transferred to the care of Forest Service, work was at once begun to bring 

 the forest into larger use. More authority was given to the forest officers 

 on the reserves, so that settlers entitled to the free use of timber, as well 

 as those wishing to purchase timber in small quantities, might be served 

 on the spot without delay. Whenever timber is wanted on a larger scale, 

 experts are assigned to report on the advisability of a sale, and where large 

 transactions are in due course completed, the timber is removed under 

 contracts which provide for a second crop by fixing a diameter limit, by the 

 marking of the trees to be cut, by careful logging methods, and by burning 

 the slash to prevent fires. Twenty-six Forest Assistants, assigned as 

 technical assistants to forest Supervisors, are at present engaged in the 

 making of working plans. Forest Inspectors inspect and report upon all 

 the work done on the reserves. 



Besides these technically trained foresters there are also employed 

 forest supervisors, rangers, and guards. To these men is given general 

 administration and care of the reserves. They must know their regions, 

 be familiar with local conditions, and combine good sense, independence, 

 and the physcal, mental, and moral qualities which make good woodsmen. 



Under the present scheme of administration all timber on forest 

 teserves which can be cut safely and for which there is actual need is for 

 sale. Applications to purchase are invited. Green timber may be sold 

 except where its removal makes a second crop doubtful, reduces the 

 timber supply below the point of safety, or injures the streams. All dead 

 timber is for sale. 



CALIFORNIA'S PlNE INDUSTRY 



By CLARENCE E. EDWORDS 



BF THE $9,000,000 worth of lumber cut in California each year $4,250,- 

 000 worth, or almost one-half, is of pine. All along the slopes of 

 the Sierras looking toward the rolling Pacific Ocean, extending north 

 from Sanger to the Oregon State line stretch the great pine forests 

 of California. From an altitude of 3,000 to 7,000 feet this mag- 

 nificent timber flourishes in its virgin simplicity — the only virgin soft 

 white pine supply left in the whole country. There is some white pine in 

 Mexico and some in Canada, but California holds practically all that is left 

 in the United States. 



California pine embraces two kinds, known here as "white" pine and 

 "sugar" pine. The sugar pine of California receives its name from the 

 fact that there appears on the lumber a white fuzzy substance resembling 

 sugar. This sugar pine is conceded to be equal to the best Michigan pine, 

 and is fast superseding the latter in the Eastern markets. There is always, 

 in the minds of the old lumber users of the Eastern States, an idea that 

 there can be nothing "just as good" as Michigan and Wisconsin pine, and 

 from this mistaken idea comes the fact that in Eastern markets California 

 pine of the best grade sells for about $10 a thousand less than the same 

 grade of Michigan pine. 



About fifty saw mills, large and small, are steadily eating away at the 

 forest of pine of the Sierra slopes, but with an output of 350,000,000 feet 

 a year it is estimated that at the present rate it will take fifty years to 

 cut the standing timber, and that estimate does not take into considera- 

 tion the fact that the standard is so high that new trees are coming into use 

 each year. While the Eastern standard is a six-inch butt that of California 

 is sixteen inches with from two to three twenty-foot lengths. It must 

 be confessed, however, in this connection, that the sixteen-inch standard 

 is not always adhered to, and many of the mills are now cutting trees with 

 twelve-inch butt. Even at that standard it will be many years before the 

 slopes of the mountains are denuded of their pine forests. 



The use of California pine has gone forward by leaps and bounds since 

 shipments began going East a few years ago. In 1901 the price of the 

 upper grades of California pine ranged from $26 to $30 a thousand feet, 



