FOREST SERVICE. 215 



ence to tie production, was completed during the year, and a sim- 

 ilar study was begun in the hard-wood region of the Southern Ap- 

 palachians, westward to the Mississippi River. White, black, and 

 chestnut oaks were the species principally studied. The fact that the 

 tie industry in that region is confined almost exclusi\'ely to second- 

 growth forest made desirable a general study of the second-growth 

 land, its extent, character, and annual production, and of the proper 

 methods of managing it for a sustained yield of the timber de- 

 manded in the region, both for ties and for the mining and other in- 

 dustries dependent upon wood. 



DETERMINATION OF TIMBEE VALUES. 



A piece of work which the Forest Service has carried on during 

 the past year and which makes a strong appeal to lumbermen 

 is that of determining the precise money value of trees of the differ- 

 ent diameters. This work, begun less than two years ago, has been 

 steadily developed. It furnishes in many cases the strongest possible 

 argument for conservative forest management. 



The timber owner who undertakes to practice forestry must make 

 up his mmd to leave a certain percentage of his trees uncut as a basis 

 for future timber crops. Hence the first question he wants answered 

 is, What are these trees worth now, and what will they be worth when 

 they have reached a larger size? In brief, will it pay to let them 

 alone for a while ? 



This study supplies the exact information required. The trees are 

 marked in the woods as they are felled, and then traced through the 

 sawmill to learn what they saw out. From the figures thus obtained 

 tables are constructed which show the number of board feet of each 

 grade of lumber yielded by trees of different diameters. By apply- 

 ing a lumber price list the exact money value of the trees may then be 

 determined. 



This study at sawmills also shows exactly how the actual amount of 

 lumber sawed out of a log or tree compares with the amount credited 

 to it by the log scale. This is a matter of considerable importance, 

 especially to lumbermen who contract for their logging. The tables 

 showing money values can be applied with peculiar effectiveness to 

 those tracts on which detailed estimates have been made of the stand- 

 ing timber. Knowing the number of trees of each diameter and 

 species on his lands, and the profits per thousand feet of logging each 

 diameter, the lumberman is in a position to put a far more accurate 

 valuation on his property than if he had resorted to the customary 

 method of having it cruised and had then applied a stumpage price. 

 Success in the lumber business depends largely on the ability to 

 figure closely on all operations. The mill studies of the Service thus 

 furnish the precise information necessary for very important calcu- 

 lations. 



WORK rOE THE ENSfrlNG YEAR. 

 PUBLIC LANDS. 



During the coming year the preparation of working plans for those 

 parts of the National forest reserves where there is an urgent de- 

 mand for timber and where large timber sales have been made will 



