905 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



329 



This 50,000,000 feet will be cut 

 strictly under the new regulations of 

 the Forest Service, which means in 

 such a way that only the dead and 

 mature timber will be used, that the 

 forest will be protected from fire, and 

 the seed trees and young growth 

 guarded so that the future produc- 

 tivity of the forest will be assured. 

 Unless this sale were made, much of 

 this timber would die and disappear, 

 without benefit to the government or 

 any one else. 



Kiln-Drying I,tinil>t-r 



The Forest Service is beginning a 

 study of the methods and results of 

 the kiln drying of lumber. This has 

 been a perplexing question, both to 

 the manufacturers and dealers in lum- 

 ber, and some kinds of timber have 

 been found exceedingly difficult to 

 season by ordinary kiln-drying meth- 

 ods. There is also little definite in- 

 formation as to what degree of dry- 

 ness is attained under ordinary meth- 

 ods, and exactly what the influence 

 of the process is on the quality of the 

 lumber. 



In connection with the field study, 

 there will be made at the New Haven 

 laboratory of the Forest Service a 

 very careful series of tests of the ef- 

 fect on timber of seasoning under 

 different conditions, such as through 

 air seasoning, through dry heat, and 

 through steam. It is expected that 

 this study will do much towards put- 

 ting the kiln-drying of lumber on a 

 definite scientific basis. 



Basket Willow Culture 



An interesting development in con- 

 nection with the investigation which 

 the Forest Service is conducting on 

 the basket willow culture is the flood- 

 ing of its willow holts for the purpose 

 of destroying such insects injurious 

 to willow as pass a portion of their 

 lives in or near the .ground. The 

 Service has an extensive plantation of 

 standard strains of basket willow, the 

 yield and utility of which is being test- 

 ed under different systems of culture. 

 A number of the most promising varie- 



ties are attacked from time to time by 

 various willow insects, greatly damag'- 

 ing the fine commercial quality of the 

 rods. Widespread injury of this kind 

 has already prevented the profitable 

 growth of the best kinds of basket 

 willows in many sections of the United 

 States, particularly in the South. A 

 part of the government willow planta- 

 tion has just been surrounded by a 

 specially constructed dike which will 

 permit the flooding of the ground for 

 any length of time required to destroy 

 insects in or near the ground. It -is 

 proposed to turn water upon the af- 

 fected willows at a time when the in- 

 sects are near the roots of the plants. 

 This means of control does not apply 

 to all of the willow insects which pass 

 all of their lives above ground on or 

 in the twigs. Certain species, how- 

 ever, go to the ground or into it for 

 transformation, and others hibernate 

 in or near the ground. It is expected 

 that winter flooding will destroy the 

 latter, and it is hoped that seasonable 

 summer floodings will destroy many 

 of the former. 



Studying I.ol>loll\ Pine 



The importance of the export trade 

 in loblolly pine and the need of pre- 

 senting accurate information to the 

 foreign importers, has led the Forest 

 Service to investigate the mechanical 

 properties of this timber at the mill. 

 A testing machine is installed at the 

 mill of the E. P. Burton Lumber Com- 

 pany, at Charleston, S. C., and, under 

 the supervision of the forester of the 

 company, trees are selected in the for- 

 est and transported to the mill before 

 sawing so as to yield test pieces which 

 will furnish the required data with 

 the least expenditure of effort and 

 with the least consumption of mate- 

 rial. In addition to collecting accu- 

 rate data of the properties of this tim- 

 ber, the work will lie directed to as- 

 certaining the best kind of grmvth. 

 and the conditions under which the 

 best growth can be obtained. As the 

 holdings of the Burton Company are 

 under conservative forest manage- 

 ment, it is evident that the testing 



