Studies of Trees eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 173 pages of information about Studies of Trees.

Studies of Trees eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 173 pages of information about Studies of Trees.
process of manufacture is provided against, uses are found for the material ordinarily rejected, and the best methods of handling and drying lumber are employed.  Fig. 135 shows a typical sawmill capable of providing lumber in large quantities.
In the utilization of the by-products of the forest, such as turpentine and resin, Forestry has devised numerous methods for harvesting the crops with greater economy and with least waste and injury to the trees from which the by-products are obtained.  Fig. 136 illustrates an improved method by which crude turpentine is obtained.

[Illustration:  FIG. 136.—­Gathering Crude Turpentine by the Cup and Gutter Method.  This system, devised by foresters, saves the trees and increases the output.]

Forestry here and abroad:  Forestry is practiced in every civilized
    country except China and Turkey.  In Germany, Forestry has attained,
    through a long series of years, a remarkable state of scientific
    thoroughness and has greatly increased the annual output of the
    forests of that country.

In France, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Norway, Sweden, Russia and Denmark, Forestry is also practiced on scientific principles and the government in each of these countries holds large tracts of forests in reserve.  In British India one finds a highly efficient Forest Service and in Japan Forestry is receiving considerable attention.
In the United States, the forest areas are controlled by private interests, by the Government and by the States.  On privately owned forests, Forestry is practiced only in isolated cases.  The States are taking hold of the problem very actively and in many of them we now find special Forestry Commissions authorized to care for vast areas of forest land reserved for State control.  These Commissions employ technically trained foresters who not only protect the State forests, but also plant new areas, encourage forest planting on private lands and disseminate forestry information among the citizens.  New York State has such a Commission that cares for more than a million acres of forest land located in the northern part of the State.  Many other States are equally progressive.
The United States Government is the most active factor in the preservation of our forests.  The Government to-day owns over two hundred million acres of forest land, set aside as National Forests.  There are one hundred and fifty individual reserves, distributed as shown in Fig. 137 and cared for by the Forest Service, a bureau in the Department of Agriculture.  Each of the forests is in charge of a supervisor.  He has with him a professional forester and a body of men who patrol the tract against fire and the illegal cutting of timber.  Some of the men are engaged in planting trees on the open areas and others in studying the important forest problems of the region.  Fig. 138.

[Illustration:  FIG. 137.—­Map Showing Our National Forests.]

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Studies of Trees from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.