THE OAK FAMILY IN FORESTRY Warren Miller COPYBfGHr BY FJCLD 4AfO SrfifJM It'KPT for purely tomB^rrltl forestry I am sure oar ;t« coins on r In nearly ail the •w'taci to that taere are plenty <4 toodnatn about to head off 5^ icrt^eat lire* V.ceti we get a k. h: • of * :-t«r fcrwst taxa tion taxing only k ibe value of the j early ihiunir.g* and the final for / mi crop. Bum forestry will be Scartct Oak. come an estab luvt icaaim: en'crprtse with us. whereas ®w pnrwegt system of lasing annually the en ure wa ne wf the stand ta most unjust and one •*on. anew The tot*! land tha* would yield best oa planted fo'ests is tnuce ’haw SC dnd.fiM acres. The F'ench *yst< m of fatale regulalre. or '•jid*nl fonewt. s the more like!' one for us :» war. or rather to grow into for we are in for at let*! t*if years of selective fores’* be tter aa> ntensfie use of standard fores: can nc a'rtdsnd In the French s>«fem three ci.ia are necessary when the forest reaches T atari!T The seeding cut is first made, let t ng In aur oa the forest floor, and varying in amownt aide.y depending upon the species of tt* tree Tha neat fat! of s~ed« from the seed tag trees results In n dense ficor of young shoots, tor the sun's warmth is present to ger »:naic and 10 feed the young trees wl’h sun Ugl • Then folios# the secondare cut. when he trees have reached the «g» of five* years sod are tough enough to allow catting opera - —without too mac< of them being killed This rwf takes nearly all the oil trees leaving t—gc -o power! the young thic.et from wind, tract ewe* d rough* The terminal rut follows when the young trees m i shoe’ ten years rt age. and uks> the last of the c- d stand. First thinning begins five years later and con aws every teg years until the main stand fartty 4 «JT tfeo few! crop *» r ** u Me* or U« Back kaoarl hr ta Mat '*• la dasher anas a*d apt to ro antt is tetter* of the rafrWirtlM. • crjal - tec n nali' pteat { WC te Prii f mmr ■aBt* trarnttou >rr»» Utt --- * K an to t R*d Oak. tor the right specie* of trees tlitl are i tWtr larootry operatKao*. We ertU ac u tto ntrrleaot for oar own species M the Ua4 of forestry which we ran begin to orartM* right now. both m woodlou and in small private tracts. Is a combination of the French system with ordinary se lective forestry, that is. taking out ripe trees here and there as they ma ture. If you have a fair sprinkling of good oaks on your w-oodlot. there is no reason why you should not encourage them a lit tle by giving them a chance to extend. If you hare a tract of barren land hardly worth paatur I Whit* Oak. man has no terrors for you. there Is no near.an why you should not set it out in while pine, or Sylvester pine, or what ever species your state forester specifies as suitable for the soil and climate. Keep cattle and running fires out of the woodlot, plant out your spare acorns every chance you get, use up the weed trees for cordwood. and take out woi'.hlcs* trees wherever they are crowding th* young oaks, and you will soon be in a fair way to own a valuable oak stand. The same ie true of small forest tracts of a few hundred a est rake to allow the acorns to find plenty of crevices to drop into is imperative Just beTore the fall of the acorns Seeding should be com pleted in one fall of seeds. When sure that the reproduction has been acquired, proceed with the secon dary cut, taking but one tree in two to three, more or less, depending upon whether spring frosts are to be feared. A secondary cut may be necessary in the judgment of the forester, two years later, before proceeding with the final cut. Clearance of the seedlings is almost always necessary, as the young oak is slow and apt to be beaten out by young beeches and maples during the first few years of its infancy. Thinning: Up to the age of low thickets the stand can be left very dense, but from that time on proceed drastically in favor of the dominant trees, intervening when you see culture necessary to aid them, and in general leaving enough of the dominated and suppressed trees to protect the trunks of your dominants—the trees of the future. Return in ten years, or earlier if conditions are favora ble. and take out all dead and dominated trees, and all of the dominants that are getting crooked or being left behind, the rule being to keep the tops of your best trees always with a little apace to meet in. which space is filled with second stage dominated trees. Leave in the beech sub-growth and any other tolerant trees which add leaf-fall to the humus. The trees will reach eight inches diameter in thirty years and you will thin about one hundred per acre every trip. From that time on they add a great deal more to their volume every year, since they grow a new ring all around the trunk, which by this time is over two feet in circumference. Of course, as you will start with a forest with some grown trees on it. you will arrange it so as to always have some mature cutting to do. as well as thinning cuts on all other sections. The management of a forest Is always a paying proposition, so long as you choose to keep at it. and while you will never see the final crops cut of the sections that you regenerated, you have had a good deal of business out of the old forest and the thinning cuts of the new. and your forest or woodlot has increased In value, not deterior ated. under your hands. Closely allied to the white oak. and sold with it. is the Swamp White Oak. quercus bi color. good for your wet soils and creek bot toms. Know it by the heavy-ended, slightly lobed leaf, and the ..— nuier small wuie shaped acorns. In pairs on a stem anywhere from an inch to three inches long. The leaf is something like that of the black jack, but the acorn, the bark and the size of the tree will prevent confusing it. A Sl\ /7\ tmra tree in the white oak class is the Burr Oak, but Burr Oak. with harder and tougher wood. It Is also called the overeup oak, technical name quercus macrocarpa. Leaf has a big lobed head with two very deep notches about half-way down. Bark of twigs always has corky wings, and the acorn Is very large with scaly, fringed cup. This tree grows across the whole United States to Montana, as far south as the latitude of New York City, par allel 40 degrees. All these white oaks will grow sylvlculturally under the same treat KING GEORGE’S MAIL BAG QOOOCOOOOCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO All letters addressed to the king and queen of England are sent direct to whichever of the royal residences they are occupying from the general postoffice in London in specially sealed bags, says the Strand. In the case of Buckingham palace, this hag arrives, as a rule. Just as his majesty is finishing dinner, and is taken charge of by the secretary on duty, who opens It and proceeds to sort out the contents. Such letters as will ultimately demand the personal attention of King George are placed before him the same night, but It is not often that he deals with them at the moment, sare In matters that will not brook delay. He glances through them, makes a few brief notes upon them, and they are then placed under lock and key until he Is ready for them on the following morning. He has barely bad time to deal with these before the royal breakfast is served and al most simultaneously an even larger bag of correspondence arrives. Only those who have been called upon to handle them can realize tbe vaatness of the royal postbags, the con tents of which often range from a private communication from some amiable lunatic who considers that his claim to the British throne is superior to that of King George. By the organization of a well nigh perfect sys tem. however, this heavy correspondence Is dealt with In remarkably quick time. Lxard Siamfordham, should he be on duty, opens every communication, and. glancing at it, places tbe bulk of It in the large crimson leather basket labeled with the tenor of the epistle. Thus invitations to undertake public func tions of one description or another go into one basket, charitable appeals into another, the official report of the proceedings of the two houses of parliament into a smaller bas ket, letters of a personal character into a fourth, and so on. At the finish there is a small but highly important little pile left. This is composed of letters from the rulers of other states, personal reports from our ambas sadors abroad or communications from min isters at home. These never for one instant . leave the custody of whoever is Intrusted with ' the task of opening them. There is a special (■ box standing on the table with a slit In the top of it wide enough to take any paper. It is fastened with a patent lock, of which only the king. Lord Knollys and Lord Stamfordham have the keys. These are the first letters that are pre sented to the king every morning, together with a memorandum reminding him of the duties he has to perform that day. In many cases the king elects to write letters in reply with his own hand, but should this not be convenient he sends for one of his secretaries and dictates his reply. His majesty is hv no means a quick thinker and likes to ponder over every word that he proposes to place on paper. In this respect be presents a curious contrast to his late father, who would reply to the most important letter in a few seconds. ment. and all seed annually. The flowers are miserable lillle catkins of green. pin-headed flowerets, in clusters of four or five catkins cn a sheaf. No forest would be complete without a few specimens of the chestnut-oak family. If you pick up a leaf with scalloped edges and find a big acorn with long oval nut. over an inch long, with fine, scalp cup. that's q. prinus. the Chestnut oak. It has very strong, hard wood, durable in soil and water, used for fencing and railroad ties. Bark is fine for tanning op erltions and it grows well as simple or stand ard coppice, as described in my previous series on European Forestry. Another form of chest nut oak is known as Yellow oak. with a leaf startlingly like the chestnut itself, but the acorn gives it away. The illustration shows a representative leaf. Both the chestnut oak are annual seeders and their value In forestry la beat In the . shape or tan-bar* coppice. A widely dis tributed and in teresting oak. but of no value in forestry is the Black Jack. You will know it at sight by the blunt-ended leaf with three lobes, rough black bark (smooth higher up the tree) and email stemless acorn whd scaiy cup. « y As a woodsman. ^ _ put It down in SwamP Whlte °*k ▼our memory against the time you want a rery hard wood. Otherwise leave it severely alone, except to clean it out as a forest weed. It belongs to the bristle-tipped and pointed leaved families of oaks, of which the red oak is the representative and most valuable spe cies. Seeding is biennial. Sylvicutural treat- j ment of red oak about the same as white oak. except that the seeding cut must be a trifle more open. The red oak is claimed to be a faster grower than the white and it cer tainiy overtops it and crowds it out in direct competition. I am of the opinion, however, that if the white oak is given an equal amount of sunlight It will give a crop of mature trees within ten years of the corresponding planta tion of red oak From the carpenter's point of view there Is no comparison between it and the white oak, nor is there when It comes to market value as the white commands nearly double the figure. Personally I find red oak much easier to work, rather brashy. and no where near so strong as the white. It is a tardy, aggressive grower In the forest, and you will know it by Its large, dark-green, shiny, pointed, lobed leaves and Its big blunt acorn with the flat saucerlike cup. This acorn is the distinguishing feature, as the black oak has a very similar leaf but its acorn is half enclosed in a green, scaly cup The red oak has the smoothest bark of any of them, nearly black, greenish tinged on the north side. leaves turn a deep red. late In October. Now that white oak is getting so high priced the red Is used a great deal in interior house trim. It will grow on dry soils, which fact often decides its choice as the forest species when choosing between it and white oak. Its cousin the black oak. and the scarlet oak. q. coclnea. are so like It In leaf that all that can be said is that the leaf is more deep ly notched and heavier-veined. You must look to the acorn to be sure. Both scarlet and black have a deep-cupped, scaly acorn, and the inner bark of the black oak is orange-yellow, making a fine dye. used in medicine as querci tron and in the industries for tanning. Wood sells as "red oak.” The scarlet oak is a much smaller tree, growing best In plenty of sun light: inner bark reddish, kernel of the acorn is white while that of the black oak is yellow. Both of them have gorgeous orange and scar let foliage in October, and are useful for orna mental trees. All through our moist ravines and creek bot toms you will find a tall slender oak. growing in natural pure stands, with a notched, peaky leaf like the red and black oaks. But under the tree you are sure to find abundant small round acorns with shallow cups, almost smooth. The little acorns are half an inch long and very pretty, sometimes with delicate light stripes running longitudinally. This tree is the Pink Oak or water oak. q. palustris. Wood Is coarse and not durable; sells as "sec ond” red oak. Pin oak. beech and black gum are. however, the three toughest woods In the forest. Sylviculturally the tree has no value: when you take one out replace it with a swamp JK white oak. The name pin oak comes from its val ue for tree nails for bouse building. Two more oaks that have their own peculiarities are the Willow Oak. q. phellos. with tiny scale-cupped acorns and long willow-like leaves, and the Shin gle Oak. with per fectly smooth mag nolia-like leaves, smooth bark and small shallow-cupped acorns. Both of Chestnut Oak. uitroc wuuga spill easily, sad the wil low oak Is tough and pliable enough when none better can be bad tor the purpose. In conclusion. I would mention the Post Oak of the Southwest, the “white” oak of that section, deeply lobed (seven); strong stood; small, sweet acorn, scale-cupped. CAVE CROWDED WITH SNAKES s?c*4 settler, who ran all the way to Thrae Porta to report the find and to get assistance At least one hundred men and boys went to the scene and three hundred rattlers of all sixes were killed. Smith eras pros pectins 1b the gnlch when he saw a rattlesnake crawl in to a hols serosal yards shore his hand ea the slope ot the farina. Fur yearn. this region has been Infested by,' snakes ard the settler, being curious to know from whence they came, fol lowed the snake to the place of dis appearance. lighting a piece of pa per, Smith threw it into the hole, wl^ich was about two feet In diameter at the mouth, but which ran back into a care of larger proportions, and was horrified to see hundreds of snakes crawling about, some colled and many lying apparently dormant Within an hour the nows reached Three Itorks and hunters came araaed with stones, sticks and suns. A noise was made at the mouth o' the hole and the snakes, becoming angry, sal* lied forth to fight When the noise failed to bring them, long poles were used to prod the reptiles. As the snakes emerged from the care they were slaughtered, and at the end of the killing, 140 deed ones were count ed. None of the attackers had been bitten, though some had narrow es capes. Some of the snakes were from three to four feet la length sad had many rattles, while many were young and with oca -attle each. The party waa about to leave, when one man fired a shotgun blindly Into the den and a long pole brought into one pulled fifty more dead reptiles from the hole.—Three Fork (Mont.) Letter to the Butte Miner. "What a modest man he let" "Whyr “He got a relee to pay the ether day and didn't claim that It wee unsolic ited.” “A NATION ONCE AGAIN!” Ireland's Hope of Home Rule Nearing Realization at Last < i NATURE, GRACE AND !; TRAINING FITTED ST. PATRICK TO 11 HIS TASK j i So Weil Accomplished, i | Ireland Was Known < 1 for Centuries as the “Land of Saints” 1 * #T. PATRICK says of bim self Id bis confession that he was bom at Bannaven Tabemiae," which is ex tremely hard to identify. Some, however, claim that Kirk-Patrick, near Glasgow, in Scot land, took its name from St. Patrick. The saint was born about 372; was a captive and a slave of the king of Dalaradia, in Ireland, from 388 to 395; went to Gaul and was there ordained priest; was consecrated bishop and sent to Ireland as missionary in 432, and died at Saul, near Strangford Gough, County Down, Ulster, where many years before he had founded bis church, March 17, 465, the day now sacred to his memory. Ireland was then occupied by a great number of petty tribes, most of whom were evangelised by Patrick. So well was the work accomplished that Ireland was known in subsequent cen turies as the '‘island of saints and scholars.” The method employed was that of dealing cautiously and gently with the old paganism of the people. The chief tains were first won over and then through them their clans. Of St. Patrick himself much that has been related is fabulous, but his au tobiographical confession and his epis tle to Coroticus, both of which are un questionably genuine, reveal a devout, simple minded man. and a most dis creet and energetic missionary. In his epistle he states that he was of noble birth and that his father, Caiphurnicus, was a Roman decuiro. His Mother, Concbessa, or Conceis, was the sister of St. Martin of Tours. The family of the saint is affirmed by the earliest authorities to have belonged to Britain, but whether the terra refers to Great Britain or Brit tany or other parts of France is not ascertained. Some of the quaint stories told in Ireland about St. Patrick would make the traveler imagine that the saint visited the island for the benefit of witty guides, or to promote mirth in wet weather. It is not remarkable that the subject of these stories for 16 centuries, at countless hearths, has been regarded and is today honored as the greatest man and the greatest ben efactor that ever trod the Irish soil, and considering the versatility of the Irish character, it is not strange that there remains respecting the saint a vast cycle of legends—serious, pathet ic and profound. It could not be otherwise. Such a people could not have forgotten the he roic figure who led them forth in the exodus from the bondage of pagan ' darkness. In many instances doubt less has the tale become a tradition, the foliage of an ever active popular imagination, gathered around the cen tral stem of fact; but the fact re mained. A large tract of Irish history is dark; but the time of St. Patrick and the three centuries which succeeded It is clearly, as depicted by history, a time of joy. The chronicle is a song of gratitude and of hope, as befits the ^torv of a nation's conversion to Christianity. The higher legends, which, how ever. do not profess to keep close to the original sources, except as re gards their spirit and the manners of the time, are found in some ancient lives of St. Patrick, the most valu able of which is the “Tripartite Life," ascribed by Colgen to the century aft er the saint's death. The work was lost for many centuries, but two cop ies of it were rediscovered, one of which has been recently translated by an eminent Irish scholar, Mr. Hen nessy. The miracles, however, recorded in the “Tripartite Life" are neither the most marvelous nor the most interest ing portion of that life. Whether regarded from the religious or philosophic point of view, few things can be more instructive than the picture which it delineates of hu man nature in the period of critical transition and the dawning of the re ligion of peace upon a race barbaric, but tar, indeed, from savage. That warlike race regarded It doubt lees as a notable cruelty when the new faith discouraged an amusement bo popular as battle. But In many re spects they were In sympathy with the faith- That race was one of which the affections as well aa the passions retained an unblunted ardor, and when nature Is stronger and less cor rupted it most feel the need of some thing higher than itself, lta interpreter and Its supplement It prised the family ties, like the Germans record ed by Tacitus, and it could but have been drawn to Christianity. Its morals were pure, and it bad not lost that simplicity to which so much of spiritual insight belongs. Ad miration and wonder were among its chief habits. It desired a religiou no smaller than the human heart itself— a religion capable of being not only appreciated and believed, but compre hended in its fullness and measured in all its parts. Warlike as it was, it was unbounded also In loyalty, generosity, and self-sac rifice; it was/not. therefore, untouched by the records of martyrs, the princi ples of self-sacrifice, or the doctrine of a great sacrifice. It loved the chil dren and the poor, and St. Patrick made the former the exempliers of the faith and the latter the eminent inher itors of the kingdom. In the main, institutions and tradi tions of Ireland were favorable to Christianity, and the people received the gospel gladly. It appealed to them and prompted ardent natures to find their rest in spiritual things. It had created among them an excellent ap preciation of the beautiful, the es thetic and the pure. The early Irish chroniclers show how strong that sentiment has ever been. The Borhrmean Tribute, for many years the source of relentless wars, had been imposed in vengeance for an insult offered to a woman, and a discourtesy shown to a poet had overthrown an ancient dynasty; an unprovoked affront was regarded as a great moral oflenae. And severe pun ishments were ordained not only for detraction, but for a word, though ut tered in jest, which brought a blush on the cheek of the listener. It was not that laws were wanting; a code minute in its justice had pro portioned a penalty to every offiense. It was not that hearts were hard— there was at least as much pity for others as for self. It was that anger was implacable, and that where fear was unknown the war field was the happy hunting ground. The rapid growth of learning, as well as piety, in the three centuries succeeding the conversion of Ireland proved that the country had not been until then without a preparation for the gift. Perhaps nothing human had so large an influence in the conversion of the Irish as the personal character St. Patrick. of our apostle. By nature, by grace, and by providential training he had been especially fitted for his task. Everywhere we can trace the might and sweetness that belonged to his character; the versatile mind, yet the simple heart; the varying tact,yet the fixed resolve; the large desire tak ing counsel from all, yet the minute so licitude for each; the fiery zeal, yet the gentle temper; the skill in using means, yet the reliance in God alone: the readiness in action, with a willing cess to wait; the habitual self-pos session, yet the outburst of an in spiration, which raised him above him self—the abiding consciousness of an authority—an authority in him. but not of him, and yet the ever present humility. Above all, there burned in him that boundless love which seems the main constituent of apostolic char acter. It wsb love for God; but it was love for man also, an impassioned love, a parental compassion. Wrong and injustice to the poor he resented as an Injury to God. A just man, indeed, was St. Patrick; with purity of nature like the patri archs; a true pilgrim like Abraham; gentle and forgiving of heart like Moses; a praiseworthy psalmist like David: an emulator of wisdom like Solomon; a chosen vessel for pro claiming truth like the Apostle Paul; a man of grace and of knowledge or the Holy Ghost like the beloved John; a lion in strength and power; a dove in gentleness and humility; a servant of labor in the service of Christ; a king in dignity and might, for bind ing and loosening, for liberating and convicting.