178 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



SCHEDULE FOR STUDYINa THE BIOLOaY OF TIMBER TREES. 



(a) Introduction. 



Significance of the tree in the forestry of the country; short statement justifying 

 the investigation; historical remarks ; sources of information and acknowledg- 

 ments of aid; statement of raethods of inquiry. 



(t>) Statistical. 



1. Geographical distribution and habitat; (in general by regions, where best de- 

 veloped, most abundant, covering large or small areas, continuously or only mixed 

 in, associated with what other species, &c.). 



3. Economical importance, utilization, trade, former and present supply, acreage, 

 amounts used, available, &c. 



3. Value and uses of the wood. 



(c) Biological. 



1. Short botanical expose; name, size, form, root, crown, habit. 



2. Life history; development from seedling; leaves, flowers, seeds, seed crops. 



3. Influences, on form and development, of cUmate, soil, site, .surroundings, and 

 light and shade as compared with other species. 



4. Measurements: rate of growth in height and in diameter, in natural forest or 

 under cultivation ; at different periods of life ; on different sites; time necessary to 

 produce merchantable timber; yield of wood per acre. 



5. Structure of the wood and mode of its development; influences upon quality; 

 illustrations. 



6. Dangers and diseases: 



(a) From mechanical forces, human agencies, cattle, wounds, winds, snow, 



frost, drought, floods. 

 (&) Occasioned by influences of the soil. 



(c) Occasioned by phanerogamic parasites. 



(d) Occasioned by cryptogamic parasites. 



(e) Occasioned by insects. 



(d) Forestal. 



1. Essential demands on climate, soil, and gi'owing conditions. 



2. Associates found naturally with the species and their relative behavior. 



3. Opportunities and requirements for natural renewal (especially considering 

 seed crops, seed years, germination, and the need of light or shade for young plant); 

 difficulties for practical and economic reasons; for natural reasons. 



4. Methods of management suggested. 



5. Artificial renewal. 



6. After treatment: Thinning; when and how much. 



7. Rotations. 



8. Profits under different treatment. 

 (e) Conclusions. 



Stating in the briefest manner, in a few precise sentences, results of investigation 

 in regard to economic and forestal questions. 



INSPECTION OF WESTERN TREE PLANTING. 



Under your direction, I made in September a very brief and hur- 

 ried journey through Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado, to inspect 

 tree planting and its conditions in the once treeless regions. My 

 observations have been embodied in a special report, from which to 

 some extent may be gleaned the needs, the causes of failure, and 

 remedies for the same, with hopeful views as to tlie possibilities of 

 further extension of the tree planter's work into the arid regions. 

 That the utilization of the military reservations for forest planting 

 by the Government would be a most desirable encouragement for 

 Western tree planters, and at the same time would enhance the 

 value of agricultural lands near such extensive forest belts, has been 

 pointed out and finds ready indorsement among those most convers- 

 ant with the condition of those localities. 



The need of aid by a systematic and rational distribution of suita- 

 ble plant material, either gratuitously or at nominal rates — a work 

 which could most readily be done from such experimental forests — 



