70 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



wherever its provisions have been applied. On the average every 

 doHar expended by the Federal Government has resulted in the 

 expenditure of at least $2 by the State and private owner, and I look 

 for this ratio to increase as the benefits of protection become clearly 

 apparent. The sum appropriated will be exhausted by the year 1914. 

 A further appropriation to permit this work to be continued and 

 extended into new States is, in my judgment, highly desirable. 



FOREST INVESTIGATIONS. 



Experimental studies conducted on the National Forests, in addi- 

 tion to those having to do with reforestation, yielded results which 

 will be of the greatest usefulness in arriving at the best methods of 

 management and protection, and in determining forest influences, 

 the characteristics of different forest types, and the growth, volume, 

 and yield of important tree species. The utility of these studies is, 

 in fact, twofold; for they not only furnish the necessary scientific 

 basis for National Forest management, but also supply knowledge 

 indispensable for the application of forestry to private timberlands 

 throughout the West. The principal agency for conducting such 

 investigations is the experiment headquarters which have been estab- 

 lished on Forests affording conditions typical of a wide region, 

 though the work is supplemented by field studies conducted in many 

 different localities. Two new stations were established during the 

 year. Though none of the stations has been established more than a 

 few years, the results already secured have been of the greatest assist- 

 ance in the actual work of forest management. Leading in the work 

 of the past year were studies of the best silvicultural systems and 

 degrees of cutting to secure natural reproduction ; the effect of forest 

 cover on streamflow, excessive wind movement, and evaporation; the 

 damage caused by light surface fires ; the deterioration of fire-killed 

 timber; and the growth, yield, utilization, and life history of five 

 important western trees. 



Besides the investigations conducted on the National Forests, silvi- 

 cultural and other studies were carried on to obtain information 

 applicable to the best management of woodlands in all parts of the 

 country. Aside from their use in the particular study for which 

 they are gathered, the data and measurements collected in the course 

 of silvicultural studies, taken together, furnish a basis upon which 

 it is possible to establish laws and relationships of tree growth of 

 the greatest value to those having to do with the study or manage- 

 ment of timberlands. Dendrological investigations included studies 

 of the distinguishing structural characteristics of important native 

 trees and of foreign woods for which inferior substitutes are likely 

 to be placed upon the American market. 



