374 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



During the past year, in accordance with the policy of the Depart- 

 ment, the work was materially expanded. Reforestation of large 

 National Forest areas was entered upon, along with continued inves- 

 tigations. In all 25,230.51 acres were covered at a cost for seed, 

 nursery stock, equipment, and labor of $133,802.01. Additional ex- 

 penditures for the maintenance of nurseries, the ])roduction of 

 nursery stock to be used in subsequent years, and Mie collection of 

 seed to be sown in the fall of 1911 and the spring of 1912 aggregated 

 $69,400. 



To place the reforestation work on a thoroughly sound basis it will 

 be essential to continue intensive experiments for many years. The 

 latter should be supplemented, however, by the application of the 

 most successful methods, as they are developed, to large areas where 

 the best natural conditions are found. It will be practicable for the 

 Service, as now organized and equipped, to reforest 30,000 acres 

 annually. Any greater acreage should, in justice to the other respon- 

 sibilities of the Service, and particularly in justice to the maintenance 

 of efficient fire protection, be provided for by increases in the specifie 

 appropriation for this work. 



The acreage reforested annually should be mainly in the four 

 northern districts, where natural conditions are most favorable and 

 the best results have been obtained. In districts 3 and 5, embracing 

 Arizona, New Mexico, and California, immediate work should be 

 restricted to intensive experiments on a small scale. Extended 

 operations are not justified in these districts until successful methods 

 of meeting their adverse local conditions have been perfected. 



Two general methods of reforestation have been developed by the 

 experimental work conducted in the past : 



(1) Direct seeding, under which tree seed is sown upon the ground 

 with or mthout simple forms of cultivation. 



(2) The growing of seedlings in nurseries under ideal conditions 

 as to soil, light, and moisture, to be transplanted into the field when 

 of suitable size. 



Direct seeding is the cheaper and more rapid method, but is nec- 

 essarily limited to sites whose soil and moisture conditions are excep- 

 tionally favorable to tree growth. The inability of the freshly ger- 

 minated seedling to establish itself except in comparatively moist 

 soil makes the success of this method on the semiarid Forests, subject 

 to prolonged dry seasons, very problematical. In such localities its 

 use must be restricted to experiments designed to determine the exact 

 range of conditions under which it is feasible. The main effort of 

 the Service has been given to direct seeding on areas where reason- 

 able success appeared to be assured. 



The planting of 2 or 3 year old seedlings largely overcomes the 

 adverse soil and moisture factors which appear to have made direct 

 seeding unsuccessful in many localities. This method, the general 

 practice in European forestry, must probably be employed to reforest 

 a considerable portion of the denuded lands. The growing and plant- 

 ing of nursery stock is carried on simultaneously wdth direct seeding, 

 but on a much smaller scale. Its object is to ascertain the compara- 

 tive results of the two methods, the sites on which the greater success 

 will be obtained from each, and the proper relation of the two meth- 

 ods in the future development of reforestation work. Conclusive 

 data on the comparative cost of seeding and planting have not yet 



