1906 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



9 



There are several reasons, the board 

 considers, why it would be best for the 

 state to purchase the tract including 

 the water power. 



If the tract is acquired by the state, 

 the board would follow the directions 

 of the law and "Put in operation the 

 best method to reforest cut-over and 

 denuded lands, to forest waste and 

 other lands, to prevent injury of for- 

 ests by fire, the administering of and 

 care of forests on forestry principles, 

 the encouraging of private owners in 

 preserving and growing timber * * * 

 and the general conservation of forest 

 tracts." 



To acquire the 25,000 acres and es- 

 tablish the reservation will require a 

 much larger sum than the $14,000 al- 

 ready appropriated for the use of the 

 board, and it is believed the board 

 therefore will ask the legislature this 

 winter for a special appropriation to 

 meet the situation. It is understood 

 that the sum asked will approximate 

 $125,000. 



The forestry commissioners have ac- 

 cepted the deed of 104 acres of land in 

 Atlantic county which were presented 

 to the board by Dr. John Gifford, of 

 Princeton, formerly a professor in the 

 New York State College of Forestry 

 at Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y.. 

 and Mrs. Gifford. This tract is near 

 Mays Landing along the Great Egg 

 Harbor River. 



The commissioners have also con- 

 summated the purchase of 268 acres 

 adjoining the Gifford tract from the 

 Mays Landing Water Power Com- 

 pany. Another tract purchased is one 

 of 597 acres in Burlington county. 

 This was bought from Charles W. 

 Matthews, of Tuckerton. The com- 

 missioners are duly in possession of 

 these tracts, and the forestry work will 

 be commenced at once. 



construction of the canal from St. 

 Mary River to the North Fork of Milk- 

 River, the estimated cost of which is 

 $900,000. 



Owing to international features in- 

 volved, the importance of the interests 

 of the United States, and the necessity 

 of preserving its status in relation to 

 these waters, it is deemed essential 

 that the work should be pursued with 

 diligence, to offset the claims which 

 Canada may in future advance. 



Canal Tree A munici P al Corporation 



Planting f Chicago, owning over 



six thousand acres of 

 land along the canal from Chicago to 

 Joliet, 111., has applied to the Forest 

 Service for advice as to planting about 

 four thousand acres of this tract to 

 forest trees, with a view to securing 

 revenue from property which is at 

 present unproductive. An agent of the 

 service will visit the tract as early as 

 possible to study planting possibilities. 



Statistics 

 of Forest 

 Products 



St. Mary's 

 Project 



The Secretary of the In- 

 terior, on January 17. 

 granted authority to the 

 Reclamation Service to draw specifi- 

 cations and advertise for bids for the 



Extremely valuable re- 

 sults are expected from 

 the gathering of statis- 

 tics of forest products which the For- 

 est Service has now under full swing. 

 The design is to secure accurate fig- 

 ures covering the past year, and to 

 publish these in a statement which will 

 be the first of an annual series. The 

 question cards to be filled in by wood 

 manufacturers throughout the country 

 are now being distributed at the rate 

 of about a thousand a day. The total 

 number of these cards will exceed 25,- 

 000. The lumber trade journals and 

 the journals of wood products have 

 expressed hearty appreciation of this 

 work, and a number of manufacturers' 

 associations have tendered their efforts 

 in co-operation with the Forest Ser- 

 vice. A great deal of interest attaches 

 to the difficult task, and the definite 

 need of which has long been felt for 

 precise published information on for- 

 est products at more frequent intervals 

 than census years promises in large 

 measure to be satisfied in this way. 



