Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-12-14
Conserving
Bufaloes.

L tCCh puTc-ptOouCu wa
Conserving faloes, or. more properly
ur., bison, from the Bronx
ouA@1oeS' Park Zoo in New York
| to the new national bison range on the
Wind Cave National Park in the west
ern section of South Dakota. The crat-
ing and transporting Of the large ami
mails. whose ancestors once swarmed the
western prairies, were in charge of Frank
Rush. an old cowpuncher and experience
ed buffalo man. who is game warden in
charge Of the herd of bunaloes on the
Wichita National Forest in Oklahoma.
| Mr.. Rush is said by government officials
| to know as much about the practical
problems of handling buffaloes as any
other man in the United States. and his
services were lent by the forest service
to the Interior Department, under whose
administration the national bison range
in South Dakota will come.
The fourteen buffa oes, which are report
ed to be splendid specimens, were pre-
sented to the government by the Amer1-
can Bison Society, a national organiZa-
ton. which is working to prevent the
extinction of the animal, which was once
so plentiful, and which during the early
days of western railroad extension and
settlement were killed by the thousands.
At the present time there are In the
United States and Canada in various
herds slightly less than 1900 pure-blood-
ed bison. The principal herds today are
| located in Canada, in the Yellowstone
National Park. in Salt Lake City, Utah.
in the Wichita National Forest in Okla
homa, in Montana, in the Blue Noun.
tain Forest in New Hampshire. at for'
Pierre. South Dakota, and smaller num-
bers of the animal are scattered over
the country in geological parks.
During the last Congress the sum OF
$4,000 was appropriated for the 1ehclIs
of the Wind Cave national game reserve
in the national park of the same name.
The country is thought to be ideal Tor the
purpose of re-establishing wild amman
life, and offers particularly good ioca-
ton for the building up OF a large ouI-
falo herd. Game Warden Rush Will see
that the buffaloes safely chartered In
their new home, and then will leave Tor
his regular station at Cache, Okla, where
the Wichita herd is located. The Wind
Cave herd will be in charge of +. M.
Dille formerly of the United States bio
logical survey, and now acting superln-
tendent Of Wind Cave National Park.
If the work of caring for and develop
ing the buffalo herd In the Wind Cave Ma
tional Park is successful, as 1t has Deen
at the Wichita reserve under the direction
of Mr.. Rush. 1t may be expected that the
establishment of the new bison range will
go long way toward giving back to the
west many of the noble animals which
formerly charged at will over the plains.
The Wichita herd was started about
seven years ago with fifteen buffaloes
which were presented to the United States
government by the American Bison So
ciety. and the herd has now increased
until it contains a total OF forty Eight
full blooded animals, of which twenty
seven are males and twentv-one females.
All of the bison are in splendid condition.
At the Oklahoma reserve considerable
difficulty was experienced at first because
of fear Of the Texas fever tick. By care
full burning of the range, however. and
the use of oil sprays on the animals. the
various officers prevented the loss of the
herd which was predicted by old cattle
men of the southwest. Only two of the
animals were lost from any cause. The
work of freeing the ranges from fever
ticks was gradually extended, and for a
number of years not single loss from
fever has occurred. as result of the con-
slant care and watchfulness of the Off
GERS in charge of the game preserves.
The herd has almost quadrupled in num-
Der since it was established.
X !.
Uncle Sam has 10000 seedlings of the
famous Chinese wood oil tree which are
ready for free distribu-
Chinese Trees ton among groups of
for Varnish. ten or more farmers IN
the United States. who are willing to ex-
pertinent with this famous oriental tree,
whose fruit supplies one Of the most val
liable of the so-called drying oils used
in making the better grades of varnishes.
These seedlings were grown at the gov
eminent experiment station at Chico.
Cal, under the direction of the bureau of
plant industry, and while they will be dis
tributed free to groups of farmers who
wish to experiment with the tree, the
government cannot send out so large
number of the trees carelessly to people
who do not wish seriously to test out the
value of the tree in their own community.
For those who do not know the wood Oil
tree or the Tung tree. as it is more prop
erly known. it may be said that it yields a
nut from which the Chinese extract one of
the best known drying" oils which are
used In the manufacture of varnishes.
That the tree can be grown successfully
in this country has already been proved,
and future experiments will be directed
merely along the line of testing out It's
commercial value as secondary crop.
The tree will probably grow in all sec
tons of the country where the tempera-
ture does not drop below four degrees
above zero. Among states in which it
has already been grown successfully are
included Georgia, South Carolina, Ala
bafna, Florida, Louisiana, mississippi,
Texas and California.
At the present time the people of the
United States pay between 100000 and
100000 in tribute every year to wood
oil producers of China, merely because of
the fact that the tree is not grown on a
commercial scale at the present time in
this country.
The quantity of wood oil, or Tung oil,
imported into this country every year at
the present time amounts to more than
100000 gallons, and it has been esti-
mated that on 10000 acres of land,
with the trees planted twenty feet apart,
all the Tung oil needed drying oil for
the manufacture of American varnishes
could be supplied. One hundred and
twenty thousand acres would be a very
large plantation If owned by one man,
but in reality 1t is only about 25O square
miles, and far larger amounts of ADAM
doned farm lancs than this lie in
number Of states; and if the large area
were divided amcng thousands of farm
ers throughout the southern and south
western states much money could be
saved to the varnish manufacturers of
this country and at the same time land
now wasted could be put to profitable
use.
Fortunately the wood oil tree can be
grown on land which is comparatively
poor and which is unsuited for other
crops. A net profit of at least $40 an
acre is estimated for the value of the an
nual yield on the poorest kind of land.
The trees begin to yield at five or six
years of age, and probably reach their
normal yield when about ten years old,
continuing productive for about forty
years, which is the limit of their life.