20 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



and efficient labor. Planting work is 

 always of short duration. For climatic 

 reasons it lasts only for six weeks or 

 two months at best, and it comes at a 

 time of the year when all lines of work 

 are opening up and labor is in great 

 demand. The ordinary laborer is 

 wholly unskilled in the art of planting, 

 and usually does not display a very 

 lively interest in the fine points of the 

 work. It is necessary therefore to have 

 a constant close supervision of the men 

 by a forest officer to insure careful 

 work. An officer can supervise from 

 25 to 30 workmen after they have be- 

 come efficient, but for the first two days 

 during the period of instruction fifteen 

 men will keep him very busy. Because 

 of the cost of breaking in men to the 

 work, it is very desirable to keep the 

 same men throughout the season, and 

 so far as possible to secure the same 

 men in successive years, for it is a note- 

 worthy fact wherever the same men are 

 secured on successive years they begin 

 to take an interest in the work, are far 

 more efficient and require much less su- 

 pervision. In order to eliminate the 

 drifting tramp labor as much as possible 

 it has been found necessary to hire the 

 men with the understanding that no 

 compensation will be allowed any man 

 who does not remain more than three 

 days, and only half pay is allowed if he 

 does not stay one week. In 1912 the 

 men were paid $1.70 per day with 

 board. They were housed in tents and 

 provided with straw upon which to 

 spread their blankets. Competent camp 

 cooks were employed and the men re- 

 ceived substantial board at a Govern- 

 ment mess. The cost to the Forest 

 Service of subsistence per man per day 

 was $0.58, making the total cost per 

 man per eight-hour day $2.28. The 

 number of higher salaried men required 

 to supervise the work raised the aver- 

 age cost to $2 AS per man per day. 

 From forty to sixty laborers were em- 

 ployed on the job, the number fluctuat- 

 ing up or down with fair or stormy 

 weather. It is one of the peculiar 

 vagaries of laboring men that, though 

 they may be working very contentedly, 

 let there come a slight interruption and 

 it becomes the signal for general quit- 



ting even though they have no prospects 

 of anything better elsewhere. Much 

 difficulty was experienced in this re- 

 spect during last spring's operations. 

 Periodic storms which precipitated from 

 live to thirty inches of snow occurred 

 up until the latter part of May. Dur- 

 ing these storms the temperature never 

 dropped to freezing and the snow 

 quickly disappeared. The occurrence of 

 each storm was, however, the occasion 

 lor an exodus from camp. This is one 

 of the most serious problems met with 

 in planting work, for it increases the 

 cost very materially, and the man in 

 charge must tax his ingenuity to keep 

 the crew contented. 



A few measures which have been suc- 

 cessful to some degree to keep the 

 planting crew contented are: (1) pro- 

 vide good food; (2) furnish plenty of 

 straw for bedding; (3) furnish each 

 tent with a camp heater; (4) provide 

 reading matter, current magazines pre- 

 ferred ; (5) prohibit gambling and the 

 bringing of liquor into camp; (6) have 

 the cook keep a small stock of chewing 

 and smoking tobacco, socks and canvas 

 gloves for the accommodation of the 

 men; (7) keep a simple shoe-repairing 

 outfit on hand for their use; (8) pro- 

 vide facilities for washing clothes. 

 Some attention ~to such details has 

 proven well worth while. 



The economic value of this reforesta- 

 tion work is a matter well worth con- 

 siderataion. Is the benefit to be derived 

 from these plantations commensurate 

 with the cost of establishing and pro- 

 tecting them? As foresters and con- 

 servationists we have always maintained 

 that reforestation work on lands which 

 formerly bore forest and which are not 

 better suited for other purposes is jus- 

 tifiable. However, in the Pike's Peak 

 region the nature of a large part of 

 the treeless areas is so inhospitable that 

 it is a question whether sufficiently high 

 returns could be realized if the stands 

 were established solely for the produc- 

 tion of timber. Other economic consid- 

 erations must therefore enter into the 

 valuation of this reforestation work if 

 we are to show justification for the esti- 

 mated expenditure of $80,000 on this 

 planting work. 



