NATIONAL FOREST WORK 



255 



government land will be taken, the stumpage 

 estimated, and a report made of the number 

 of turpentine cups that, in accordance with 

 the latest federal regulations, may properly 

 be placed on the forest. 



When the cruisers have completed their 

 work on the Choctawhatchee, a similar in- 

 spection of the Ocala Forest will be made. 

 It is thougkt the surveys will engage the 

 force until the beginning of summer. Sites 

 have been selected for the rangers' houses, 

 to be built by contract. 



A local estimator figures that the country- 

 school and road funds will profit by the tur- 

 pentining, grazing, timber cutting, and other 

 receipts of the Choctawhatchee Forest to 

 the extent of $700 or $800 this first year, 

 since twenty-five per cent of all such reve- 

 nues is to go into these two funds. 



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The New Pine Tree Nursery of Montana 



The Forest Service is to have a new 

 nursery in Montana. The Savenac nursery, 

 the twenty-fifth of its kind maintained by 

 the Department of Agriculture for its forest 

 work, is situated in the Lolo National Forest 

 on Savenac Creek, Montana, near De Borgia. 

 The ground was plowed and harrowed last 

 fall, the irrigation ditches run, and an 

 ample water system installed. The tract will 

 be laid out in 150 beds, each four feet by 

 twelve. Over these will be broadcast the 

 best of the seeds of native conifers gathered 

 in the forest the past autumn. To prevent 

 mice and birds from eating the seeds each 

 bed will be protected by a lath and wire 

 frame. This will also serve to shade the 

 delicate plantlets during the tender period of 

 their first year's life. A water system will 

 supply the means of sprinkling the seeds and 

 irrigating the young trees during the warmer, 

 drier months. One man will be kept con- 

 stantly at work watering the thirsty soil and 

 otherwise caring for his interesting charge. 



The Savenac nursery will have an annual 

 productive capacity of 1,500,000 seedlings. 

 When one year old — beginning probably in 



the spring of 191 1 — these will be set out in 

 transplant beds, where they will be expected 

 to develop in two more years into respecta- 

 ble young trees. Thence they will be re- 

 moved to their permanent home in the hills 

 of the Lolo National Forest. Planting and 

 direct seeding will be done on the great 

 burned areas visible to passengers on the 

 trains of the Coeur d'Alene branch, and 

 also on extensive burns around the head 

 waters of the Rattlesnake River in the Mis- 

 soula Forest. The work is designed to add 

 to the national timber supply in the coming 

 years and to aid in the regulation of the 

 flow of Montana mountain waters. The 

 Savenac n^ursery will bring the aggregate an- 

 nual plant-producing capacity of the twenty- 

 five national forest nurseries up to 10,000,000 

 seedlings. 



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Government Improving Forests 



It will be a source of surprise to many 

 who do not understand the work of the 

 Forest Service to learn of the permanent 

 improvement work which has been carried 

 on in the National Forests. On the forests 

 of Arkansas, Arizona, and New Mexico the 

 Service spent during the last fiscal year 

 $68,923.84 for permanent improvements. The 

 primary object of expending money in this 

 way is to make the forests more accessible 

 to the public. Consequently a very large 

 percentage of this money was spent in the 

 construction and repair of roads and trails 

 and many miles of telephone lines were also 

 constructed. The report shows that a large 

 percentage of the money was expended in 

 the construction and repair of 253 miles of 

 trails, thirty-two miles of wagon road, and 

 206 miles of telephone lines. 



The stockmen residing within the boun- 

 daries of National Forests are receiving con- 

 siderable help from the Service through the 

 development of watering places. 



The Service further helps stockmen by 

 cooperating with them in the construction of 

 drift fences, which aid stockmen in handling 

 their stock. 



