XXXVIII REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 



and the chief object of the working plan was to provide for the repro- 

 duction of this species and to suggest such changes in present methods 

 of lumbering as will give immediate and good returns from the forest 

 and at the same time will insure a prolitable future yield. 



A somewhat similar problem, but in a different locality, was that 

 presented b}" a tract of 275,000 acres in northwestern Maine. Field 

 work was completed during the 3^ear on 150,000 acres of this tract, 

 timbered mainh' with Red Spruce and Balsam, of which the former, 

 as commercially the more valuable of the two, should be favored as 

 the source of subsequent crops. 



The last tract on which field work was completed during the year 

 was one of 15,000 acres near Arden, N. Y. The forest consists of 

 second-growth hardwood and is for the most part in poor condition. 

 The working plan advises a system of thinnings by which the condi- 

 tion of the forest will be improved and which will at the same time 

 yield good returns in firewood. 



The total forest area now under management in accordance with 

 working plans prepared by the Bureau of Forestr}- is 372,1:63 acres. 

 Material for a number of new working plans is now being gathered. 

 Especiallv notable is the plan in preparation for a tract in southeastern 

 Texas which comprises an area of 1,250,000 acres and is the largest 

 private holding of timber land in the United States. 



B}" request of the Secretary of the Interior for advice in the man- 

 agement of the national forest reserves, which now include 60,162,525 

 acres, the Bureau of Forestry became the official adviser for these 

 reserves in matters of forest policy. The making of working plans 

 for the reserves has continued during the jenv. Field studies have 

 been carried on in the Prescott, the Priest River, and the Big Horn 

 reserves, and a preliminary examination was made of the San Fran- 

 cisco Mountains Reserve. A similar request from the Secretarj' of 

 War, made during the last fiscal year, has placed the Bureau in the 

 same relation toward the militar}" wood and timber reservations, eight 

 in number, with an area of 117,468 acres. Of these, that at West 

 Point, containing 2,000 acres, has been examined, and a working plan 

 for its management will soon be prepared. 



In accordance with the request of the Secretary of the Interior, an 

 examination has been made of the forest lands within the Lac Court 

 d'Oreilles, the Bad River, and the Menominee Indian reservations, in 

 Wisconsin, in order to recommend nieasures for the conservative lum- 

 bering of the timber the}^ contain. 



Forest Investigation. 



The studies of commercial trees made during the past year include 

 White Pine, Red Pine, White Oak, Scarlet Oak, Red Oak, and Aspen, 



