BUREAU OF FORESTRY. 527 



the resources of the Bureau will permit. Not only will planting 

 plans be made in increasing numbers, but more attention will be 

 given also to the supervision of planting done under the plans and to 

 the care of plantations after they are made. 



The forest planting begun on two of the public reserves will be 

 continued, and, if practicable, extended to several others during the 

 next year. Work should be begun promptly on the Pikes Peak, 

 Wichita, Prescott, and San Bernardino reserves. 



Studies in the improvement of natural reproduction on the Pikes 

 Peak Reserve and in northern New Mexico will be continued, as will 

 also a study now in progress of the extension of the timber belts of 

 western Kansas and an investigation of methods of restocking with 

 forest the cut-over pine lands of southern Michigan. In southern 

 New England the study begun last year on the improvement of the 

 reproduction of White Pine is to be concluded. Other work in prog- 

 ress includes an investigation, in cooperation with the Forestry Asso- 

 ciation of Massachusetts, covering the problems of forest flres and 

 reproduction and studies in cooperation with the State of California 

 to determine methods of improving thin forest stands and to show 

 the extent to which forest planting is practicable on mountain lands 

 in that State. The growth and value for economic purposes of the 

 planted Eucalypts in southern California will also continxie as a part 

 of this cooperative work. An investigation of methods of preventing 

 and controlling forest fires under the same plan will soon be begun. 



Special inquiries will be made into the causes of and damage from 

 all serious forest fires which do not receive State investigation. The 

 influence of fire on reproduction under the varying conditions pre- 

 vailing in different forest regions will continue %o receive attention. 



The reclamation of shifting sand by forest growth will be vigor- 

 ously prosecuted on the Atlantic coast, in the Lake region, and on 

 the Columbia River. On private lands the Bureau will cooperate with 

 landowners. On Government land the Bureau will itself begin work 

 in a limited number of places. 



forest products. 



Timber Tests. 



An investigation of the mechanical properties of timber was under- 

 taken by this Bureau on September 1, 1902, in cooperation with the 

 road-material laboratory of the Bureau of Chemistry. Its specific pur- 

 pose is to determine the strength and durability of the merchantable 

 timbers of the United States. In planning the work the effort has 

 been to confine it to the solution of practical problems and to avoid 

 those of purely scientific interest. A circular was prepared and 

 printed stating in detail the methods to be employed and the results 

 expected. This was sent to prominent engineers, manufacturers, and 

 lumbermen, with a request for candid criticism and suggestion. The 

 replies show a keen appreciation of the importance of the work and 

 in almost every case approve the plan outlined in the circular. The 

 intention of the Bureau to test actual commercial products in the 

 form of full-sized sticks of structural timber received the commenda- 

 tion not only of practicing engineers but of eminent authorities on 

 testing, such as Prof. G. Lanza, to whom the principal features of the 

 plan were due. 



