The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1909-10-19
WASHINGTON. NEWS
MIssouLlAN's SPECIAL SERVICE.

Washington. Oct 1S.-Post Commits
sary Sergeant William ]. Cobb. now
at san Francisco. has been ordered to
duty at Fort Missonla.
Private Wayne Howard. at Fort Mis-
soula. has purchased his discharge
from the army, as has also Private
Charles IL Kline at Fort Assinni-
boinc.
The war department has granted two
months leave of absence. beginning
November /. to First Lieutenant
Charles NJ. Gordon. Jr, at Fort Mis-
soula.
Cook Max Hcinze of Company /. at
Fort MissouIa. has been ordered to
take n cooking course ut the army
school ut Fort Riley. Kan.
w. G. Conrad of Great Falls was a
recent visitor here.
-
Italy. which ha4, suffered extremely
i'm the past from the ruins which fol-
lows the removal of protective forests.
is now among the leading NATIONS
working for the conservation OF forest
resources. Extensive operations in re
afforcstation have, been going on for
10 years. and the italian secretary of
agriculture has just published his re-
port on the progrtss made in THAI
time.
This report indicates that the Ita lian
10
value Of forests To the country. and
that 1t is determined to bring It's its
dercrestetf lands into Il fcrested state
as soon again as possible To attain
this end. pta ntingy operations have
been conducted a government land
to such an extent that during the last
2a years 122.O00 acres have been
plarfed in - Of the provinces of Italy.
IF uiis area. 6a.000 acres. or approxi-
mately los square miles. were planted
in the year 1907 alone, causing an out
lay of nearly 100000 and giving en-
p.oymert In IL large number OF men.
Reafforcstatinn has been carried ON
SO vigorously that there now remains
only about $4,000 acres of government
land In need of planting. In addition
tn conducting planting operations on
"A large scale. the Italian government
has during the last 10 years distributed
over isa.n1e.ooo Young trees and 237.-
600 pounds of seed. an amount suffici-
emit to restock approximately 100000
acres of land. IL the people in an ef-
fort to encourage planting and SOW
ing by private persons. As the forest
area of Italy amounts To only slight
~ more than 100000 acres. this
planting by the government aud nri-
vate persons amounts to approximate
~ one fnrtieth nj the total forest area
Of Italy. Further steps must he taken
by the government. however, before its
policy will prove the success of some
of its European neighbnrs.
Forest Fires stIr continue tn he III"
cause of heavy damage. During tn"
YEAR 1907. L2s4 fires We're reported
with an estimated loss Of S'si.4o0.
While this amount IL insignificant
when compared With the yearly loss
from fires in shc United States. it Is
large. relatively speaking. and would
he viewed almost rs a calamity in the
better managed German forest. Of
these fires 81 wer,- due tn criminal de-
sign, 90 to euipahle negligence. iS2 tn
accident, and the rest To unknown
causes.
Fire. however. is not the only enemy
af the Italian woods. The small land
owner often feils r.cklessly and some
times with good excuse because of the
heavy taxation of timber lands Large
tracts which used to be covered by a
thick growth Of chestnut have. even
during recent years. been stripped OF
every tree.
Like all other countries where for
estrv is successfully praeticed. Italy
must not only resort 10 planting the
cut-oser areas. but also perfect a sss-
tenn of fire protection and enact laws
To relieve timber lands of excessive
taxation.