FOREST SEEVIOB. 211 



New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, 

 Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Arkansas, Missouri, 

 Michigan, Wisconsin, Washington, and California, covering a total 

 area of 500,043 acres. In every case a report was made to the owners 

 giving advice for the management of the tract. For 9 of these 

 tracts the preparation of detailed working plans was recommended 

 and the recommendation approved by the owners. The total esti- 

 mated cost of these plans to the owners is $10,220, or an average cost 

 of 2 cents per acre. 



WORKING PLANS FOE WOOD LOTS. 



Working plans based on a thorough study on the ground were made 

 for 81 wood lots, with a total area of 5,340 acres, in the States of New 

 York, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 

 Ohio, Maryland, Virginia; North Carolina, Missouri, Alabama, Loui- 

 siana, Michigan, and California. The object of this wood-lot work 

 is to give advice and suggestion to farmers and other small owners 

 of timber land, whose holdings in the aggregate form a large part 

 of the productive forest of the country, and for whom forestry can 

 often make a far greater increase of profit in proportion to the capi- 

 tal invested than for large owners. Advice is given the owner per- 

 sonally in the field, and wherever possible thinnings or other opera- 

 tions are actually started under the supervision of the agent making 

 the examination. A written report is then sent to the owner, embody- 

 ing the recommendations made and giving the reasons for them. 

 Particular attention was paid during the year to wood lots in Ohio, 

 Michigan, and the Lake States, where the question of wood and tim- 

 ber for the farm is often of the greatest importance. 



Much valuable information concerning the growth, volume, and 

 yield of different timber trees was gathered in the course of this 

 work, and is now available for use elsewhere. This is the great 

 economy effected by conducting such studies for the public benefit 

 at the public charge. The knowledge which it would not pay the 

 single small owner to gather for himself becomes immensely valu- 

 able when, once gathered, it can be broadly applied. 



In connection with the wood-lot examinations a number of illus- 

 trated lectures were given to various organizations, followed by dis- 

 cussions which proved of great educational value. Much informa- 

 tion was also collected as to market conditions, local demands for 

 timber, and the cost of the various logging operations. This infor- 

 mation is of special usefulness to farmers, who are often unfamiliar 

 with the timber market. 



WORKING PLANS FOR TIMBER TRACTS. 



The field work necessary for detailed working plans was carried 

 on during the year upon 8 tracts, with a total area of 1,982,000 acres. 

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

 owners was $8,575. The 8 tracts included a hard-wood tract in West 

 Virginia, to be managed for a continuous supply of mining timbers; 

 a Kentucky tract, which must be so managed as to yield a continuous 

 revenue and at the same time build up the condition of a badly 

 depleted forest ; a tract in northwestern Texas, valuable for the pro- 

 duction of fuel and fencing in a region almost destitute of timber; 



