The Woodcraft Girls in the City Part 25

"First I found that Alaska s.h.i.+pped 4,916,000 cases of salmon to the United States trade and the value of this s.h.i.+pment was over $23,800,000.

"Then I read that an attempt is being made to establish lobster beds on the Pacific Coast. Recently over 5400 crustaceans were s.h.i.+pped from Maine to Was.h.i.+ngton.

"Also, salmon worth $250,000. at the great canneries of the Northwest States left Seattle, Was.h.i.+ngton, for the New York markets. There were fifty trains packed full of cases holding cans of salmon.

"I learned that two great fish banks abounding in millions of sea ba.s.s have been discovered off Cape Fear bar on the North Carolina coast. One bank is more than three and a half miles wide and two and a half miles long.

"The Bureau of Fisheries report over $6,000,000. worth of fish brought into New England ports during the year of 1916. The fis.h.i.+ng fleets of Gloucester, Boston, and Portland total about 512 steamers and sailing vessels.

"At Boston alone the 3039 trips made by its vessels land annually over 98,500,000 pounds of fish valued at $2,159,895. At Portland the catch weighed about 20,800,000 pounds and was worth about $550,000. At Gloucester, the men caught about 66,500,000 pounds in 2864 trips and it was valued at $2,150,000.

"Besides our local fis.h.i.+ng ports, the United States Bureau sent 450 black ba.s.s, 500 rock ba.s.s, 1000 catfish, and 800 sunfish to Gatun Lake in the Ca.n.a.l Zone. They wish to experiment with the fish breeding in these southern waters to supply the demand of people living in that zone. The lake covers an area of 164 miles and offers an ideal place for fish, as it has many islands, shallow sandy sh.o.r.es, and deep and rocky banks, so that almost any fish-mother and house-keeper ought to be satisfied with conditions there."

As Nita finished reading, Mrs. Remington stood up and said: "O Chief! I think this plan of educational entertainment fine! Not only am I hearing news items of moment to every good citizen but you girls are being trained in composing essays worth while. I will, with permission of Wako Tribe, try this idea with my own girls."

"How!" responded the girls, and Miss Miller smiled with gratification at the compliment paid her girls and herself.

"It's Jane's turn now," said Zan, turning to the next reader.

"You gave me a poser, Miss Miller, as I couldn't say much about animal life that Woodcrafters did not know already. But I found that over $30,000,000 is invested in the black fox industry at Prince Edward Island, Canada. Insurance on these valuable animals runs as high as $1500 on a single skin. The fox farms are of recent origin and every successful scientific method is applied to the rearing and care of the foxes so that perfect and valuable furs will result.

"In St. Louis, Mo., a sale of undressed furs opened recently and more than 1,599,000 skins were sold at a valuation of $2,000,000.

"Then, I find that five big game reserves and sixty-seven bird reservations are maintained by the Biological Department of the United States Department of Agriculture. Among them are the Montana Bison Range, the Wind Game Preserves of South Dakota, the Elk Refuge in Wyoming, and the Niobrara Reservation which was intended for birds but has been stocked with buffalo and elk for the present.

"In 1892 the United States Government used its influence to establish a reindeer breeding industry in Alaska. In that year a herd was imported from Siberia and for ten consecutive years an annual importation continued from that country. In that time 1200 reindeer were brought to Alaska and now 70,000 deer graze the plains and valleys from Nome to the Aleutian Islands. Natives own about 46,000 of these deer; and in the public schools and other cla.s.ses the Indians are taught to judge deer, to train them for sledge-work, and to care for and breed them successfully."

"This is most interesting. Had anyone asked me offhand, if Alaska used reindeer for practical use I would have answered 'No, of course not, you have to go to Greenland and Siberia for them,'" said Fred Remington.

"Elena, your turn next," said Zan, as Fred sat down.

"I was given the paper about play-grounds or parks," explained Elena, opening her paper to read. "In Spain, all exceptionally picturesque or historical regions, forests, lands, or buildings, that the state may select, will be used for national parks. The natural beauty of the land, the fauna and flora, as well as the geological and water features of these parks, will be protected and provide suitable places of interest for everyone. The reigning king, finding that many natural fauna were disappearing from Spain, began this movement which will prove to be a good precedent for other countries to follow before it is too late.

"In our United States, over 1,500,000 people use the National Playgrounds each year, provided by the Government for the public. The present policy of the American Forestry a.s.sociation is to secure such disposition of public lands as will afford a maximum benefit and joy to the people.

"National Parks in Hawaii are a recent improvement. They cover 75,000 acres and include the crater areas and natural wonders of the three great Hawaiian volcanoes, Mauna Loa, Kilauea, and Haleakala. The latter, less familiarly known than the other two, has a crater 2000 feet deep and offers the greatest volcanic spectacle this side of the moon."

As Elena finished reading Zan turned and asked Anne Mason to read her paper.

"I was given the subject 'New and Interesting Manufactures Pertaining to Forest Products.' And most interesting it proved to be.

"The manufacture of fuel alcohol from pine sawdust is a new industry in connection with the sawmills in Texas and Louisiana. At Fullerton, La., a plant costing more than $750,000. is turning out more than 5,000 gallons of fuel alcohol a day.

"Also, more than twenty thousand tons of wood-flour valued at $300,000.

are annually used in the United States for the manufacture of dynamite and for inlaid linoleum. It is also used for making composition flooring, oat-meal wall paper, and other things. In the past, the great sawmills of the United States used half of this waste for fuel in their furnaces and the other half was burned as refuse and discard. Now, however, the huge waste product has found a way to be practically used instead of being burned.

"In the manufacture of linoleum the wood-flour is mixed with a cementing material, spread out on burlap, and rolled to form an even thickness.

The cement is the item that makes linoleum so expensive. Cork linoleum is cheaper as it uses less cement. Wood-flour linoleum is light-coloured while cork linoleum is always a dark brown and is slightly more elastic than that of wood-flour, but the wearing qualities are about the same.

"Wood-pulp can be made from many kinds of wood heretofore unused for this purpose. Samples of more than seventy kinds of paper made from wood-pulp have proven to be satisfactory. The cost of spruce-wood-pulp has increased in recent years with the scarcity of spruce, but now news-paper stock can be kept at the same price as in former years if the paper made from other woods proves to be acceptable to the printer. The tests showed that eleven new woods could be used for manufacturing manila paper and cardboards. But these woods are mostly grown in the West while the large plants for manufacturing products from wood-pulp are in the East. Some change of location must take place to deduct the cost of transportation of the raw wood to the mills, as this will prove to be a most important item in the cost to the consumer.

"There are over 30,000 sawmills in this country and the Forest Service is compiling a report as to the manufactures of each mill: the wood mostly used, the number of laths and s.h.i.+ngles made, and the quant.i.ty of lumber turned out annually.

"That's all I could collect in the short time allotted," said Anne, sitting down.

"It is more than I dreamed anyone could find to prove so interesting. I like this stunt-don't you girls?" commented Zan.

"How! How!" came the answer.

"Now May, what did you find for us?" said the Chief.

"I sought for items of interest about our waterways. I found that one of the greatest reservoirs and water regulating projects in New York State is the construction of two dams, one at Conklingville on the Sacandaga River, and the other at Tumblehead Falls on the Schroon River in the Adirondacks. The plan is to control the flow of the upper Hudson River so that the plants using water power shall have a steadier flow all Summer. The reservoir at Conklingville will be about 30 miles long and 5 miles wide. In the Schroon River it will be about 15 miles long and about 2 miles wide.

"In the Pend Oreille River, about 25 miles north of Spokane, Was.h.i.+ngton, a dam 375 feet higher than the bed of the river is constructed. It has an extreme length of 250 feet at the crest and will be 25 feet higher than the Arrow Rock Dam which was the highest in the world. The only site where this dam could be built was in a canon where the river runs 100 feet deep at low water and over 150 feet deep in flood-times."

May sat down and Mildred was called upon to read.

"I wasn't quite sure of what I was supposed to do, so I collected a few short notes-but I can do better next time, Miss-O Chief!" explained Mildred.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _A RACE, WHILE "WAKO" SAT ON THE FENCE._]

"I had 'crops' so I found that peanuts are the chief agricultural wealth of Madras, India. In 1916 there were over 1,700,000 acres planted and the yield of peanuts was estimated at about 600,000 tons. This last year the peanut crops from every country where they are grown are said to be double the harvest of any previous year."

"Ha! That's good news, for I love the plebeian nut!" laughed Zan, as Mildred sat down.

"Who's next to read?" continued the Chief, glancing at her list.

"I wrote up a paper about fruit, O Chief!" said Frances, now standing.

"Good! Let's hear it."

"The strawberry crops of 1916 were worth over $20,000,000 to the growers. This was considered a record breaker but the crops of 1917 exceeded those of the previous year about a third.

"The total fruit crops of this country amount to about $250,000,000 value annually and the 1917 products are said to be the heaviest yield for many years past. The census for canning and drying fruits and vegetables was taken from 3199 establishments in 1914 and the products were valued at $158,000,000. If such an enormous sum was invested in this work in 1914 we may well consider the tremendous wealth of the products of 1917, with such wonderful yield of crops and with everyone eager to preserve the bounty of fruit and vegetables given us by Nature.

"One of Portugal's exports is dried figs. Since the markets of Germany and Russia have been closed by the war, the largest trade held by the Portuguese is suspended. The only good market still open for these figs is the United States. Last year Portugal s.h.i.+pped over 10,500,000 pounds, valued at $400,000, to this country.

"The cocoanut industry promises to become one of Panama's main sources of trade. Cocoanut trees ought to be planted about 70 to the acre and when these mature, as they do in about five years' time, they bring forth about 100 cocoanuts to a tree every year. They bear fruit actively for more than twenty years, thus proving a good investment to the planter."

This reading was applauded by the audience and then Zan asked if Eleanor had complied with the request to write up some item.

"I have one but it really is not worth reading as my slip of paper asked for an article not half so interesting as the other girls had," replied Eleanor, with an unpleasant manner.

"In June, 1916, school children in all sections of Cincinnati, Ohio, were started on little gardens where flowers and vegetables, or small fruits were raised. The plan finally launched the window-gardens which have made such a great improvement in the appearance of the city streets. The beauty of the floral boxes so impressed the city authorities that they agreed to offer seeds free to any citizen who would plant and care for the flowers. This idea is now spreading to other large cities and people are encouraged to have flower boxes in their windows. When will our eastern cities take a forward step like this?"

As Eleanor sat down, Mrs. Remington said: "I wish our League would take up this movement for New York and adjoining large cities. An organization can do much more than a few individuals."