1905 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



other facilities, have, without cost to 

 the Government', been placed at the 

 disposal of the Bureau for experimen- 

 tal purposes. 



The principal experiments now set 

 on foot, comprise the practical work- 

 ing of a number of different turpentine 

 crops. One set of trees will be used 

 to determine, within practical limits, 

 the best width of face to be cut on 

 trees of different diameters. 



Another set of trees will demon- 

 strate, with approximate exactness, the 

 rate in height, per streak, at which 

 weekly chippings should proceed, in 

 order to stimulate a full flow of rosin. 

 It is believed that the weekly chipping 

 now practiced cuts away in height, at 

 one time, too much of the living wood ; 

 in other words, the face of the tree is 

 increased too rapidly upwards. At 

 present this upward chipping amounts 

 to about 1 8 inches every year, and it 

 is thought that this can be reduced 

 at least one-half or two-thirds. Such 

 a saving in face height will permit a 

 :onsiderable increase in the number of 

 :rop years, which, in turn, should give 

 a much increased total yield of rosin 

 as well as rediice the demand upon the 

 area of pine forests. There will also 



: an economy for operators in hav- 

 ing to move their equipment from one 

 set of trees to another less frequently 

 than is the case at present. 



Still another set of trees will be 

 devoted to finding out how deep to- 

 ward the center of the tree each streak 

 should be chipped. Under the present 

 practice, it is believed that an unneces- 

 sarily deep cut is made, thereby great- 

 ly reducing the vitality of the tree and 

 consequently its capacity to produce 

 rosin continuously. 



Blueberry Cul- Tn grazing sections 

 ture and Forest throughout" the West 

 an old and well known 

 custom is that of burning the dry grass 

 to improve the next year's pasture. 

 Formerly the fires were allowed to 

 spread and burn themselves out at will, 

 and the practice resulted in great for- 

 est destruction. Happily for the for- 

 ests, the burning is now more carefully 



done when it is done at all, and on the 

 whole the custom is falling into dis- 

 use. In Maine a practice of burning 

 exists which is local to that State, is 

 novel in character, and has nothing to 

 do with grazing. The burning is to 

 assist blueberry culture by causing the 

 bushes to sprout vigorously and clear- 

 ing the ground of other growth. 



About 1870 a factory for canning 

 blueberries w r as located in Maine, and 

 as it prospered it was followed by 

 others. In 1885 and again in 1899 

 similar factories and canning compa- 

 nies were established, until to-day 

 blueberry raising and canning is an 

 important industry in that State. To 

 supply the increasing demand blue- 

 berry bush areas have been constant!}" 

 enlarged, until now "blueberry bar- 

 rens" cover some 2,600 acres in Han- 

 cock and Washington counties. 



A century ago these "blueberry 

 barrens" were for the most part cov- 

 ered by a dense forest, chiefly of white 

 pine and spruce. The forest was 

 thinned by lumbering the pine, and 

 the increased amount of light per- 

 mitted new kinds of undergrowth to 

 get a foothold. Fire, as almost in- 

 variably happens, followed the lumber- 

 ing, the rest of the original stand was 

 destroyed, and the undergrowth was 

 still further altered, a great variety of 

 valueless underbrush and weeds tak- 

 ing possession of the ground, together 

 with a stand of birch, popple, red ma- 

 ple, and other hardwood seedlings. As 

 the fires continued to occur this hard- 

 wood growth changed to a very scrub- 

 by character and was finally entirely 

 eliminated, and the ground became a 

 true barren, covered with a growth 

 of blueberry bushes, sweet fern, brake, 

 bunchberry, goldenrod, and sheep lau- 

 rel. With the ground in such condi- 

 tion its best use is for blueberry cul- 

 ture. 



The blueberry owner divides his 

 land into three portions; each year he 

 picks the berries from one portion, 

 burns another portion, and allows the 

 third to rest The first year after the 

 land is burned over the blueberry 



