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News of the world


Bolivia
Cambodia
Canada
Chile
Colombia
Czechoslovakia
Dominican Republic
Germany
Hong Kong
Iran
Italy
Laos
Liberia
Netherlands
Poland
Sudan
United Kingdom
United States of America

Bolivia

· Bolivia has an area of 110 million hectares and lies between the 10th and 23rd south parallels; it is therefor entirely within the tropical zone. Nevertheless, the Andean mountain range that covers one-third of the territory greatly modifies the climate and also the vegetation of the forests which occupy 41 percent of the area of the country.

According to an FAO officer who has recently completed a technical assistance assignment in the country, Bolivia can be divided from the forestry standpoint into two completely distinct regions which can themselves be subdivided.

BRAZIL: Inventorying the forest resource has formed a basic task of the FAO forestry mission in the Amazon Valley From an interpretation of aerial photographs, several areas were selected that appeared promising for timber extraction and where ground survey should be carried out. These survey and the resultant maps have now been completed for an area of 2 million hectares to the south of the Amazon river, between the Tapajos and Xinger rivers. The photograph shows an inventory crew encampment during the field work, which is now being extended to two other areas.

The original forestry mission has grown into an FAO-wide mission and UNESCO experts are also participating paling.

BRAZIL

Photograph R Lemos Froes

1. Andean mountain range

a) Altiplano. This is a bare but fairly populated high plateau spread out at altitudes of from 3,500 to 4,600 meters. The climate is harsh, with an annual mean temperature from 7 to 9 degrees with many frosty days. Rainfall is unevenly distributed and from 700 to 800 millimeters fall during 6 months. Day and night temperatures vary considerably. The air is very bright and dry. The very open climax forest has almost completely disappeared as a result of overfilling and overgrazing. It consists mainly of yareta (Laretia compacta), keñua (Polylepis sp.), and kishuara (Buddleia sp.) that provide excellent firewood.

b) Inter-Andean zone. This lies between 2,000 and 3,500 meters. It consists of valleys running in various directions separated by plateaus and mountain chains of varying heights. The climate is semi-arid, the mean temperature is from 18 to 18 degrees; frosts are infrequent and slight; the rainfall is from 500 to 700 millimeters; the winter is absolutely dry. The further south one goes, the drier the climate becomes and the more numerous the days of frost. The vegetation is characteristic, homogeneous and often thorny. It includes, for example, Schinus molle, Carica lanceolata, Acacia cavenia and A. visco, Prosopis alba P. nigra and P. ferox. etc. A willow (Salix humboldtiana), the wood of which is often used, grows alongside the streams. Probably cedro (Cedrela sp.) and walnut (Juglans sp). which have now disappeared, also grew formerly in the more humid parts of this zone.

c) The humid eastern slopes of the Andes. In the east the Andes form a mountain barrier that moisture-laden clouds cannot easily cross. The result is a heavy condensation that leads to downpours of over 2 meters. The atmosphere is very humid with frequent fogs. The vegetation changes rapidly from the preceding type to that of a humid climate; at an altitude of from 2 to 3,000 meters it consists of a number of limited species in which pino (Podocarpus sp.) predominates; as one descends the mountain forest gradually merges into rain forest. The cedrela appears first and is followed by walnut, alder (Alnus jurullensis), laurel (Ocotea sp.), nectandra (Ocotea sp.), etc. Several logging enterprises concentrate on cutting mainly Podocarpus and Cedrela.

2. Eastern plain

a) Amazonian hylea. The climate is essentially tropical with uniformly distributed rainfall. This region is covered with forests where very little exploitation is done owing to lack of access routes. The trees include mahogany (Swietenia sp.) and cedrela as well as the brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa) and rubber tree (Hevea sp.). But the soil is poor and the forest contains relatively few valuable species.

b) The pampas of the Trinidad region are of no interest from the forestry standpoint.

c) The Santa Cruz region has intermediary type forests between the rain and the deciduous forests. At Santa Cruz itself the mean temperature is 23 degrees with a rainfall of 1.30 meters. But at the foot of the Andes, it may reach 2.50 meters. It is in the latter zone where the soil '9 often fertile that the richest forests of Bolivia are found. They contain merchantable species such as mahogany, cedrela Amarillo (Aspidosperma spp.), cuchi (Astronium sp.), curupau (Piptadenia sp.), trompillo (Guarea sp.), tarara (Platymiscium sp.), ochoo (Hura crepitans), gabum (Virola sp.), sauco (Zanthoxylum sp.). The mahogany trees are sometimes Ho far apart there are only three per hectare, with a workable timber volume of 17 cubic meters. From this region comes most of the timber logged in Bolivia.

d) The Chaco carries a not very homogeneous deciduous forest where one finds either fairly dense stands with trees from 15 to 20 meters tall, low thorny vegetation, or palmgroves. The rainfall is approximately 1 meter. The climate is very hot in summer and relatively cold in winter. The last great world reserve of quebracho, which has never been exploited in Bolivia except for making railway sleepers (crossties), is located in these parts. Other species are roble (Amburana sp.), mesquite, etc. There is a plan to establish a tannin plant here.

Cambodia

· A letter from the Chief of the Forest Service says that, since the signing of the Geneva pacts, the re-establishment of internal security, particularly in the forest regions, has made it possible to resume forest management work.

The-forested area is currently estimated at approximately 10 million hectares, including 300,000 hectares of dense forest, 500,000 hectares of open forest, 90,000 hectares of flooded forest and 100,000 hectares of poor savanna and scrub: 390,000 hectares of forests have so far been classified, distributed fairly uniformly throughout the country. All forests are State property.

While field work was almost impossible for several years owing to the state of insecurity, there has now been considerable resumption of activity, which is bound to increase during the coming years. A first task was to assess the damage done, both as regards the forests themselves and all the forest works (roads, tracks, bridges, forest rest-houses). There had been a recrudescence of forest clearing, especially in dense forests.

The resettlement of villagers from the disturbed areas has also encouraged to some extent the opening of new cultivation areas, at the expense of the forest. Unfortunately such expansion of cultivation has not always taken place on land suited for crop growing.

For security reasons, stands bordering many roads were also cut back as far as 50 meters on either side. Finally, owing to the lack of fire control work, several million hectares of open forest have been ravaged by running fires during the dry season (particularly in January and February). Such fires have burned openings in the stands, many of them thinly stocked, which are thus left sparsely wooded and afford little protection for the soil. The greatest damage occurs within the perimeters where the open forest is clear cut. Almost all fires are caused by man, mainly when hunting. In fact, the burning over of vast areas of wooded savanna during the dry season leads to a rapid growth of many grasses of which wildlife is very fond. In inland forest areas, where farming is primitive and the diet of the inhabitants of the forest villages very ill-balanced, especially in regard to protein foods for a large part of the year, game meat is a valuable diet supplement.

It cannot be expected that a situation that has rapidly deteriorated over the past 4 or 5 years and virtually wiped out the achievements of 50 years of forestry work, can be corrected for many years.

CAMEROONS: A correspondent has sent the above series of photograph to illustrate a very simple method of making containers for the transfer of tree seedlings.

Photograph: J. Guillard

The first efforts in 1955 were mainly concerned with the repair of a big network of forest roads and tracks (2,900 kilometers) to make possible the effective inspection of the forests. Plantations after cleaning and improvement plantings with valuable species (various Dipterocarpus, Hopea odorata, Tectona grandis), have been maintained as in the past. Many nurseries have been established throughout the country, and finally, the Forest Service has made successful attempts to reforest areas cleared during the period of unrest. These plantations are associated for two or three years with food crops (soya and maize for example), which considerably reduces the cost of planting work and of subsequent weeding and maintenance.

The resumption of full-scale logging and extraction makes it possible to ensure the regular supply of timber and forest products to the domestic market. Moreover, there are considerable stocks of logs at felling sites ready for delivery. The usual export markets (especially the Saigon-Cholon market) have however been more or less closed by the new economic and political structures of Cambodia and Viet-Nam. The cessation of hostilities also led to the disappearance of an important market in the form of armed forces procurement. Consequently, new markets within the limits of a restored export industry will have to be sought for the future.

Cambodia has great timber resources that would enable the volume of exports to be considerably increased without encroaching on the future growth of its forests. Large squared logs (various Dipterocarpus, Hopea odorata, Shorea, Anisoptera, Lagerstroemia Sindora, Tarrietia), railway sleepers (crossties), poles for electric cables, timber for undercarriages, etc., could be exported, and also a considerable quantity of Pinus merkusi. For the time being, expansion of the timber industry is hampered by the very high domestic prices for timber of all sizes. A great effort will have to be made in the coming years considerably to lower prices obtaining on the timber market both for domestic consumption and for export. The port of Phnom-Penh, which, under certain conditions, is accessible to seagoing ships, can be used for export shipments. Moreover, the port of Kompong Som on the Gulf of Thailand may be expected to come into service toward the end of 1957 and make possible the full utilization of rich, still unexploited forests within a radius of 100 kilometers around this port.

An emergency plan for the re-equipment of Cambodia covers the years 1956 and 1967, and is to be followed by a definitive plan that will probably cover a four-year period. The two-year plan is financed out of national funds with some foreign aid and technical assistance from the United Nations.

Canada

· It is reported that increased use of prefabricated buildings on the cutting site has led one of the biggest woodworking firms in the Maritime Provinces to set up a special division working on prefabricated units for logging and construction firms.

Time-saving in erection, and cost-saving through re-use over several operations, the most popular unit is a two-storey building 28 feet wide by 128 feet long (8.5 x 39 m.) with a capacity for 190 men. Insulated and finished with plywood inside and out, this building can be erected in 60 man days and dismantled in 18, and can be shipped in three box ears. Living quarters are four-men cubicles, the galley and staff quarters are on the ground floor.

Keeping abreast of the trend towards family units in semi-permanent, camps, a special house with three rooms is now being made available to industry. Its cost will be slightly over $3,000 and it consists of three rooms-a kitchen and two bedrooms. All plumbing fixtures are supplied along with a wiring kit which is installed on the job. Few if any of the buildings will be erected on a permanent foundation so plumbing would have to be brought up from the ground in an insulated box.

Standard wall panels are four by eight feet (1.2 x 2.4 m.) with floor panels up to 12 feet (3.7 m.). All are insulated with rock wool two and a half inches (6.4 cm.) thick. The material used is Douglas fir plywood and spruce.

· Dr. D. A. Macdonald, Director of the Forestry Branch, Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources since 1948, retired at the end of last year, after 42 years of service to forestry in Canada.

He is known internationally for his activities in support of forest conservation. In Canada, he was closely associated in the preparation and eventual administration of the Canada Forestry Act of 1949. Through the Canada Forestry Act, federal financial aid has been provided for inventories of the provincial forest arms and for reforestation. These forest inventories will provide governments and industry with the information on which scientific forest management plans can be based. Through the aid to reforestation, nearly 58 million trees have been planted on unoccupied Crown lands.

Dr. Macdonald served energetically on many national and international forestry organizations. For many years he was a director of the Pulp and Papers Research Institute of Canada and the Canadian Forestry Association. He also served as chairman of the Forest Insect Control Board of Canada. He was head of the FAO preparatory conference on World Pulp Problems at Montreal in 1949 and was a member of the original advisory committee of FAO's Forestry Division. He was Canadian delegate to the Third World Forestry Congress at Helsinki, Finland, and the Fourth Congress in India, and chairman of the Sixth British Commonwealth Forestry Conference held in Canada in 1952.

Chile

· A new enterprise called the Empresa National de Celulose is being organized with the financial backing of several government organizations. The initial capital subscribed amounts to the equivalent of U.S. $10 million with an additional sum of U.S. $9.6 million in foreign credits to cover the purchase of machinery and furnishing of professional services. The raw material will be derived from insignia pine (Pinus radiata) plantations of the Huepil region. The project is based on previous studies made by FAO, the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA) and the Corporacion de Fomento of Chile.

Colombia

· Under the auspices of the Andean Zone, of the Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences, the Facultad National de Agronomia and the Forestry Institute of Medellin, an intensive course on tropical forestry was held at Medellin, in July and August 1956. The course covered forestry practices and included study tours in the high zones of Antiquoía and the tropical lowlands of Urubá.

Twelve students of the fifth year of the Forestry School of the Universidad Distrital Francisco Jose de Caldas in Bogotá, made a study tour of 19 days to Venezuela. They attended a special 10-day training course at the Forest Faculty of the Universidad de los Andes, Mérida, and spent the remaining days visiting forests, forest industries, national parks and agricultural colonies.

Czechoslovakia

· A paper prepared for the FAO study tour mentioned earlier in this issue described the historical-economic situation which lead to the extensive establishment of pure, even-aged stands of spruce and of pine. This situation was caused, first, by the continuously increasing wood consumption of numerous rapidly-developing industries.

Considerable increase of the brewing and distilling industry; of glass, potassium, stone, lime and brick production; and rapid growth of the foundry and of the iron industry, all caused a continuous expansion of wood requirements.

The condition of the forest stands after a period of several hundred years made it impossible to meet such increased demands.

In the course of several centuries, almost the entire volume of wood was cut out of these stands. First of all, the stands in the most heavily inhabited regions and especially in the vicinity of towns and industrial centers suffered from the fact. Later on, however, even the forests in remote regions and in mountains were subject to such intensive utilization. As an example, there were the silver mines in Kutná Hora, for which the necessary wood, especially of greater diameter, was transported from sources as far as the mountains of Krkonose in northern Bohemia. Also many industries were founded directly in the foothill regions and in the mountain regions as the Sumava mountains where at that time sufficient growing stock rendered great possibilities for the development of production

The felled stands were left entirely without further care. Artificial regeneration rare event at that time. Natural regeneration failed, because of heavy damage to the advance growth by pasturing of stock and because of the large number of game especially in farm forests. Besides, changes took place in the composition of the forest resulting in a higher percentage of more vigorous but less commercially valuable, or even valueless, species such as birch, aspen, and juniper.

In the second half of the 17th century and in the early 18th century, care and regeneration of the forests were still left to their owners. At that time, however, those private clerks entrusted with the management of the forests had no thorough training in forestry. Despite this fact, even in this period, there began to appear thorough studies, in which chapters were included even concerning silviculture, afforestation techniques and instruction relating to the establishment of forest nurseries.

In the meanwhile, the State in no way interfered. Faced with the lack of wood, the State did not adopt any other measure except issuing permits or prohibiting the export of timber, and securing wood material for the enterprise in which it was interested. A significant turning-point in this situation was the forest regulation in 1754, which ordered forest owners to follow the principles of correct management in the forests, especially those owned by the towns. This management was to be inspected by district authorities. Besides this, there were in this regulation also provisions, relating to economical use of wood, and special, detailed instructions contained silvicultural directions.

Wood scarcity and forest devastation caused greater attention to be paid to the regeneration of forest stands. From this time onwards various essay competitions were held, to encourage the best suggestions for forest improvement. The number of forestry publications in the form of instructions and textbooks also increased while the first systematical forest management was initiated.

Greater care for forest stands to meet the scarcity of wood was to a certain degree dependent on fast and cheap afforestation of the hitherto unproductive forest areas. Not all tree species were, however, suitable for this purpose. It was a well-known feet that raising broadleaved tree seedlings required much greater care than the cultivation of coniferous trees. Besides, the seeds of softwood, especially of spruce and pine, could be secured relatively easily. The seed fertility of both these species was uniform and high. Extracting, storing, and sowing such seeds was not difficult. The seedlings of both these species were also very hardy against the extreme climatic conditions of large cut over areas and of open stands. In the first years following planting, spruce and pine suffered much less from game damage than did the broadleaved species. All these circumstances resulted in afforestation of devastated forest stands, with more and more spruce and pine rather than with the original species as, for example, oak, hornbeam, lime maple, beech and others.

The new pure even-aged stands of pine and spruce with their rapid early growth and with their simple stand formation, on which also simple tending of stands is based, very soon became the ideal of forest management. And consequently, though the foresters at first tried in the regeneration of stands to proceed along the lines of nature by trying to form mixed stands with native species, nevertheless, from the sixties of the 18th century they began to find that it was much more advantageous to plant unmixed and even-aged stands, using such coniferous species as spruce and pine. In keeping with these new tendencies, an entirely new way of liquidation of the old stands was taken. The previous system of selective cutting was completely rejected and replaced by a very radical system of clear cutting. In this way, of course, the requirement of fast afforestation by pine and spruce seed material was still more necessary. Further increase of this silvicultural system was based upon alternate forest and agriculture methods on the clear cuttings, which substantially changed the entire biocenosis of previous stands, because in this way even undergrowth was affected and the structure of the soil was changed.

Undoubtedly the new methods of silviculture, based on complete liquidation of the stand over great areas, and at the same time on the artificial regeneration of such areas, introduced a definite system into existing silviculture. This was, in fact, the first large-scale attempt at planning in forest management, for which even a special theory was elaborated concerning the highest land rent, the financial rotation, the economical tree species and so on. It is also indisputable that the pure stand form brought at that time temporary financial advantages to the forest owners of that period, higher production of forest stands was achieved and, in particular an assortment of the most valued softwood was produced, as a result of the development of the chemical wood working industry. To achieve this purpose, suitable, simple, cheap systematic methods of silviculture and management were available.

But even in the first period of establishing pure stands Cotta (1816), Laurop (1822), Klein (1826), Cerny (1836), Pfeil (1837-60), Hejrovsky (1837) and many others called attention to the feet that the mixed forest, as seen in the original natural forests, was necessarily to be considered as the most perfect type of forest; as that in which all components were organically connected into one perfect unit. In this ease, the entire air and ground space was most perfectly used. The tree species, often of different qualities, complemented one another without harm. Also from the standpoint of resistance to natural damage and game damage the mixed forest was more advantageous than the pure stand. Another advantage was the greater possibility of good game management, and so on.

All these mentioned advantages or disadvantages of mixed forest or of pure stands were, in the course of the latest few decades, discussed many times. Many systems of regeneration tending and utilization were worked out.

If, nowadays, there is a revision of opinion on the clear cutting and pure stand system, then this is caused both by some unfavorable results of pure stands and by other economic necessities.

Dominican Republic

· The FAO Regional Forestry officer reports that, in the Dominican Republic, there exists a law prescribing that all lumber has to be dried artificially. As a result, the Government has built seven large dry kilns and situated them at strategic points. In La Constanza, for instance, sixteen sawmills send their green lumber to the kiln. Beside the kiln each sawmill has its own small plane-mill where most of the lumber is planed. Then the dried and planed lumber goes by truck to the consuming center, thus saving considerably on transport costs (probably an average of 20 to 30 percent) and several weeks or months of time for open drying. It also avoids blue stain. The kiln has a capacity of 200,000 board feet of lumber in a shift (six stoves with two chambers each) and in 1955 dealt with 8,500,000 hoard feet. The price for drying is 15 pesos (1 peso U.S. $1.00) for small quantities and 12 pesos per 1,000 board feet for large quantities. This corresponds to about 10 percent of the selling price in Ciudad Trujillo. The kilns built by the Government are turned over to private enterprises, but the Government has fixed the prices for drying. All parties concerned seem to be satisfied with this solution.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Dry kiln in La Constanza: 16 sawmills send their lumber for drying to this kiln.

ETHIOPIA: The first Arbor Day in Ethiopia, organized by Mr. Vernède and Mr. Bosshard, two FAO technical assistance officers,, and held at the 28 acre (11.3 ha.) Forest Experimental Nursery at Holletta on 16 July 1956, reported to have been a great success. The Emperor and members of the Royal Family, the Minister of Agriculture and other Ministers and high-ranking personalities, civil and military, attended. The Emperor and the Minister of Agriculture addressed the gathering and planted trees.

Germany

· The bark-beetle (Dendroctonus micans King.) which has been relatively rare in the past, has become an increasingly dangerous parasite to Norway spruce and Sitka spruce in Schleswig-Holstein during the last 10 years, mainly in reforestation areas. The premature felling of trees attacked by this pest resulted in uneven stands which thus were particularly exposed to wind. The commonly used control methods against bark beetles did not give the desired results.

In the autumn and winter of 1953, the bark-beetle was fought in two different districts of the Forest Service in Flensburg under the direction of the Bundesforschungsanstalt für Forst- und Holzwirtschaft (Silviculture and Forest Management Organization) in Reinbek, by means of a previously approved "Mobe" T (HCH - preparation manufactured by Merck) and by means of a new method, namely the applying of poison to the trunk. The ravaged but still living trees were not cut, but saved for the stand.

After the first application of poison in the first of the two districts, 48 percent of the attacked Sitka spruce and 56 percent of the Norway spruce were saved, and in the other district, 48.5 percent of the Sitka and 62.5 percent of the Norway spruce. After the second application of poison in 1964/66, only 46 cubic meters had to be felled in the first of the two districts, while in preceding years up to 360 cubic meters had to be cut down prematurely. The communities of beetles had been reduced, and fresh outbreaks were rare. Consequently, silvicultural practices aimed at certain changes in the stand composition could be carried out according to plan, whereas previously, planned silviculture had often not been possible due to the unusual amount of trees that had to be felled. Application costs were reasonable.

Hong Kong

· Investigations and small-scale experiments have been continuing in silviculture seed of new species has been obtained from abroad and trial plots planted in various localities.

It has been found that the use of bare-root pine transplants is only a success if the weather is favorable and the transplants are the optimum size at the time of planting. As the planting season is so uncertain, it is difficult to arrange to have transplants of the right size at the right time and, in order to ensure that plantations are established in one to two years, it may be necessary to retain a larger proportion of the pine in tubes for replanting. Survival of transplants is very variable, the average being 30 to 60 percent: with tubes 90 to 100 percent survival is obtained. As tubed plants are much more expensive to produce and to plant than transplants, the most economic method would seem to be the use of both transplants and tubed plants, the former during the most favorable weather and the latter during unfavorable weather and for replanting. Pine has given the best results in grass areas and it has been found that weeding is unnecessary as the young plants come up through the grass quite well.

With the eucalypt species, growth has been rather disappointing in most areas and it appears that Eucalyptus robusta (syn. E. multiflora) is not suited to most of the sites on which it has been planted. It is therefore being kept for the moist, sheltered sites which it favors.

The most promising of the new species being tried for afforestation is Casuarina (Casuarina equisetifolia) and it has been found that it shows a remarkable response to superphosphate even in very small quantities. It is hoped that this species will be satisfactory on the sites which are not suitable for eucalyptus.

Casuarina cunninghamiana is also being tried.

Other species which are giving good results in trial plants are Cryptomeria japonica (on sites over 1,000 feet [300 m.]) a species of Japanese alder, Callitris sp. and Tristania conferta, all of which will be tried on a larger scale in the future.

Iran

· An FAO officer of the technical assistance mission in Iran writes:

"On the Shiraz-Isfahan road we stopped for a short while at Tachkteh Djamschid (75 kilometers from Shiraz) to visit the ruins of Darius' palace at Persepolis. The archeological interest of this visit was far exceeded by the importance of a forest botany observation.

Persepolis is situated on a kind of terrace partly natural and partly hewn artificially out of the natural rock at 15 to 20 meters above a vast and fertile plain. It still impresses one with the same feeling of power and wealth which must have struck the foreign ambassadors who were received by Darius in this sumptuous stone palace with a forest of huge columns climbing towards the blue sky, strangely contrasting with the town below of small houses bout of clay bricks.

All the walls of Persepolis are covered-with bas-reliefs representing either King Darius, soldiers or scenes of triumph: these scenes unfurl like a film over a length of more than two kilometers. The height of the figures (except those of the king which are more than life-size) is generally 60 centimeters. The most interesting series for us, from a botanical and forestry point of view, were those of Darius' triumphal processions. Here are ret presented all the peoples who formed his immense empire. Each nation is generally represented by a group of three men dressed in their traditional costumes, carrying gifts and led by one of Darius' officers. The groups are separated, one from the other, by a tree, which is always the same tree. This tree, with its regular, pyramid form and its erect growth, has been interpreted as a cypress. However, it was drawn and sculptured so precisely and in such detail, that one is sure that the artist wished to represent young specimens of Pinus heldarica; the trunk is covered with the characteristic scaly bark, the branches are covered with leaves and the ends are bent up in the air like candles, the well-developed terminal buds are visible and erect, and their needles look like rounded tufts. The final point which leaves no doubt is the cones, which are sessile, spread out, sometimes vertically, growing near the ends of the uppermost branches, and which always lean towards the tops of the branches. We took some photographs of them; in the reproduction the design is even clearer than in the original.

This discovery is very interesting because it proves that Pinus heldarica was already well known in Persia in Darius' time (approximately 500 B.C.) and that its introduction is not recent. I can merely state this fact, but am not able to assert that Pinus heldarica grew naturally or that it was introduced by Darius after his victorious wars.

The area where Pinus brutia Ten. (of which P. heldarica, still requiring much study from a botanical point of view, is a variety or rather a geographical species) grows naturally is Greece and the Near East: Cyprus, southern Turkey, Syria and the Lebanon. Here, it often shows a transition towards Pinus halepensis Mill. Of which it was once believed to be a variety, due to the fact that botanists always worked on dried or preserved specimens and were never able to examine the living species in the different parts of its natural habitat.

The most eastern region where Pinus brutia is known to grow naturally is Zawita on the western slopes of the principal range of the Zagros mountains in the north of Iraq (half way along the road between Mosul and Amadiya, and more precisely between Dohuk and Sirsing). It is believed that there is a more eastern area of natural growth in Afghanistan, but this has not been verified.

That Pinus brutia was well known and appreciated in ancient times is also proved by another bas-relief which attracted our attention. It came from Niniveh (Mosul, Iraq) and is now in the Archeological Museum in Baghdad, Iraq. This bas-relief portrays a triumphal scene and in the background are shown fully grown pines. Although these are stylized (contrary to those at Persepolis which are reproduced with almost photographic precision) one can easily recognize Pinus brutia of the Zawita geographic type by the scaly trunk, the whorled branches, spread out and with the extremities bent upwards like candles, the branchlets covered almost to the base with rounded needles which form a sort of "horn of plenty". The foliage appears thicker (the needles of Pinus brutia from Zawita are rather dark in color and last for several years so that the branchlets and even the branches are covered) than that of the pines illustrated at Persepolis. (In actual fact the crowns of older pines are always more dense with needles than the crowns of young trees.)

There bas-reliefs prove that Pinus brutia was well known in Iraq in the time of Niniveh (approximately 800 B.C.) and that another pine very similar to Pinus heldarica was known in Iran in the time of Darius (approximately 500 B.C.). However, the fact that at Persepolis Pinus heldarica is always shown in the form of young trees and always used as a separation symbol between triumphal processions could mean that it was introduced and cultivated by Darius, and that he had seen and admired it during his campaigns. (This theory might explain the strange lack of natural Pinus, Picea and Abies species in Iran.)

From these observations we could conclude that Pinus heldarica was already known in Iran during the time of Darius, but we are not able to state dogmatically that the Pinus heldarica now cultivated in Iran is the descendant of the trees portrayed at Persepolis. If one considers the form and habit of the pines cultivated today (with their rounded and less regular crowns, their branches spread out more horizontally and their extremities less bent upwards), they seem more closely related to those which grow along the Syrian coast near the Latakia forest, rather than to the Zawita pines.

The largest and oldest examples of Pinus heldarica which we saw during our tour in the parts of Iran we visited, are in the garden of the American Church of Julfa (Isfahan). They reach a height of about 20 meters and have a rounded and flattened crown like an umbrella: they are said to be 180 years old."

Italy

· Late in 1601, Iseppo and Gieronimo Paulini, forest owners living in the province of Belluno, submitted a memorandum to His Most Serene Highness the Doge of the Republic of Venice suggesting measures to prevent silting of the lagoon. Twenty illustrations and tables were attached to the memorandum, which constitutes one of the first, though elementary, manuals of silviculture, land use and management of catchment areas.

The authors first drew the attention of the Doge to the inanity of the very expensive engineering works carried out in the past in the plains for the purpose of erosion and flood control, if the problem were not tackled at its very origin in the catchment areas. They pointed out convincingly that the silting of the lagoon had commenced about a hundred years earlier, following the farmers' deforestation of the mountains mainly by means of fire in order to enlarge their crops lands and grazing grounds. Erosion then set in, and as a result large quantities of rock particles and mud were conveyed to the sea by the rivers, eventually silting up the lagoon.

Two different measures were advocated: strict prohibition of fires in the forests, to be enforced with close control by special guards and the infliction of heavy penalties to violators; and the construction of a tight net work of contour ditches on the slopes and between watercourses in the plains to lessen the impetus of the surface run-off and allow the silt to settle; being fertile, it should not be wasted by letting rivers convey it to the sea. It is interesting to note in this connexion the treatment suggested for the natural vegetation growing in the river beds and consisting mainly of willows, which should be cut every five years and not any later, as bigger-size shoots would not be flexible enough to slow down the running water without being uprooted.

ITALY: The four pictures represent.

1. How a mountain forest should be managed to reduce run-off and afford protection against soil erosion.

2. The action of trees to lessen the impact of the rain or snow on the soil.

3. The clearing of the Serpentina Valley, the resulting erosion and consequent increase in bed-load material.

4. The development of two tributaries of the Piave river at the dawn of the seventeenth century, which only 60 years before were mere brooklets.

Laos

· The majority of the peoples who inhabit the mountain regions of Laos practice shifting cultivation. This practice is particularly widespread in the north of the country, and the deforestation caused by forest clearing constitutes one of the principal problems of the Forest Service.

This body, since its creation, has tried to abolish the practice. First, a school, intended to encourage permanent cultivation methods among the population, was created on the plateau of Xieng Khouang. Then a policy of confining the areas where shifting cultivation was practiced was introduced.

However, Laos has a fairly small population, and it is therefore still possible to find fertile land not being cultivated. For this reason the Forest Service from 1950 onwards made attempts at resettling the hill tribes and establishing them on land suited to rice growing.

The first attempts were modest and consisted in supplying the families evicted from the forest reserves with tools, draft animals and seeds. Little by little the technique of rehabilitation was improved, and it was soon apparent that the results obtained were much better than anything tried previously.

The essential part of the work is now the creation of rice fields, which are then managed by the people themselves. In 1955-56, in the region of Xieng Khouang, three resettlement centers were established: 113 families installed themselves voluntarily; one of the centers intended for 26 families finally received 56: 130 hectares of rice fields were laid out and 20 kilometers of irrigation and drainage canals dug. These works were financed by funds of the National Budget and American economic aid.

The first results may seem negligible in comparison with the magnitude of the problem of shifting cultivation in Laos. But perhaps, more than the material results, it is their demonstration value which is important. Indeed, the reception of this project by the local people has been excellent. The resettled populations are made up of half of each of the two races which traditionally practice shifting cultivation the Laotians and the Moos.

A few years ago any attempt to change the life of these people was considered impossible, but this experiment has shown that this is not the case and that often they ask for nothing better than the chance to settle permanently.

Liberia

· Since 1951, experts of the United States International Co-operation Administration (ICA) have worked in the Republic of Liberia to aid in studying the forests and their possibilities, in setting up a system of forest conservation and administration, and in creating a program for selecting and training foresters. This program follows and expands an earlier program begun in 1947 by an expert of the U.S. Economic Mission to the country.

Although shifting cultivation is the prevailing method of the country and has been used for a long time, there still remains a large area of high forest. The major divisions of land condition are as follows:

Condition class

Total (acres)

Percent of total land area

High forest (old growth)

8,950,000

37.6

Broken forest

4,850,000

20.4

Low bush (second growth)

5,250,000

22,1

Non-forest

4,750,000

19.9

TOTAL

23,800,000

100.0

Thus the country is fortunate in that a substantial estate remains available for future use under rational planning.

An ICA report mentions the main results of recent work as being:

1 Increasing realization that conservation measures are necessary to prevent destruction of a valuable resource. This has been reflected in support of forestry measures from the agencies of the government.

2. The budget for forestry, while not large, is increasing rapidly.

3. A Bureau of Forest Conservation has been established to deal with the national forests which are in the process of survey and establishment. The problems of boundary establishment are great, but one unit is already set up and surveys of others are under way with a goal of several million acres in sight.

4. A professional forestry curriculum has been established in the University of Liberia, with two professors provided by FAO. The first class will graduate in 1958, and it is expected that, after that time, the forestry faculty will be manned by Liberians.

5. A national forest timber sale contract has been entered into with an established private operator. Although moderate in size, it is expected that further contracts will be made in the national forest areas now being set up.

Netherlands

· The first census of woodlands was made in 1938-1942. However, when the collecting of data had been completed, a considerable area of forests was felled because of the war. Although a supplementary survey of felled areas was carried out in 1945-1948, the results were not up to modern statistical demands. Up-to-date figures were necessary to get information about timber supply and growth, and for forest economics, forest policy and agricultural and recreational planning. Moreover, the existing figures did not meet the requirements of the international forestry statistics of FAO.

The first census comprising woodland, roadside plantations and waste lands only gave figures about area and ownership. It showed a total woodland area of about 250,000 hectares (620,000 acres), a total waste land area of 226,000 hectares (570,000 acres) and 47,850 kilometers (30,000 miles) roadside and single-row plantations.

In 1942 the ownership was as follows:

Type

State

Municipal

Private

Other

percent

Woodlands

15

15

65

5

Road plantations

8

22

60

10

Waste lands

21

13

56

10

In 1952, a new forest inventory was started, to gain detailed information about the composition of the woodland and waste land area in each of the eight forest regions in which the country has now been divided. The inventory of the first region, comprising the eastern part of the province of Utrecht and an adjoining small part of the province of North Holland, was carried out in the years 1952-1953; the inventory of the second region, in this case the western part of the province of Guelderland (named Veluwe) has recently been finished. About 1962, the census of the whole country should be competed.

This census of woodlands involves the following data:

a) classification of the woodland area by forest types and species;
b) number and area of the isolated forest blocks by area classes;
c) ownership of the woodland area;
d) number of owners by area classes;
e) number of ownership-units by area-classes;
f) area, volume and increment by species, produce-glasses (saw timber, poles, pitprops, saplings, etc.) and diameter classes;
g) distribution of the species by quality-classes;
h) method of establishment and the number of the generations;
i) composition of the soil-types in woodlands and waste lands;
j) area of woodlands and waste lands in each municipality.

The data about the roadside and other line plantations outside the forests will be given for the whole country. Therefore, the statistical method of inventory is quite different.

The census unit for woodlands is the stand, with a minimum area of 0.5 hectare (about 1 acre). The stands are reconnoitered on aerial photographs and afterwards visited in the field. Each stand is numbered and registered on ordnance maps 1:25,000 (about 2 ½ inches to a mile). The area of the steeds is measured on these maps. The timber volume of the sands older than 20 years is measured by random sample plots A great number of sample plots with a radius of 8 meters (area 0.02 ha. or 0.05 acre) are fixed visually throughout the stand. In these plots the number of trees are counted to determine the mean number of trees per hectare. The mean arithmetic diameter is determined by measuring 60 to 100 trees at random throughout the stand. This mean diameter is reduced to the mean diameter corresponding with the mean basal area, in order to simplify the calculation. The mean height is found by measuring some trees with the mean diameter. The current increment of each stand is taken from yield tables. The soil type of the stand is determined with a soil borer.

NETHERLANDS: A forest map of the Netherlands.

As a great number of plots is measured, the results of this fast method of-estimation are sufficiently accurate. Generally about 6 to 10 plots per hectare are measured at most. As in the Netherlands, stands have an average area of 1.5 hectares (4 acres), the average percentage of sampling is about 10 percent for the determination of the number of trees and about 5 percent for the determination of the mean diameter. This intensive method is carried out because the data for each stand are made available to forest owners as a basis for management plans.

On the other hand, the data about the roadside and line plantations out side the forests are determined by a mathematical statistical method, based on a 10 percent sampling at random of the whole country. The ordnance maps are divided into about 60 squares of 100 hectares (250 acres) On each map in one-tenth of the number of squares, chosen at random, the total length of the road plantation (single row) is measured. In the field the species, mean diameter, mean height and number of trees are determined. Based on this sampling method the census of roadside and line plantations outside the forests will consist of: species, length of the plantations, volume, diameter-classes, number of trees and ownership.

All data collected by the State Forest Service under the supervision of the Forestry Statistics Committee, are worked out by the I.B.M. system and published in cooperation with the Netherlands Central Bureau of Statistics.

Poland

· Poland has generously presented the United Kingdom through the Forestry Commission with a breeding pair of European bison. They arrived by air in October, from a reserve near Cracow, and were taken to the London Zoo for a period of quarantine, An official "handing over" ceremony took place later in November when the Polish Ambassador formally made the gift to the Chairman of the Forestry Commission. The animals are now on show to the public and may later be transferred to Whipsnade, a country zoo outside London.

European bison are rare forest animals and, until the arrival of the pair from Poland, the Zoological Society of London had none in its care. Poland has between 80 and 90 European bison, representing, it is understood, a substantial proportion of world stocks.

Sudan

· An article in Sudan Silva, a periodical published by the Sudan Forestry Society states that exploitation of the natural resources of the Sudan did not really begin until after the outbreak of war, for previously the Sudan had found it cheaper to import her supplies of timber. A sawmill was opened at Katire, some 3 ½ miles (5.5 km.) from the nearest forests. At the same time the difference in altitude, some 3,000 ft. (1,000 m.) between the two points, made logging and extraction very difficult. The operation was probably unique. From the felling site, in the early days, all operations were by manual labor. The logs were dragged to a road, and thence loaded onto a hand cart and taken to a timber slide which ran down to flatter country. Again a second timber slide was used ending in the sawmill log pond.

Recently an FAO technical assistance officer has been advising on modernization of sawmilling and of the Forests Department's timber operations. The Sudan's requirements in sawn timber are approximately 51,000 cubic meters per year. More than 75 percent of this quantity is imported and only less than 25 percent is produced locally. One quarter of the local production is from hand pit-sawing camps and three-quarters is produced by 11 semi-portable sawmills located mainly in the southern provinces. The policy is to reduce dependence on imports, by increasing local production near to the amount of annual growth of suitable species in the accessible forests. Laborsaving methods will be introduced in sawmills and some more suitable machinery acquired in order to increase efficiency and reduce production costs.

United Kingdom

· After the 1956 Congress of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations, noted in the last issue of Unasylva, a number of study tours were arranged to parts of England, Wales and Scotland. One of the tours covered south Scotland and the participants were specially impressed by the Forestry Commission forests in Dumfriesshire and by the Forest of Ae in particular. An article in the Edinburgh newspaper, The Scotsman, says of this forest:

"The actual planting of trees is only a very minor part of the work which goes on in a forest of the size and complexity of Ae. A skilled pieceworker will plant 2,000 trees in a day and the whole of the 1,209 acres planting of 1954 was carried out in nine weeks, and in the last week of March no less than 343,000 plants were planted! While it may not be quite so easy as it sounds, and does in fact call for a high standard of organization in the forest to ensure that the right numbers of the right species of trees are ready in the right places at the right times, it is true to say that the main concern of the staff during the planting season is not tree planting but fire. The planting season runs usually from late February until May and it coincides with the period of greatest fire danger. The dominant grass on Forest of Ae, us on most of the Border hills, is Molinia or purple moor grass, or, more significantly, 'blow' grass. An east wind in early spring can change the accumulation of sodden dead grass left after the winter into a mass of highly inflammable material in a matter of hours. Under such conditions a smoldering cigarette is ample to start a fire which can devour the forest at the rate of an acre every five seconds! This was the rate at which the last big fire at Kielder burned 800 acres (324 ha.) of woods, travelling across the country as fast as a man could run. Perhaps the forester can be excused if he views the stranger within the gates with the gravest misgivings and suspicions on any dry day during these months, although at other times he is delighted to have visitors to his forest.

With the rush of the planting season past, summer sees the men on a variety of jobs, mainly in the older parts of the forest. Here there are fresh problems. It is one thing to grow trees and quite another to deliver them profitably to the consumer At Ae, the felled trees are trimmed up and stacked in lanes from where they are taken by horse-drawn "sulky" to the nearest forest road.

It is anticipated that eventually over 100 miles (160 km.) of these forest roads will be required at Ae, of which 20 miles (32 km.) have already been constructed. The method of construction is a matter of some interest: They are now made by the simple process of dumping gravel straight on to the natural surface of the ground, levelling being confined to places which are very uneven. The gravel is obtained from the bed of the river where a mechanical digger loads the lorries and at the same time trains the rather unruly Water of Ae. The lorries carrying the gravel to the "road head" themselves act as road rollers. When soft parts begin to sink they are filled up with the help of a light grader towed behind a wheeled tractor. By this simple technique a road capable of carrying 10-ton loads of timber is soon developed, and the cost of construction has been cut to a fraction of that required for construction along traditional Macadamized lines, while maintenance, which will be done almost entirely by machine, will also be cheaper.

SUDAN: The photograph shows a French C.D. portable band sawmill cutting railway sleepers in the Equatoria Province.

TURKEY: The FAO officer advising on silviculture and management sends this photograph of natural beech and fir forest where he recommends introducing similar management methods to those practised in Switzerland. Clearings in the forest are invaded by Rhododendron flavum which presents difficulties in securing natural regeneration. Eradication is troublesome and expensive The introduction first of poplar and pine seems necessary to suppress the rhododendron, after which the beech and fir return.

Photograph: F. Zednik

Since the oldest trees at Ae are only 27 years of age and therefore not nearly mature, the whole production from the forest comes from the gradual process of thinning the plantations. Thinnings are made in each crop from the age of about 20 years onwards, at intervals of three or more years. The selection of trees to be removed is a skilled operation, the aim being to get rid of the poorly shaped, unhealthy trees whilst encouraging the most vigorous and finest stems by giving them more growing space. Perhaps there is a moral in the fact that most of the marking at Forest of Ae is done not by two foresters but by a worker and his wife who live in the Ae Village.

Although upwards of 30 men still travel daily by lorry from the nearest big town to work at Ae, the human population of the forest, like its tree crop, has been growing steadily and now stands at a total of 164, including no less than 74 children - a goodly number. Most of the population live in the Ae Village, which had the distinction of being the first entirely new village to be built in Scotland to house forestry worker. Thirty houses are now occupied and a further eight ready for occupation, with a shop and post office With these tenanted it seems possible that the forest population may soon top the 200 mark."

· Educational Productions Ltd. have issued a new series of wall charts dealing with woodworking activities as follows:

1. planing
2. sawing
3. chiselling
4. stopped housing
5. mortice and tenon joint
6. dovetailing
7. shaping
8. veneering
9. cramping
10. wood finishing

Each chart gives detailed instructions for making a small item of equipment and is ideal for an instructor to hand out to a class as work sheets.

United States of America

· The Oregon State Board of Forestry has made available for licensing a patented process developed at the State Forest Products Laboratory to extract waxes, tannins and fine chemicals from the barks of native timber trees. So far no license has been issued, but the process is believed capable of providing a basis for a new industry in the northwestern United States.

· Under the widely discussed Soil Bank Program of the U.S.A. Agricultural Act of 1956, the Forest Service is authorized to obligate $4.7 million for the tree planting phase of the Soil Bank Conservation Reserve Program. Under this program, the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to enter into contracts with producers for periods of 3 to 16 years under which the producer would devote a designated part of his cropland to conservation uses. The Secretary is authorized to pay a fair share of the costs of establishing the conservation use and to make an annual payment which will provide a fair and reasonable return for the land diverted from agriculture to conservation use.

Of the total allotment, $4 million is for nursery expansion, and the balance for Forest Service administration and technical services to be furnished by the State Foresters.

A separate unit has been set up in the head office of the Forest Service to deal with the responsibilities thus imposed.

· Inventors and U.S. Forest Service operators have been busy working on what is variously known as the "mechanical mule" and the mechanical trail packer, and at least a half dozen forms of the machine, designed to transport loads over narrow trails, have been devised and are being tested.

Among the uses already demonstrated are carrying the stores of fire-watchers in and out of their lookout stations; transporting equipment for trail construction and maintenance crews; pulling out small stumps on trail construction jobs; modifying the packer into a trail compressor unit to drill holes for blasting; hauling a trail kitchen; and hauling a trail grader. The most recent development is to use the packer to retrieve smoke jumper equipment by breaking the machine into two parts which can be parachuted down and reassembled on the ground. Smoke jumpers are traditionally sent to inaccessible fires and carry in with them substantial loads; to backpack out the valuable equipment after fire control is a time-consuming and arduous task, and the mechanical conveyance will be a great asset in the whole program.

· A publication of the U.S. Department of Agriculture deals with the diseases of North American forest trees planted abroad, based on a reexamination of more than 3,000 articles and books. The publication first lists and describes the effects and the occurrence of the diseases, subdivided into the viruses, the bacteria, the fungi and the mistletoes. Next it lists the hosts of the diseases, giving for each forest tree the diseases known to attack. Then there is a general and, in part, detailed listing of the locations in other countries where each American forest tree is planted. In some cases, only the general location can be given, in more instances the exact location. A separate list, arranged by countries, gives specific locations of forest plantings of North American trees.

This publication brings the available knowledge up to date. Additional publications planned in the series are, first, a listing of North American plant pathogens known to attack foreign tree species growing in the U.S.A. and, second, a listing of the foreign infectious tree diseases, the damage they do, and the potential menace to North American forests of diseases not now known in North America.

The items appearing here are condensed from newsworthy material collected by FAO staff or submitted by correspondents. FAO assumes no responsibility for statements and statistics in items accepted in good faith from contributors.


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