538 BOAKD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Now it may be interesting to you to know just what is done in making 

 a working plan. In tlie first place tlie owner must express a desire to 

 have a plan of management laid down for his forest. This he usually 

 does by writing to the Bureau. The Bureau then sends a trained man to 

 examine the tract who writes up a report stating in some detail what 

 conditions he finds there and whether or not he thinks it would pay the 

 man to go to sufficient expense to have a working plan made for the 

 tract. This report is made entirely at the expense of the Bureau. If 

 this report shows that a working plan should be made an agreement 

 is then entered into between the owner and the Bureau to the effect that 

 the Bureau will pay the salaries and the owner shall pay the expenses of 

 the men Avhile making the working plan. The working plan after it is 

 finished usually includes— 



1. Maps showing the boundaries of the tract, ridges, rivers, ponds, 

 roads, types of timber, contour lines if hilly, cut-over land, burned 

 land, waste land, and anything else of a kindred nature that the 

 individual tract would suggest. 



2. A description of the forest by division, natural or artificial. 



3. Tables of yield based on the study of the growth of the different 

 trees tmder conditions now prevailing on the tract, showing how 

 much timber can be cut now, and at different periods in the future. 



4. An estimate of the merchantable timber. 



5. Methods and cost of lumbering. 



6. A study of the reproduction of the forest spccio.s, and a plan for 

 cutting the mature trees with least injury to the young gi-owth. 



7. A plan for the protection of the forest against fire. 



8. If the forest is too dense, the plan will include instructions for 

 thinning. If too thin, a plan for increasing its density. 



9. If the tract has large areas to be planted, it will include directions 

 for making and caring for a nursery and the selection of species 

 most suitable for the location. 



10. A plan for the management of the tract. 



In making a commercial tree study there are four conditions included: 



1. Commercial considerations. 



2. Biological. 



3. Silvicultural. 



4. Exploitation. 



The first or commercial consideration is the one to which most atten- 

 tion is given, and some of the things included in this study are: 



A. The area of commercial distribution of the given species in the 

 various states. 



B. Average stand per acre in the different localities of the occurrence 

 of the species. 



(These two studies furnish a basis for a map showing the 

 commercial distribution of the species and ilhislrate by colors the 

 variations in the stand In different localities.) 



