I902. 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



515 



crimination. The covering of the now 

 untillable, treeless portions of the semi- 

 tropic section of America with snch 

 trees as Eucalypts, which will yield 

 fuel, timber, and other useful products, 

 and also furnish protection from the 

 sun, from winds, and from floods, or 

 otherwise ameliorate existing climatic 

 conditions, is certainly an achievement 

 greatly to be desired. 



The illustrations, ninety-one in num- 

 ber, are from photographs made by the 

 writer during the past six years. They 

 add unusual value to the bulletin, giv- 

 ing an excellent idea of the bark, 

 flowers, and seeds of the several species, 

 as well as general views of groves and 

 plantations. Several of the illustration.'^ 

 are reprinted here through the courtesy 

 of the Bureau of Forestry. 



REPORTS BY SECRETARIES WILSON AND 



HITCHCOCK. 



ANNUAL REVIEWS BY THE SECRETARIEvS OF AGRICUL- 

 TURE AND INTERIOR WHICH SHOW GREAT PROGRESS 

 IN FOREvSTRY, IRRIG.\TION, AND RELATED QUESTIONvS. 



I. FROM THE REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF 



AGRICULTURE. 



GROWTH OF WORK IN FORESTRY-. 



INTEREST in forestry and a percep- 

 tion of its possibilities as a great 

 national resource have developed so 

 swiftly in the United States that the 

 di.screpanc3^ between the capacity for 

 government service of this branch of 

 the department and its opportunities 

 was never so great as now. During the 

 past year the Bureau of Forestry has 

 notably increased its store of knowledge 

 on which all forestry depends, and has 

 made large gains in introducing prac- 

 tical management of forests of both pub- 

 lic and private ownership. Its field- 

 work has engaged 162 men, and has 

 been carried on in 42 states and terri- 

 tories. 



Thirty -seven applications were re- 

 ceived during the year, asking advice 

 for the management of 200,000 acres. 

 The total area now under management, 

 in accordance with the working plans 

 of the Bureau, is 372,463 acres. A 

 working plan is in preparation for a 

 tract in southeastern Texas comprising 

 an area of one and one-fourth million 

 acres, the largest private holding of tim- 

 ber land in the United States. 



By the request of the Secretary of the 

 Interior, the Bureau of Forestry has be- 

 come his official adviser in matters of 

 forest policy for the national forest re- 

 serves, covering over 60,000,000 acres. 



Extensive studies were made of com- 

 mercial trees during the year, and studies 

 of the forest and its industrial relations 

 were made in Michigan, Kentucky, 

 Ohio, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, 

 South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, 

 California, and Iowa. Among the ques- 

 tions involved were the present and fu- 

 ture timber supply, forest fires, relation 

 of the forests to stream flow, irrigation, 

 and grazing. The Bureau has discov- 

 ered a less injurious method of turpen- 

 tine orcharding than that hitherto em- 

 ployed. 



In cooperation with the Bureau of 

 Chemistry and in response to urgent de- 

 mands, the series of tests to determine 

 the strength of the principal merchant- 

 able timbers, discontinued in 1896, have 

 been taken up. 



In tree-planting the Bureau has sought 

 to enlist the interest of the private land- 

 owner. Up to the close of the last fiscal 

 year 262 applications for assistance had 

 been received, nearly 200,000 acres ex- 



