JN 9 S' 'A' ES 



FOREST SERVICE 



The Month in Government Forest Work. 



Decision 

 Against 

 Drifting 

 Cattle 



The United States Cir- 

 cuit Court of Appeals at 

 San Francisco has af- 

 firmed the decision of 

 Judge Hunt in the grazing trespass 

 case of the United States i's. Thomas 

 Shannon. In December, 1904, Shan- 

 non allowed his cattle to drift upon 

 the Little Belt National Forest in 

 Montana. An injunction was issued 

 perpetually restraining him from this. 

 But Montana has a fence law, under 

 which land owners must fence their 

 lands before they can obtain redress 

 from stockmen whose cattle on the 

 public domain range upon private 

 lands. Shannon's counsel argued that 

 this law would apply against the 

 United States; but the court held the 

 contrary, Congress having unlimited 

 jurisdiction over the public domain. 

 This probably means that stockmen 

 will have to restrain their cattle from 

 drifting, and it will not be necessary 

 to fence the National Forests. 



Usefulness 

 of Tupelo 

 Gum 



One of the latest discov- 

 eries of valuable quali- 

 ties in a formerly neg- 

 lected species has resulted from the in- 

 vestigation of tupelo gum, which finds 

 its home in the Southern swamps. The 

 facts brought out are perhaps as im- 

 portant as those regarding loblolly 

 pine, another species which was neg- 

 lected for many years, but is now put 

 to valuable use. When the Forest 

 Service took up this investigation two 

 years ago tupelo was little known and 

 seldom used, even where most plenti- 

 ful. In the logging off of cypress in 



the Gulf States the tupelo trees were 

 entirely disregarded ; but this lack of 

 appreciation was due to ignorance of 

 the properties of the wood and lack of 

 care in handling it. The investiga- 

 tions have proved the value of tupelo, 

 and in a short time the demand for the 

 wood has rapidly increased. It is now 

 widely used, not only where it grows, 

 but in various sections of the country. 

 for wooden pumps, musical sounding 

 boards, and interior house furnishing; 

 in the form of flooring it even com- 

 petes successfully in California with 

 Douglas fir. 



To Re-Seed 

 National 

 Forest 

 Ranges 



Reseeding experiments 

 are planned for next 

 spring and summer on 

 several of the National 

 Forest ranges, to determine how those 

 portions of the range which have been 

 i< u-.lv damaged by overgrazing 

 may be restored to their former pro- 

 ductiveness. 



The plan is to establish experimen- 

 tal stations in several parts of the 

 ^country. About six will be tried at 

 first, so located as to secure typical 

 conditions. The experiments will be 

 begun on a small scale, on five or six 

 acre tracts. Both native and wild 

 grasses will be tried, but it is believed 

 that the plan of encouraging native 

 grasses will meet with greater success 

 than the introduction of cultivated 

 species, at least in the Rocky Moun- 

 tain region. In the Coast Ranges, 

 with their greater rainfall, cultivated 

 grasses are more likely to play an im- 

 portant part in range development. 



