16 FOREST COMMISSIONERS REPORT. 



what "was most worth while and what it was possible to 

 accomplish. 



Starting out in this way with partially unformed purposes, 

 and with no precedent, hardly even in the way of method, to 

 guide, first efforts were of necessity largely tentative. Fol- 

 lowing the leadings of the field work, however, and hardening 

 up ideas gained by means of correspondence with yourself 

 and others interested in the project, the possibilities of the job 

 were at length more clearly apprehended. It appeared after 

 a few weeks that we might make an all-round survey of the 

 spruce resources and prospects of the Kennebec river. From 

 the first, estimates of standing timber had l)een collected, burnt 

 and waste areas had been mapped and close study made of 

 the condition and growing power of cut-over land. These 

 elements were all unified and given meaning by the purpose 

 named, and it was soon adopted. Travel was therefore 

 directed with this end in view, and detail work so spread as 

 to tell in the solution of the general problem. 



A survey of the Kennebec drainage for spruce, with refer- 

 ence not merely to present but to future supply, was, then, 

 the great object of a large portion of the season's work. 

 Later on, the Androscoggin was taken up in much the same 

 way. For the facts required, direct observation was, as far 

 as possil)le, employed. About three months was spent in 

 travel and field work, between the 13th of June and the 19th 

 of November. Sixty-four days were spent in actual woods 

 exploration, during which I covered by foot travel some 700 

 miles. Office work — the arrangement and calculation of field 

 notes, prosecution of inquiry by letter, and the literary labor 

 involved in this report — have occupied rather more time than 

 did the field work. 



am"minor "^^^ '^^^y ^^^ fi^^^J g^^sp the problem stated it 

 purposes. ^,||| ^^ ^jg^^^. ^^^,^^ j^ jg ^ ^^^^ .^i^^| difficult one. 



Experience teaches us that simply collecting estimates of 

 standing timber does not solve it, though that is an impor- 

 tant, and liy no means easy, part of the work. Growth is 



