108 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



STUDIES OF NORTH AMERICAN FORESTS. 



Reports on the Red Cedar, the White Cedar, and the Cypress, and 

 upon four commercial oaks were comijleted during the year, but not 

 carried tlirough to publication. In cooperation with the forest divis- 

 ion of the United States Geological Survey, reports were completed 

 upon the White River Plateau and Battlement Mesa forest reserves, 

 and the field work for similar reports on the Stanislaus and Lake 

 Tahoe reserves and adjacent regions was done, including a study of 

 fire and grazing. In cooperation with the State geologist of Mary- 

 land, an examination and a report were completed for Allegam^ County. 

 Three of the reports prepared in cooperation Avere in print at the end 

 of the year. 



A .short account of the Big Trees of California was prepared for 

 the Senate Committee on Public Lands, and was published, fully 

 illustrated with maps and reproductions from photograj)lis, as Sen- 

 ate Document 393, Fifty-sixth Congress, first session. The maps of 

 the distribution of Big Trees in Fresno and Tulare counties, with 

 tables of ownership, were prepared by Prof. W. R. Dudlej^ of Stan- 

 ford University, a collaborator of this Division, and are of original 

 and peculiar value. 



An investigation was made of the forest on the watershed of Rock 

 River, in northern Illinois, where severe cutting, coupled with excess- 

 ive artificial drainage, has very harmfully affected the regimen of the 

 stream. 



EXHIBIT AT THE PARIS EXPOSITION. 



An exhibit along somewhat new lines, consisting mainly of various 

 types of photographs and transparencies, was prepared for the Paris 

 Exposition, illustrating the relation of forests to agriculture in the 

 United States. In addition to maps, a few specimens, and a large 

 number of photographs, carefullj^ chosen and described, the exhibit 

 includes colored transparencies, 6 by 10 feet in size, of tjq^ical forest 

 and agricultural lands, which are believed to be the largest ever made. 

 Without the kindh^ cooperation of the Director of the United States 

 Geological Survey these notable transparencies could not have been 

 I)repared. 



PHOTOGRAPHIC FOREST DESCRIPTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Because of insufficient funds, the photographic laboratoiy has but 

 recently been placed on an effective working basis. The work accom- 

 plished during the past year was little more than enough to secure 

 and preserve the new records of the season. Nevertheless, about 

 1,400 prints from various sources were mounted and made ready for 

 filing, and some 3,000 new negatives were added to the collection. 



EXPENDITURES. 



The total expenditures of the section of special investigations were 

 $15,288.40, or 31.5 ])er cent of the total appropriation. 



SECTION OF OFFICE WORK. 

 CORRESPONDENCE. 



The very notable increase in the amount of correspondence, which 

 was about twice as large as in the preceding year, required the assign- 

 ment of a special file clerk and the establishment of separate files for 



