1905 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



197 



her ; mining companies have pur- 

 chased large quantities of dead timber 

 for fuel, notwithstanding the fact that 

 they could probably procure coal at 

 nearly the same cost in the end. A 

 branch of Burlington system has pur- 

 chased considerable timber, where the 

 same was sound enough to permit of 

 its utilization as cross ties, and in gen- 

 eral something more than one-half of 

 the amount received during the last 

 fiscal year has been received on ac- 

 count of the sales in this one reserve. 



In the other reserves timber sales 

 have been very much scattered, and 

 the cash receipts in the several re- 

 serves, while considerable in the ag- 

 gregate, no particularly large sales 

 have been made in any one of the re- 

 serves, with the exception of the Medi- 

 cine Bow Reserve, in Wyoming, where 

 quite a large amount of tie timber has 

 been sold, and sales are pending in- 

 volving large amounts of timber to be 

 used by mining companies as props. 



As the irrigation projects being 

 pushed forward by the Reclamation 

 Service assume more definite shape, 

 the Forest Service expects'to sell large 

 quantities of the timber from the east- 

 ern portion of the Yellowstone Forest 

 Reserve, and, in fact, has in prospect 

 considerable sales depending upon the 

 progress of the various irrigation pro- 

 jects that will affect that portion of the 

 country. As these projects develop 

 throughout the arid West, the Forest 

 Service is anticipating a very large 

 increase in its timber sales, and they 

 are preparing to meet this demand by 

 providing a supply. Indications are 

 that a very much larger amount of 

 timber will be sold during the coming 

 year than ever before, and the only 

 really disheartening feature is that 

 where the Bureau of Forestry can af- 

 ford to sell timber, the demand for it 

 at the present time is slight, as for 

 instance, in Oregon and Washington, 

 where speculators who have acquired 

 timber through the Timber and Stone 

 act. can afford to sell timber at less 

 than its real value, and thus keep 

 prices down below the mark where 



the government fells it can afford to 

 sell. In many cases timber realized 

 from private holdings more than sup- 

 plies the demand, and would make 

 governmental timber sales unprofit- 

 able. Also the speculator in his sale 

 of timber, takes only the cream of that 

 on the land he has fraudulently ac- 

 quired, and leaves the best possible 

 conditions for fire. Naturally he also 

 differs with the government as to the 

 amount of timber which it is neces- 

 sary to leave on the land for reproduc- 

 tion. 



The Forest Service has also been 

 gratified with the progress made in 

 the prevention of forest fires, and the 

 cheerfulness with which residents or 

 neighbors of a forest reserve assist in 

 fighting fires, and in general cooper- 

 ating with the forest rangers. The 

 Service finds that the people who buy 

 timber in the reserves, or have privi- 

 leges therein, are always ready to take 

 hold with the forest officers to subdue 

 fires, and are willing to make almost 

 any exertion to help them in fire fight- 



ing. 



Second e l n gleaf pine scene 



Growth Long- in the accompanying il- 

 Leaf Pine. lustration is interesting 

 as showing the inclination of this tree 

 to reforest tracts where it has a chance. 

 It is from a photo by Mr. Romeyn B. 

 Hough, author of "American Woods," 

 taken recently in eastern North Caro- 

 lina. Before enactment of the present 

 stock laws of North Carolina and stock 

 was at liberty to wander everywhere, 

 the seeds of this tree, with their con- 

 spicuous wings, were coveted morsels 

 and quickly devoured, especially by 

 hogs. Now the hogs are not allowed 

 such extensive liberty and are kept out 

 of the tract in question, so that the 

 seeds have had a chance to germinate 

 with the result shown in the picture- 

 In the middle of the field are shown 

 a few old trees, doubtless the parents 

 of those . about them. Scattered 

 throughout the foreground are mam 

 seedlings, all of this species, just ap- 

 pearing in the grass, and ranging to 

 the height of one's shoulder, and in 



