164 



THE FORESTER. 



II. REPRODUCTION OF TIMBER IN THE 

 BLACK JACK FORESTS. 



On the watersheds of eastern and central 

 Oklahoma and wherever the soil is sandy 

 a growth of Blackjack timber is found. 

 At the settlement of the country most of 

 the trees were old and many had to be re- 

 moved. Fire and stock had kept the 

 voung growth down for the trees seldom 

 stood near enough together to keep out the 

 grass, which covered the hills on which 

 they occurred here and there as scattering 

 specimens. In such a stand of trees a 

 deer could sometimes be seen half a mile 

 away, so clear was the forest of under- 

 growth. 



With the settlement of the country the 

 conditions have changed. Many of the 

 original trees have been cut away, but 

 stock has been kept out and fires have 

 been prevented. In consequence, every 

 stump has sent up a thrifty family of 

 sprouts, and manv seedlings have appeared. 

 The young trees have grown rapidly. An 

 annual increase in height of two to three 

 feet is not exceptional, and many now 

 stand twenty feet high. In some regions 

 the young growth has already become so 



dense as to form favoi'able conditions of 

 leaf canopy and ground cover, and per- 

 sons who have desired pasture rather than 

 timber have had to resort to frequent 

 burning. 



Other species are also appearing among 

 the young Black Jacks. Post Oak, Bui- 

 Oak, Hackberry, White Elm, Shittim- 

 wood and wild China are frequently seen. 

 The last two appear to be very much on 

 the increase. The result of ten years' 

 protection in these forests indicates their 

 strong natural tendency to increase and to 

 run to a mixed growth. 



In a few instances some of the hard and 

 more valuable species have been intro- 

 duced among the natural growth with re- 

 markable success. Hardy Catalpa, Black 

 Locust and Black Walnut seem to thrive 

 under such conditions. The former two 

 have made very straight and rapid growth, 

 averaging an annual increase in height of 

 from four to five feet. By proper meth- 

 ods of interplanting, there is little doubt 

 but that the Black Jack forests of Okla- 

 homa can, in a very short period of time, 

 be changed to forests of valuable timber. 



W. L. HALL. 



FORESTRY FOR THE NEW YORK PRESERVE. 



After the New York State Legislature 

 appropriated $2,000 for the State Forest 

 Preserve, the New York Fisheries, Forest 

 and Game Commission requested the 

 Division of Forestry of the Department of 

 Agriculture to examine its lands, and to 

 >ul unit recommendations for the manage- 

 ment of the forests, in accordance with 

 the regulation for furnishing working 

 plans to those who pay the field expenses 

 t' the experts. Accordingly the work of 

 investigating the forest conditions of the 

 Preserve began in June, and the com- 

 pleted working plans are to be ready for 

 submission to the Legislature by the first 

 .f January, 1901. The beginning of this 

 investigation marks an epoch in the forest 

 liislory of the country. For the first time 

 the Division of Forestry is cooperating in 



practical forest management with one of 

 the state governments ; and if the final re- 

 port leads to the repeal of the forest clause 

 of the 1894 amendment to the State Con- 

 stitution (section 7, article 7) that now 

 prohibits any cutting or utilization of the 

 forest crop of the preserve, a large public 

 preserve will for the first time in our his- 

 tory be put under skilled forest manage- 

 ment, and operated with a view not only 

 to its permanent preservation, but to the 

 production of a regular revenue. The 

 clause referred to was passed in fear that 

 if any lumbering were allowed, mismanage- 

 ment would be inevitable. The attempt 

 to repeal it in 1896, at a time when the 

 State had no machinery for regulating the 

 cutting in a scientific manner, was de- 

 feated by the greatest majority that ever 



