LXIV REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 



because of the vast interests which depend on forest preservation and 

 wise use. In a very real sense an appropriation for these purposes 

 protects and promotes the interests, among others, of all that vast 

 body of our citizens to whom the success of irrigation, mining, graz 

 ing, transportation, or the timber trade are of primary importance. 



The rapid progress of interest in forestry throughout the South is 

 most gratifying. A very considerable proportion of the most impor- 

 tant recent work of the Bureau of Forestry lies in the Southern States. 



With the view to encouraging the substitution of conservative for 

 destructive methods, the Bureau has undertaken the preparation of 

 working plans, giving full directions for the management of forest 

 tracts, and will also afford practical assistance on the ground, without 

 cost to the owners of wood lots. In the case of large tracts, however, 

 the cost of traveling expenses and subsistence, together with the neces- 

 sary helpers of the agents of the Bureau while in the field, must be 

 borne by the owner. 



FOREST MANAGEMENT. 



The requests upon the Bureau of Forestry from private owners for 

 practical assistance and advice in the handling of their forest lands con- 

 tinue steadily to increase. Of the recent requests for assistance the 

 most noteworthy is the joint application of the Kirby Lumber Com- 

 pany and the Houston Oil Company for help in devising the best 

 method of managing 1,000,000 acres of long-leaf pine land in Texas. 

 This area includes considerably more than half of the long-leaf pine 

 lands in that State. 



Personal examinations in the woods were made during the year of 

 788, 890 acres of private ownership, and four detailed working plans 

 were prepared, covering an area of 226,000 acres. One of these was 

 for the tract of a lumber company in Arkansas and another for a tract 

 in Missouri owned by tiie Deering Harvester Company. The prepa- 

 ration of working plans .v^as begun upon five timber tracts of private 

 ownership, with a total area of 628,000 acres. The largest of these 

 consists of 300,000 acres in Maine, owned by the Great Northern Paper 

 Company. The fact that the offer of cooperation under which these 

 working plans are made is being taken advantage of so extensively by 

 lumber companies and other business organizations indicates clearly 

 the real practical value of the Bureau of Forestry to private owners. 



The preparation of working plans for the Federal forest reserves 

 goes steadily on. The working plan for the Black Hills Forest Reserve 

 has been completed, and working plans have been begun for the Pres- 

 cott, the Bighorn, and the Priest River forest reserves. The immense 

 labor involved in some of these plans is indicated by the fact that for 

 the Black Hills plan alone the diameter of every tree, large or small, 

 was measured on 10,234 acres, and complete ring countings were made 



