37 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



were established. This area comprises sixty-seven 

 whole and five partial atlas sheets. 



In the act of Congress creating the Geological 

 Survey the director is charged, among other things, 

 with the classification of the public lands. The work 

 done under the forest reserve legislation was therefore 

 in strict accord with one of the original purposes of 

 the Survey. 



Cruisings by private parties for private purposes 

 have been made in this country for many years, but 

 the work here briefly described is the first attempt to 

 estimate and report upon the forests on a large scale 

 for the information of the public. 



The field force employed in the examination of 

 forests has varied in different years, and most of the 

 men have been employed for a part of the year only. 

 This work being the first attempt to accurately examine 

 and appraise the forests of this country, it was neces- 

 sary both to build up an organization and to originate 

 plans and methods for field work and for presentation 

 of the results in reports and maps. 



The work consists in the classification of lands as 

 arable, pasture, desert, wooded, and timbered, timber 

 land being defined as that bearing timber of merchant- 

 able size and quality, while wooded land bears only 

 trees of sizes and species suitable for firewood, posts, 

 poles, etc. The timber land has been roughly cruised 

 to learn the approximate stand of timber, with the 

 stand per acre ; the species of trees, with the proportion 

 which each species bears to the total forest, and the 

 average height, diameter, age, and condition of the 

 trees. The lands on which the timber has been cut or 

 culled have also been defined, and the amount and 

 character of the undergrowth, with its various species, 

 and the depth of humus and litter on the forest floor, 

 have been examined. 



