FOREST SERVICE. 505 



would be a great safeguard in the protection of the forests. With- 

 out it the Secretary of Agriculture would either have to create a defi- 

 ciency or fail to protect the forests. 



BEFORESTATION. 



Policy and DE^•ET.0PME^rT. — As outlined in the report for last year, 

 reforestation work includes continued experimentation and investi- 

 gation to find the cheapest and best methods and the seeding and 

 planting of approximately 30,000 acres annually. 



Some results of the experimental work are given under the head- 

 ing " Forest investigations." Reforestation of an intensive char- 

 acter was confined to the experiment stations and to districts 3 and 

 6, where, on account of unfavorable climatic conditions, failures with 

 reforestation on a large scale have been so persistent that such work 

 should clearly be postponed until methods which promise success can 

 be developed. 



The tentative distribution among the districts of the area to be re- 

 forested annually is: District 1, 9,000 acres; district 2, 6,000; district 

 3, 500 (experimental only) ; district 4, 6,000; district 5, 500 (experi- 

 mental only) ; district 6, 9,000. 



The reforestation will be by two methods — direct seeding and 

 planting. The area to be planted will depend upon the nursery stock 

 produced. The annual capacity of the existing nurseries will be in- 

 creased only where it can be done without increasing the cost of main- 

 tenance, or where some specific local condition or very definite ad- 

 vantage from such an increase requires such action. In general, the 

 total cost for nursery work for the next few years will remain close 

 to its present figure. AVith the nurseries maintained at approxi- 

 mately their present capacity, resources will be available for planting 

 nursery stock as it reaches the right size and for seeding to bring the 

 total covered by both methods as nearly as possible to the 30,000 acres 

 planned for. 



During the past year, to insure the selection of the most favorable 

 areas, a definite policy was put into effect of making a detailed plant- 

 ing reconnoissance previous to actual reforestation. AVliere accu- 

 rate maps are not in existence, the topography is mapped in detail. 



To a greater extent than in the past, work was concentrated on a 

 few selected forests and upon one or two definite sites on each forest. 

 This was done both in planting and in direct seeding, but partic- 

 ularly in the latter. The desirability of concentration has been 

 clearly established. It makes possible the preparation of more de- 

 tailed plans previous to the commencement of the work, the securing 

 of a large supply of temporary labor through advertisement, the 

 reduction of overhead charges, closer and more efficient supervision, 

 and the covering of a larger acreage with the same amount of money. 

 It also facilitates the employment of a small force of well-trained 

 men. 



More careful organization of seed collecting and extracting oper- 

 ations has secured more economical methods in this line of work. 

 Seed-collecting operations by the service were confined largely to 

 yellow pine, Douglas fir, lodgepole pine, western white pine, and 

 Engelmann sj)ruce. The large mechanical seed-extracting plants 

 mentioned in last year's report were completed — one for yellow pine 



