BUREAU OF FORESTRY. 503 



In cooperation with Mrs. Henry C. Potter, who contributed $1,000 

 toward the cost of the work, of which $579.39 was actuallj^ expended 

 during the year, the Bnieau completed during the past year a thorough 

 study of woodlot conditions in Otsego County, N. Y. The purpose was 

 to draw up simple rules for woodlot management for the use of farmers 

 and other private forest owners in Otsego County. The field work, 

 which occupied a party of four men for three months, included a care- 

 ful study of the more important trees and of the effect of present 

 methods of cutting upon the production of a second crop. At present 

 the woodlots of Otsego County are in generally poor condition. The 

 cutting practiced in the past has removed the beat trees without regard 

 to the forest of the future. The chief need of the woodlots was 

 found to be a sj^stem of thinnings which will yield merchantable 

 material and, by the removal of unsound and undesirable trees, will 

 steadily improve the condition of the forest. The results of the field 

 work have been embodied in a report which describes typical woodlot 

 conditions in Otsego County and gives detailed instructions for better- 

 ing them. Upon several woodlots markings for thinnings are now 

 being made in order to demonstrate exactly how the work should be 

 done. 



TIMBER TRACTS. 



The field studies necessary for detailed working plans were made 

 during the year upon five tracts, with a total area of 482,321 acres, in 

 Maine, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas. 

 The total amount estimated as the cost of these working plans to the 

 owners was $12,100, and the total amount actually expended was 

 $11,398.29. 



SOUTHERN" PINE. 



One of the tracts for which a detailed working plan was prepared 

 lies in Berkeley County, S. C, and covers an area of about 39,000 acres. 

 The field work occupied a party of six men for three and a half 

 months. The forest, which is typical of much of the eastern portion 

 of the Southern pine belt, consists chiefly of Longieaf and Loblolly 

 pines, about two-thirds of the area being pine land and the remainder 

 Cj'press and hardwood swamp. The forest is of good quality, and 

 the flatness of the country and the situation of the tract along the 

 Cdoper River render logging unusually cheap. The field work 

 included the actual measurement of 5 per cent of the forest, which 

 afforded an exceedingly close estimate of the stand. The rate of 

 growth of Longieaf and Loblolly pines and of Cypress was obtained, 

 and also their volumes for given d'iameters. 



The protection of the forest from fire, which is here, as elsewhere in 

 the Southern pine belt, the most urgent problem in conservative for- 

 est management, was thoroughly studied on the ground. Present 

 methods of lumbering and their effect upon the forest were carefully 

 investigated, in order to formulate plans for work in the future which 

 will insure the production of a second crop without seriously impair- 

 ing present profits. Material was collected for the preparation of a 

 detailed forest map showing the area and distribution of the forest 

 types and the approximate stand per acre. The working plan con- 

 tains a description of the methods employed in field work and a full 

 record of its results. It includes recommendations for the protection 

 of the forest from fire and for profitable modifications of present 

 methods of lumbering. Among the important conclusions drawn 



