24 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



OTHER STUDIES. 



At the request of the Office of Indian Affairs, thru the Secretary of 

 the Interior, the Forest Service supervised the logging on the Wiscon- 

 sin Indian Eeservation. Under the direction of an agent of the 

 Forest Service seed trees were marked on over 4,000 acres, and the 

 slash was piled for burning and the ground cleaned up along the log- 

 ging railway on all land cut over during the season. 



At the request of the Secretary of War an examination was made 

 of the timber on the Fort Wingate Military Eeservation in New 

 Mexico. The examination showed the amount of merchantable tim- 

 ber, chiefly western yellow pine, on the reservation and the amount 

 which should be cut, and recommended rules for the sale and logging 

 of the mature and overmature timber on over 23,000 acres. 



The object of a tie-production study, undertaken in cooperation with 

 the Northern Pacific Railroad, was to determine the present supply 

 of tie timber in northwestern Wisconsin and northern Minnesota, and 

 discover what practical steps can be taken to provide for a future 

 suppl3^ The investigation showed that the .present supply of tie tim- 

 ber is limited, but that the character of the timberlands available will 

 not at present warrant purchasing standing timber and managing it 

 for a continued supply. Norway pine, both in rate of growth and 

 value as a tie tree, under practical management, was shown to be the 

 best tree for planting. It will produce ties in from fifty to sixty 

 years, at a cost of 12 to 18 cents per tie, by planting it 8 by 8 feet 

 on the rolling, sandy pine soils, which are unsuited to agriculture. 



In cooperation with the Hydrographic Division of the United 

 States Geological Survey the extent and character of the forested 

 areas at the headwaters of the chief tributaries of the Potomac 

 Eiver and their influence on the water supply were studied. It was 

 found that most of these streams head in well- wooded regions, where 

 the forest conditions are satisfactoi'y, the wjtter-flows fairly regular, 

 and the water itself pure. The muddiness and other impurities of 

 the Potomac water come almost entirely from the lower courses of 

 its tributaries, where a large percentage of the area is tilled land, 

 and from the towns along the Potomac itself. The present objec- 

 tions to Potomac water will increase as the watershed is further 

 settled and developed. Forest reserves about the headwaters of cer- 

 tain important tributaries and the use of the water directly from the 

 points where it is abundant and still pure are the most practical 

 means of solving the present difficulty. 



In cooperation with the Bureaus of Chemistry and Entomology 

 a study was made in the vicinity of Ducktown, Tenn., to determine 

 the character and extent of damage upon the forest from the sulfur 

 fumes produced in smelting copper. It was shown beyond a doubt 

 that fumes from the smelters were doing great and increasing damage 

 to vegetation. 



WORK FOR THE ENSUING YEAR. 



TIMBER SALES. 



During the coming year the timber-sale work will be carried on 

 along the same lines as in the past year, particular attention being 

 given to the adjustment of prices for lumber. 



