22 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



January- 



owned by the state along the Costal 

 Plain was brought to completion. 



Up to the close of the past fiscal 

 year, 167 applications were received 

 for advice and assistance in the care of 

 private forest lands, of which 45 were 

 for timber tracts, with a total area of 

 1,439,763 acres. Working plans were 

 prepared during the same period for 

 eight tracts, with a total area of 1,982,- 

 000 acres, in the States of West Vir- 

 ginia, Kentucky, Texas, New Hamp- 

 shire, Idaho, Washington, and Colo- 

 rado. The acreage under forest man- 

 agement, in co-operation with private 

 owners, has in this way increased from 

 500,000 acres, the figure for last year, 

 to 857,995 acres. 



A reorganization of the work deal- 

 ing with forest products has been suc- 

 cessfully carried out. The service now 

 conducts several series of laboratory 

 experiments under a trained staff of 

 engineers, including timber tests, the 

 preservative treatment of timbers, and 

 dendro-chemistry. In dendro-chemis- 

 try a study was begun to determine the 

 best methods of wood distillation as a 

 means of using waste in logging and 

 at the mill. 



The service has taken up the work 

 of gathering for publication full re- 

 turns showing the annual consumption 

 of forest products. The National Lum- 

 ber Manufacturers' Association and a 

 number of the associations of pro- 

 ducers are co-operating in the work ; 

 the trade journals are giving it their 

 support, and there is every prospect 

 that the returns for 1905 will be full 

 and accurate, to the great advantage 

 of all interested in forest products. 



A new series of experiments looking 

 to the saving of waste in turpentine 

 made successful progress during the 

 vear on the lands of a company which 

 has offered the service unusual facili- 

 ties near Jacksonville, Fla. It has 

 been tentatively established by these 

 experiments that shorter and shallower 

 "faces" mav be chipped without re- 

 ducing the flow of rosin. This means 

 that the life of the tree may be pro- 

 longed and its yield may be largely in- 



creased. Another result, which fol- 

 lows from these, is that the investment 

 in turpentine lands becomes a longer- 

 time investment. 



The forest exhibit, in conjunction 

 with that of the Reclamation Service, 

 at the Lewis and Clark Centennial Ex- 

 position, was the most complete and 

 brilliant forest exhibit ever seen in this 

 country. 



State and This Association notes 



Local with much satisfaction 



Associations the growth and activity 

 of state and local forest associations. 

 It is only through such organizations 

 that many state and local forest prob- 

 lems may be brought to a prompt and 

 practical solution. A striking exam- 

 ple of the value of a state association 

 is furnished by Pennsylvania certain- 

 lv the most advanced of our states in 

 forest matters. There the state has ex- 

 cellent forest laws, a very capable state 

 forest organization to administer them, 

 substantial appropriations annually, 

 and an excellent spirit favoring fores- 

 trv among the citizens generally. This 

 desirable situation is in a great meas- 

 ure due to the splendid efforts of the 

 Pennsylvania Forestry Association, the 

 largest of the state associations. As 

 referred to elsewhere in this report, the 

 American Forestry Association has 

 been co-operating with the Society for 

 the Protection of New Hampshire 

 Forests, and the Massachusetts For- 

 estry Association, especially through 

 Forestry and Irrigation, our official 

 organ. These organizations have for 

 some months been sending two thous- 

 and copies of Forestry and Irriga- 

 tion to the editors and other influen- 

 tial persons in New England in sup- 

 port of the White Mountain Forest 

 Reserve project. Through the maga- 

 zine there has also been some co-opera- 

 tive work with the Connecticut For- 

 estry Association, which organization 

 has been growing in numbers and in- 

 fluence. Two new associations were 

 formed during the year, the first being - 

 in Ohio. The latest was organized in 

 Michigan, last August, with a substan- 



