SECTION OF FORESTRY COLLECTION'S. 347 



largely composed of material obtained from foreign countries where 

 the art of forestry is practised, representing the tools used in forest 

 planting, the maps and plans used in forest management, graphic illus- 

 trations of rates of growth, and the methods and instruments employed 

 to measure them ; instruments used in thinning, pruning, and the re- 

 sults of these operations on the growth. Methods of protecting agaiust 

 insects, methods of reforestation as used to guard against landslides 

 and torrents; a seed collection, specimens of plant material, a root 

 herbarium belong also in this exhibit. 



Section E would contain whatever of passing interest and curiosity, 

 not at present otherwise classified, may fall into the province of for- 

 estry, and, further, such collection of reference literature, reports, maps, 

 charts, photographs, as will aid the student to understand the relation 

 of forests and forestry to human life, and show its history and develop- 

 ment as an art. 



The short time since my appointment and other duties have prevented 

 the installation of any exhibits, excepting one. This consists of a 

 series of thirty pbotolithographs from the work of the French forest 

 administration, illustrating the effects of deforestation in the Alpine 

 districts of southeastern France, and the methods applied to counter- 

 act the torrential action thus produced ; two statistical tables give in 

 briefest manner an idea of the forestry interests of the United States; 

 two half-sections of Sitka Spruce from the northwest (228 years old and 

 7 feet in diameter) show the rapidity and immense dimensions of the 

 growth in that section; while a historic chart adapted to a section of 

 Tulip Poplar (5 feet in diameter) from the Mississippi Valley brings to 

 the mind of the beholder by referring the annual ring-growth to his- 

 torical data, the long periods of time which are required to produce our 

 forest giants in the East and which form the basis of calculation in the 

 art of the forester. The whole exhibit, placed on one panel 14 by 12 

 feet, is designed to create in the mind of the visitor the first interest in 

 the subject of forestry and in the forestry collections to come. 



The material on hand has not yet been classified, except superficially. 

 It consists of parts of exhibits which have served in various exposi- 

 tions, and, while forming a valuable nucleus for the collections, is far 

 from being exhaustive in any one direction. Through the co-operation 

 of the Department of Agriculture, and especially of its Forestry Divis- 

 ion, it is hoped that the collections will soon be sufficiently ample to 

 justify their installation. 



