254 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



ing regulations have generally appealed to the 

 sense of fairness of forests users, with the 

 result that willing compliance with, and 

 hearty cooperation in the enforcement of, the 

 regulations have been the rule, and cases of 

 willful violation have been of rare occurrence. 



)t' J^ }J? 



The Use of Hickory in the United States 



In cooperation with the National Hickory 

 Association, the U. S. Department of Agri- 

 culture has just completed a canvass of the 

 principal hickory-using establishments to as- 

 certain their annual requirements. In the 

 last few years the users of hickory have be- 

 come very much alarmed over the decreasing 

 supply; so far, however, it has been impos- 

 sible to get satisfactory statistics either of 

 the total quantity of hickory yet standing in 

 the forests or of the amount used each year. 

 This is partly because a great deal of hickory 

 is cut by small portable or stationary mills, 

 which, after consuming all the timber within 

 a radius of from two to eight miles, are 

 either sold or moved to new points. Much 

 hickory is also split into billets for spokes, 

 handles, etc., instead of being sawed into 

 lumber. Altogether, therefore, it is extremely 

 difficult to make even a fair estimate of the 

 total hickory consumption. 



While the figures gathered by the asso- 

 ciation and the department are not as com- 

 plete as were desired, they are at least signifi- 

 cant. Hickory is especially sought for the 

 inanufacture of vehicle parts and of handles, 

 in which great strength and toughness, to- 

 gether v^ith moderate weight, are essential. 

 It is estirnated that, in the manufacture of 

 their special products, the hickory-using es- 

 tablishments consume the equivalent of the 

 following: 



Product Board feet 



For spokes 45,000,000 



For handles 29,000,000 



For poles and shafts 18,000,000 



For rims 16,000,000 



For singletrees, doubletrees, neck- 

 yokes, and bolsters 16,000,000 



For axles 6.000,000 



For sucker rods 1.000,000 



For vehicle gear woods 600,000 



Total 131,600,000 



In addition to the hickory which is made 

 directly into these special forms there is man- 

 ufactured each year about 200,000,000 feet of 

 hickory lumber, most of which is later re- 

 manufactured. The total quantity of hickory 

 cut in the United States each year is there- 

 fore equivalent to not less than 330,000,000 

 board feet. According to the reports of the 

 Bureau of the Census, the average value of 

 liickory lumber at the mill is about $30 per 

 thousand, while the high-grade material 

 which is necessary for the special uses listed 

 above is worth at least $50 per thousand. 

 This makes the total value at the mill of the 



annual hickory production not less than 

 $12,000,000. 



Hickory is one of our most useful woods, 

 but it constitutes only about two to five per 

 cent of the total stand of timber in our hard- 

 wood forests. It is widely distributed 

 throughout the eastern hardwood forests 

 and was formerly most abundant and of 

 unusually high quality in Indiana and Ohio. 

 The supply in these states, however, has 

 been greatly reduced by cutting, so that at 

 present Arkansas is distinctly in the lead in 

 hickory production, followed by Tennessee, 

 and then by Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. 



National Forest Work in Florida 



Florida is about to get its first practical ex- 

 perience _of the results of national forest ad- 

 ministration. A reconnaissance survey of 

 the Choctawhatchee Forest, which was put 

 under control of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture in November, 1908, by presidential 

 proclamation, is now being made by a force 

 of Forest Service experts. This survey will 

 furnish information in the light of which 

 use of the forests can be promoted through 

 properly regulated timber cutting, through 

 turpentining under the cup-and-gutter or the 

 cup-and-apron method, and through grazing, 

 without harm to the permanent value of the 

 forests. Florida was the first state east of 

 the Mississippi to have a national forest. 



The Choctawhatchee Forest containing ap- 

 proximately 467,606 acres, is located in the 

 western part of the state, along the Gulf, in 

 Walton and Santa Rosa Counties. The 

 Ocala Forest, embracing some 207,285 acres, 

 lies in the central part, the greater portion 

 of the forest being in Marion County, with a 

 small fraction in Lake. The two' forests 

 were placed under administration November 

 I, 1909. 



.\s long ago as 1825, Congress appropriated 

 $10,000 to buy live oak land on Santa Rosa 

 Sound to make sure of a supply of ship tim- 

 ber for our war vessels. This reservation, 

 together with other tracts subsequently set 

 aside, made a total of 208,224 acre's in 

 Florida timber lands which the government 

 proposed to hold as a source of supply for its 

 ships. Large quantities of acorns were 

 planted and many young oaks set out. But 

 the plantation was not a great success, and 

 the main eflfort was ultimately restricted to 

 thinning out, pruning, and other silvicultural 

 care of the trees of the natural forest. To- 

 day the new attempt at forestry in the Penin- 

 sular State promises much more encouraging 

 results. 



The party of eight Forest Service cruisers, 

 headed by A. B. Recknagel, Assi.^^tant Chief 

 of Silviculture at Albuquerque, New Mexico, 

 have already commenced operations near the 

 head of Little Alaqua. The crew will pro- 

 ceed westward to the western border of East 

 Bay River. An accurate survey of all the 



