24 DEPAETMENTAli B.EPORTS. 



if the scope of planting upon the National Forests is to be broadened 

 to meet the opportunity opened by this work, but it is of most imme- 

 diate importance to perfect methods and solve the difficult problems 

 involved rather than to extend the work prematurely. 



Particular attention will be given to study of the field for planting 

 in the National Forests. Forest planting on irrigated lands, espe- 

 cially in Idaho, the Dakotas, Montana, and Wyoming, will also be 

 studied further, in the field. The many applications received for 

 assistance in tree planting in the southern States indicate a probable 

 need for field studies in this region during the year. 



The compilation of data will be carried on under an improved 

 method for office reference, and with plans for the publication of 

 useful information now gathered. The experimental work under way 

 in cooperation with several colleges and two forest commissions will 

 be systematized to secure the most practical and broadest results, and 

 if possible extended to include some western institutions. Cooper- 

 ation is planned with the Bureau of Plant Industry, both at some of 

 its dry- farming experiment stations and at some of its experimental 

 farms on irrigation projects. 



Several planting plans which have been asked for by owners of 

 large areas will be prepared. 



SILVICS. 



The best management of the National Forests and of all forested 

 lands in the United States must be grounded on careful and exten- 

 sive silvical investigations. Because of the growing scope and volume 

 of these studies the former section. of silvics was made an office now 

 organized in three sections — field studies, compilation, and library. 



FIELD STUDIES. 



A study of old cuttings and burns of lodgepole pine was begun in 

 the Eocky Mountains, to find out how fast reproduction takes place 

 and how the method of cutting and the brush disposal affect it. This 

 will give knowledge as to what is the best treatment of lodgepole 

 pine in the different forest types. A special sturdy of the life history 

 of Colorado forests was begun. General silvical records were started 

 at the office of every National Forest supervisor to secure the history 

 of each cutting, and the following reproduction. These will enable 

 the working out of a final plan of silvicultural treatment for each 

 forest type. Field studies of second-growth yellow poplar in Vir- 

 ginia, pointing to the profitableness of growing this species for wood 

 pulp and box lumber, at least in the Middle Atlantic States, and of 

 the aspen, valuable for book and magazine paper, excelsior, and 

 silviculturally as a nurse tree to spruce and white pine, were finished. 

 An extensive field study of all important species of hickory, the 

 present supply of which is nearly exhausted, was begun to determine 

 which lands have the best wood, and how best to grow a second crop. 



There were established in five eastern States, 145 large, and 126 

 small permanent sample plots for studying silvical problems of re- 

 production, growth, fire, and thinnings, and in the west, 22 sample 

 plots, in 4 National Forests. There are now 458 sample plots in the 

 east, with a total area of 73.22 acres. 



