334 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



timber growth from the 14,000,000,000 cubic feet possible under 

 crude methods to the maximum obtainable from the same land by in- 

 tensive forestry. 



A forest experiment station is a group of investigators trained in 

 forestry with headquarters at some central point where facilities 

 for scientific work are available and with a dozen or more field sta- 

 tions located in the principal forest types of the surrounding region. 

 Many of these field stations are placed on private lands under co- 

 operative agreements with the owners. They include nurseries and 

 demonstration plots, where the costs and possibilities of tree plant- 

 ing are worked out; sample thinning and felling areas, where va- 

 rious methods of cutting and natural reseeding are tested; and other 

 plots where accurate measurements are carried on to determine the 

 growth rate of important commercial trees and the yields of wood 

 from stands of different ages. Slash disposal, the protection of 

 forests from fire and other destructive agencies, and the relation 

 between forests and stream flow are also covered in the work plans 

 of forest experiment stations. 



The importance of such research is realized when we recall that 

 our annual forest fire loss amounts to over $16,000,000 ; that we have 

 81,000,000 acres of denuded and nonrestocking forest lands, a large 

 part of which will require planting; that by managing our forests 

 intelligently we can increase their growth of wood four and one-half 

 times; and that the primary industries which depend upon forests 

 for their raw material have an annual product of $2,500,000,000. 

 The importance of the great interests at stake has led the Forest 

 Service to urge the establishment of forest experiment stations in 

 each of the important timber-producing regions of the United States. 



As a part of this general program, two new stations, one in the 

 Northeast and one in the Lake States, began work shortly after 

 July 1 of this year, as a result of the appropriation made by the last 

 Congress. These stations are on a more nearly adequate scale than 

 any of those previously established, both as to personnel and as to 

 equipment. Each of them is regional in character. The north- 

 eastern station is studying the forest problems of New England and 

 New York; the Lake States station, those of Michigan, Wisconsin, 

 and Minnesota. The work will be carried on chiefly at several field 

 centers representative of large areas of forest in each region. The 

 stations are first of all familiarizing themselves with the work al- 

 ready under way and developing cooperation with local agencies in 

 the field, so that the investigative work in the region may be coor- 

 dinated and unified to the advantage of all the forest interests. 



Many of the problems which the forest experiment stations study 

 are closely related to those which form part of the work of the 

 agricultural colleges and experiment stations. Joint study with 

 the agricultural colleges and experiment stations of related problems 

 of climate, soil, plant growth, and the economics of land use is 

 obviously desirable. Accordingly, in establishing the headquarters 

 of the two new forest experiment stations cooperation with agri- 

 cultural colleges in their regions has been arranged for. 



Good progress was made during the year in the other regions. 

 Studies of fire damage and of the relation between fire hazard and 

 weather conditions in the Northwest, in California, and in the 



