DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 61 



KEPOKT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY. 



Tlie President, Michigan Agricultural College: 



Sir— I have the honor to submit the following report for the Depart- 

 ment of Forestry for the year ending June 30, 1916, 



The work of instruction has been carried on during the year as de- 

 scribed in the College catalog, and also two short courses in forestry 

 were given in the winter term covering four and two weeks respectively. 

 The course in Farm Forestry, given to the freshmen, calls for three lect- 

 ure or recitation periods a week. In the past, one of these periods has 

 been devoted to outdoor laboratory work. Owing to the size of the class 

 and to the fact that one hour is not suflficient for laboratory work, the 

 out door work was given up this year and the course confined to lectures 

 and recitations. This increased the efficiency of the instruction and has 

 resulted in a better course. The minor changes made in a few of the 

 other courses have also worked out satisfactorily. 



Eight students went on the lumbering trip during the Christmas vaca- 

 tion to Davis, West Virginia, where the Babcock Lumber and Boom Com- 

 pany gave them every assistance in examining their operations and 

 plant. This trip was not required and was made at the request of the 

 students themselves. The Summer School was again held on the lands 

 of the Cummer-Diggins Company at Dayhuff Lake, near Cadillac, where 

 the company has kindly given us the use of a good set of buildings. The 

 students take a great deal of interest in this summer school work and it 

 is a valuable part of the course. The Forestry Club has been active, the 

 meetings were well attended, and many good speakers were obtained dur- 

 ing the year. 



Eleven men received the degree of B. S. in Foresti'y at Commence- 

 ment. Graduates of the department are obtaining positions in increas- 

 ing numbers with lumber companies and timber preservation concerns. 

 Such employment of men trained in forestry promises that in the fu- 

 ture the timber resources of the country will be conserved as they have 

 not been in the past. 



The maple syrup plant which was established last year was again 

 operated successfully. Two hundred additional trees were tapped this 

 year, bringing the number of buckets hung up to six hundred. Experi- 

 mental work is being carried on with a view to determining the effect on 

 yield of sap and on the trees, of hanging from two to five buckets on a 

 tree, and an accurate record of costs of production is being kept. 



Experimental planting on the jack pine plains, adjacent to the Col- 

 lege lands in Iosco and Alcona counties, has been started in order to 

 determine whether rapidly growing trees suitable for pulpwood, such as 

 poplars and aspen, cannot be raised there. If practicable, such trees 

 could be harvested for this purpose at a much younger age than would 

 be required for saw logs and their production would furnish a profitable 

 u.se for such lands. Carolina poplar cuttings have been furnished both 



