26a 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



January 



character as a permanent investment, 

 and the possibilities of avoiding waste 

 in tie-making-, as well as the introduc- 

 tion of economical methods of man- 

 agement of loblolly pine forests for 

 ties. These studies promise to prove 

 of great practical value. 



In co-operation with several of the 

 great railroads, the Bureau of Fores- 

 try is conducting other studies, both of 

 the sources of supply of railroad ties 

 and construction timbers and of the 

 best methods for their preservative 

 treatment. These studies offer tangi- 

 ble promise of economy by railroads, 

 both through the use of the inferior 

 timbers, rendered possible by preserva- 

 tive treatment, and also through the 

 application of conservative methods in 

 the woods, thus decreasing materially 

 the drain upon our forests. 



The methods of turpentine orchard- 

 ing introduced by the Bureau in the 

 South have brilliantly justified them- 

 selves. It is estimated that the Bu- 

 reau's service in this line has added to 

 the annual naval stores' product an in- 

 creased value of $7,000,000, and at the 

 same time removed the greatest single 

 cause of the destruction of the turpen- 

 tin orchards. The total amount ex- 

 pended in accomplishing this result 

 was but $14,000. 



SCIENTIFIC WORK OF THE BUREAU OF 

 FORESTRY. 



Upon the scientific side the Bureau 

 of Forestry has continued its investi- 

 gations to determine the strength and 

 durability of the merchantable timbers 

 of the United States. These mechan- 

 ical tests have been carried on at 

 Berkeley, Cal. ; Lafayette, Ind. ; New 

 Haven, Conn. ; St. Louis, Mo., and 

 Washington, D. C., where the proper- 

 ties of red fir, western hemlock, red 

 gum, long-leaf pine, and loblolly pine 

 have been and still are under investi- 

 gation. Reliable data on the structu- 

 ral value of the timber of the country 

 is limited, and the purpose of these in- 

 vestigations is to supply engineers and 

 architects with complete information 

 on the mechanical properties of mer- 

 chantable timbers, showing the effect 

 of natural defects on the strength of 

 the timber, the rate of growth, and the 



moisture content to the strength, espe- 

 cially as applied to the larger timbers. 

 Such a work must necessarily occupy 

 a series of years, but when completed 

 will be of inestimable value. 



The year 1904 saw several new sea- 

 soning stations established in different 

 parts of the country, where extensive 

 investigations are now being conduct- 

 ed as to the seasoning and preserva- 

 tion of timber. Particular attention 

 has been paid to determining the effect 

 of treatment with various preserva- 

 tives upon the strength of timber, and 

 it has been shown that the preliminary 

 steaming usually practiced reduced the 

 strength of timber materially, and also 

 that the preservative itself has much 

 the same effect upon the strength of 

 timber that water has. 



SALES OF TIMBER. 



No better argument for the repeal of 

 the Timber and Stone Act, and in lieu 

 thereof the passage of legislation au- 

 thorizing the sale of matured timber 

 upon the public lands generally, could 

 be wished for than is to be found in 

 the results obtained from the sales of 

 timber on the Chippewa Indian Reser- 

 vation in Minnesota. Under special 

 provisions of the act authorizing the 

 disposition of this timber, it was to be 

 advertised and sold to the highest bid- 

 der, after a careful estimate of the tim- 

 ber on these lands had been made, and 

 no bid was to be accepted for less than 

 the estimated value of the timber. The 

 results of this method were that the 

 timber was sold at the first sale, De- 

 cember 5, 1903, at an average price of 

 $13.90 per acre, and at the second sale, 

 December 28, 1903, at an average price 

 of $16.70 per acre, the average price of 

 both sales being $15.06 per acre for 

 the timber alone, the title to the land 

 being retained by the government for 

 subsequent disposition. Under the 

 Timber and Stone Act both land and 

 timber would have been sold for $2.50 

 per acre. That is, the government has 

 received, or will receive, from these 

 sales of timber $2,650,903 ; while un- 

 der the Timber and Stone Act it would 

 have received only the sum of $438,707 

 for both land and timber. In this con- 

 nection it must not be forgotten that 



