570 |
560 |
650 |
1 Data for 1945/46 and 1946/47 include production of all forests in the joint Punjab, whereas the figures for 1947/48 do not. Throughout, the figures include data for the whole Eastern States Agency, Data for 1947/48 include estimates for the provinces of Assam Bihar and the Eastern States Agency. In 1946/47 total state forest output in the joint Punjab was approximately 850,000 m³ ®; in 1947/48 production in East Punjab was approximately 520,000 m³ ®,2 The data for Bombay, Hyderabad, Mysore, and Coorg include production of poles.
Malaya
· An interesting development during 1949 has been the very marked increase in the export of graded timber from Malaya. During the first half of 1949, exports of sawn timber amounted to 5,981 (of 50 cubic feet), compared with total of 4,363 tons for the whole of 1948 When it is stated that the largest figure for any prewar years was a little. Over 2,000 tons, the importance of the increase can be appreciated. The United Kingdom is the principal market, but substantial quantities are also sent to Australia and South Africa.
Ever since the first trial shipments to the United Kingdom were made in 1931 the export trade in Malayan hardwoods has been constantly subject to setbacks. Now; however, progress is being made and the long-term prospects are good though all difficulties have by no means been overcome.
A flourishing local market serves Singapore, a city of well over half a million inhabitants, and several other towns with populations exceeding one hundred thousand; and outside the large towns the requirements of the well-known tin and rubber industries are considerable. Exports of ungraded "run of the mill" timber to other eastern markets, e.g. China, Red Sea ports, India, are large, amounting in 1948 to over-30,000 tons out of a total production of 250,000 tons of sawn timber. The local and eastern markets are not exacting; timber is scant sawn, seasoning is not usual, and little attention is paid to minor defects and blemishes. As a result, interest of local sawmillers in the production of timber for' high-class markets has hitherto been no more than lukewarm, the extra profit for the trouble involved being negligible-. Since the war, however there has been a change of outlook; milling capacity has greatly increased, competition is keener and the industry generally is looking for new markets. Any factors tending to increase local prices will retard development of the export trade, but if the price is favorable, and not upset by higher ocean freight rates (a very heavy item in shipments to the United Kingdom) there is scope for a large expansion. The sawmillers are enterprising, and there is sufficient forest to meet a greatly increased demand without departing from the principle of a sustained yield.
New Zealand
· A New Zealand company has ordered £500,000 (about $1,500,000) worth of equipment for its projected kraft pulp mill near Kinleith. The mill, the first of its kind in New Zealand, is expected to start production at the end of 1951. The plant is being supplied by the United Kingdom, Australia, Sweden; and Finland. The mill and auxiliary operations will cost £2,000,000 (approx. $6,000,000). The company will supply at least 12,500 long tons (12,700 metric tons) of pulp yearly to an Australian consumer for twenty years.
Panama
· A new forest-products company employing modern United States machinery technical skill, and scientific control, will tap Panama's rich tropical forests to manufacture a variety of wood products. Initial operations will be confined to the manufacture of kiln-dried lumber (chiefly mahogany and maria), doors, millwork flooring, veneers, and plywood. The company's equipment includes a sawmill capable of producing 15,000 board feet (35 m³ (s)) of lumber daily, a dry kiln, with a capacity of 50,000 board feet (118 m³ (s)), and a veneer and plywood mill with a daily capacity of 100 000 square feet of 1/10-inch. veneer (9 300 m² of 0.25 cm. veneer) or 25,000 square feet of ¼ inch plywood (2,300 m² of 0.64 cm. plywood).
Trinidad
· In order to reduce reliance on imported lumber, efforts are being made-to stimulate interest in the increased use of Trinidad's timber resources. These include plans for requesting funds for further development of the industry from international or other investment sources If sufficient capital became available, the lumber industry could eventually become of real importance in the territory.
Policy, Legislation, and Administration
· On 18 January 1950 the former Dominion Forest Service was established as the Forestry Branch of the newly created Department of Resources and Development of the Federal Government Mr. D. A. Macdonald, who occupied the post Dominion Forester, has been appointed Director of the Forestry Branch.
· On 30 November 1949 the House of Commons approved the Canadian Forestry Act, which provides the necessary legal authority for activities of the Federal Government relating to forestry.
The forests and all other natural resources lying within the boundaries of the ten provinces of Canada are controlled by the provincial governments; only the resources of the northern territories and certain special areas, such as the national parks, are administered by the federal authorities. The Federal Government has an important interest in forests and forest industries, however because of the revenue derived from taxation and also the very important part that forest products play in Canada's exports. The new Act authorizes an extension of federal assistance to forestry through the conduct of research in forestry and forest products and by means of agreements with any province for assistance in protection, improved utilization, and management of forest resources. Establishment of national forest or forest experimental areas on public lands held by the Federal Government is authorized, and provision is: made for the establishment of suitable regulations for their management.
It is believed that the new Act, while in no way infringing on the established rights of the provinces to manage their own forests, will enable the federal authorities to offer increased co-operation and assistance and that it will mark an important step forward in forest conservation.
· In December 1949 the monthly journal of the Quebec Forestry Association, Forêt et Conservation, published the text of a paper read at the recent Congress of the Association of Forest Engineers of the Province of Quebec.
In this paper the author first points out the importance of the forestry industry in Quebec. It has assumed considerable proportions as a result of the development of the paper industry: 90 percent of the territory of the Province is set aside as forest reserves; 33,000 lumberjacks work in the forests, 25,000 workers are employed in wood-using factories at annual wages totaling $125,000,000. Forty-eight factories (including 31 pulp and paper mills, 7 pulp mills, and 10 paper factories) have an annual output valued at $350,000,000. Cities and villages have been born whose existence very often depends entirely upon this industry.
Speaking of the role played by the forest engineer, the author stresses the need to take stock of results thus far achieved and future prospects. He formulates the local forestry problem in the following terms: "Do we, in 1949, have a sufficient number of forest' under exploitation to continue to furnish supplies to 48 pulp and paper mills, 4 additional mills in New Brunswick and several others in Ontario and in the United States, or must we soon reduce our cut by from 50 percent to 75 percent, with the resultant closing of a proportional number of factories?"
In attempting to answer this question he estimates that during the past fifty years over half of the forested land has been devastated by fire, insects, or wind fall. As far back as 1929, he recalls, he had warned that the Province was approaching the "moment of the disappearance of pulpwood in accessible and economically exploitable forests, and that during the years 1950 to 1960, we would see the exhaustion of these forests and probably the closing down of many of these pulp and paper mills." In 1937 the Government, conscious of this danger prohibited the construction of new pulp and paper mills. However, production statistics show that, although not a single additional pulp or paper mill has been constructed since that time, the annual pulpwood cut has jumped from four million cords to seven million as a result of the increased speed of paper-making machinery. Clear-cutting of forests has continued, stockpiles have disappeared, increasing quantities of wood are being exported to other provinces and to the United States, while in 1949 plantations throughout the Province covered the equivalent of only 750 acres; after fifty years, these plantations will produce about six thousand cords of wood, or enough to supply a large mill for twelve days.
The author believes the main reason for this catastrophe, which he considers imminent, is the Law of 2 October 1868, which, because of the development of the pulp industry, saddled the Crown lands with a heavy burden by underwriting a mortgage amounting to the formidable figure of a thousand million dollars. This has made it difficult for the Government to take adequate measures to insure the perpetuity of the forests and guarantee the reimbursement of this capital.
Germany
· In the Soviet Occupation Zone in Germany, ownership of large estates has been abolished. Estates in excess of 100 hectares - (including land and forest) have been confiscated. As a result of the agrarian reform, some 827,000 hectares (29 percent of forest land area in the Zone) have been turned into a "land fund"; of this, 581,000 hectares have been turned over to communities and to "new" peasants in parcels of 1-2 hectares per farm. This has radically changed the forest ownership picture in Eastern Germany. The area of state forests has risen from the former 33.6 percent to 50 percent; and if municipal and community forests are considered, the area of publicly owned forests would amount to 70 percent.
All forests, irrespective of ownership are now under a single central administration. In 1949 a rearrangement of the boundaries of the individual forest units was begun. In the past these boundaries were determined by ownership, and, as a result, the forest areas presented a patch-work of state forests intermingled with private and other forests of diversified ownership. This required separate management's and large administrative staffs, and precluded correlation in forest management. Under the new arrangement all forests within a region are organized into one forest. Small forest land owners, especially the new peasants, band together voluntarily into forest co-operatives for joint forest management. This movement is spreading rapidly as it insures orderly handling of their forest properties and prevents their devastation.
The forestry profession is now being filled from the ranks of experienced forest workers who, after taking one or two years of theoretical training in special forest schools, are placed in positions of high administrative responsibility. During 1946-48 some 600 workers graduated from such schools. Courses in forestry are again being given in the Eberswalde and Tharandt Forest Academies. Plans have been prepared for reforesting, in the course of the next five years, all bare land suitable for forest growth. In 1948 some 23,000 hectares had already been reforested; in 1949, 40,000 hectares were to be planted and in 1950, 60,000 hectares. To compensate for the overcutting of the past, the annual cut has been lowered from year to year. Thus the volume of timber cut in 1949 was only 60 percent of that cut in 1948.
United Kingdom
· According to an article in The Empire Forestry Review, the comparatively long-term problems in connection with the new forests planted to afforest a large portion of the area of the United Kingdom were reviewed at the September 1949 meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.
The article states: "There is one issue, however, that has hitherto been badly neglected. It is that of quality versus quantity... there is little doubt that a plantation which makes a good, vigorous start, and particularly one which quickly closes canopy, is much the most likely to continue to grow well. But rapid growth means wide growth rings, light wood, and very usually coarse growth, large knots, and timber of uneven and often poor quality, particularly if the rapid growth is used as justification for wide spacing in youth without pruning operations.
"This problem is easy to state, less so to answer.... It must, of course, always be kept in mind what we are growing the timber for. In fact, is quality as important as quantify? Are we not growing against a possible emergency need involving mainly short-term uses where serviceability is all that is wanted, indicating as the objective maximum quantity of supplies of a quality just good enough for the purpose in mind. What cannot we manage with if we are pushed? But this argument would ignore the implications of the second part of our primary objective. We have not only to raise, but also to hold, an adequate reserve. Holding a stock of growing timber unavoidably involves the production of a large volume annually from thinnings and ultimately mature timber which will go towards meeting current requirements both for timber as such and as raw material for industry. Here, quality becomes much more important, particularly if the home-grown materiel had to compete on even or (as now) unfavorable terms with imported material..."
United States of America
· An experienced author, writing in a recent U.S. trade journal describes the establishment of pulp and paper mills in the southern states during the past decade By opening a market for the small-sized trees, and thus making thinning and other improvement works a profitable proposition, it was expected that this development would encourage private forestry on scientific lines. But unfortunately this expectation has not materialized. In the author's opinion the main stumbling block has been the pattern of land ownership.
Private owners of medium and large-sized forest tracts might be expected to have some interest in the improvement of their forests, but they are very few in number. According to an estimate of the U.S. Forest Service, wood lots of 5,000 acres (2,000 ha.) and less form nearly 76 percent of the total forest area under private ownership in the United States. There are about 4,200,000 landowners in this category, controlling 261 million acres (106 million ha.), or an average of 62 acres (25 ha.) each. The following remarks apply mainly to this category of private ownership, which controls the bulk of forest land.
State and federal funds are at present being spent at an increasing rate on extension forestry programs, mainly with a view to educating this large number of private owners in the art of better management of forests, but the result achieved is not at all commensurate with the expenditure involved. For example in one state, in spite of the high price of all categories of forest products, the landowners cannot be persuaded to attempt even rudimentary forest management as they are preoccupied with other kinds of crops which give them about 95 percent of their annual income.
Two other examples from another state illustrate the effect that the nature of the holding has on proper management of private forests. In one ease, where small woodlots are owned by a population largely urban, there has been systematic propaganda from authoritative bodies for better management of forests for the last twenty years or so. The market is good, the extension services provide technical personnel, taxation is low, and the expenses of fire protection are paid from the general funds. In spite of the facilities, little or no progress has been possible, as the wood lots are far too small to permit successful protection and the income from the forests is not large enough to interest the owners in better management. In the other ease' the tracts under individual ownership are large, ranging from 5,000 to 50,000 acres (2,000 to 20,000 ha.) in size, and the owners are largely dependent on the income from forests. As soon as market conditions become favorable, these owners became conscious of the benefits from scientific forestry practices and achieved good results, even though they were not so fortunate in respect of outside help, either technical or financial.
The solution proposed is to develop a plan of co-operative management which would encourage small landowners to participate. There is bargaining strength in unity, and economies can be effected through large-scale operations under efficient management. Co-operative management projects would foster permanent industries and eliminate much of the waste, both in the forests and the mill.
The author believes that this approach would be likely to succeed because Americans like organization and joint action. In fact, it has already been tried with success in the northeastern and Great Lakes states of the United States.
· The International Poplar Commission which met at the Palais des Nations Geneva, 13-14 October 1949, concluded its session with a field study in the Lower Valais and the Canton de Vaud, at the invitation of the Federal Forestry Department, Berne.
At this session, experts from Belgium, France, Italy, Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, under the Chairmanship of Mr. Philibert Guinier (France) examined the results of the previous session held in Belgium and Holland in April 1949, and drafted reports on the nomenclature and identification of the black poplars grown in Europe, the utilization of poplar wood in industry (mechanical wood pulp, matches, plywoods, etc.), and poplar diseases and insect pests.
· The third Convention of the Pine Lumber Producers Association of Mexico was held in Acapulco, Mexico, 8-10 December 1949. The Convention was inaugurated by the Governor of the State of Guerrero and attended by seventy-five delegates representing government departments and private enterprises.
Papers were presented and discussions took place on the following subjects: (1) standardization of dimensions of sawn lumber; (2) utilization of timber from logging waste, (3) rational utilization of forests, (4) erosion and soil conservation (5) chemical utilization of wood waste; (6) utilization of waste for the manufacture of wood flour; (7) methods for determination of moisture content in wood, (8) forest protection and forest credit; (9) cutting practices and silvicultural methods in Mexican forests; (10) railroad tie supplies for the national railroads, (11) the drying of lumber: (12) reforestation in the State of Durango.
Resolutions were adopted for the establishment of a Research Laboratory for Forest Products and for awarding scholarships to forestry students.
The next convention will be held at Chihuahua in October 1950.
· The annual meeting of the Canadian Society of Forest Engineers was held in Toronto 24-26 October 1949. The meeting was organized into six groups: 1) forest management; 2) forest entomology; 3) wood utilization; 4) forest fires; 5) surveys; and 6) wildlife.
· During the Third World Forestry Congress the Standing Committee of the International Union of Forest Research Organization held several meetings, presided over by Professor Burger, President of the Union, and attended by Messrs. Pavari (Italy), Oudin (France), Guillebaud (United Kingdom), Van Vloten (Netherlands), Lönnroth (Finland), Fromer (Poland), Etter and Fontaine (Secretariat). FAO was represented by M. Leloup, Director of the Forestry and Forest Products Division, and D. R. Cameron, Chief of FAO's European Forestry Working Group.
The Committee examined its financial status, the steps to be taken to increase membership, the practical working of the scheme whereby the Secretariat is provided by the FAO Geneva Office, and the setting up of research sections. In connection with the last point, the tasks of the research sections were defined and Chairmen nominated. Upon the invitation of Professor Pavari, the Standing Committee decided to hold its next meeting at Florence in September 1950. Chairmen of the research sections will be invited to attend this meeting.
A joint FAO/IUFRO Bibliography Committee also convened and held three meetings. This Committee is composed of Messrs. Harrison (FAO), Ford Robertson (United Kingdom), Saari (Finland), Oudin (France), and Fontaine (FAO). Following the election of Mr. Harrison as Chairman, the Committee proceeded to a general examination of the new "Oxford" bibliography classification drawn up by the Commonwealth Forestry Bureau in England. The Committee also discussed the publication of a bibliography by the Union, the situation with respect to abstracts, and the value of giving summaries of scientific articles in several languages.
Since the Helsinki meetings, the work of the International Union has been concerned mainly with the membership campaign, the effective constitution of research sections, and the determination of the problems to be dealt with by these sections.
· The following meetings in which FAO is concerned are scheduled for 1950:
ECE Timber Committee, Geneva, 3 April. Forest and Soil Conservation meeting, Nicosia, Cyprus, 15-25 April.International Poplar Commission, Geneva, 18-21 April.
Technical meeting on timber grading, Dalat, Viet Nam, 3-8 April.
Mediterranean Subcommission, 2nd meeting, Algiers, 8-13 May.
FAO/IUFRO Bibliography meeting, The Hague, June.
Land Utilization in Tropical Regions, Nuwara Eliya, Ceylon, 7-19 August.
European Forestry and Forest Products Commission, 3rd session, Geneva, August.
Asia and Far East Forestry and Forest Products Commission, 1st session, Bangkok, October.
Latin-American Forestry and Forest Products Commission, 3rd session, Santiago, Chile, December.
