1903 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



325 



is likely soon to prove inadequate unless 

 the forests, which conserve the water, 

 are restored and protected . A study will 

 be made of the burned areas in order to 

 learn what trees are coming up on them 

 and how such reproduction may be 

 hastened. It may be necessary to plant 

 trees on much of the land ; if so, tree 

 nurseries will have to be established and 

 planting plans made. But the princi- 

 pal part of the work will be a scheme of 

 fire protection. It is absolutely neces- 

 sary, if anything is to be done for the 

 reserve, that fires should be kept out, 

 and only recently have conditions be- 

 come so favorable that fire protection 

 is practicable. It will be useless to 

 plant, useless to improve the natural 

 reproduction, unless the provisions for 

 keeping the fires under control are made 

 effective. There is promise of success 

 in this task. The importance of the 

 water supply to the adjacent cities guar- 

 antees public interest in the protection 

 and improvement of the reserve, the 

 country is accessible, mines are numer- 

 ous, and timber from the reserve is 

 easily marketed. 



Studies of 



Commercial 



Trees* 



A study of the Balsam 

 will be carried on this 

 summer in the Adiron- 

 dacks and in Maine. 

 Some work has already been done in 

 the Adirondacks, and the object of the 

 coming season's work will be to con- 

 clude the study, the results of which 

 will probably be published early next 

 spring. The main purposes of the in- 

 vestigation of Balsam are to determine 

 its suitability for use as paper pulp, the 

 quantity which is now standing, and the 

 results that can be expected in the pro- 

 duction of a second crop under conserv- 

 ative methods of lumbering. A study 

 of the Poplar in Maine has come about 

 through the increased use of that wood 

 as paper pulp material. Its general 

 scope is similar to that of the Balsam 

 investigation. The work on southern 

 hardwoods is to continue the study which 

 has already been carried on for two field 

 seasons. Its purpose is to determine the 

 stand, the uses and possible uses, and 

 the best methods of management for the 



following important commercial hard- 

 woods of the south : Tulip tree, White 

 Oak, Post Oak, Chestnut Oak, Bass- 

 wood, Chestnut, the Hickories, and 

 White Ash. 



Tree Planting. A number of states are 

 planting trees on waste 

 lands and forming forest reserves. In 

 some cases the work is one of reforesta- 

 tion, and in others it is proposed to 

 make trees grow in regions like the sand 

 hills of Nebraska, which are unfit for 

 agriculture and may be made useful as 

 forested areas. 



Indiana. The State has purchased 

 2,000 acres of land in Clark county for 

 a forest reserve. Of this tract 1,500 

 acres are covered with young second- 

 growth timber of varying quality, and 

 500 acres are tillable. The State Forest 

 Board will attempt to prove the profit in 

 growing native hardwoods, and will 

 plant Oak, Walnut, Ash, Hickory, and 

 other suitable species and give them 

 careful cultivation. The entire tract 

 will be placed in timber. 



Kansas. Secretary Hitchcock, of the 

 Interior Department, has ordered the 

 withdrawal of 94,732 acres of land lying 

 just south of the Arkansas River, in 

 Kearney, Finney, Grant, and Haskell 

 counties, for a large experiment in 

 forest planting similar to that made on 

 the Nebraska forest reserves. The 

 land will be set aside as a regular forest 

 reserve in the usual manner, or Presi- 

 dent Roosevelt will be asked to set it 

 aside for the direct purpose of experi- 

 mental tree planting. The conditions 

 are similar to those in Nebraska, the 

 region being made up of wind-formed 

 sand hills, now covered with bunch 

 grass. There is no surface drainage 

 and no possibility of cultivation, since 

 the sand begins to drift as soon as it is 

 tilled. Planting will be begun within 

 the next year. 



California. The Bureau of Forestry 

 has planted many acres of burned-over 

 lands in the San Gabriel and San Ber- 

 nardino Mountains in southern Califor- 

 nia during the past winter. Heavy 

 rains helped the planters, and the seeds 

 of the November sowing have already 



