116 DEPARTMENTAL KEPOKTS 



The working plan will deal with the following topics : 



Part I: 



The purpose and scope of the examination. 



Character of the forest, including a general description of ,the distribution 

 of trees, distribution of age classes, merchantable yield, present condition of 

 the timber, future production, etc. 



Recommended treatment of the forest, including a description of the thin- 

 nings actually made. 



Financial possibilities of the forest. 

 Part II: 



Detailed description of the forest by compartments. 



Forest map. 



Silvicultural study of the forest. 



During the spring about 100 acres were thinned under supervision, 

 and about 1,000 cords of wood were cut. 



WORKING PLANS IN PREPARATION. 



Personal examinations were made during the year of 10 timber 

 tracts in the States of Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South 

 Carolina, Texas, Pennsjdvania, and New York, covering a total area 

 of 1,620,600 acres. The preparation of detailed working plans was 

 recommended for six of the timber tracts examined and the recom- 

 mendation in each case was approved by the owners, at a total esti- 

 mated cost to them of $10,100. 



The largest and most important of these tracts is that of the Kirby 

 Lumber Company and the Houston Oil Company, in southeastern 

 Texas. It comprises an area of 1,250,000 acres, and includes practi- 

 cally all of the virgin Longleaf Pine land in the 7 coiinties in which 

 it is situated. The forest is divided into three principal types: 

 Longleaf Pine land, Shortleaf Pine land, and hardwood bottom land. 

 The first covers about 80 per cent of the total area and is commercially 

 the most important. 



The opportunity for practical forestry on these lands is unusually 

 good. The tract consists largely of pure woods of Longleaf Pine, only 

 about 15 per cent of which have been cut over. With reasonable 

 protection the reproduction is assured, while the presence of a heavy 

 stand of mature timber, the absence of underbrush, and the flatness 

 of the country are conditions exceedingly favorable to clean, con- 

 servative lumbering. 



The points which will be chiefly studied in the preparation of the 

 working plan are the following: 



(1) The present method of lumbering and its effect upon the forest, 

 m order to ascertain what practicable modifications will hasten the 

 production and improve the quality of a second crop. 



(2) Tiie reproduction of the Longleaf Pine and the rate at which it 

 produces timber. 



(3) The effect of fire on the Longleaf Pine, and the fire problem in 

 general, in order to devise a simple and effective system of protection. 

 Whether this system should include the whole area of the forest or 

 should, as seems probable, deal only with the protection of lumbered 

 areas until the reproduction is old enough to be comparativelv safe, 

 can be decided only by a thorough study on the ground. 



(4) The railroad tie industry, its effect upon the forest, and its com- 

 mercial wisdom under the methods and to the diameter to which trees 

 are now cut for ties. 



Another valuable opportunity foi- practical forestry is offered by a 



