1905 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



325 



Wagon roads and trails may be con- 

 structed, changed, widened, extended, 

 or repaired upon forest reserve lands 

 when needed, but permit or right of 

 way must first be secured. Permits 

 will not give the right to exclusive use, 

 or to charge toll, or against future dis- 

 posal of the land by the United States. 

 Applications must be made directly 

 to the supervisor or through a ranger ; 

 never to the Washington office. 



Permits for canals, ditches, flumes, 

 pipe lines, tunnels, dams, tanks, and 

 reservoirs, not for mining or munici- 

 pal purposes, nor granting an ease- 

 ment, are under the jurisdiction of the 

 Secretary of Agriculture and should 

 be applied for to the supervisor, as in 

 the case of roads and trails. 



If the project is small and of a pri- 

 vate and personal character such as 

 a reservoir, pipe line, or ditch to sup- 

 ply a few farms, or a tank to collect 

 water for stock and the supervisor 

 is certain that there are no complica- 

 tions of title, nor prior and conflicting 

 rights, he may approve the application. 

 If any large or commercial enterprise 

 is involved, or if there is any ques- 

 tion of conflicting rights or of the ju- 

 risdiction of the United States over 

 the land, or of conflict with Federal, 

 State, or Territorial laws controlling 

 use and appropriation of water, the 

 supervisor must transmit the application 

 to the forester for approval, together 

 with report and recommendation. 



Permits for private railroads and 

 tramroads and telegraph, telephone, 

 and power lines may be granted only 

 by the forester. Applications may be 

 made to the supervisor in the manner 

 prescribed for road and trail applica- 

 tions. Accurate map of the proposed 

 line must be supplied by the applicant. 



Studying Iowa Planted Groves 



The plan for the study of planted 

 groves in Iowa, which is to be under- 

 taken this season, has been prepared. 

 The work will be carried on in coop- 

 eration between the Bureau of Fores- 

 try and the Iowa State College. The 

 field operations will be under the di- 

 rection of the forester of the Agricul- 



tural Department of the College. 

 These investigations will be made to 

 determine on the basis of existing 

 groves the best species and best cul- 

 tural methods for the region covered. 

 The field party will consist of five men, 

 who will travel in wagons over a care- 

 fully planned route. Many hundred 

 typical groves will be visited and meas- 

 urements taken as to the rate of 

 growth and yield of the various plan- 

 tations. Species will be studied as to 

 their behavior when planted alone or 

 in mixture, and careful consideration 

 will be given the economic value of 

 each. To make the study of the re- 

 gion complete certain small bodies of 

 natural timber found along these nat- 

 ural groves can be depended upon to 

 supply the local needs, and as to the 

 suitability of the native species for 

 planting. The value of forest planta- 

 tions to the farmers of Iowa for the 

 purposes of protection and fuel sup- 

 ply is thoroughly appreciated, and this 

 investigation is receiving every en- 

 couragement from the people of the 

 region. 



Creosoting- Telegraph Poles 



The Bureau of Forestry has at- 

 tained great success at Dover, N. J., 

 in impregnating the butts of telegraph 

 and telephone poles with creosote. A 

 tank designed by the Bureau is used, 

 in which the poles are placed at an 

 angle of about 20 degrees. This al- 

 lows the creosote to cover about 10 

 feet of the pole. The poles are boiled 

 in the creosote for several hours, and 

 then transferred to similar tanks filled 

 with cold creosote, where they re- 

 main about the same length of time. 

 It is found that the creosote penetrates 

 the wood a half inch or more, and the 

 absorption per pole is 35 to 40 pounds. 

 The treatment will undoubtedly dou- 

 ble the natural life of the pole. Creo- 

 sote is expensive, and this plan is 

 much cheaper than to impregnate the 

 whole pole with about 250 or 300 

 pounds, as has been done. As the en- 

 tire value of the treatment is reached 

 when about 8 feet of the pole is pre- 

 served, the value of this work by the 



