BUREAU OF FORESTRY. 181 



BALSAM. 



The study of the balsam fir, beg^un in 1902 in New York State, was 

 continued last year in new parts of that State and extended to various 

 localities in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, thus completing 

 the study of this tree throughout the whole range of its commercial 

 distribution. Eight men were engaged upon this work for three 

 months. 



The study of this species was timely, because of the constantly 

 increasing use of it by the pulp and lumber industries as a substitute 

 for spruce. The large volume of data obtained regarding the occur- 

 rence, cut, growth,_ yield per acre, and fitness of balsam fir for wood 

 pulp and lumber will furnish much information of practical value. 



BIRCH AND ASPEN. 



A study was made of the white birch and aspen on burned-oyer and 

 cut-over land in Maine, which required the services of ten men for two 

 months. The increasing use of both woods in the trades — particularly 

 the use of aspen for construction purposes — has produced a demand 

 that now gives these once worthless trees a decided commercial impor- 

 tance. ThBy almost invariably seed and take possession of burned-over 

 land before other species can obtain a foothold, and the stands are even- 

 aged. A great many sample plots were carefully measured in stands 

 of various ages, from seedlings coming up on land burned four months 

 before to old trees past maturity. Averages were thus obtained for 

 all stages of growth, from which tables of yield were made which will 

 be of great assistance to timberland owners in managing their lands, 

 since from them they can find just how much timber their stands con- 

 tain during each five-3'ear period from seedling to maturity. 



The uses to which these woods are now put and to which they may be 

 put were carefully- studied, and tests of their physical properties were 

 made which it is hoped ma}^ bring them into even more prominent use. 



Studies of important commercial hardwoods in North Carolina and 

 Tennessee were continued during the j^ear, occupying ten men organ- 

 ized in two parties for three months. 



White pine and hemlock in Tennessee were added to the commercial 

 trees studied in the southern Appalachians. 



RED GUM. 



During the winter the Bureau of Forestry carried on a study of the 

 red gum in the South. The object of this study was to find out the 

 actual commercial value of this hitherto little used wood, and to study 

 its reproduction, rate of growth, and silvicultural characteristics. The 

 region covered was the hardwood bottomlands of the Mississippi 

 River and the lowlands along the Atlantic coast. The field work 

 covered three months, and employed ten men. 



The red gum grows on the hardwood bottomlands of the southern 

 rivers. These lands are alluvial in character, and the soil is extremely 

 fertile, making the land of great value for agriculture when cleared 

 and drained. The growth of all the more important species of swamp 

 timber trees is extremely rapid, and the object of this study was in 

 part to determine how far practical forestry could be applied to these 



