BOYS' REFORESTATION CLUBS 



497 



est Reserve plots. Each of the boys kept a complete 

 record of the work he performed on his plot during the 

 period of the session. Most of the boys had charge of 

 from one to three acres of second growth pine or second 

 growth hardwood. Others took plots that were partially 

 seeded or barren and either transplanted seedlings in 

 their areas or planted the seed, thus performing real re- 

 forestation. It is the intention of the representatives of 

 the Conservation Department to give more attention in 

 the classes of the present year to this feature of forestry 

 instruction, it being considered more important to make 

 lands lying idle productive than to work on second 

 growth areas. 



It may be stated at this point that the Great Southern 

 Lumber Company has again donated to this work, 

 through the Conservation Department, another $500 to 

 be divided in prizes for the classes of 1922. The work of 

 the larger classes this year will be the outgrowth of ex- 

 perience gained in the first year, for it is to be under- 

 stood that the department in inaugurating the work in 

 Louisiana had no precedent to govern its activities. These 

 were the first clubs of the kind ever organized, and the 

 work was necessarily along original lines, so far as the 

 instruction of the youth was concerned. As stated, the 

 plots of the boys the past year ranged from one to three 



PLOT OF JOH.N OK.AVE.S WINNER OF THE SECOND PRIZE OF 

 TEN DOLLARS FOR 21 TO 23 YEAR OLD PINE. THIS IS SECOND 

 GROWTH LONGLEAF PINE ON AN OLD FIELD. 



acres. The department plans for the present year con- 

 template placing equal areas under the direction of boys 

 who seed or transplant areas, while the boys who take 

 charge of second growth plots will have larger areas. 

 This will give the Conservation De])arment in its work 

 of advancing the cause of forestry around 1000 forestry 

 demonstration plots in the .state, and between 2000 and 

 3000 acres under tree cultivation. 



Louisiana has for some years been regarded as one of 



the leaders in forestry work in the United States, and, 

 as said, the establishment of these clubs is the first edu- 

 cational work of the sort in the country. The establish- 

 ment of the clubs has enabled the Conservation Depart- 

 ment to go before the public schools of the state, and to 

 give the faculties and student bodies of these schools an 

 idea of what the department is endeavoring to accom- 

 plish in forestry work in Louisiana. Moreover, there is 

 scarcely a public school in the rural districts of the state 

 that is not within reaching distance of one of the plots 

 of the boys' clubs, and school children generally can be 

 expected to take an active interest in the work of their 

 fellows. The first season of this new form of education 



THE PLOT OF KARL SCHEXNAYDER, A BOY OF FIFTEEN YEARS. 

 AND WINNER OF PINE SEEDLING CLASS, A THIRTY-FIVE DOL- 

 LAR PRIZE. 



has proven so successful it can be accepted as an assured 

 fact that forestry is on a permanent basis in Louisiana. 



The judging of the work of the boys was done by V. H. 

 Sonderegger, superintendent of the forestry division of 

 the Department of Conservation,, and H. J. Stahl, who 

 supervised the instruction of the boys. The classes were 

 under the immediate direction of the forest rangers in 

 the several districts of the State. The sweepstake prize 

 of $80 was won by Millard Parks, a youth of 14 years, 

 of Washington parish. There were a number of other 

 prizes in different divisions of the work, and to "encour- 

 age the work, parishes in a few nistances apprepriated 

 money for prizes for the clubs within their boundaries. 



By those concerned with the work of conservation the 

 disposition to be made of the 125,000,000 acres of cut- 

 over forest land in the Southern States is considered one 

 of the most serious problems confronting the people. 

 Some of this land can be brought under cultivation, an- 

 other part can be used for grazing and stock raising, but 

 there will remain a large percentage that can only be 



