502 DEPARTMENTAL BEPOBTS. 



bering, in the form of rules, should be made, in order that they might 

 form part of every contract for lumbering on these reservations. The 

 request specified that the application of these rules should be super- 

 vised by an agent of the Bureau of Forestry. The field work occu- 

 pied two men for two months. Its results were embodied in reports 

 upon each of the three reservations, which include a full description 

 of the forest and of the effect of past methods of management upon 

 it, and recommendations of practical means for improving its condi- ' 

 tion. Each report contains a definite plan for the protection of the 

 reservation from fire and rules for lumbering, which specify the lowest 

 diameter to which trees should be cut and which provide for the 

 avoidance of waste and of damage to standing trees. 



Private Lands. 



During the past year the requests for assistance under the offer 

 made in Circular No. 21 have increased in number and insistence. A 

 marked growth of interest in forestry in the Southern States has taken 

 place, and here, as in other regions, the Bureau is confronted by enor- 

 mous opportunity for effective work. Although the preparation of 

 working plans for woodlots and timber tracts goes steadily on as fast 

 as the resources of the Bureau and the other claims upon them will 

 permit, its inability to meet the demands for this branch of its work 

 was never more evident than it is at present. 



During the year 94 applications were received for advice and assist- 

 ance in the management of private forest lands. Thirty-seven of 

 these were for timber tracts, with a total area of 941,179 acres; 57 

 were for woodlots, with a total area of 5,868 acres. The total area 

 of private lands in the handling of which assistance has been requested 

 since the publication of Circular No. 21 is 5,656,171 acres, of which 

 5,640,579 acres are in timber tracts and 16,592 acres in woodlots. 



Five great railroad companies have during the past year requested 

 the cooperation of the Bureau to determine the advisability of the 

 purchase and conservative management of forest lands by the com- 

 panies for the production of railroad ties — the New York Central and 

 Hudson River Railroad, the Pennsylvania lines west of Pittsburg, the 

 Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway system, the Erie Railroad, and 

 the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad Company. In view of the 

 enormous quantity of timber used annually by these and other rail- 

 roads and of the rapid decrease in available supplies, their attitude 

 toward practical forestry offers in some ways an unparalleled oppor- 

 tunity for useful work. 



Working Plans Made. 



woodlots. 



"Working plans based on thorough study on the ground were mad: 

 for 48 woodlots, with a total area of 5,650 acres, in the States oi 

 Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Penn- 

 sylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Virginia, and West Virginia. Where 

 cuttings were advisable a number of trees were marked for removal 

 to guide in future work. The results of the examination of each 

 woodlot, with detailed recommendations for its management, were 

 embodied in a report to the owner. The general willingness shown to 

 follow the advice of the Bureau in the handling of woodlots is very 

 marked. 



