328 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



July 



with law and forest reserve regula- 

 tions. 



Lands owned or claimed by the 

 states or territories within forest re- 

 serves are subject to the general rules 

 given above. Indemnity selection may 

 be made by the states and territories 

 for school sections 16 and 36, when 

 within a reserve, and thereupon these 

 sections will become part of the forest 

 reserve. 



Xo right now exists to exchange 

 private holdings within forest reserves 

 for lands elsewhere, except where such 

 right was established in the Interior 

 Department before March 3, 1905, and 

 except the indemnity-selection right 

 with regard to school sections 16 and 

 36, referred to above. 



NViii Extend Study of Forest Plan- 

 tations 



The Bureau of Forestry has planned 

 to extend the scope of its study of for- 

 est plantations during the coming sea- 

 son. A large amount of forest plant- 

 ing has been done, especially by va- 

 rious railroad companies with varied 

 success. In many cases the planta- 

 tions have been failures because they 

 were not planted under expert direc- 

 tion ; others through unwise choice of 

 species, too wide spacing, and lack of 

 cultivation have not attained high 

 value. The scheme of the present 

 work is to accumulate all available 

 data regarding railroad plantations 

 and failure, the species which are best 

 suited for railroad planting in differ- 

 ent regions, and in short to acquire the 

 data which will enable the Burea uto 

 perform the highest advisory func- 

 tion along all lines of forest planting. 

 The location of existing railroad plan- 

 tations will be determined through 

 correspondence, and data compiled as 

 to the yield and general character of 

 species already used or which can be 

 recommended, and a field study will 

 be made of the more important plan- 

 tations in representative regions. The 

 furthering of railroad planting will 

 not only be a step toward insuring a 

 future supply of ties, but will encour- 

 age planting by farmers and ranchers 



along the railroad lines where large 

 plantations are established. 



Examine Potomac Water Shed 



The Forest Service has just started, 

 in cooperation with the Geological 

 Survey, a study of the conditions of 

 the watrshed of the Potomac River 

 and its tributaries. The general plan 

 will include a determination of all 

 causes of contamination, as from in- 

 dustrial and domestic sources and be- 

 cause of bare and eroded watersheds. 

 The Forest Service is specially con- 

 cerned with the last feature. 



The tributaries of the Potomac will 

 be critically examined in Virginia, 

 Maryland, West Virginia, and prob- 

 ably in Pennsylvania. Slopes bare, 

 partly cleared, and timbered will be 

 studied, the run off after rains will be 

 compared, and the influence of for- 

 est cover in equalizing stream flow 

 investigated. The purpose is to find 

 out and lessen, if possible, the amount 

 of solid matter carried down the river 

 during times of freshets. In this way 

 material aid will be given future fil- 

 tration of the water for domestic pur- 

 poses. Mr. W. W. Ashe will be in 

 charge of that part of the study con- 

 ducted by the Forest Service. 



Bids for Reserve Timber 



The Forest Service has received an 

 offer of $2.50 a thousand feet for 50,- 

 000,000 feet of lodgepole pine and 

 Engelmann spruce in the Big Horn 

 Forest Reserve, Wyoming. The tim- 

 ber will be advertised for sale and this 

 bid accepted if none higher is made. 

 This means at least $125,000 for this 

 timber, which will be used largely for 

 railroad ties and mine props. 



Hitherto sales of timber in that re- 

 gion have been of small quantities and 

 strictly for local use, and $i a thou- 

 sand feet has been the average price 

 recieved. The recent congressional 

 enactment permitting, with two ex- 

 ceptions, the export of timber from 

 the state where the reserve is located, 

 makes possible suhc large sales as the 

 present. It also materially helps the 

 price of government timber. 



