106 DEPARTMENTAL REPOETS. 



request was that the commission miglit obtain and make public an 

 authoritative statement of how the preserve sliould be handled if 

 under actual forest management, and upon this basis make definite 

 recommendations to the State legislature. The sum of $2,000 was 

 appropriated by the legislature for the expenses of the agents of the 

 Division in this work, and two foresters in the employ of the State 

 were placed at the disposal of the Division. The work was organized 

 at the close of the year at Raquette Lake, Hamilton County, N. Y. 



EXPENDITURES. 



The total expenditures during the year under the ledger head of 

 "Working plans," were 112,476, or 25.7 per cent of the total appropria- 

 tion. The total amount of money contributed by private owners to 

 the expenses of preparing working plans upon their tracts was 11,750. 



SECTION OF ECONOMIC TREE PLANTING. 

 COOPERATIVE TREE PLANTING. 



The plan of cooperative tree planting outlined in Circular No. 22 of 

 the Division was put into operation during the year. The farms of the 

 earliest apx)licants were visited in September, 1899, and from that 

 time until the close of the fiscal year planting plans were made for 59 

 applicants. The work extended from New York to California and 

 from North Dakota to Texas, but it centered in the States of the Plains, 

 where the necessity for wood lots, wind-breaks, and shelter belts is 

 very great. During the year planting plans were made for 3 appli- 

 cants in Texas, 12 in Oklahoma, 26 in Kansas, 6 in Nebraska, 5 in 

 North Dakota, 2 in Iowa, and 1 each in New York, Minnesota, New 

 Mexico, Colorado, and California. 



In connection with cooperative tree planting in the Plains region, 

 an excellent opportunity occurs for the study of the natural encroach- 

 ment of trees upon the Plains. This work has been pursued during 

 the year by the members of the Division working in that region. It 

 is of great value in giving more accurate information upon the adapta- 

 bility of different species of indigenous trees for planting on the Plains. 



Special investigations and experiments were made in forest-tree 

 planting at Ridgway, Pa., and examinations of tracts of land were 

 made in Maine and Pennsylvania, and reports submitted regarding 

 their management, with special reference to planting. 



STUDIES OF GROWING PLANTATIONS. 



Careful measurements of the results of plantations alreadj^ made 

 resulted in much valuable material, a part of which was published in 

 Bulletin 27 of the Division. In addition, local investigations relating 

 directly to trees and tree planting were carried on in 5 States by col- 

 laborators of the Division. 



FORESTS AND WATER SUPPLY. 



An opportunitj^ which is believed to be without parallel for the study 

 of the relation of forest cover to the fiow of streams was sought and 

 found in southern Calif ornia upon the lands of the Arrowhead Reser- 

 voir Company, whose observations of precipitation, run-off, evapora- 

 tion, and temperature for eight years, through the courtesy of the 



