DEPARTMENT KEPORTS. 53 



REPORT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY. 



The President, Michigan Agricultural College. 



Sir — I have the honor to submit the following report for the Depart- 

 ment of Forestry for the year ending June 30, 1919. 



The work of instruction, while following the sources described in the 

 catalog as closely as possible, was light in the fall term owing to the fact 

 that there were few regular students. Conditions being more normal in the 

 winter term it became necessary to give certain fall term courses which 

 were pre-requisite to the winter term work and for this reason some 

 courses were given twice duringthe year. The teaching work for the year 

 was as follows: 



Number of Number of 



Classes Students 



A. K. Chittenden 9 128 



F. H. Sanford 8 36 



During the fall term Professor Sanford assisted in gymnasium work. 

 The courses in Forest Policy and Forest Products have been changed so 

 as to have as great a bearing on reconstruction problems as possible and 

 certain other courses were slightly modified during the year for the same 

 reason. 



The war apparently stimulated interest in forest planting, the demand 

 for small trees this s'pring being unusually large. The department has 

 endeavored to secure the reforestation of areas of valuable timber that 

 were cut for war-time purposes and has particularly urged the planting of 

 black walnut in the southern part of the state as this timber was heavily 

 drawn on for gunstocks and airplane construction. Planting stock 

 amounting to 178,000 trees was shipped from the forest nursery during 

 the year. The nursery is in excellent condition, last year's seed beds 

 being particularly good. The Christmas tree plantation which was es- 

 tablished several years ago was completely cut over this year. Thin- 

 nings had been made in it for the last three years and it proved remark- 

 ably successful. A new plantation was set out this spring. Some under- 

 planting w^as also done in the older plantations in the nursery. These 

 plantations are becoming very valuable for instructional as well as ex- 

 perimental work. 



The sugar bush in the river woodlot was operated as usual, the demand 

 for syrup being again heavy. A gasoline drag saw was obtained for 

 use in cutting cordwood and has resulted in a saving of labor. 



The experimental work in the sugar bush was continued. This work 

 involves a study of sap flow and will of necessity cover several years, but 

 data so far collected shows more uniformity than had been expected. It 

 is the intention to publish the results from year to year as they become 

 available. 



The sand dune fixation work was also continued. A large number of 

 trees were planted on demonstration areas near Muskegon and Holland. 

 The interest taken in this work by the community was shown by the num- 

 ber of farmers who came out to assist in the planting. The department is 

 keeping in close touch with demonstration areas already estabhshed and 

 is studying the growth and behavior of the trees under these trying con- 

 ditions. 



Experimental work was also (ippe on^^the^rooting of^cedar cuttings. 



