DIVISION OF FORESTRY. 177 



of different localities. Such observations -were carried on througli a 

 series of years by the Smithsonian Institution thirty years ago, though 

 not on a systejuatic; plan. Yet by comparison with these data we shall 

 get additional opportunity to judge regarding the change of climate, 

 if any has taken place, since that time, and thus contribute to the 

 settlement of the mooted question of forest climatic influences. 



Even from one season's observations, made simultaneously in sev- 

 eral iilaces, deductions of comparative climatic conditions may be 

 made. 



BIOLOGICAL STUDIES. 



Though many helpful notes may be found in the writings of botan- 

 ists and horticulturists, yet no special studies of the nature of our tim- 

 ber trees, their life history, or the influences and conditions upon which 

 their growth and reproduction in the natural forest depend, have been 

 made or published in collected form with a view to the particular 

 requirements of forestry. x\ll or most of the facts which would enable 

 us to apply, or to modify in applying, the principles of forestry estab- 

 lished by long experience on the Continent are lacking, and in order 

 to be able to give advice as to methods of forest management the sys- 

 tematic study of the biology, the life history, of our timber trees must 

 precede the formulation of specific rules. 



This work the Forestry Division has begun this year, and a number 

 of able observers and botanists, with a practical turn of mind, 

 have been engaged to make and compile in ready form the studies 

 and observations on the life and behavior of our native species upon 

 which the forester may proceed intelligently in his management. 

 These studies will naturally require years for their satisfactory com- 

 pletion, as observations must be made in a great variety of localities 

 and through several seasons. ' " We must gather and compile the expe- 

 riences of many, through many years, from many localities, under 

 many circumstances, derive principles therefrom, form rules, and 

 learn to modify these." Besides, the forest flora of the United States 

 is very extensive, and the number of capable botanists who are willing 

 to engage in such a task, for which only the scantiest remuneration 

 is allowed, is small, and thus this preliminary work will be unduly 

 prolonged unless better facilities are granted. 



As the coniferous trees arQ to-day, and will be for some time to 

 come, the most important factors of our present forest wealth, and 

 as their reproduction and management, especially with the unfavor- 

 able conditions under which our forests are worked, are among the 

 most diflicult tasks of forestry, attention has been first directed to 

 the study of the most important of these, namely, the White pine of 

 the North, the Long-leafed pine and the Cypress of the South, the 

 pitch pines of the Western mountain ranges, and the fast-disappear- 

 ing Hemlock, so important for our leather industry, soon to replace 

 more largely the waning supply of White pine. The monographs on 

 the White pine, by Prof. S. V. Spalding, Ann Arbor, Mich. ; on the 

 Long-leafed pine, by Dr. Charles Mohr, Mobile, Ala. ; and on the Bald 

 Cypress, by Prof. A. H. Curtiss, Jacksonville, Fla., have been coni- 

 pleted. It is proposed to take up graduallj^ the other important coni- 

 fers and deciduous trees. In order to estatjlish this work upon a uni- 

 form basis it was found necessp.ry to formulate the subjects, and the 

 following arrangement was prepared in this ofiice to serve as far as 

 possible as a schedule for studying the biology of our timber trees: 

 12 AG— '86 



