288 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



June 



forestry in Maryland. The Secretary 

 of Agriculture spoke first of all of 

 the possibilities in the production of 

 timber in his address at the golden an- 

 niversary of the Maryland Agricul- 

 tural College, when he advised every 

 young man to immediately buy a 

 Maryland farm and settle on it. 



The forming of a State forest re- 

 serve has begun auspiciously in the 

 acceptance of a gift from Mr. Robert 

 Garrett of 4,000 acres in Garrett 

 County. 



Without detracting from the credit 

 due State Senator Brown for the in- 

 troduction and passage of this excel- 

 lent law and the concern he is taking 

 in its successful operation, it is inter- 

 esting to note that in Maryland as in 

 Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Connecti- 

 cut, California, the enactment of a 

 State forest law and the appointment 

 of a trained forester follow the co- 

 operative work of the Government. In 

 cooperation with the State Geological 

 Survey, the Forest Service has been 

 conducting investigations in Maryland 

 since 1900. In that year, Mr. George 

 B. Sudworth made a forest survey of 

 Allegany County, which was pub- 

 lished in a State report upon that 

 county. Under Mr. Sudworth's di- 

 rection similar surveys were made of 

 Cecil, Garrett, and Calvert counties 

 from 1901 to IQ03, by Mr. H. M. Cur- 

 ran, the first two of which have also 

 been published by the State. Similar- 

 ly, in 1903, a study of forest condi- 

 tions in Worcester County was made 

 by the late William F. Hubbard, and, 

 during recent months, field work has 



been conducted by Mr. C. D. Mell for 

 a forest description of St. Mary and 

 Harford counties. 



In addition to the cooperative work, 

 a study of the basket willow industry 

 was made by Mr. Hubbard in Howard 

 and Baltimore counties, and a com- 

 mercial-tree study of chestnut in Anne 

 Arundel, Calvert, Charles, and Prince 

 George counties by Mr. Raphael Zon, 

 the results of which were published in 

 Bulletins 46 and 53, respectively, of 

 the Forest Service. In connection with 

 Mr. Hubbard's general forest descrip- 

 tion of Worcester County, he conduct- 

 ed a commercial investigation of lob- 

 lolly pine an exceedingly important 

 timber tree in that county for short 

 rotations for box lumber. 



In 1905, Mr. Curran made another 

 field study of forest lands in Garrett 

 County, including the tract which has 

 become the nucleus of the State re- 

 serve, preparing maps and sugges- 

 tions for their management. 



During the summer of 1905, Mr. 

 William D. Sterrett with a party made 

 a study of scrub pine in Maryland, and 

 Mr. George H. Myers established a 

 number of permanent sample plots for 

 the purpose of carrying on systematic 

 experiments as to the effect of thin- 

 nings upon forest growth, for loblolly 

 pine in Worcester County, and for 

 scrub pine at Bowie. Mr. W. W. Ashe 

 made a study of the Potomac River 

 watershed also during the last field 

 season to determine the character of 

 the forest and its relation to the water 

 supply. 



