102 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



ranges; of grown wolves, however, there were killed 25 per cent 

 more than in 1910. The work of freeing the ranges from prairie 

 dogs was carried on b}' the Forest Service for a part of the year and 

 then taken over by the Biological Survey; on the areas which have 

 been treated the infestation has been greatly reduced. The losses of 

 live stock from poisonous plants were reduced to a negligible point. 

 The Bureau of Plant Industry rendered indispensable assistance in 

 this work, as also in the study of the very important technical ques- 

 tions involved in the effort to improve the condition of depleted 

 portions of the range. 



A work of great importance to the development of use of the 

 range to its highest point was inaugurated in the form of plans for 

 technical reconnoissance on all the National Forests suitable for 

 grazing use, with the object of gathering exact data on all matters 

 which affect range management and the production of the forage 

 crop. This work will ascertain the character of all land within the 

 Forests, the kind of stock to which each natural grazing unit is best 

 adapted, the natural periods of use, the undergrazed, fully grazed, 

 and overgrazed ranges, and localities in which poisonous plants and 

 range-destroying rodents are found. 



Striking results were obtained in an experimental test of a sys- 

 tem of inclosures for lambing pastures, designed to decrease losses 

 and lessen injury to the range, and in continuation of the coyote- 

 proof pasture experiment. 



APPALACHIAN WORK. 



The act of March 1, 1911, commonly known as the Weeks Act, 

 made available for examining and purchasing forest lands in the 

 White Mountains and Southern Appalachians before the close of 

 the fiscal year 1911 the sum of $2,000,000. By the provisions of 

 this act I was authorized and directed to examine, locate, and rec- 

 ommend for purchase lands in my judgment necessary to the regula- 

 tion of navigable streams. Approval of all purchases was vested in 

 a commission of seven, created by the act; but purchases were to 

 be made only after field examinations by the Geological Survey had 

 established that control of the lands would promote or protect the 

 navigation of streams. It was provided that I should serve upon 

 the commission, and should purchase, in the name of the United 

 States, lands which the commission had passed upon favorably. 



Immediately upon the passage of the act I instructed the Forester 

 to organize and press forward the work of land examination. Field 

 information previously gathered made it possible to select at once a 

 number of specific areas within which the purchase of lands was 

 desirable. Proposals for the sale of lands within these areas were 

 invited on March 27. At the close of the fiscal year, on June 30, pro- 



