History of Pa& Month in Government Forest Work 



ni , A variety of causes are 



Plantingjon . . J 



Watersheds awakening an interest in 



forest planting on lands 

 owned primarily for some other pur- 

 pose than the use of timber but capable 

 of yielding an added revenue from 

 crops of trees. Coal and railroad com- 

 panies and other large landowners, in- 

 cluding water companies, are taking 

 active steps to utilize waste lands in 

 tiiis way. The fact that local supplies 

 of railroad ties, mine timbers, and lum- 

 ber are shrinking, coupled with the re- 

 alization that the needed timber can 

 well be produced on soil now unpro- 

 ductive, has made forcible appeals to 

 the business mind. In Pennsylvania, 

 especially, large forest plantations are 

 actually under way. 



There are enormous areas in Penn- 

 sylvania from which the original tim- 

 ber has been cut, and which are too 

 rough for profitable farming. In the 

 coal regions both the farm lands and 

 the mountainous areas overlying the 

 coal veins are usually held by the oper- 

 ating companies in order that they 

 may obtain full rights to the coal un- 

 derneath. Much of the land overlying 

 the coal is useless for farming at any 

 time, and it has been found that there 

 is little profit to be derived from the 

 agricultural land by any system of ten- 

 ant or company farming. Both these 

 classes of land may be planted to trees 

 with advantage and the timber used in 

 the mines, the old fields on which 

 farming has been attempted being par- 

 ticularly desirable for planting. In the 

 bituminous coal fields it is necessary 

 to select the planting sites with great 



care so as to avoid the sulphur fumes 

 from coke ovens, which are very de- 

 structive to vegetation. Watersheds 

 owned to prevent further denudation 

 and the contamination of streams and 

 reservoirs rarely yield direct returns to 

 water companies, but if properly plant- 

 ed their water-conserving power 

 would be increased, and at the same 

 time future revenue would be in pros- 

 pect. Waste lands in general through- 

 out the State can be improved and 

 made productive wholly or in part by 

 forest planting. 



The possibilities of forest planting 

 have been realized by several large 

 companies, which have applied to the 

 Forest Service for assistance. The 

 Service has made planting plans for 

 the H. C. Frick Coke Company and 

 the Keystone Coal and Iron Company, 

 in western Pennsylvania, and is super- 

 vising planting and the establishment 

 of forest nurseries this spring. The 

 Pennsylvania Railroad Company has 

 secured the assistance of the Service 

 in working up a forest policy, and, in 

 order to show what can be done on the 

 lands they already own, a nursery is 

 being started and planting begun along 

 the right of way and also on an im- 

 portant watershed near Altoona, Pa. 

 The Johnstown Water Company is re- 

 ceiving similar assistance. In eastern 

 Pennsylvania the Lehigh Coal and 

 Navigation Company has applied for 

 an examination of a 36,000-acre tract 

 of the Monroe Water Supply Com- 

 pany, in Monroe County, and the pre- 

 liminary examination is under way. 



