168 ANNUAL EEPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



REFORESTATION, 



The reforestation of denuded lands within the National Forests 

 is being systematized along the lines previously developed by experi- 

 mentation. Extensive operations are being concentrated more and 

 more upon the most favorable sites; where success is problematical, 

 work is restricted to experiments on a very small scale. The major 

 areas reforested are the recent burns in heavily timbered belts, such 

 as white-pine burns in northern Idaho, yellow-pine burns in the 

 Black Hills of South Dakota, spruce and lodgepole burns in the 

 central Rocky Mountains, and Douglas-fir burns on the northern 

 Pacific coast. 



Direct seeding was continued this year on nearly as large a scale 

 as in 1914, a total of 5,876 acres being sowed. This was desirable to 

 complete projects which had been laid out and upon which previous 

 work had been done, and to utilize the supplies of seed which had 

 been obtained. Hereafter this work will be confined to a few areas 

 on the Black Hills and elsewhere where the most successful results 

 have been obtained. The area planted, 9,731 acres, fell short of ex- 

 pectations on account of losses of planting stock at several of the 

 nurseries, due to delayed germination and severe weather conditions. 

 The area planted annually will be kept normally at 14,000 or 15,000 

 acres. 



The cost of the areas reforested averaged $10 per acre for planta- 

 tions and $4.39 per acre for direct seeding. The cost of the planta- 

 tions was increased somewhat by the reduced output of some nurs- 

 eries. A total of 7,208,000 trees was planted, mainly Douglas fir, 

 yellow pine, western white pine, Engelmann spruce, and other com- 

 mercially important western conifers. ' Field seeding projects used 

 23,692 pounds of seed. 



The principal expansion in reforestation work is in the National 

 Forests of the Lake States, where excellent opportunities are offered 

 for the restoration of denuded lands to timber production. It was 

 decided to terminate nursery and planting operations on the Kansas 

 National Forest, where very adverse climatic conditions make the 

 cost of plantations unduly heavy. The results gained have been valu- , 

 able as experiments, but do not justify the permanent continuance of 

 the work. The Garden City Nursery has, therefore, been dismantled, 

 and all operations will be terminated with the planting out of the 

 last remaining stock. Favorable results continue to be obtained in 

 sand-hill planting in western Nebraska. A new nursery is being 

 established on the Niobrara division of the Nebraska National For- 

 est to extend reforestation operations to that division, pursuant to a 

 special provision of the appropriation act for 1915. This will mean 

 a material enlargement in the reforestation work in western Ne- 

 braska by 1917 or 1918, along the lines which have been developed 

 previously at Halsey. 



The results of a small plantation of maritime pine, the leading tree 

 for the production of naval stores in Europe, on sand barrens on the 

 Florida National Forest have been so encouraging as to make it ad- 

 visable to establish a plantation of 1,000 or 1,200 acres of this species 

 in order to make a thorough test of its adaptability to soil and cli- 

 matic conditions on sandy lands in the Southeastern States and of 

 its suitability for the production of naval stores in this region. 



