FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



April 



visor at any time. They are paid at 

 the rate of $50 to $60 a month, and 

 serve only as long as they are abso- 

 lutely required'; in no case over six 

 months in any one year. 



No examination is required of ap- 

 plicants for employment as Forest 

 Guard. They are hired by the Forest 

 Supervisor when fire patrol or other 

 special work requires addition to the 

 regular reserve force, and he is res- 

 ponsible for their satisfactory service. 



Applications must be made to him 

 direct. He will require sobriety, in- 

 dustry, physical ability, and effective- 

 ness, and will give preference to local 

 residents of whose fitness he is fully 

 satisfied. He may direct their work 

 himself or place them under the super- 

 vision of a ranger. 



The position of Forest Guard should 

 not be confused with the existing 

 grade of third-class ranger, which 

 now carries the same salary. 



FOREST CONDITIONS IN NORTHERN 



NEW HAMPSHIRE 



Results of an Examination in 

 the White Mountain Region 



A IX that part of New Hampshire 

 ** which lies north of Squam Lake 

 and east of the lowlying agricultural 

 lands along the Connecticut river is 

 almost entirely forest covered, and for 

 the most part will always be most 

 valuable under forest growth. It con- 

 tains 32 per cent of the total area of 

 the State, or nearly 2,000,000 acres. 



In the winter of 1903 the State 

 legislature appropriated $5,000 for an 

 examination and study of this region 

 by the Bureau of Forestry. A full 

 report on this work has been prepared, 

 and will soon be published by the Bu- 

 reau. It includes a description and 

 estimates of the forest, by drainage 

 basins, an account of the characteris- 

 tics of all important timber trees, a 

 careful discussion of forest fires and 

 their effects, and a study of the lum- 

 ber, paper pulp, and other State in- 

 dustries dependent upon the forest. 



The region studied constitutes two 

 classes, which differ considerably both 

 in general character and in forest 

 growth. The southern of these is the 

 White Mountain region, which con- 

 tains approximately 812,000 acres. It 

 is very rough and rugged, with num- 

 erous broken mountain ranges inter- 



sected by deep, narrow valleys, with 

 steep slopes, rapid streams, and all 

 the conditions which invite soil ero- 

 sion and permanent denudation of 

 forest growth on the higher slopes, 

 if careful lumbering is not practiced 

 and fire is not kept out. In the ex- 

 treme southern part of this region 

 second-growth white pine forms a val- 

 uable part of the forest on the lower 

 lands, but spruce is in general the lead- 

 ing commercial species. Before lum- 

 bering began spruce was much more 

 common than now, and the effect of 

 present methods is still further to de- 

 crease its representation and to sub- 

 stitute for it the hardwoods, which are 

 usually of much lower commercial 

 value. 



The region north of the White 

 Mountains is characterized by hills or 

 low mountains and wide valleys, and 

 contains many lakes. Here the spruce 

 and balsam form a greater proportion 

 of the forest growth than in the White 

 Mountain region. While the greater 

 part of this area has been cut over 

 the lumbering has not been so inten- 

 sive as in the White Mountains, but 

 has consisted chiefly in culling out the 

 best spruce, pulp wood of small di- 



