1903 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



149 



constructed, by the laws of the state 

 and the decision of the courts, belong to 

 the Wyoming Development Company. 

 These are transferred to the farmers as 

 the lands are sold or occupied. There 

 can be no monopoly of the water or lands, 

 as the purchaser owns both, they being 

 inseparable. 



From 20 to 50 bushels of wheat may 

 be raised to the acre ; about the same 

 amount of barley and oats ; onions, 



100 to 400 bushels ; alfalfa averages 

 from 3 to 5 tons ; two and sometimes 

 three cuttings are made during the sea- 

 son. The potato crops are good. Suc- 

 cess can be attained on the lands in the 

 growth of small fruits, and orchards 

 should be extremely profitable. Apple 

 trees are not yet old enough, however, 

 to show definite results, though trees 

 are healthy and free from blight. The 

 land is favorable for sugar-beet culture. 



AN INTERESTING FORESTAL OPERATION. 



A PROFITABLE CUTTING OF INSECT-KILLED TIMBER WHICH 

 WILL SERVE THE DOUBLE PURPOSE OF SAVING LUM- 

 BER AND REDUCING THE RAVAGES OF BARK BEETLES. 



BY 



AUSTIN GARY, 



FORESTER FOR BERLIN MILLS COMPANY. 



I HAVE recently closed, on the part 

 of the Berlin Mills Company, a log- 

 ging contract that may interest readers 

 of FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION, as it 

 illustrates in a clear way a class of oper- 

 ations that foresters might sometimes 

 inject into lumbering to great advan- 

 tage. The contract provides for the 

 cutting and hauling of several hundred 

 thousand feet of dry timber killed dur- 

 ing the last few years by insects. 



For more than fifteen years past the 

 Spruce on the headwaters of the Andros- 

 coggin has been suffering a good deal 

 from the ravages of bark beetles. Some 

 large tracts have lost more than half 

 their standing timber, though until five 

 years ago the cause of the loss was not 

 clearly known, and no measures were 

 taken to save the dead timber or check 

 the spread of the trouble. Since that 

 time, however, several owners of large 

 tracts have been on their guard. Pro- 

 fessor A. D. Hopkins was requested to 

 make an examination, and his visit re- 

 sulted in Bulletin No. 28, " Insect Ene- 

 mies of the Spruce in the Northeast," 

 Division of Entomology, U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. 



For my own employers the areas likely 



to be damaged by insects have been care- 

 fully watched, and, as far as practicable, 

 logging operations have been carried on 

 in the regions that for this cause anp 

 others most needed cutting. The tim- 

 ber involved in the present contract 

 stands on the west side of Parmachene 

 Lake. Three years ago careful exam- 

 ination disclosed about 100,000 feet of 

 dry timber standing in three bunches. 

 To-day the dead timber is three times 

 that amount, and the colonies of living 

 beetles are large and active. It was 

 evident that extensive damage was to 

 be expected here unless it could be 

 checked, and the extent of injury which 

 might be counted on was clearly shown 

 by the increasing destruction wrought 

 in the immediate vicinity. 



Of course, it would have been easy 

 to turn a big logging concern into the 

 locality and by an extensive cut make 

 sure of getting out the dry and infected 

 timber. That was not desirable, how- 

 ever, for several reasons, chief among 

 which was the desire to preserve the 

 appearance of the lake shores for the 

 benefit of the Parmachene Club, whose 

 main establishment, Camp Caribou, 

 stands on an island in the center of the 



