UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



MISCELLANEOUS CIRCULAR NO. 16 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 



AUGUST, 1925 



TREE DISTRIBUTION UNDER THE KINKAID ACT 



OF 1911 



Prepared by the Forest Service 



Annually since 1911 the agricultural appropriation act has con- 

 tained a provision for the free distribution of young trees from 

 the Bessey Nursery, Nebraska National Forest, Halsey, Nebr., as 

 follows : 



That from the nurseries on the Nebraska National Forest the Secretary of 

 Agriculture, under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe, may furnish 

 young trees free, so far as they may be spared, to residents of the territory 

 covered by "An act increasing the area of homesteads in a portion of Nebraska," 

 approved April 28, 1904. 



The act referred to is commonly known as the Kinkaid Act, and 

 the portion of Nebraska included is shown on the map (fig. 1). 



Under the foregoing provision, trees have been distributed as 

 follows: 



Year 



Number 

 of appli- 

 cants 



Number of 

 trees dis- 

 tributed 



Year 



Number 

 of appli- 

 cants 



Number of 

 trees dis- 

 tributed 



1912 



494 

 540 

 712 

 746 

 770 

 704 

 586 

 528 



44,460 

 189,000 

 248,500 

 112, 110 

 131, 200 

 127, 550 

 122, 900 

 106,395 



1920 . 



698 

 680 

 829 

 1,041 

 970 



119,180 

 104, 600 

 170, 400 

 206, 100 

 195, 050 



1913 



1921 



1914 



1922. 



1915 



1923. 



1916 



1924. 



1917 



Total 



1918 



9,298 



1, 877, 445 



1919 





The reports sent in by those who have received the trees indicate 

 that they obtain as high as 75 per cent survival in favorable seasons 

 and as low as almost total failure in seasons of drought. An aver- 

 age of about 50 per cent of the trees planted live. Some planters 

 who take unusually good care of their trees obtain almost perfect 

 stands. There are scattered groves of trees all through western 

 Nebraska, many of which were planted under the timber culture 

 act of March 13, 1874, locally called the " tree claim " law. 1 Where 



1 Tbis law as amended by tbe act of June 14, 1878, authorized the entry of a quarter 

 section or less of treeless land for tbe purpose of timber culture. Tbe law required that 

 the entryman should plant, protect, and keep in a healthy growing 1 condition for 8 

 years 10 acres of timber on a quarter section, 5 acres on an 80, or 2% acres on a 

 40-acre tract., No residence on the land was required. 



48743—25 



