542 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



December 



the completion of the many excellent 

 projects available. With the reclama- 

 tion fund entirely allotted, the govern- 

 ment engineers for the next three 

 years will be busied in actual building, 

 and will therefore be unable to give 

 further consideration to other projects 

 in Montana. 



Tree 

 Growth 

 in South 



The field of work of the 

 Forest Service, carried 

 on for the past year in 

 the Southern Appalachian forests, is 

 now finished. During the past few 

 months a party of six men has been 

 engaged in collecting figures showing 

 the volume and growth-rate of chest- 

 nut oak. This study completes the 

 data required by the Service. 



The results of this investigation will 

 be used to determine the best system of 

 forest management for these forests, 

 and also to show approximately the 

 stand of timber remaining. In case a 

 national forest reserve is created in 

 this region the facts gathered in this 

 study will be of great value in manag- 

 ing the timber lands conservatively. 



In connection with the 

 of P Wood S studies of woods for 



special uses, which the 

 Forest Service is carrying on, Mr. C. 

 L. Hill, of the Service, is now in New 

 York, where a good deal of wood pav- 

 ing is being laid, in order to study the 

 operation of laying and to confer with 

 engineers ; and Mr. H. B. Holroyd is 

 making a trip through Indiana, Illi- 

 nois, and Wisconsin, investigating ve- 

 hicle woods. The specific objects 

 which Mr. Holroyd has in view on this 

 trip are the selection of various woods 

 to be tested for their adaptability for 

 vehicle and implement manufacture, 

 and to arrange for co-operative studies 

 of such woods, shared by the Forest 

 Service and manufacturers. 



est Service to prepare a working plan 

 according to the usual plan of co-oper- 

 ation. After finishing work on this 

 tract, Mr. Woodward will go to Flor- 

 ida to make a similar examination of 

 over a million acres of pine land. 



During the winter Mr. Woodward 

 will be engaged upon a study of the 

 red cedar in the South. Red cedar is 

 the best wood for the manufacture of 

 pencils, for which a soft wood of 

 straight grain, free from imperfec- 

 tions, is necessary. A study of this 

 tree will supply valuable information 

 concerning its growth, distribution, 

 and forest habits, which will serve as 

 a basis for the application of forest 

 management to cedar forests, and thus 

 help to make permanent the supply. 



Turpentine 

 Work 



Southern 



Forest 



Studies 



Mr. K. W. Woodward, 

 of the Forest Service, 

 has gone to Georgia to 

 make a preliminary examination of a 

 tract of 2,500 acres of pine land, for 

 which the owners have asked the For- 



Mr. George B. Sud- 

 wort, dendrologist of the 

 Forest Service, recently 

 made a trip to inspect the progress of 

 the new turpentine investigations 

 which the Service is carrying on in co- 

 operation with the Hilman-Sutherland 

 Land Company, near Jacksonville, 

 Florida. These investigations are de- 

 signed to test an improved system for 

 scarifying trees for turpentine. 



Some two years ago, as the result of 

 a study by the Forest Service, there 

 was perfected a new system of turpen- 

 tining called the "cup-and-gutter" sys- 

 tem, which does away with the earlier 

 practice of cutting deep boxes in the 

 bases of the trees and very materially 

 lessens the injury done to the trees, 

 so that much is gained in economy of 

 production. Yet with this system, as 

 with older systems, large faces are 

 chipped on the trunks, causing wounds 

 which limit the productive life and vi- 

 tality of the trees. The turpentine in- 

 dustry, like the lumber industry, is so 

 extensive that there is need to use all 

 possible economy, and the present ex- 

 periments which the Forest Service has 

 under way are designed to prolong the 

 productive life of trees worked by the 

 use of a new method of chipping, with- 

 out, it is hoped, reducing the average 

 annual vield. 



