BUEEALT OF FORESTRY. 177 



Private Lands. 



During the past year 136 applications were received for advice and 

 assistance in the manag-ement of private forest lands under the offer of 

 cooperation with private owners made in Circular 31. Forty-seven of 

 these were for timber tracts, with a total area of 3,872,321 acres, and 

 89 were for woodlots, with a total area of 6,609 acres. 



The total area of pri\'ate lands for assistance in the management of 

 which application has been made since the publication of Circular 21 

 is 9,500,024 acres, of which 9,478,265 acres are in timber tracts and 

 21,759 acres are in woodlots. 



Preliminary examinations were made during the j'ear of 25 timber 

 tracts in the States of New Hampshire, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ala- 

 bama, Louisiana, Texas, Idaho, Washington, and Wisconsin, and in 

 the Territory of Arizona, covering a total area of 321,894 acres. 



The preparation of detailed working plans for eight of these tracts 

 was recommended and the recommendation approved Ijy the owners. 

 The estimated cost of these plans to the owners is $14,450. 



WORKING plans FOR WOODLOTS. 



In response to applications from owners of woodland, working plans 

 based upon thorough stud}- on the ground were made for 68 woodlots, 

 with a total area of 1S,71S acres, in the States of ]\Iaine, New Hamp- 

 shire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, 

 New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and Mich- 

 igan. The purpose of the woodlot work is to assist the farmer or 

 other owner in applying such management to his woodlands as will 

 make them most productive and profitable, and to encourage by exam- 

 ples of forest management a more general understanding of the sim- 

 pler principles of forestry. In almost every case owners have asked 

 help of the Bureau because they had intelligent interest in the manage- 

 ment of their forests and definite problems of their own to solve, as, 

 for example, how and where the}" may best cut their annual supply of 

 cord wood. 



The wishes of the owner with regard to his forest, the amount and 

 nature of the timber that was annually required or that could be sold, 

 and the cost and facilities of labor and transportation are important 

 considerations in these working plans. Ineveiy case a careful study 

 of the forest was made on the ground. Sample areas were selected, 

 and the trees on them were marked for cutting. These cuttings, both 

 on the sample areas and in other portions of the forest, have in the 

 great majority of cases been carried out at once, often with great skill 

 and thoroughness. 



WORKING PLANS FOR TIMBER TRACTS. 



The field work for detailed working plans was completed during the 

 year upon eight tracts, with a total area of 1,068,000 acres, in Minne- 

 sota,' New Hampshire, West ^^irginia, Alabama, and Texas. The total 

 amount estimated as the cost of these working plans to the owners was 

 $13,150, and the total actual cost to them was |12,539.57. 



