A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 1497 



TABLE 4. Forest planting in the United States prior to and during 1931 



etc. 



State forestry units and other State agencies colleges, penitentiaries, reform schools, asylums, hospitals, 



2 Includes about 90,000 acres of direct seeding. This method of reforestation was temporarily discontin- 

 ued, because of unsatisfactory results, about 1912. It is now used only on an experimental basis. 



It is interesting to note that of nearly 2 million acres planted to 

 date only approximately one sixth each has been planted by the 

 United States Forest Service and by State agencies, whereas the 

 plantings by individuals amounts to one half. Planting by industrial 

 organizations, which has already exceeded 200,000 acres, is a relatively 

 new thing. 



The total cost of planting, including all items from seed collections 

 through field planting, has varied greatly by species, sites, and regions. 

 Forest Service costs range all the way from $3 per acre for the more 

 asily planted sites in the Lake States, where seedling stock is used 

 and where the soil, free from rock and easily worked, lends itself to 

 extremely rapid field work, to as much as $14 to $25 per acre on the 

 more difficult sites in other regions. Plantations in the South which 

 cost $5 to $8 per acre 10 years ago can now be established for as little 

 as $3 per acre. 



The degree to which planting has been successful as measured by 

 tree survival is difficult to determine. Not many accurate data, 

 except those collected upon United States Forest Service plantings, 

 are available. It must be remembered, too, that the survival figures 

 for the national forests shown in table 5, present primarily the results 

 during the pioneering period. Planting was done on many areas on 

 which it is now known planting was ill-advised. Species and kinds of 

 stock subsequently shown to be unsuited to the region were used in 

 some instances. Far from satisfactory as a future gage in planting, 

 this record is nevertheless a remarkable accomplishment for a pioneer 

 effort in the reforestation of predominantly poor sites. 



TABLE 5. Acreage and survival of U.S. Forest Service plantings, through 1931 



1 A plantation classed as successful must have 250 or more well-established trees per acre. Plantations 

 normally checked through the fifth year. 



2 The severe drought of 1930 is to a considerable degree responsible for the low percentage of successful 

 plantations in these regions. 



