20 



THE FORESTER. 



January 



showed, with an age of over 300 years, a 

 rate of growth in diameter for the last 10 

 years exceeding that of any previous dec- 

 ade in the life of the tree. 



OVERTON W. PRICE. 



Forest Work on the Pacific Slope. 



During the months July to October the 

 Division of Forestry of the Department of 

 Agriculture had a large force of men at 

 work in the States of Washington and 

 California investigating the rate of growth 

 of the Red Fir and Redwood forests. 



Gifford Pinchot, Chief of the Division, 

 personally superintended the beginning of 

 the field work on the Red Fir at the log- 

 ging camp of the St. Paul and Tacoma 

 Lumber Company in the Puyallup River 

 Valley, about twenty miles southeast of 

 Tacoma. 



On the first of August the party was 

 divided. Alfred Gaskill, Agent of the 

 Division, who had previously located the 

 field work, took a party to the foot-hills 

 of the eastern slope of the Olympic Moun- 

 tains, with headquarters at Shelton. An- 

 other detachment, under Thomas Sher- 

 rard, Agent of the Division, worked in the 

 White River Valley, and later, in the 

 young forests of pure Red Fir which have 

 sprung upon the extensive " burns " in 

 the Nesqually River Valley in the Mt. 

 Rainier Forest Reserve. 



The field work included valuable sur- 

 veys and stem analyses. The diameters 

 of all trees down to 4 inches at breast 

 height were calipered on over 1000 acres, 

 scattered through the regions indicated. 

 About 1000 felled trees were analyzed in 

 detail, in order to determine their contents 

 and rate of growth. Data relating to the 

 silvicultural character of the species was 

 collected along with the survey. 



In accordance with an agreement be- 

 tween the Division of Forestry and the 

 Redwood lumber manufacturers, at the 

 close of the work in Washington early in 

 September, Mr. Sherrard took a new party 

 into California, to work on the coast Red- 

 wood in Humboldt and Mendocina coun- 

 ties. The object and character of the 



work were much the same as in the cas 

 of the Red Fir. 



Some difficulty was experienced wit 

 the material on account of the great ag 

 of the Redwood and the wasteful method 

 of lumbering. It is common for over 

 hundred feet of top length to be burned i 

 the firing of the cut, which is made t 

 facilitate the working up of such portion 

 of the trees as are merchantable unde 

 present conditions of market and trans 

 portation. 



The field parties lived under canvas an 

 were maintained partly in the lumbe 

 camps, and partly with cooks and cam 

 outfits. The field work was largely rt 

 stricted to localities where lumberin 

 operations were in progress so that th 

 use of pack trains was unnecessary for thi 

 summer's study. 



The corps of assistants was recruite 

 about equally from the East and Wes 

 The names of those holding the appoin 

 ment of Student-Assistant in the Divisio 

 of Forestry were: R. T. Fisher, E. J 

 Moore, E. Koch, Frazier Curtis, E. 1 

 Allen, Wm. F. Wight, H. James 2c 

 Wm. James, Jr., Wm. C. Hodge, Jr 

 T. C. Carson, Wm. Maule, Stuart Hotel 

 kiss, F. A. Spragg. 



T. H. SHERRARD, 

 Washington, D. C. 



Investigations in North Carolina. 



Field work by student-assistants w; 

 carried on in North Carolina under tl 

 direction of VV. Willard Ashe, the men 

 bers of the party being J. A. Caldwell, Jr 

 A. E. Ames, A. E. Cahoon and H. JV 

 Cumin. The work consisted of stei 

 analyses and valuation surveys on Lobloll 

 Pine. During June and July Mr. Curra 

 also made some investigations in the sav 

 mills to determine the proportionate grac 

 yield of different sizes of logs of Lobloll 

 Pine. 



A lumberman of Hillsdale, Mich., h; 

 purchased the entire timber limits < 

 Morgan county, Ontario, thirty-nine an 

 one-fourth square miles, for its Whi 

 Pine. 



