plained how it may also be used as a 

 sun dial, a use frequently made; and 

 showed that it was necessary to have 

 a good timepiece in using the compass, 

 inasmuch as it is calibrated for every 

 thirty minutes. It is also necessary, he 

 said, to have a certain amount of knowl- 

 edge of the stars, because most of the 

 corrections have to be made at night. A 

 table of the difference in time at the 

 different latitudes, and also of the dif- 

 ference in time of the watch and dial 

 between certain dates is needed. The 

 time, of course, is not always the same, 

 but with one of these compasses one may 

 reach a great degree of accuracy in his 

 work. He described the means of cor- 

 rection of the compass and the manner 

 in which it is used in running north 

 and south lines 



The second smoker took place on 

 April 1st, and was in charge of Schafer's 

 group. Robert Weitknecht, '14, spoke on 

 "Land Classification in the National 

 Forests." In introduction, he describ- 

 ed the principles and policy pursued in 

 land classification in the national forests. 

 He gave a short history of the estab- 

 lishment of the national forests, and 

 of the passage of acts concerning them, 

 up to the time of the Homestead Act 

 of June llth, 1906; an act which pro- 

 vided for the "examination, classification, 

 and opening to entry of all lands within 

 the national forests which are chiefly 

 valuable for agriculture." He showed 

 that it was the intent of this act to class- 

 ify and open to entry all lands in the 

 national forests which were chiefly val- 

 uable for agriculture, but that the avail- 

 able funds were too limited to do more 

 than classify only such isolated and in- 

 dividual tracts as were specifically ap- 

 plied for by prospective settlers ; "June 

 eleventh examinations" being the only 

 form of land classification possible for 

 five or six years. He explained how the 

 present practice of land classification 

 began in the year 1912, being brought 

 about by a special provision in the Ag- 

 ricultural Appropriation Act of that 

 year; and showed that the work today 



is divided under two heads, the class- 

 ification of single small isolated areas 

 of 160 acres or less, for which the pros- 

 pective settlers make application, and 

 the classification of more or less com- 

 pact large areas, the size varying from 

 900 to 500,000 acres. He described the 

 difference in the methods of work under 

 these two heads: the isolated single 

 areas being classified by local Forest 

 Rangers, who do this as a part of their 

 regular administrative duties on the 

 forest, the classification work taking the 

 form of the "June eleventh examina- 

 tions ;" and the work on the large areas 

 being done by organized parties of five 

 to twelve men, and being in the form of 

 "land classification projects." He gave 

 evidence to point out that Congress has 

 come to appreciate the value of land 

 classification, in the record of its in- 

 crease in appropriations. He said that 

 to date 3,000,000 acres of land have been 

 classified, and went on to tell about the 

 organization and operation of the work. 

 He told how the examiners first decided 

 whether a piece of land were agricultu- 

 ral or non-agricultural, and of the fac- 

 tors to be taken into consideration in 

 doing this; how after it is found to be 

 agricultural, it must then be classified 

 as arable or non-arable; and how, last- 

 ly, it must be classified as "chiefly valu- 

 able for agriculture," or for forest use, 

 or some other use. He outlined the staff 

 organization used in doing the work, and 

 named the various maps and sets of data 

 to be secured in the work. He told of 

 the steps in the office in determining 

 whether the land is to be recognized as 

 agricultural, and the officers through 

 whose hands the data must go. In con- 

 clusion, he emphasized the fact that the 

 present basis for determining whether 

 the lands are chiefly valuable for agri- 

 culture, is the commercial standard ; that 

 is, the present agricultural sale value of 

 the land is weighed against the present 

 stumpage value of timber en the land. 



After Weiknecht's talk "eats and 

 smokes" were dished out, and the Club 

 Quartette let loose in good fashion. 



