offered by the underbrush in the natural game haunts, and have driven the furred and feathered inhabitants to less favored places to starve or fall an easy prey to human and natural enemies-is that a sentimental or imaginary damage? I think not. To me, it seems very real indeed, and no experienced hunter will be so foolish as to waste his time seeking game in burned over areas until long after the evidences of the disaster have disappeared, for he well knows that such a quest will be a fruitless one.

We have chiefly considered the effects of cut over and burned mountain tracts on game and fish life, where no effort at reclamation is made. Of course, the absorbing of these tracts into National or State Forest systems is the one strong answer to the problem. But that is not all. There must be adequate game and fish laws. There should be no running with dogs in the National Forest at any season of the year; no carrying of shotgun or rifle during the closed season; bag and creel limits should be strictly observed; restocking of forest and streams should be carried on systematically; there should be established, carefully selected fish and game refuges; barren areas should be seeded for game; fish and game wardens should work in closest cooperation with the forest wardensand the spirit of good sportsmenship should leaven the whole.

The National Forests already offer the public carefully selected camp sites, with all attendant joys, and fair hunting and fishing in season, hundreds of miles of mountain drives and walks, but if these other things I have mentioned are put into effect there will be better sport for all, with rod and gun, for many years to come and lovers of nature will have a very real and personal interest in our National Forests and their future.

PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS ON FORESTRY

W. H. ANDREWS, President, National Manufacturers Association

I have attended this convention to hear scholarly and scientific ideas on forestry, and will return to my native state of Tennessee and try to pass on the ideas to the country people living there where the trees grow. My interest in forestry is not philanthropic but selfish, to the extent that the forest is the source of my livelihood and has been keeping my family for two generations back and will probably support two or more generations in the future. My father's family consisted of seven children

and the money that fed, clothed and educated us came from the forest. My own family consists of my wife and eight children, and our source of existence and education comes from the woods. We have fifteen grand children, eight of them living on money derived from the forest.

At a meeting similiar to this about a year ago, the matter of leaf mold was mentioned as argument against forest fires. After returning home from the meeting I decided to find out just what there was to this theory, and had gathered from several square rods the leaves which had fallen in a tract of Oak timber. Weighing the leaves from each square rod separately and getting an average, I found there were more than fifty pounds of dry leaves per year produced on each square rod, which would figure four tons per acre. To find the value of these leaves from a standpoint of fertilizing value I had two separate analyses made, one by the state chemist at Nashville and the other at the University laboratory in Knoxville, with results which did not vary more than one per cent per ton. It was found that each ton of leaves had $4.45 worth of fertilizer ingredients therein; thus four tons to the acre make $17.80 worth of leaves per year, basing the ingredients of fertilizer at the same prices the farmers pay for fertilizer bought in sacks. Of course, it is not claimed that the leaves have anything like a value of $17.80 per acre as fertilizer for the trees, but they do provide a certain amount of nourishment and aid the growth of the trees. When a fire goes through the woods and burns the leaves most of the fertilizing elements are destroyed, at least $16.00 of the $17.80 worth, so you can see that forest fires not only damage the present growth but retard the future growth.

My test leaves were taken from a tract of land which has been under my observation and supervision for a period of something like ten years. The land was bought for $3.00 per acre, after which the railroad cross ties were cut from the suitable timber and since then a practical process of reforestation has been followed. A distillation plant afforded a market for the cord wood which paid a little more than the expense of cutting it from the tops and weed or worthless trees and removing it from the land. The process was to cut every tree twelve inches in diameter and over into cross ties and to make what was left into cordwood, that is, the tops and defective parts, other defective trees which were not good enough for cross ties, and those with bushy spreading tops which shaded too much ground. This left nothing standing but perfect and promising trees. Today, after ten years of this work, most of the acres on this tract have each 200 or more trees from three to twelve inches in dia

meter; one acre counted has 232 trees. The tract referred to contains 10,000 acres of which 6,000 acres have been developed as stated. A stand of 200 trees per acre means that the trees will stand about fourteen feet apart, which is as reasonable as an acre of corn with the hills four feet apart.

We know that we can cut over this land every 20 to 25 years and get a good crop of cross ties. A tree should be from 40 to 50 years old to make ties to good advantage, and cutting every 20 to 25 years there should be from 75 to 100 trees per acre which would make ties to good advantage. The smallest tree cut should be something like fourteen inches at the stump or twelve inches at the top of the first log; no tree should be cut which would not make from the butt cut a tie 7′ x 9′′ x 81⁄2′′, the next log a 7′′ x 8′′ tie and the third log a 6" x 8" tie and so on. This should be the minimum, many of the trees will make more ties of the different sizes. With these figures as a basis an acre will produce a carload of ties every 20 to 25 years. After trees become 40 to 50 years old they grow slower, and to get the maximum yield from an acre in, say, a century, the older trees should be cut as stated above so as to permit the younger trees to grow as fast as possible. Uuder this method no planting is necessary as the young oak saplings naturally come up, in fact, they may come too thick. If the trees get too large or too thick they will begin to fight each other for sustenance, and war means waste. It is quite important to cut out worthless or weed trees which will never amount to anything but which take as much space and nourishment from the ground as good trees.

There is no question but that forest fires are the greatest enemy of growing timber, not only because of the damage done to the trees but because of the destruction of the leaf mold and the great part of its fertilizer value. Forest fires can be eliminated to as great an extent as fires in the city or town. We have a tract of 5,000 acres from which the timber was cut seven years ago, and after cutting the timber we put a man in charge, and his compensation was a house to live in, the use of about thirty acres of cleared land, generally, in the valleys and richer spots, and a team of mules and a cow which we gave him, and also the fruit he could secure from a number of fruit trees we sent him to plant around his house. This land was to be his home with the understanding that he would watch the woods and keep fire out of them. His family consisted of a wife, two girls and three boys: the understanding was that they themselves would extinguish all the fires if they could but if outside help

to fight fire was needed, we would pay for it. During the last seven years there has been very little fire on this tract, with only a few acres burned over, and we have had to pay only $30.00 for outside help.

In Tennessee we find that the Chambers of Commerce can be of great help in forestry work. Our Nashville Chamber of Commerce has a forestry committee of which I am chairman, and during the last session of the state legislature we managed to get through everything we asked for and when the next legislature meets we expect to ask for more. Four or five years ago through interest manifested in Tennessee forestry, the legislature passed a law requiring that forestry be taught in the public schools, but for several years the law was not observed. One of the first activities of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce forestry committee was to take this matter up, and among other things find a proper book to go into the schools, especially the country schools. A text-book committee was formed of two lumbermen who had formerly been schoolteachers and myself. We looked over a number of text-books on forestry but they did not seem to suit us, so we got Mr. Maddox, our State Forester, and Dr. Parkins, of Peabody College, to prepare a book for the committee to examine and consider. This was done, and the book approved, and we think we have the best book available for teaching foretry in the public schools. The name of this book is "Our Trees and How They Serve Us," and if you are interested in teaching forestry through the schools I suggest that you get a copy of the book.

Personally, I am very anxious for the country boy to grow trees, and in this I have a selfish motive as I hope my grandchildren will continue in the tie business and get a profit from these trees. I feel that any boy who will personally plant as many as 25 trees will develop an appreciation of and interest in forestry work, and fight for those trees if necessary.

Another thing we are doing through the Chamber of Commerce is to organize county forestry associations, and personally I have organized five of these which seem to be successful, so much so that I have decided to organize one in every county in Tennessee where our company operates in about twenty counties. I try to interest the country people from a financial standpoint, telling them that my interest is to handle the products of the trees at a profit of from five to ten cents on every dollar and leave them the remaining ninety or ninety five cents. This argument seems to appeal to them and they are very much interested. These county associations work in cooperation with the State Forestry Commission of which I am a member. We try to have as presidents of these associations some

meter; one acre counted has 232 trees. The tract referred to contains 10,000 acres of which 6,000 acres have been developed as stated. A stand of 200 trees per acre means that the trees will stand about fourteen feet apart, which is as reasonable as an acre of corn with the hills four feet apart.

We know that we can cut over this land every 20 to 25 years and get a good crop of cross ties. A tree should be from 40 to 50 years old to make ties to good advantage, and cutting every 20 to 25 years there should be from 75 to 100 trees per acre which would make ties to good advantage. The smallest tree cut should be something like fourteen inches at the stump or twelve inches at the top of the first log; no tree should be cut which would not make from the butt cut a tie 7' x 9" x 81⁄2", the next log a 7" x 8" tie and the third log a 6" x 8" tie and so on. This should be the minimum, many of the trees will make more ties of the different sizes. With these figures as a basis an acre will produce a carload of ties every 20 to 25 years. After trees become 40 to 50 years old they grow slower, and to get the maximum yield from an acre in, say, a century, the older trees should be cut as stated above so as to permit the younger trees to grow as fast as possible. Uuder this method no planting is necessary as the young oak saplings naturally come up, in fact, they may come too thick. If the trees get too large or too thick they will begin to fight each other for sustenance, and war means waste. It is quite important to cut out worthless or weed trees which will never amount to anything but which take as much space and nourishment from the ground as good trees.

There is no question but that forest fires are the greatest enemy of growing timber, not only because of the damage done to the trees but because of the destruction of the leaf mold and the great part of its fertilizer value. Forest fires can be eliminated to as great an extent as fires in the city or town. We have a tract of 5,000 acres from which the timber was cut seven years ago, and after cutting the timber we put a man in charge, and his compensation was a house to live in, the use of about thirty acres of cleared land, generally, in the valleys and richer spots, and a team of mules and a cow which we gave him, and also the fruit he could secure from a number of fruit trees we sent him to plant around his house. This land was to be his home with the understanding that he would watch the woods and keep fire out of them. His family consisted of a wife, two girls and three boys: the understanding was that they themselves would extinguish all the fires if they could but if outside help