448 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



October 



forming a part of the main stand is 

 given a number, calipered at two 

 points perpendicular to each other at 

 breast height, and its height measured. 

 The character of the crown is also in- 

 dicated. After this a number of pho- 

 tographs are taken from points perma- 

 nently marked. Next comes the thin- 

 ning. All trees that are in the way, 

 according to the plan to be followed, 

 are cut out. Those that are left have 

 their numbers put on them permanent- 

 ly with white paint. Thus the exact 

 character and condition of the plot at 

 a stated time is determined. 



For the purpose of controlling the 

 experiment another plot is selected be- 

 side it, or in a location exactly similar, 

 and treated in precisely the same way 

 except that no thinning is made. At 

 intervals of a few years these plots 

 are remeasured and photographed, 

 and the new record compared with the 

 old. 



If the problem be to determine how 

 many pine seedlings are required to 

 make a good stand of merchantable 

 timber, several small plots of different 

 densities would be marked off in sim- 

 ilar situations, carefully described, 

 and the seedlings counted and photo- 

 graphed. As growth and natural 

 thinning progressed the plots would 

 be recounted and all changes carefully 

 recorded. 



The ways of using sample plots are 

 as infinite as the questions that they 

 will answer. They afford the readiest 

 means of gaining any desired knowl- 

 edge regarding the growth or be- 

 havior of trees, but unless they are 

 made with the greatest care and every 

 fact recorded with precision they will 

 be worse than useless. One who has 

 not a considerable knowledge of sil- 

 vics, or who is satisfied with loose 

 methods, will accomplish nothing. 

 The sample plot is a piece of the for- 

 est, marked out within the forest, or 

 in a situation advisedly chosen for spe- 

 cial and prolonged observation and 

 the solution of a definite problem. 



The sample plot work of the Service 

 is under the direction of Prof. Graves, 

 of Yale. Thus far about 200 plots 

 have been established, but this is only 

 a beginning. It is intended to enlist 

 the active interest of every field man 

 and to increase the number of plots 

 largely. Especially on the forest re- 

 serves will the work be pushed, for 

 there the opportunity to obtain a full 

 understanding of the forest is matched 

 only by the need of it. The Forester 

 hopes to get results of great value 

 from these investigations. A part of 

 them will consist of necessary and 

 helpful knowledge regarding the tim- 

 ber trees of the country, a greater part 

 will be the gradual building up of a 

 real system of silviculture. 



THE PERVERSION OF THE MINERAL- 

 LAND LAWS 



BY 



A. C. SHAW 



Chief, Section of Claims, U. S. Forest Service. 



E 1 ACH effort of the Government to 

 ^ prevent the illegal acquisition of 

 its public lands is met by some new de- 

 vice intended to defeat it. The most 

 recent and glaring instance of the in- 

 genuity exercised to this end is the 

 attempted perversion of the mineral- 

 land laws. 



The creation of the forest reserves 

 deprived timberland speculators of a 

 most fruitful field of operation. The 

 law authorizing the creation of forest 

 reserves provides for the prospecting, 

 location, and entry of mineral lands 

 within forest reserves. This wise pro- 

 vision of the law is being used as an 



