36 
‘‘An act making appropriations for the Department of Agriculture for the year end- 
ing June 30, 1897.” : 
II. The Secretary agrees that he will furnish suitable plans for the planting of trees 
as wellas of all material for planting; that he will direct the care and management of 
the trees so planted; that such planting and subsequent care and management shall 
be under the immediate supervision of an officer of the said college or of the Division 
of Forestry, as the Secretary may determine, said officer to be under the direction of 
the Chief of the Division of Forestry; and that the labor on said land, being fur- 
nished by the said college as it is hereby agreed that it may be, the same shall be 
paid for by the Department of Agriculture on properly certified accounts in the man- 
ner provided for by the rules of said Department. 
III. This agreement is to continue in force until terminated by the Secretary, or, 
if not sooner terminated, until the experimental stage of said forest plantation is 
past; and upon its termination all improvements upon the land covered by this 
agreement shall become the property of the College. 
9 
Secretary of Agriculture. 
THE BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 
, Secretary. 
OBJECTS. 
Several lines of inquiry have led to the establishment of these forest- 
tree planting experiments. Detailed knowledge of successful forest- 
tree planting is very meager in America, and in the treeless regions, 
where more planting has been done than within the forest area, suc- 
cessful methods of selection, planting, and treatment are yet to be 
formulated. Such facts as have been proven by experience stand iso- 
lated; no rules of procedure have been determined. Hach planter has 
used such materials as were nearest at hand, and followed methods 
based not upon a knowledge of trees and their needs, but upon his 
experience as a farmer. 
Thus, the light requirement of species and their judicious mixture 
have had no place in “‘tree-claim” planting. The experiments which 
the Division of Forestry has undertaken have as their objects the 
determination of the adaptability of our principal economic species to 
the plains, and successful methods of planting and after treatment that 
shall be within the range of the average farmer. It is hoped that from 
these experimental plantings, though they cover but limited areas, 
results may be gained that will prove practicable in larger operations 
should opportunity come for undertaking them. 
From the passage of the ‘‘timber-claim” act of 1872 until now the 
usual custom in the West has been to plant trees of one species in an 
entire grove, with wide spaces between the trees. Even when more 
than one variety has been used the custom has been to plant the 
several varieties in groups by themselves. 
It is proposed in the course of these planting experiments to under- 
take methods which may, in some instances, be at variance, not only 
with established practice, but which even give seemingly little promise 
of success; for it is believed that much may be learned in the way of 
negative results if the cause of failure is found. The fundamental 
purpose of these plantings is to secure a sound basis for future practice, 
and hence a wide latitude will be permitted in planning the experiments. 
