93 



Madison, Wis., with supplemental studies in the East and in three of the western 

 districts. 



Four experiment stations for the intensive study of silviculture have been estab- 

 lished on National Forests. Aside from these stations an enormous amount of inves- 

 tigative work has been inaugurated, in reforesation, yield, results of various methods 

 of cutting, and other fundamental aspects of silviculture. An office of grazing studies 

 has been established. Its work, already begun in several districts, will be rapidly 

 extended. 



To get the best results all of these activities must be unified. Duplication must be 

 avoided. Each investigative project must be undertaken by the unit, or the station, 

 or the men best qualified to handle it. Where several men in different districts or 

 branches of the Service should cooperate in a study, the part assigned to each must 

 be carefully mapped out. Plans must be fully matured and checked, to make sure 

 that the most important problems are attacked in the right way and that all of the 

 available information and facilities of the Service are utilized. 



The investigative committees are designed to assist in these ways. They are not to 

 hamper or check the individual member of the Service, but to aid him by correlating 

 his plans and efforts with those of all of the other members. 



The publication of the "Review of Forest Investigations" from time to time will 

 be an important factor to the same end. It will aim to keep all of the men engaged 

 upon investigative work in touch with each other. It will give them the fresh results 

 of each study as it develops. It will be primarily for the interest and benefit of all 

 the investigators in the Service, in all lines of its work, as a cumulative medium for 

 interchange of scientific data and ideas. 



The new plan is but a step toward the accomplishment of one of the things which 

 the Forester has most at heart, namely, the development of a staff of high-grade 

 investigators hi the Service whose scientific work shall compare favorably with the 

 best of any other body of men in the country engaged upon research. 



Bond from Persons Cutting Fire-Killed Timber on Unperfected Claims 



In a letter dated November 23 the Assistant Attorney General advised the Secre- 

 tary of Agriculture that officers of the Forest Service will be justified in not interfering 

 with any person or company cutting and removing fire-killed timber under arrange- 

 ments with the claimant, from an unperfected claim, unidentified grant, or unap- 

 proved selection, situated within the exterior boundaries of a National Forest, if such 

 person or company files with the proper officer of the United States a sufficient bond 

 to secure the United States for the value of the timber to be cut and removed in the 

 event such claim, grant, or selection is canceled, abandoned, or relinquished. 



Sales of Fire -Killed Timber 



DISTRICT 1. The approval of the application of M. P. Bogle for 5o million feet of 

 white pine on the St. Joe National Forest, on December 30, brought the total sales of 

 timber killed by the fires of 1910 in district 1 up to approximately 340 million feet. 

 The reconnaissance of all fire-killed areas has been actively pushed, and it is hoped 

 that a considerable percentage of the accessible timber will be sold before it becomes 

 unmerchantable. 



