CHAPTER II

THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE NATIONAL FORESTS

Under the head of administration we must necessarily understand those

factors which are essential to carry on the business of the National

Forests. First of all we must consider the personnel, that is, the men

that make up the organization by means of which the work on the Forests

is done. Next we must learn how the money for this large enterprise is

appropriated each year to carry on the work, and how it is divided up

so that each National Forest gets an amount each year in proportion to

its needs. Then again men and money are of little avail without tools,

equipment, and supplies. The proper distribution of these to the 147

National Forests is no small business organization in itself. Lastly

we must learn of the many permanent improvements which are made on

the National Forests which are absolutely necessary for their proper

administration, protection and use. No large constructive forestry

enterprise is complete without these. They consist of the construction

of means of transportation, means of communication, and living quarters

for the personnel; of extensive planting of young trees to reëstablish

forests which have been destroyed by fires; the carrying on of research

and experiments to aid in the development of the best methods of

forestry; and the classification and segregation of agricultural lands

and the establishment of permanent boundaries. All these matters

must necessarily be considered before we attempt to learn about the

protection and the utilization of the National Forests.

PERSONNEL

_Duties of Forest Officers._ Forest officers are the servants of the

people and they are expected to assist in every way possible those who

wish to use the resources of the Forests. Their first duty is to enforce

the regulations under which all permits, leases, sales, and rentals are

made. These regulations cover every phase of National Forest activity

and in conducting business under them they must not let personal or

other interests weigh against the good of the Forests. For the good of

the Forest Service their conduct must be prompt and courteous and their

business methods sensible and effective. They make it their business to

prevent misunderstandings and violations of forest regulations rather

than to correct mistakes after they have been made.

On the National Forests there are permanent employees and temporary

employees. Under the former heading come the Forest Supervisor, the

Deputy Supervisor, the Forest Assistant, the Forest Ranger, Lumbermen,

Sealers, Planting Assistants, and Forest Clerks. Under the latter

category come the Forest Guards, the Field Assistants, and the Temporary

Laborers. All permanent positions are in the classified Civil Service.

Vacancies are filled from a certified list of those who have passed a

Civil Service examination or by promotion from the lower ranks.

[Illustration: Figure 9. Forest officers in front of the Forest

Supervisor's summer headquarters. Note the many telephone wires that

lead from the office. This is 50 miles from the railroad. Lassen

National Forest, California.]

[Illustration: Figure 10. Scene in front of the Forest Supervisor's

headquarters. Sheep leaving the National Forest summer range in the fall

to go to winter range in the valley. Lassen National Forest, California.]

_The Forest Supervisor._ A Forest Supervisor is in charge of each

National Forest and he plans the work of the Forest and supervises

its execution. He works, of course, under direct instruction from the

District Forester and is responsible to him. When the amount of business

on the Forest warrants it he is assisted by a Deputy Supervisor.

Both these positions are filled by the promotion of experienced men in

the classified Civil Service. The Forest Supervisor's headquarters are

located in towns conveniently situated with regard to the most important

points in his Forest. The town is usually located on a railroad and

centrally located with regard to the various Ranger districts of his

Forest. His headquarters are usually the center of the system of roads

and trails which covers his entire Forest. From his office also the

telephone system radiates in all directions to his various District

Rangers. In short, the Forest Supervisor's office is so situated that he

has at all times full knowledge of all the activities of his Forest; he

is therefore in a position to give advice and directions by telephone

to his Rangers and other subordinates almost at any time of the day or

night. Such intimate communication is of especial importance during the

fire season.

Some Forests have two headquarters, one that is occupied in the winter

and the other that is occupied in the summer. The summer quarters is

usually most advantageously situated as far as the business of the

Forest is concerned, but owing to deep snow, which seriously interferes

with mail and telephone connections, a more accessible winter quarters

is occupied from October to May.

The force of men the Forest Supervisor has working under him varies of

course with the amount of work to be performed. The permanent force is

usually from 10 to 15 men, which during the fire season may be increased

to from 25 to 40 and in cases of great fire emergency sometimes to

several hundred men, by the addition of temporary employees.

_The Forest Assistant._ The other permanent men on a National Forest are

the Forest Assistant or Forest Examiner, Forest Rangers, and a Forest

clerk with his assistant, the Stenographer and Typewriter. The Forest

Assistant or Examiner ranks next to the Deputy and his work is directed

by the Forest Supervisor, to whom he makes his reports. The Forest

Assistant is the technical man of the Forest force, who upon making

good is promoted to Forest Examiner. He is employed upon such technical

lines of work as the examination and mapping of forest areas; reports on

applications for the purchase of timber; marking, scaling, and managing

timber sales; the survey of boundaries; and nursery and planting work.

Not only is a Forest Assistant called upon to perform these various

lines of technical work. The very nature of the country he is in

indicates that he must be an all-round practical man. He must be able

to ride, pack, and drive. He must often live alone and therefore must

do his own cooking, washing, and take care of other personal needs.

He must be strong and healthy and capable of undergoing hardships, at

least be able to stand long days of walking, climbing, and horseback

riding. His various duties and the different situations that arise often

call for knowledge and practical ability as a carpenter, a mechanic,

a plumber, an engineer, a surveyor, and many other lines of work.

Perhaps more important than his education and ability are his personal

qualifications. His temperament must be such that he must feel satisfied

and contented under the most trying conditions. He must be able to do

without most of the comforts of modern civilization for most of the

time. For these reasons the country-bred western youths are more liable

to make a success of the work than the city-bred easterner.

_The Forest Ranger._ The Forest Ranger's position is one of the most

important and at the same time the most difficult positions on our

National Forests.

The Forest Ranger's headquarters are usually at the nearest business

center to his district and if that is not practicable permanent

headquarters are provided on the Forest. In any case his station

is located as near to the center of the business activity of his

district as possible. If his headquarters are centrally located in his

district, trails, roads, and telephone lines lead out from his cabin

to all parts of his district. His station is built and maintained at

government expense and usually has, besides his living quarters, a barn,

tool-house, pasture, corral, and other necessary improvements.

The Forest Ranger performs such routine work as the supervision of

timber sales, grazing, free use, special use, and other contracts and

permits, the carrying out of the protection and improvement plans for

his district, and other administrative duties. The average Forest Ranger

has a territory of from 75,000 to 150,000 acres to take care of. On

June 30, 1917, there were about 1,100 Forest Rangers employed on the

National Forests who were assisted by over 900 Assistant Forest Rangers

and Forest Guards. The protective force was therefore about one man for

every 77,800 acres or about 121 square miles.

The Forest Ranger must be a man who is physically sound and capable of

enduring great hardships. He is often required to do heavy manual labor

in fighting fire under the most trying conditions. For this reason he

must have great endurance. They are usually men who have been brought up

in timber work, on ranches or farms, or with the stock business. They

are therefore thoroughly familiar with the region in which they are to

be employed and especially acquainted with the rough, semi-primitive

life which is characteristic of remote places in the West.

He must be able to take care of himself and his horses in regions remote

from settlement and supplies. He must be able to build trails, roads

and cabins; he must be able to ride, pack, and drive and deal tactfully

with all classes of people. He must know something about land surveying,

estimating, and scaling timber; of logging, mining laws, and the live

stock business. His duties include patrol to prevent fire and trespass;

estimating, surveying, and marking timber; the supervision of cutting

and similar work. He is authorized to issue permits, build cabins and

trails, oversee grazing business, investigate mining and agricultural

claims, report upon applications, and report upon and arrest for the

violation of Forest laws and regulations.

_The Forest Clerk._ The Forest Clerk performs the clerical work and

the book-keeping in the Forest Supervisor's office. He sometimes has a

Stenographer and Typewriter to assist him and to do the mechanical work

of correspondence. Lumbermen are specialists who are thoroughly well

versed in all that pertains to logging, milling, scaling, and cruising

timber. They are assigned temporarily to Forests where need for their

work arises. Scalers are men thoroughly familiar with the art of scaling

or measuring logs, ties, poles, cord wood and other forest products.

Planting Assistants are specialists in nursery and planting work. Their

duties include the preparation of seed beds, seed sowing, transplanting

and care of seedlings, and field planting. They are assigned to the

Forest Service nurseries.

[Illustration: THE WORK OF FOREST OFFICERS IN THE WINTER

Figure 11. Forest officers and lumberjacks burning the slash resulting

from a timber sale. The snow on the ground makes the burning less

dangerous. Washakie National Forest, Wyoming. Photo by the author.]

[Illustration: Figure 12. Forest officers at a winter timber-cruising

camp repairing snow shoes. Besides cruising the timber, these men make a

logging map of the government lands, to show how the timber can best be

taken out. Lassen National Forest, California. Photo by the author.]

Temporary Laborers, Forest Guards, and Field Assistants are employed

during the field season when additional work on the National

Forests warrants it. Forest Guards perform temporary protection,

administrative, and improvement work; Field Assistants, usually students

of forestry serving their apprenticeships, are usually employed at minor

technical work and timber cruising; Temporary Laborers are employed by

the day or month at any kind of improvement or maintenance work.

_Forest Service Meetings._ A general meeting of the Forest force is

usually held annually to give the Forest officers the benefit of each

other's experience, to keep in touch with the entire work of the Forest,

and to promote "esprit-de-corps." The time and place of the meeting

depends upon circumstances, but it is usually held at a time of the year

when there is least danger from fire. Often joint meetings are held with

the forces of adjacent Forests. This annual meeting idea is carried

through the entire Forest Service. The Forest Supervisors in each

administrative district usually meet at the district headquarters once

a year and the District Foresters of all the districts together with

representative officers from the Washington office usually meet annually

at some centrally located district office such as the one at Ogden,

Utah. These meetings assist greatly in keeping all the work in the

various branches of the Service up to the same standard of efficiency,

in avoiding mistakes by learning the experience of others, and in

correlating and summarizing work done on similar problems in widely

different regions.

HOW THE FOREST SERVICE APPROPRIATION IS ALLOTTED TO THE NATIONAL FORESTS

It is, indeed, a great task to distribute the money that is each

year appropriated by Congress for the Forest Service so that the

Washington Office, the District Offices, and the 147 National Forests

each get their just share and so that each dollar buys the greatest

amount of good for the whole people without extravagance or waste. To

do this a large organization has been built up composed of business

men who have absolutely no selfish interest at heart and among whom

graft or favoritism is unknown and unheard of. It may be said without

exaggeration that the business of the National Forests is on a

thoroughly sound and efficient basis.

_Forest Service Expenses._ While for reasons already spoken of, the cash

receipts are considerably below the expenses for running the Forests,

the rapidly increasing system of roads, trails and telephone lines

points not only to a constantly increasing use and service to the

public but also as a consequence to increased financial returns.

The expenses of the Forest Service on the National Forests are of a

two-fold character. There are costs of administration and protection

on the one hand which might be called ordinary running expenses, and

the costs of improvements, reforestation, and forest investigations

on the other. The latter are really in the nature of investments,

and do not properly fall into the category of operating costs. Yet

they are absolutely necessary to the welfare of the Forests. They

comprise expenditures for roads, trails, telephone lines, and similar

improvements, the establishment of forests by the planting of young

trees which have been destroyed by past fires, the carrying on of

research and experiments to aid in the development of the best methods

of forestry, and expenses connected with the classification and

segregation of agricultural lands in the Forests. The establishment of

permanent boundaries and the cost of making homestead and other surveys

are also in the nature of investments. Such expenditures may be looked

upon as money deposited in the bank to bear interest; they will not

bring direct financial returns now but will produce great revenue many

years hence.

_The Agricultural Appropriation Bill._ The fiscal year in the Forest

Service extends from July 1 of one year to June 30 of the next. Every

year, in the Agricultural Appropriation Bill that comes before Congress,

there is an appropriation for the Forest Service for its work. This

appropriation is not in a lump sum but by allotments or funds. There

is the fund for Fire Fighting, one for General Expenses, another for

Statutory Salaries, another for Improvements, another for Emergency Fire

conditions, and usually there are special appropriations for various

purposes. For the fiscal year 1918 (extending from July 1, 1917, to June

30, 1918) there are special appropriations for Land Classification, for

purchasing land under the Weeks Law, for coöperative fire protection

under the Weeks Law, and for the Federal Aid Road Act.

_The Ranger's Protection and Improvement Plans._ Long before this bill

reaches Congress every Forest Ranger on every National Forest, every

Forest Supervisor, and every Branch of the Washington and the District

Offices have been estimating how much money they will need to carry

out the plans proposed for the next fiscal year. Each Forest Ranger

works and studies over his plans for the next year with which he hopes

to protect his district from fire. He plans and figures out what

improvements are urgently necessary to make the remote parts of his

district more accessible. He tries to arrive at a safe estimate of the

cost of so many miles of trails, roads, and telephone lines, so many

cabins, barns, corrals, etc., which he thinks are absolutely essential

to the proper administration of his district, and he estimates the

number of Forest Guards, lookout men, and patrol men he will need for

the protection of his territory. Usually these items are summed up under

his annual Improvement Plan and his Protection Plan respectively.

_The Supervisor's Plans._ When the Forest Supervisor receives such

estimates and plans from each of his Forest Rangers he studies them over

carefully and tries to decide in an impartial way what improvements

are most necessary in each Ranger district and what additional men are

necessary for the adequate protection of the region in question. He

carefully weighs the arguments for and against each expenditure and

decides what improvements must be made now and which ones it would be

possible to postpone for one or more years without detriment to the work

of his Forest as a whole. For in most cases the amount of necessary

work to be done on each Ranger district is far in excess of the amount

which the Forest Supervisor could approve owing to the inadequacy of

the Forest Service funds. So, for the Forest Supervisor, it is merely a

question of how low he can keep his estimates for money for the ensuing

year until such a time when Congress will appropriate more money so

that all the important and necessary work can be done. In most cases

therefore the major part of all the expenditures recommended by the

Forest Ranger is warranted, but the Forest Supervisor knows that he must

cut all the estimates down considerably in order to bring the total

Forest estimate reasonably near the amount he is likely to get, basing

his judgment upon what he got the year before.

_Approval of Plans by the District Forester._ The District Forester then

gets the National Forest estimate from every one of his 25 or 30 Forest

Supervisors and he in turn must decide what projects on each Forest are

immediately necessary and which ones can be postponed. The same process

is repeated in the Washington office when all the estimates from the

District Foresters are received, and the Forester in turn sends to the

Secretary of Agriculture his estimates by allotments or funds, which

in turn are put before Congress. While Congress sometimes makes minor

changes in the Forest Service appropriation, in most cases the bill is

passed as it stands.

_The District Fiscal Agent._ The money appropriated by Congress is

allotted to each district, and in turn to each National Forest and

finally to each Ranger district by funds, such as General Expenses,

Fire Fighting, Improvements, etc. In each district the financial

matters are taken care of in the Office of Accounts by the District

Fiscal Agent. He is the Assistant of the Chief of the Forest Service

Branch of the Division of Accounts of the Department of Agriculture

and pays all the bills incurred by the district and receives all the

money which comes in from the sale of National Forest resources. The

amount of money appropriated for the district is credited to him and he

disburses this appropriation in accordance with the Fiscal Regulations

of the Department of Agriculture. No other officer is allowed to receive

money for the sale of timber, forage, or other resources; in fact no

other official in the District handles any of the Forest Service funds

whatsoever.

All remittances by users of the National Forests are made to the U. S.

District Depository. If a rancher has bought some timber from a Forest

Ranger, he is given a letter of transmittal showing the amount of the

purchase which he must send to the District Fiscal Agent with the amount

necessary to pay for the timber. The letter of transmittal explains the

purpose of the remittance.

_Tax Money Paid to the States._ Another interesting feature of the

National Forest business is the money paid each State out of the annual

receipts in lieu of taxes. It must be remembered that National Forests

do not pay taxes to the States in which they are located. On the other

hand, if the National Forests were private property they would bring

into the county and state treasuries yearly taxes. To compensate the

State for the taxes lost in this way each National Forest pays to each

county in proportion to the area of the National Forest lands located

in that county a sum of money equal to 25 per cent, of the total

gross receipts each fiscal year. From the receipts of the fiscal year

1917 this amounts to about $850,000. It is provided that this money

is to be expended for schools and roads in the county in which the

National Forests lie. Recently a law was passed giving the Secretary

of Agriculture authority to expend an additional 10 per cent. of the

National Forest receipts for the construction of roads and trails for

the benefit of local communities. From the fiscal year 1917 this amounts

to about $340,000. These moneys for roads, trails, and schools are of

course a great benefit to the mountain communities, since usually the

amount of taxable property in such remote localities is small and hence

the amount of taxes received is small. These allotments to the counties

have helped to develop the communication systems of local communities

and have also made the National Forests more accessible and useful.

THE EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES FOR THE NATIONAL FORESTS

_The Property Auditor and Property Clerk._ The depot for equipment,

supplies, and blank forms is located at Ogden, Utah, and this office

furnishes all the Forests in all the districts with most of the

equipment necessary. The record of the property of the United States in

the custody of the Forest Service is kept by a man called the Property

Auditor. Requisitions for supplies and equipment are made by the Forest

Supervisor to the Property Clerk. Government property is considered

expendable or non-expendable depending upon its character. Each Forest

has a Property Custodian who has charge of all the property assigned

to the Forest. When property is received from the Property Clerk or if

property is transferred from one forest officer to another, the Property

Custodian must note the change on his records.

_Blank Forms._ The blank forms which are supplied by the Property Clerk

are printed standard forms used in issuing permits, making contracts,

reports, examinations, timber sale agreements, in short, those used in

almost every business transaction of the Forest Service. Even timber

estimates, tree measurements, and other similar public records are kept

on standard printed forms for permanent uniform record.

_Supplies._ Supplies such as stationery, typewriters, pencils, ink,

notebooks, paper for map work, compasses, measuring tapes, and a host

of other articles are furnished upon requisition by the Property

Clerk. Equipment such as filing cases, tables, chairs, typewriters,

tree-measuring instruments, tents, cooking utensils, surveying

instruments, snow shoes, skiis, knapsacks, water buckets, canteens,

kodaks, and many other forms of equipment are furnished by the Property

Clerk, although in cases of emergency some of these things may be

purchased locally by Forest officers by the authority of the Forest

Supervisor.

NATIONAL FOREST IMPROVEMENTS

_The Need of Improvements._ It is but natural, from their situation,

that the National Forests represent pioneer conditions; conditions

that one might expect to find in a wild, rugged, mountainous country.

This was true to an extreme degree when the National Forests were

first established and it is true in a very large degree even to-day,

since the amount of time and money which it will be necessary to

expend on the construction of improvements on the 155,000,000 acres

of National Forests is something enormous. For a long time to come,

then, the National Forests will need improvements in order to make them

secure against fire and in order to make the resources, now locked

up, available. Proper protection and the fullest use of National

Forest resources depend mainly upon facilities for transportation,

communication, and control. All parts of the National Forests should be

accessible by roads and trails; there should be telephone communication

between settlements and Forest officers' headquarters and with the

lookout stations; and in most cases suitable living accommodations must

be provided for the field force. For the fullest use of the forage

resources, water for the live stock must be developed and range fences

constructed; to reduce the hazard and the cost and difficulty of

controlling forest fires, firebreaks and other works must be constructed.

_Transportation Facilities._ Adequate facilities for travel and

transportation are of first importance. Steam roads, electric roads, and

boat lines are utilized in the National Forest transportation system

as well as the existing roads and trails. Added to this, new roads and

trails are being constructed every year to complete the already existing

network.

[Illustration: Figure 13. A forest fire lookout tower on Leek Springs

Mountain. Eldorado National Forest, California.]

The need for new roads and trails depends upon the number of them

already existing, the value of the resources that it is necessary to

make accessible, the fire liability, and the amount of unrealized

revenues due to lack of transportation facilities. If valuable

grazing land or timber land can be made accessible there is good reason

for building a new road. In many cases roads and trails are built to

facilitate the protection of large remote areas from fire. Such areas

may have large bodies of valuable timber which if destroyed by forest

fires would involve a heavy loss. Even aside from valuable timber on

an area, it is absolutely necessary when a forest fire breaks out to

get to it with men and fire-fighting equipment in the shortest possible

time before it spreads. If the fire gets to be a large one, many men

with provisions, tents, fire-fighting tools, and other equipment must be

transported to the scene of the fire. Any delay in the transportation

of these things may prove fatal and may result in an uncontrollable

conflagration.

The transportation system that is proposed for a National Forest, if the

one that exists is inadequate, is usually planned many years ahead. The

ultimate or ideal system is always kept in mind so that every mile of

road or trail that is constructed is made a part of it. If not enough

money is available for a good road, a trail is built along the line of

the proposed road. Later this trail is widened into a permanent road.

The Engineer connected with each District Office usually has charge of

laying out big road projects. A few miles of permanent, good, dirt road

with good grade is always preferred to many miles of poor road with

heavy grade and improper drainage. A road and trail system is planned

for each National Forest which will eventually place every portion of

the Forest within a distance of at least 7-1/2 miles of a wagon road. A

pack-train can then transport supplies from the point to which they are

delivered on the wagon road to any field camp and return in a single day.

In trail and road construction it is very often necessary to build

bridges. Sometimes a very simple log bridge meets the need, but in

bridging many large mountain torrents, which become very high and

dangerous in the spring, large bridges are necessary. Cable suspension

bridges and queen and king truss bridges are built where occasion arises

for them, but only after being planned in detail and after the District

Forester has approved their design and method of construction.

[Illustration: Figure 14. A typical Forest ranger's headquarters.

Idlewood Ranger Station, Arapaho National Forest, Colorado]

Very often navigable streams and lakes are used as a part of the

transportation system on a National Forest. On the Tahoe National Forest

in California launches are operated by the Forest Service on Lake

Tahoe to patrol the region around the lake for forest fires. Ferries,

boats, and launches belonging to private companies or individuals are

used by agreement or if necessary are bought by the Service from the

Improvement funds. Speeders, motor cars, and hand cars on railroads or

logging roads are often used when an agreement has been made with the

company. In this way railroads are made a part of the transportation

system of the Forest.

_Communication Facilities._ The system of communication on the National

Forests is scarcely less important than the system of transportation.

This system includes telephone lines, signal systems, and mail

service. The telephone system, as can be readily seen, is of the

utmost importance for the transaction of all kinds of National Forest

business. In case a Forest Ranger wishes to speak to his Supervisor

about controlling a large fire, it makes a great difference whether he

can talk to him over the telephone or whether he must send a messenger

on horseback perhaps 60 or 70 miles. In the former case practically no

time is lost, in the latter it would take at least two days for the

messenger to reach the Forest Ranger, and in the meantime the fire would

continue to rage and spread.

In the absence of a telephone system a signal system is used. The one

probably used the most in forest fire protection work is the heliograph,

by which code messages are sent from one point to another by means of a

series of light flashes on a mirror. The light of the sun is used and

the flashes are made by the opening and closing of a shutter in front of

the mirror. Very often these heliograph stations are located on mountain

tops in the midst of extremely inaccessible country. Where there are a

number of these stations at least one is connected by telephone to the

Forest Supervisor's office. When the Forest officer at the telephone

gets a heliograph message about a certain fire he immediately telephones

the news directly to the Forest Ranger in whose district the fire is

located, or if he does not happen to be in direct communication with

the Forest Ranger he notifies the Forest Supervisor, who then notifies

the officer concerned. Of course it is all prearranged who should be

notified in case a fire is reported to the heliograph man.

[Illustration: Figure 15. A typical view of the National Forest country

in Montana. Forest Service trail up Squaw Peak Patrol Station, Cabinet

National Forest.]

Unfortunately it has been found that this system of communication is

not satisfactory even under favorable conditions. This system depends

upon direct sunlight; without it is useless. When there is much smoke in

the air it is also of uncertain value. The heliograph system has perhaps

reached its greatest development upon the California National Forest,

but even here experience has shown that it is only a temporary makeshift

and the plan is to replace it by a telephone system as soon as possible.

The Forest Supervisor, especially in his summer headquarters, depends

directly upon the mail service for communication with the District

Forester and the outside world. In many cases the fact that the Forest

Supervisor has his headquarters in a small mountain community in the

summer has made it possible for that community to receive a daily mail

service or mail at least three times a week. When the Forest Supervisor

becomes satisfied that mail service is desirable in certain mountain

communities he investigates local settlers' needs for mail facilities;

or he may coöperate with the people in the nearest village who are

petitioning for mail service. Often his influence proves the deciding

factor in getting it.

As I have said before, telephone communication is indispensable to fire

protection and to quick and efficient methods of conducting National

Forest business. Not only do Forest Service lines enter into the

National Forest telephone system but all private lines are also made

use of. By coöperative agreements with private companies the National

Forest lines are used by private companies, in return for which private

lines are used by the Forest Service. In this way a complete network of

telephone lines is established connecting not only the Forest Supervisor

with all his Rangers and his forest fire lookout stations, but also

connecting each one of these with local communities and the large towns

at a distance. Thus, when a forest fire occurs and the available local

help is not sufficient to control the fire the telephone system is put

to use to call help from the nearest villages and towns.

[Illustration: Figure 16. Forest Rangers repairing a bridge over a

mountain stream. Arapaho National Forest, Colorado]

_Grazing Improvements._ It is often necessary for the complete and

economical use of the forage on a National Forest to coöperate with the

local stockmen to develop range by constructing improvements. Water

may have to be developed; fences, corrals, bridges, trails, and other

works may have to be constructed. Often cattle belonging to different

stockmen are grazed on adjacent areas which are not separated by natural

boundaries such as rivers, ridges, or swamps. If there is no obstacle to

prevent the cattle from drifting from one range into another, a drift

fence is built, thus definitely separating one stockman's range from the

other. Often good range would remain unused on account of lack of water

altogether or on account of lack of water during the dry season only.

In this case the Forest Service usually coöperates with the stockmen to

provide water. Roads, trails, and bridges are often necessary to enable

sheep and cattle to reach range lands.

_Protective Improvements._ Ranger stations, cabins, lookout stations,

firebreaks and similar works are required to protect the forests from

fire and are known as protective improvements. Buildings are constructed

for the field force to afford necessary shelter and to furnish an office

for the efficient transaction of business. Land is often cultivated for

the production of forage crops and fences are built to insure necessary

pasturage for live stock used by the Forest officers in their work. The

buildings may be substantial houses to be used throughout the year or

they may be merely such structures as will afford the necessary shelter

and domestic conveniences for Forest officers in the summer. These

summer camps are constructed where needed for the use of patrolmen,

officers engaged in timber sale work or at such points as will serve the

needs of officers traveling through the forest. Barns, sheds, and other

small structures are constructed at the Ranger's headquarters when they

are needed. Office buildings are also constructed for the use of Forest

Rangers or for summer headquarters of the Forest Supervisor.

[Illustration: Figure 17. A forest fire lookout station on the top of

Lassen Peak, elevation 10,400 feet, Lassen National Forest, California.

This cabin was first erected complete in a carpenter's shop in Red

Bluff, about 50 miles away. It was then taken to pieces and packed to

the foot of Lassen Peak. On the last two miles of its journey it was

packed piece by piece on forest officers' backs and finally reassembled

on the topmost pinnacle of the mountain. Photo by the author.]

[Illustration: Figure 18. Forest officers and laborers building a wagon

road through trap rock. Payette National Forest, Idaho.]

_Appropriations for Improvement Work._ The money for the construction of

National Forest improvements is secured from various sources. The annual

Forest Service appropriation usually carries a considerable sum for this

purpose. In the fiscal year 1918 $450,000 has been appropriated for this

work, which divided among the 147 National Forests gives an average only

of about $3,000 per Forest. This is really a very small sum considering

the size of the average National Forest. Fortunately there are other

appropriations and funds and each year sees more money available for

this most important work. Under the law 25 per cent. of the receipts

are paid to the States in which the National Forests are located to be

expended for roads and schools. The amount to be paid to the States in

this way from the receipts in 1917 is about $848,874.00. By the acts of

Congress organizing them as States, Arizona and New Mexico also receive

for their schools funds an additional share of the receipts based on the

proportion that their school lands within the National Forests bear to

the total National Forest area in the States. The approximate amounts

due on account of the receipts for 1917 are $42,844.80 to Arizona and

$18,687.56 to New Mexico. Congress has also provided that 10 per cent,

of the receipts shall be set aside as an appropriation to be used

under the direction of the Secretary of Agriculture for road and trail

building in National Forests in coöperation with state authorities or

otherwise. The amount thus appropriated on account of the fiscal year

1917 receipts is $339,549.61. This added to the amount carried over

from the 1916 receipts fund, $136,981.23, and the amount appropriated

for improvements, in the regular Agricultural Appropriation Bill,

$450,000.00, brings the total available for the construction of roads,

trails, cabins, bridges, telephone lines, etc., on the National Forests

for the fiscal year 1918 to $926,530.84.

There is still another fund recently appropriated which will enable

roads and trails to be built on a very much larger scale than hitherto

has been possible and will result in the rapid opening of forest regions

at present practically inaccessible. The Federal Aid Road Act, passed by

Congress in 1916, appropriated ten million dollars for the construction

and maintenance of roads and trails within or partly within National

Forests. This money becomes available at the rate of a million dollars

a year until 1927. In general, the States and counties are required to

furnish coöperation in an amount at least equal to 50 per cent. of the

estimated cost of the surveys and construction of projects approved

by the Secretary of Agriculture. The apportionment among the States

is based on the area of National Forest lands in each State and the

estimated value of the timber and forage resources which the Forests

contain.

The total amount from all sources available for roads, trails, and other

improvements on the National Forests during the fiscal year 1918 is

therefore $1,926,530.84.

THE CLASSIFICATION AND CONSOLIDATION OF NATIONAL FOREST LANDS

The classification and consolidation of National Forest lands is

a matter of great importance to their proper administration and

protection. If all the lands within the Forests are to be put to their

highest use for the permanent good of the whole people the lands

inside of their boundaries must be classified and permanent boundaries

established for each Forest. Through this kind of work the National

Forests gain in stability. The classification and segregation of the

agricultural lands is most important, for these lands are open to entry

under the Forest Homestead Act.

_Land Classification._ The land classification work is organized in the

Washington and District Offices under the Branch of Lands. Crews of men

are sent out from the District Offices and the work of classification,

carefully planned ahead, is done by projects, that is, large contiguous

areas are examined together. For instance, the Hat Creek Project on the

Lassen National Forest consisted of a number of large areas containing

scattered parcels of agricultural lands along the Hat Creek valley in

that Forest. For the classification of the lands on a big project a

surveyor and a lineman, one or more timber cruisers, and an expert from

the Bureau of Soils constitute the crew. As a result of this work over

1,100 individual tracts within the Forests were made available for entry

under the Forest Homestead Act during the fiscal year 1916, because

this land was found to have a greater value for growing agricultural

crops than for growing timber. Under this same policy since 1912 about

12,000,000 acres were eliminated from the Forests, partly because they

were of greater value for agricultural use, or because they were not

suited for the purposes for which the National Forests were created.

Up to June 30, 1917, 127,156,610 acres of National Forest land have

been examined and classified. Such work as this, once and for all time,

will settle the controversy now and then waged in Congress by certain

Congressmen that the National Forests have large and valuable tracts

of agricultural lands locked up within their boundaries and therefore

should be abolished, or turned over to the States, or equally radical

disposition made of them. Such Congressmen usually are working for some

predatory private interests who want to secure the great wealth in the

National Forests that is being wisely conserved for the people.

_The Consolidation of National Forest Lands._ There has also been a

great need for consolidating the National Forest lands where these were

interspersed with private or state lands. Congress has recognized this

need and from time to time has granted authority to exchange lands with

private owners or States where such an exchange would be advantageous

to the Government through the resulting consolidation of holdings.

Thus by getting the government lands into a more compact body their

administration and protection are materially facilitated in many ways.

Before any exchange is made it must be ascertained that the land which

the Government is to receive has equal value with that relinquished,

also that the land is chiefly valuable for the production of timber and

the protection of stream flow. Recent additions to the Whitman National

Forest in Oregon consisted of privately owned cut-over timberland

rapidly reproducing to valuable timber trees. Title to this will be

secured by exchange for government owned lands.

HOW YOUNG FORESTS ARE PLANTED TO REPLACE THOSE DESTROYED BY FIRE

_Reforestation and the Timber Supply._ More than 15,000,000 acres of

National Forest lands which are capable of producing timber and valuable

chiefly for that purpose have been denuded of their original tree

growth. These lands are not adapted to agriculture and possess but a

small value for grazing. In their present condition they are practically

unproductive barrens.

It is probable that one-half of this area will reforest itself naturally

through the reseeding of burns, and the encroachment of tree growth upon

natural openings, parks, grass lands, and brush lands. This natural

extension of the forest on such areas is progressing at the estimated

rate of 150,000 acres annually. The remaining half of the denuded area,

7,500,000 acres, must be reforested by artificial means. This land

is unquestionably adapted to growing timber and useful to the nation

primarily for that purpose. Every year that it lies idle the country

suffers a great financial loss, for such an immense area is capable of

growing at least three-quarters of a billion feet of timber annually.

It was recently estimated that the timberlands on the National Forests

are producing between five and six billion feet of lumber annually by

growth. The complete restocking of the areas now denuded or sparsely

timbered will increase the annual production of wood at least 25 per

cent., an item certainly worth considering.

_Reforestation and Water Supply._ Even more important than the value

of the timber which is lost annually is the part which these large

areas play in the conservation of water supply. Most of this area is on

the watersheds of western streams and rivers and the fact that it is

denuded is a dangerous menace to the equable flow of the rivers which

drain those areas. The National Forests contain over 1,175 watersheds

which supply many municipalities, 324 water-power projects, and 1,266

irrigation projects, aside from many other outside power and irrigation

projects which are fed by watersheds within the Forests. The cities of

Salt Lake City, Utah; Denver and Colorado Springs, Colorado; Portland,

Oregon, and Seattle, Washington, all derive their municipal water supply

from streams arising in the National Forests. The proposed water system

for the city of San Francisco, California, is also to be taken from the

National Forest streams. A few years ago planting was undertaken on

the watershed of the Colorado Springs, Colorado, reservoir. This water

supply is worth annually from $80,000 to $100,000. Besides this the

2,000 horsepower hydro-electric plants are valued at $40,000 and the

40,000 undeveloped horsepower are said to have an additional value of

$400,000, making the total value of the watershed more than $500,000,

with the probability that a greater water supply having a far greater

value will be needed as the city grows.

[Illustration: Figure 19. Drying pine cones preparatory to extracting

the seed. Near Plumas National Forest, California.]

[Illustration: Figure 20. Extracting tree seed from the cones. The dried

cones are shaken around until the seeds drop out through the wire mesh

which forms the sides of the machine.]

And there are many evidences that the people of the West have begun to

realize that the National Forests are the key to the entire water-supply

situation in the West no matter for what purpose the water is used. The

public consideration now being given to flood control, the requests from

many western cities for special measures to protect their municipal

water supply, the concern expressed by irrigation associations in

Colorado and elsewhere, lest even the regulated cutting on the National

Forests may reduce stream flow, and the rapid rate at which unused

reservoir and power sites in the Forests are being developed, all are

evidences of the importance of Forests in protecting water supplies.

Reforestation is essential so that the National Forests can effectively

discharge this function.

_Government Reforestation Policy._ The duty of the Forest Service to

put the denuded areas which will not be reforested naturally into

a condition of productivity admits of no further argument. But the

problem is not so easily solved as it is made clear. Under the semi-arid

conditions prevailing on many National Forests this work involves

uncertainties and unsolved problems. On the National Forests artificial

reforestation was an untried field when the Forest Service entered it.

The Government therefore had to develop its own practice in the face

of a great variety of conditions, largely unfavorable. The situation

still calls for intensive experiments to develop the best methods from

the standpoint of both cost and results. More than that, it calls for a

different set of methods for each forest region of the West which has

its peculiar trees, climate, and soils. Then, lastly, when the proper

methods have been demonstrated by experiment, the new methods can be

applied on a large scale with a very good chance for success.

Therefore intensive experiments must come first. Business prudence

requires the development of all methods in detail and reasonable

certainty as to their results before large sums are expended upon field

operations. In the least favorable regions like the semi-arid mesas

of the Southwest, the work is restricted for the present to small,

carefully conducted experiments, the result sought being reliable

information upon how to proceed rather than the reforestation of many

acres. In the most favorable regions, as the western slopes of the Rocky

Mountains and the Cascade Ranges, the results already obtained have been

so excellent, due to an unusual combination of good growing conditions,

that operations upon a larger scale have been justified simultaneously

with continued intensive investigations. As the work is extended into

each new region or new National Forest, the most favorable sites are

always chosen first. After the possibilities and limitations of each

method have been ascertained by experience under the best conditions

of each locality the work can either be intelligently extended or

restricted. But the work is always conducted from the standpoint of the

maximum return for each dollar expended.

In accordance with the policy outlined by the Forest Service watersheds

used for municipal supply or irrigation continue to receive first

consideration. Large sums are not, however, being spent on such

watersheds where any uncertainty as to the outcome exists; that is

before successful methods have been perfected by experiment. In addition

to watersheds, reforestation work is being conducted for the primary

object of producing timber only where climatic conditions and other

factors are extremely favorable. As far as possible these areas are

being selected with reference to the low cost of the work, natural

conditions which insure rapid tree growth, and urgent local need for

additional timber supplies. These favorable conditions generally obtain

in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Minnesota, and Michigan and it is

in these States that the best results have been obtained. In California,

Utah, Nevada, Colorado, and the Southwest the work is restricted to

intensive experiments on a small scale, until successful methods of

meeting the adverse local conditions have been perfected.

[Illustration: Figure 21. Preparing the ground with a spring-tooth

harrow for the broadcast sowing of tree seeds. Battlement National

Forest, Colorado. This view was taken at approximately 10,000 feet

elevation. Photo by the author.]

[Illustration: Figure 22. A local settler delivering a load of Lodgepole

pine cones at the seed extractors, for which he receives 45 cents

per bushel. Forest officers receiving them. Arapaho National Forest,

Colorado.]

_Methods of Reforestation._ Two general methods of reforestation have

been developed. The first is called the direct seeding method, in

which tree seed is sown upon the ground with or without simple forms

of cultivation. The other method is the planting method by which

seedlings are grown in nurseries under ideal conditions of soil, light,

and moisture until they are large enough to be transplanted and stand

the rigors of the open field. Direct seeding, where successful, is the

cheaper method, but is necessarily limited to sites whose soil and

moisture conditions are exceptionally favorable to tree growth. The

inability of the newly germinated seedling to establish itself except

in comparatively moist soil makes the success of this method on the

semi-arid mesas of the Southwest, for example, very problematical,

especially since these localities are subject to long dry seasons. In

such localities the use of the direct seeding method must be restricted

to experiments designed to determine the exact range of conditions

under which it is feasible. The main effort, however, of the Forest

Service has been given to direct seeding on areas where reasonable

success appears to be assured. The planting of 2 or 3 year old

seedlings or transplants largely overcomes the adverse soil and moisture

factors which appear to have made direct seeding unsuccessful in many

localities. This method, which is the general practice in European

forestry, must without doubt be employed to reforest a considerable

portion of the denuded lands. The growing and planting of nursery stock

is carried on simultaneously with direct seeding. The object of this is

to ascertain the comparative results of the two methods, the sites on

which the greater success will be obtained from each, and the proper

relation of the two methods in the future development of reforestation

work.

Since reforestation work was begun on the National Forests about 135,500

acres have been sowed or planted. The larger part of this acreage was

reforested by direct seeding. Until only a few years ago larger areas

were direct seeded each year than were planted to nursery stock, but at

the present time more planting is being done. During the fiscal year

1916 about 7,600 acres were planted and about 2,800 acres were seeded.

The average cost in that year of planting was about $10.00 per acre,

that of the seeding was about $4.50 per acre. The 1917 costs were

slightly higher, due to the increased cost of labor and supplies.

The reforesting methods of the Forest Service mean the collection of

large quantities of seeds and the growing of large quantities of small

trees for planting. Since 1911 the Forest Service has collected over

175,000 pounds of seeds for its direct seeding and planting work. During

the fiscal year 1916 the Forest Service had 14 large tree-nurseries

and 7 small ones, which had in them over 37 million young trees which

would, in a short time, be planted in the field. From these figures it

is readily seen that the reforestation work on the National Forests is

conducted on a large scale.

_Direct Seeding Work on the National Forests._ The direct seeding work

on the National Forests involves many more problems than one would at

first thought suppose. Seed must be collected and extracted; it must be

stored, if it is not used immediately; if the seed is sown it must be

protected from rodents and very often the ground must be prepared before

the seed is sown.

[Illustration: Figure 23. In the forest nursery a trough is often used

for sowing seed in drills. The seed scattered along the sides of the

trough rattles into position at the bottom and is more even than when

distributed by the ordinary worker at the bottom of the trough. Pike

National Forest, Colorado.]

[Illustration: Figure 24. Uncle Sam grows the little trees by the

millions. These will soon cover some of the bare hillsides on the

National Forests of the West.]

Seeds are collected in various ways. Often cones are purchased at

advertised rates from persons who make a business of seed collecting.

The collectors deliver the cones to a specified Ranger station or

to some seed extracting plant. But such collectors are not always

available. Seed is collected by Forest officers by stripping cones

directly from standing trees or from those felled in logging operations.

Large quantities are also gathered from the vast stores or caches

assembled by squirrels.

Seed extraction is usually done most economically by experienced Forest

officers. It requires drying by exposure to natural or artificial heat

to open the cones; threshing to separate the seed from the scales and

woody portions of the cone; and cleaning or fanning to remove chaff and

dirt. Much of the extraction has hitherto been done in small quantities

at a large number of stations and with very simple home-made appliances.

In view of the large amount of seed which must be handled each year

the cost of extraction has been materially reduced and seed of higher

average fertility has been obtained by concentrating the major part

of the work at central seed-extracting plants equipped with improved

machinery.

A problem of great importance from the standpoint of final results

is that of having seed available at the season of the year when it is

needed. Past experiments have shown that fall sowing is essential to

success in most parts of the West where extensive seeding projects will

be conducted. Experience has also shown that seed on a large scale

cannot be extracted in time for use in the same season. Moreover,

every year is not a good seed year, so that Forest officers must take

advantage of the good years to collect large quantities and store

them for use during years of seed shortage. Purchased domestic or

foreign seed cannot be used to advantage to make up these deficiencies

because it is sometimes of poor quality and not adapted to the climatic

conditions in which it must be sown. For these reasons methods had to

be devised for storing large quantities of seeds for several years at

a time and in such a manner that their vitality would not be impaired.

Many storage tests have been made by the Forest Service to determine the

best way of storing seeds. The tests showed that the sealed glass jar

is the best container and that seed must be stored either in air-tight

receptacles or at low temperatures to be kept for any considerable

period without loss of fertility.

Probably the greatest obstacle encountered in reforestation by direct

seeding is the destruction of the seeds by rodents. The failure of many

direct seeding projects has been due primarily to loss from this cause.

Failure has occurred on areas of practically every character regardless

of the time of the year the seed was sown. Success has been encountered

only where recent burns had largely eliminated the animals either

by outright destruction or by the loss of food supply. The rodents

which are most destructive to tree seeds are the ground squirrels,

the chipmunks, the mice, and the gophers. It is not strange that they

should seek out the seed that has been carefully sown by the Forest

officers. In many cases these seeds are their natural food and they are

wonderfully diligent and expert in searching it out.

In coöperation with the Biological Survey, the Forest Service has

worked on the problem of destroying the rodents. Many methods have been

tried out in the field. The free use of grain poisoned with strychnine

has thus far produced the best results and has reduced the loss from

rodents sufficiently to secure satisfactory germination. The successful

elimination of such injury appears to lie in the thorough poisoning by

this method of areas to be seeded, once or oftener in advance of sowing.

With successful germination assured by the collection of good seed and

the protection of it after it has been sowed from rodents, the next

problem lies in cheap methods of cultivation and sowing. This will

enable the young seedling to develop its root system early enough and

rapidly enough to withstand the first annual drought, the dominant

feature of the climate of all the western National Forests.

[Illustration: Figure 25. One of the large Forest Service nurseries

where the young trees are given the utmost care before they are large

and strong enough to endure the rigorous climate of the National

Forests. McCloud Nursery, Shasta National Forest, California.]

There are numerous methods used in sowing tree seed on the National

Forests. Three general methods are used in most of the work. Broadcast

sowing is practiced in the fall and spring or upon the snow in the

winter, both on ground that has not been prepared and on soil that has

been scarified by rough brush drags, harrowing, disking, or partial or

complete plowing. In seed-spot sowing the seed is planted at regular

intervals in small spots where the soil is cleared of vegetation and

worked up loose to a depth of from 5 to 6 inches. When corn planting

or dibbling is practiced the seed is thrust into the soil by a hand

corn-planter, or, in the case of large nuts, pressed into holes made

with a pointed stick. The corn-planter method is often combined with the

preparation of seed spots or the plowing of single furrows, in order to

plant the seed in loose soil free from vegetation.

On a large majority of the Forests broadcast seeding on unprepared

ground has not succeeded. As a rule satisfactory stands have been

secured from broadcasting only after an expensive preliminary

cultivation which would be impracticable in extended operations and

which would exceed the cost of planting with nursery stock. But

broadcasting on prepared strips and upon recent burns has given some

success. The seed-spot method has been most successful if done at the

proper season. Late summer and early fall sowing has produced better

results than sowing in spring or winter. As a whole direct seeding

has not succeeded, especially when the results and costs of the work

are compared with the planting of nursery stock. Planting has thus

far yielded better results, especially on the less favorable areas.

Furthermore, from the standpoint of final results attained, planting has

actually been cheaper than seeding, in spite of the greater initial cost

of planting. While the major emphasis in reforestation work is placed

upon planting, considerable seeding is being done, but it is confined to

the most favorable localities and sites.

_Planting on the National Forests._ Reforestation by planting young

trees has received much attention during the last few years principally

because it has produced better results. Much still remains to be said

for both methods and future experiments alone can decide which method

to use in a specified region and under given conditions of climate and

soil. Usually direct seeding has been tried first in any given locality

where reforestation work was to be done. In fact the policy of the

Forest Service in artificial reforestation on the National Forests has

been, first, to conduct experiments to find out what can be done and

what is the best way to do it; second, to reforest by direct seeding

wherever this is feasible; and third, to plant nursery seedlings where

direct seeding has been found too uncertain.

[Illustration: Figure 26. A view of seed sowing with a corn planter. San

Isabel National Forest, Colorado]

[Illustration: Figure 27. Sowing seed along contour lines on the slopes.

Pike National Forest, Colorado]

In selecting areas for planting, preference is usually given to the

watersheds of streams important for irrigation and municipal water

supply and to land which is capable of producing heavy stands of

a quick-growing species or of a specially valuable species. Next in

importance are areas which offer good opportunities for object lessons

to the public in the practice of forestry. Some areas offer combinations

of advantages. For instance, a burned-over tract may be suitable for

planting to some rapid-growing species which is also valuable for timber

and at the same time may be situated so that it will serve as an object

lesson also. It is on such areas in general that reforestation by

planting is being concentrated.

While the reforestation of the watersheds of streams important for

irrigation and municipal water supply has a large financial value, this

value is hard to estimate because it involves not actual cash profit but

loss prevented. But when a favorable site is planted to a quick-growing,

valuable, species, it is comparatively easy to arrive at a fair estimate

of the possible profit on money invested. It has been estimated that

under many conditions it is highly profitable to reforest waste lands

on the National Forests by planting. From certain experiments made it

is estimated that a white pine forest artificially established on a

second-class forest soil in Minnesota, will yield about 46,500 board

feet per acre in 50 years, worth at least $10 per thousand feet, or

$465 per acre. Figuring the cost of planting and the cost of care and

protection per acre per year at 3 per cent. compound interest gives a

total cost of $34.07 per acre at the time the timber is cut and a net

profit of $8.62 per acre per year. Douglas fir in the Northwest will

produce 81,000 board feet in 80 years, worth at least $8.50 per thousand

feet. After deducting all expenses this would leave a net profit of

$555.30 in 80 years or about $6.94 per acre per year. These profits are

indeed large, considering that the land is not capable of producing

cereal or vegetable crops profitably. And it must be remembered that in

all the above calculations all the money invested is earning 3 per cent.

compound interest and that the net profits are the earnings in excess of

this 3 per cent. interest.

The little trees that are set out on the National Forests every year

are produced in large nurseries, where they are grown by the millions.

In these nurseries the little trees receive the most expert care from

the time the seeds germinate until the time they are large enough to

withstand the rigors of wind and weather on the barren hillsides of

Uncle Sam's Forests. The seeds are first carefully sown in seed beds

and left to develop in these from one to three years. At the end of one

year they may be transplanted in nursery rows where they will have more

room to develop. Rapidly growing species like yellow pine are kept only

a year in the seed bed and perhaps one or two years in the transplant

beds; but slow growing species, like cedar, must remain in the seed beds

two years and usually two years in the transplant beds. All this depends

upon the species and the site upon which it is to be planted.

If my reader were to visit the Pikes Peak region during spring or fall

he would doubtless encounter large gangs of men planting young trees

on the barren mountain slopes. Under the proper supervision of Forest

officers some of the men will be seen digging holes with a mattock while

others are coming directly behind them with bags or boxes with wet moss

or burlap, containing small trees. These men are called respectively the

diggers and planters. Two men will plant from 500 to 1,000 trees a day,

depending upon how deep the holes must be dug to accommodate the roots,

whether the ground is bare or covered with sod, whether the land is

mountainous or level, and many other factors.

In this way Uncle Sam plants his denuded areas in the Forests, so

that they will be producing _timber_ for future generations instead

of useless _brush_ or _tree weeds_. The great variety of climatic and

topographic conditions included in the National Forest area makes the

problem of tree planting infinitely complex. Nursery stock must be

raised in each region having similar climatic conditions, and in each of

these regions different methods of planting must be used, depending upon

local conditions. The semi-arid mesas of Arizona and New Mexico present

different planting problems from the humid forest regions of Oregon and

Washington; the methods used in the sandhills of Nebraska and the sand

plains of Michigan cannot be applied in full on the high mountain slopes

of Colorado; nor are the planting problems in the vast chaparral areas

of northern California anything like those encountered in the mountains

of Idaho, or in the prairie States of the Middle West, or in the Black

Hills. Then, again, the reforestation problems of the chaparral fields

of southern California are more perplexing than any I have mentioned

above.

[Illustration: Figure 28. A planting crew at work setting out small

trees. The man ahead digs the hole, and the man behind plants the tree.

Wasatch National Forest, Utah]

THE ORGANIZATION AND SCOPE OF FOREST EXPERIMENTS AND INVESTIGATIONS

_The Need of Scientific Experiments._ No science can make progress

without intensive experiments and investigations, least of all a new

science like forestry. The science of forestry as it has developed

in Europe is several hundred years old, but the science of forestry

as applied to American conditions is still in the infancy of its

development--probably not over 20 years old. Therefore we know very

little about our trees, our forests, and the wood which they produce,

and the professional foresters who handle the scientific work on our

National Forests are very much handicapped. To supply the needed

information about the requirements of many of our tree species, the uses

to which their wood can be put, and many other related subjects, the

Forest Service has established 8 Forest Experiment Stations (recently

reduced to 6) and one Forest Products Laboratory. It has become the

business of these institutions to study the laws governing the life of

the tree and the forest and their effect upon the final product--wood.

The Experiment Stations are working on the solution of the many

problems which confront the Forest officers in the management and the

protection of the National Forests; while the Forest Products Laboratory

was organized to promote the most profitable utilization and the most

economical disposition of the forest products of the National Forests.

Both sets of institutions, in doing this, are helping materially to

build up the science of American Forestry, which even to-day can hardly

be said to exist.

_The Science of Growing Timber._ In order to better understand the many

diversified problems which are being studied at the Forest Experiment

Stations, it is necessary to give the reader a few ideas concerning the

science of forest ecology. This science is the basis of all problems

dealing with the growing of timber and is therefore a study of the

utmost importance to forestry. Forest ecology is the study of the

relations of trees and forests to their surroundings. By surroundings

(or environment) we mean all the factors which influence their growth

and reproduction, such as soil temperature, soil moisture, soil

texture, rainfall, light, wind, air temperature, relative humidity,

altitude, slope, exposure, and surface. Forests, we must remember, are

not warehouses of standing logs; they are not merely aggregations of

individual trees; but they are complex communities of living organisms,

which are affected in many ways by climate and soil and which, in

turn, affect in no small degree the climatic and soil conditions in

their immediate vicinity. The forester cannot treat the forest as

an aggregation of individuals, for forests have laws which govern

their behavior which are entirely different from those that govern

the individual tree. Some foresters and botanists prefer to call this

science by the name of "tree sociology," and they compare it with human

sociology. Individuals, as we well know, are governed by different

natural laws than communities. Just so with trees and forests. In order,

therefore, to grow a never-failing supply of timber intelligently and

economically we must understand these complex organisms and communities,

we must study their behavior under different soil and climatic

conditions and ascertain the conditions under which they grow best. Only

by doing this can the forester achieve all the objects of forestry,

namely, to help Nature to produce more and better timber, in a shorter

length of time and at the smallest possible cost.

The experimental work of the Forest Experiment Stations is grouped

under such categories as these: dendrological studies, forestation

studies, studies in forest influences, studies relating to forest

management, studies in forest protection, commercial tree studies, and

grazing studies.

_Dendrological Studies._ Dendrological studies include studies in tree

distribution and wood identification. For each tree species growing in

the United States (and there are about 500 of them) it is desirable to

know its geographical distribution, its commercial distribution, and

its local distribution. The first of these deals with the entire range

of the tree by geographical divisions; the second of these with the

distribution of those bodies of timber that are of commercial quantity

or size; and the last deals with the distribution of the tree by

local divisions, such as lowlands, slopes, ridges, valleys, plateaus,

etc. This information is usually placed on maps for permanent record.

Observations by Forest officers on the many National Forests are

recorded by them and at the first opportunity sent to Washington. Very

often it happens that the range of a species of tree is considerably

extended and that a tree is found growing in a locality where it was

never reported from before. The identification of woods is done at

the Forest Products Laboratory. The distinguishing characteristics of

the woods of many American tree species have been determined. The wood

of different trees is studied under the microscope to discover in what

way it differs from other woods closely related. Many such results are

published for the benefit of both the lumber dealer and the general

public in the form of bulletins. Both the subject of dyewoods and that

of the many woods now sold as mahogany have been investigated in this

way. The resulting data have been used by many companies and have helped

to protect the public from frauds.

_Seed Studies._ Experiments in reforestation are grouped under seed

studies, nursery studies, and sowing and planting. Considerable work

has been done in developing the best methods of seed-extraction. Much

valuable information has been gathered on the largest amount of seed

that may be extracted from pine cones of different species per unit

of time at different degrees of temperature; the maximum temperature

which may be applied to seeds of different species without impairing

their vitality; the germinating power of seed extracted at different

temperatures; the comparative length of time required for the

germination of seed extracted with or without artificial heat; and the

most economical type of seed-extracting plant. Studies have been made

upon the comparative germination of tree seeds in the field and the

greenhouse. The ultimate success of the plantations being established

on the National Forests in a large degree depends upon the character

of the seed used. Hence studies are being conducted of the effect of

altitude, soil, age of the tree, density of stand, insect damage and

disease infection, and other factors that affect the mother tree, upon

the character of the seed collected from those trees, and the growth and

form of the resulting seedling. Also tests to show the effect of the

source of seed on the form and growth of young seedlings have indicated

very clearly that with all species the seed grown in the locality where

the trees are to be planted give as a rule better results than seed

imported from another region.

_Nursery Studies._ Nursery studies endeavor to show the most efficient

methods for growing young trees for field planting for each species

of trees. It is of great importance to know how much seed to sow per

foot in the nursery beds; what is the best time (spring or fall) for

sowing; to what depth the seed should be covered in order to give

the highest germination; whether better results are obtained by drill

sowing or by broadcast sowing; the best methods of shading, fertilizing,

watering, and cultivating the seed beds; the methods of securing the

best root development of the young seedlings; the best time and method

of transplanting from the nursery beds to the transplant beds; the best

methods for retarding spring growth in seedlings to be used at high

altitudes; and other problems of similar nature.

_Forestation Experiments._ Experiments in forestation have, year after

year, proven that planting is much safer than direct seeding and

ultimately less expensive. For this reason a greater emphasis has been

placed upon planting studies. These studies have attempted to show the

best season for planting each species; the best methods of planting; the

most advantageous classes of stock to use; and what the most suitable

sites are for each species of tree.

_Studies of Forest Influences._ Studies on the influence of forests upon

stream flow and erosion are attempting to furnish important data for

American conditions upon this subject. At the Wagon Wheel Gap Forest

Experiment Station in Colorado such a study is being carried on. The

purpose of the study for the first two or three years has been to

determine the character of the two streams which are to be measured. The

forest cover on the two watersheds is practically identical. The results

so far obtained indicate that the influence upon the stream flow must be

about the same in both cases, and, consequently, a comparison of these

streams after the denudation of one watershed will be a very fair test

of the influence of the forest cover upon the relative height of the

flood stage and low-water stage, the amount of erosion, and the rate of

melting of the snow.

[Illustration: Figure 29. At the Fort Valley Forest Experiment Station,

Coconino National Forest, Arizona. A typical meteorological station

Forest officer measuring precipitation. Note the shelter which contains

thermometers and also the electrically equipped instruments to record

the direction and velocity of the wind.]

[Illustration: Figure 30. Forest officer ascertaining the amount of

evaporation from a free water surface. Fort Valley Forest Experiment

Station, Flagstaff, Arizona.]

Experimental observations which have been conducted since 1908 at the

various Forest Experiment Stations have shown that the forest exercises

a decided moderating influence upon temperature extremes, wind motion,

and evaporation. Likewise, the presence of a forest cover retards the

melting of snow in the spring, and in this way huge snowbanks in the

forests feed the nearby streams until late in the summer. Forests

therefore have been shown to conserve the water supply and also causing

this water to run off slowly rather than in sudden floods. Studies have

also been conducted on determining the effect of cutting timber upon

the climate within the forest.

_Meteorological Observations._ The climatic requirements of forest types

have been studied at the Fremont Experiment Station since January 1,

1910, through experimental observations, and other stations have taken

up the same problem since that date. The first step in this work at the

Fremont has been to obtain a complete meteorological record as a basis

for determining what climatic conditions are most important in limiting

the natural range of such important species as Yellow pine, Douglas fir,

and Engelmann spruce. The data collected so far have shown that soil

moisture and soil temperature are the controlling factors in determining

the existence of the three forest types. It has also been shown what

climatic conditions each of the three types of forest must have in order

to succeed. This work has since been extended to include other types of

forest and a meteorological station has been established at timber line

on Pikes Peak. This station, which is at approximately 11,500 feet, is

equipped with self-recording instruments to measure the climatic factors

which obtain at that elevation and which mark the uppermost altitudinal

limit of tree growth in that locality.

Such studies as these, based upon systematic meteorological

observations, have an important bearing on all other forest problems.

The data secured in this way especially assist the technical foresters

in solving the various problems in forest management, reforestation,

fire protection, and land classification, besides giving positive

knowledge of the environment in which our trees live and of the factors

affecting their growth and reproduction. These systematic observations

are of prime importance if we ever hope to have a science of American

Forestry.

_Forest Management Studies._ Experiments in forest management are

carried on to determine the best methods of cutting National Forest

timber to secure natural reproduction and at the same time to improve

the quality and productivity of the remaining stand. These studies

are carried on by means of permanent sample plots, on which all the

trees are carefully measured and recorded. First the timber is cut

on the plots under different systems of management, or thinnings or

improvement cuttings are made. An exact record is kept of the amount

of timber removed and of the size and distribution of the remaining

trees. Measurements taken at regular intervals show the precise effect

of the method used on each plot. Close observations of the reproduction

which takes place, brush and other forms of cover which may establish

themselves, and changes in soil conditions are recorded. On similar

sample plots methods of brush disposal, methods of marking timber for

cutting, and thinning methods are studied. After logging there are

several ways in which the resulting slash may be disposed, depending

upon surrounding conditions. In some localities the brush must be

burned immediately on account of the fire danger which its presence

involves; in other places it must be removed because it interferes with

reproduction; in still other places the brush may be scattered over the

area because there is little fire danger and, in fact, the brush has

been found to assist and protect reproduction. All these possibilities

must be determined by experiments. Likewise in marking timber for

cutting and in thinning practice various methods are possible, depending

upon circumstances, the most important of which are the requirements of

the species and the density of the forest.

Other management studies deal with the determination by actual

measurement of the volumes of trees and stands, and the growth of trees

and the yields of whole forests. Reliable growth and yield data for the

different species and types are necessary to properly handle timber

sales as well as for forest management. They are also essential for

determining damages caused by fires and trespass.

_Forest Protection Studies._ Studies in forest protection endeavor to

find the best methods of protecting the National Forests from fire,

grazing, disease, insects, wind, snow, hail, and animals. The most

efficient protection of the National Forests from fire calls for an

accurate, scientific knowledge of all the factors that enter into the

problem. Comprehensive studies are undertaken to secure the basis for a

more scientific method of distributing National Forest fire-protecting

funds. The aim has been to find the degree of intensiveness in fire

protection warranted by timber, forage, and watershed values, as

modified by their susceptibility to damage by fire. Under the ideal

system of allotting fire-protecting funds, the most valuable resources,

which at the same time are most in danger of destruction by fire,

should receive the largest amount of funds and therefore the greatest

amount of protection. Less valuable resources, less susceptible to

fire danger, should receive protection in proportion. Other classes

of fire protection studies have to do with the various phases of

fire prevention, fire detection, and fire control. Studies have also

been carried on to determine the rapidity with which fire spreads in

different forest types, and under a given set of climatic conditions.

_Protection from Grazing Damage._ Studies of the effects of grazing

upon the natural reproduction of forests are conducted with a view to

devising a system of range control which would minimize such injury

without requiring the total exclusion of the stock from the range.

Studies have shown that serious damage occurs to seedlings under

four feet in height during the dry season, on areas containing poor

forage, or which have been overgrazed, or where there was little or no

underbrush. It was found that sheep do twice as much damage as cattle.

Some of the measures that have been adopted to lessen the injury to

reproduction by sheep and cattle are: the revegetation of overgrazed

areas, reductions in the amount of stock, provisions for the better

distribution of stock by the regulation of watering places, and

the exclusion of sheep from cut-over areas on which reproduction is

deficient until the seedlings reach a sufficient height to be out of the

reach of the animals.

_Protection from Insects and Diseases._ In coöperation with the Bureau

of Entomology and the Bureau of Plant Industry the Forest Service is

conducting a large number of studies and investigations dealing with the

insects and diseases that do destructive damage to forests. The direct

result of these studies will be the gradual eradication of predaceous

insects and dangerous tree diseases from the valuable timber forests

of the Government. Control measures already taken have shown the value

of exact scientific information. On the Klamath National Forest some

years ago about 900 acres were treated for insect infestation. The cost

was about $3,000 and the amount of timber saved by the eradication of

the insects was worth over $600,000. Other studies are carried on to

identify and describe certain classes of insects, such, for instance,

as those that destroy the seeds of trees in the cones. The various

families, genera, and species of forest insects are studied and

described, and the results are published in the form of monographs.

Many of these insects are difficult to identify and concerning others

very little is known. Investigations on tree diseases have not made

such good progress, because tree diseases are much more difficult to

control. Tree diseases, like human diseases, must be prevented instead

of controlled. A general survey of the tree diseases prevalent in the

National Forests has been made, especially in California. Further

studies have brought to light little known or even unknown diseases. In

California, studies have shown that a certain relation exists between

old age and disease. Incense cedar, for example, seems to become

infested after it reaches maturity at an age of about 150 years.

_Tree Studies._ Commercial tree studies are made of important tree

species. The results are published in the form of monographs dealing

with the range, silvicultural characteristics, growth, yield and

management of each tree. These studies bring together all the important

facts known about the tree described, such as: the industrial uses

of the wood, the conditions under which the tree succeeds, the rate

of growth in different situations, and the most suitable methods of

management to secure the highest returns. Tables are included to show

the volume of the trees at different ages and sizes, in cubic feet, in

cords, in board feet, etc. Studies are also made of the life history

and requirements of important forest trees, often in connection with

commercial studies. Such studies cover: local, geographical, and

commercial occurrence of the species, the species which are associated

with it, the habit of the tree, its soil and climatic requirements for

germination and growth, and the various matters connected with its

reproduction. Such publications as these give the Forest officers much

valuable information about the trees with which they are dealing, and

also furnish the only sources of information to students in forest

schools on the characteristics and requirements of the trees important

in forestry in this country.

_Grazing Investigations._ Grazing investigations, being intimately

connected with a great national industry, have received a considerable

amount of attention. These studies are confined at present to grazing

reconnoissance, the reseeding of depleted mountain grazing lands,

studies in the best methods of handling sheep on the range, studies of

the effect of grazing on the forest, identification of range plants,

and the systematic elimination of poisonous range plants and predatory

animals.

Grazing reconnoissance is a stock taking of the forage possibilities of

a certain piece of range land. This work is usually done by organized

parties, but a small amount is done also by Forest officers in spare

time. This study aims to collect all the important grazing information,

such as: the area of grazing lands, the kind of forage, the species of

forage plants, the location of streams, springs, and other watering

places for stock, the location of stock driveways, drift fences, and

cabins, the location of timber lands that do and those that do not

contain forage, and many other matters pertaining to the grazing of

stock. The maps and field data secured furnish the basis for range

improvement and more intensive range management. Up to date, over

12,288,885 acres of range lands have been covered in this way.

All intensive forage and range experiments are conducted at the Great

Basin Experiment Station on the Manti National Forest. Here intensive

problems are carried on under controlled conditions and under constant

and careful observation and the necessary care and thoroughness is

given to them which could only be given them at a fully equipped

experiment station. All grazing investigations on the National Forests

are carried on under the direct supervision of this station.

The seeding of depleted grazing lands is accomplished either by direct

artificial seeding or through rotation grazing. Under the former method

the seed of native or foreign grasses and other range plants are sown

on the range, in the attempt to increase the forage crop. By rotation

grazing, that is, permitting the stock to feed first on one area and

then on another, the grasses and forage plants are allowed to recuperate

from the effect of grazing and allowed to reproduce. The stock is

excluded from one area while the seed is maturing, and after the seed

has matured and become scattered on the area the stock is allowed to

graze on it. As the stock feeds on the plants it tramples the seed

into the ground and thereby furnishes favorable conditions for the

germination of the seed. There are few parts of the National Forests

that cannot be completely regenerated by the adoption of either one or

the other of these two methods.

To reduce interference with the natural processes of reforestation,

damage to tree growth and watersheds, depletion of grazing lands, and

the waste of valuable forest resources, it is important to develop

improved methods of managing different kinds of live stock on different

types of land. These new methods of handling stock have been applied

only to sheep. The lambing of sheep in small inclosures on the open

range has resulted in the saving of a large percentage of the lambs. The

new method of bedding sheep where they happen to be at nightfall has

been found to have many advantages over the old system of returning them

to an established bedding ground a number of nights in succession. The

results have been better sheep, less damage to range, and more feed.

It was not so many years ago that practically nothing was known about

the various plants which make up the forage crop on the National

Forests. Forest officers could not identify the plants or say whether

they were of value for forage or not. This made it difficult to secure

the use of each range by the class of stock to which it was best

adapted, to apply deferred and rotation grazing and to eliminate losses

from poisonous plants. This obstacle to efficient range management

was overcome when a system of plant collection and identification

was started by the Forest Service. Some 23,000 specimens of about

3,000 different species have been collected on the National Forests,

identified by specialists and the collector informed as to the value

of each species. The identification of range plants is the first step

toward securing an intimate knowledge of the life history of the

plant. Such information as the soil and moisture requirements, date of

flowering and seeding, requirements for reproduction, and its relation

to other range plants is of the utmost importance if the maximum forage

crop is to be produced on the range each year. This constitutes the

latest stage in the development of grazing studies.

[Illustration: Figure 31. Forest Ranger with his pack horses travelling

over his district. Meadow Creek, foot of Mt. Wilson, Montezuma National

Forest, Colorado]

_Investigations Dealing with Poisonous Plants and Predatory Animals._

In coöperation with the Bureau of Plant Industry the study of poisonous

plants and the means for reducing the losses from them has been

undertaken. The death camas, the lupines, the larkspurs, some of the

wild cherries, locoweed, and practically all species of zygadenus are

plants that have been found to cause death among stock. While the

handling of stock to avoid the poison areas can eliminate the losses

to a small extent, it has been found that the most expeditious remedy is

in digging out and destroying the poisonous plants. On the Stanislaus

National Forest in California, a cattle range of about 14,000 acres,

containing about 67 acres of larkspur, was cleared of this weed at a

cost of about $695. The average loss of cattle in previous years had

been about 34 head. Following the eradication of the larkspur the loss

was 4 head. The net saving was valued at $1,800. Similar operations are

conducted on other Forests.

The work of the destruction of predatory animals has been transferred to

the hands of the Bureau of Biological Survey. Formerly special Forest

Service hunters were detailed to hunt the animals, and these men used to

kill about 4,000 a year. The Biological Survey, however, still furnishes

traps, ammunition and poison for the destruction of predatory animals

to Forest officers, who do this work in connection with their regular

duties. Bears, coyotes, mountain lions, lynxes, wildcats, and wolves are

the animals that do the most of the damage. What makes the problem a

difficult one is that the wolf and the coyote, the two species which do

the greatest damage to game and domestic stock, are transient visitors

on the Forests which frequent the Forests only when game and stock is

most abundant. They are bred, born, and spend the greater portion of

their lives in the foothills outside of the National Forests. Under

these conditions the animals killed on the Forests are quickly replaced

by others from outside. For this reason the matter was handed over to

the Biological Survey, which will destroy these animals throughout the

public domain and the results will be much more permanent and effective.

Besides the investigations carried on by the Forest Experiment Stations

many studies are carried on dealing with forest products. The purpose of

the Branch of Forest Research of the Forest Service is to promote the

most profitable and economical utilization of forest products by means

of experiments and investigations. The work of the Branch falls into

three divisions: National Forest utilization, the work of the Forest

Products Laboratory, and industrial investigations.

_National Forest Utilization Experiments._ The work of the proper

utilization of the products of the National Forests is under the

supervision of the District Forester and the Assistant District

Forester in charge of Forest Products in the districts. Only three out

of the seven districts have such an organization. These men have charge

of all problems connected with the use and marketing of National Forest

timber, the construction of improvements on the Forests, and related

administrative questions. The following problems are included: studies

of existing industries, covering methods and costs of manufacture,

grades, and other specifications of manufactured products and the

prices obtained for such products; the collection of market prices,

mill scale studies to determine grades and overrun, and investigations

in kiln drying; waste in existing industries and closer utilization

possible through improved methods; new uses for National Forest species

through wood preservation; introduction of industries which will

result in closer or more profitable utilization, as the manufacture of

pulp and paper, wood distillation, turpentining, and the manufacture

of secondary wood products; overcoming prejudices against particular

species or classes of material; general questions of timber supply

and demand, markets and freight rates; advice and assistance in the

construction of National Forest improvements, particularly in the

use of wood preservatives; advice and assistance to persons on any

matter connected with the utilization of National Forest timber; the

preparation of publications upon subjects covered by investigations

which have practical or scientific value; and demonstrations of methods

or processes developed by the Forest Service for the benefit of local

communities.

The presence on a Forest of large quantities of unmarketable timber,

or dead timber, or of material not used in current sales would mean

an investigation of methods for its utilization. Local problems

affecting wood-using industries in manufacturing or marketing timber,

such as sap stain in lumber, difficulties in seasoning lumber, and

the effect of different silvicultural methods upon the average grades

of lumber manufactured, are also taken up with the Products experts

at the District Office. Also in the construction of National Forest

improvements the Forest Supervisor may need assistance in applying wood

preservatives to telephone poles, fence posts, and other material.

Sometimes timber treating plants are erected, if necessary, to treat not

only material used on the National Forests, but also material used by

local residents near a Forest.

One of the important problems which confronts the Office of Products

in the various National Forest districts is the utilization of the

so-called low grade or inferior tree species. The terms "high grade"

and "low grade" or "inferior," as used at present, merely indicate the

lumberman's valuation of the timber from his point of view and according

to his standards of value. If a certain species will not produce clear

lumber, which is straight-grained, easily worked, and not subject to

splitting or warping, it is at once classed as inferior. But the Forest

Products specialists each year are making progress in demonstrating that

wood, in order to be of marketable value, does not necessarily need to

be cut in the form of lumber. It is also being shown that proper methods

of drying lumber make possible the use of inferior woods for lumber and

manufacturing purposes.

The Office of Forest Products in California has made considerable

progress in overcoming the lumberman's prejudices against the inferior

species in the California National Forests and the species are beginning

to find wider use and to command better prices. The discovery that

Incense cedar was valuable for making lead pencils caused the price of

this so-called "inferior" species to jump from an average of $10 per

thousand feet in logs f. o. b. cars to as high as $16. White fir, a

species religiously avoided by lumbermen in the woods, was found to have

special properties which make it very valuable as a pulpwood. One mill

in California now uses annually upwards of 30,000 cords of it for making

paper. Lodgepole pine has been shown to have a great value for telephone

and telegraph poles when treated with preservatives. It was found to be

12 per cent. stronger than Western Red cedar, the standard pole timber,

has a more desirable taper and can be shipped for less money. Many other

cases could be cited from this and other National Forest Districts.

_Forest Products Laboratory Experiments._ The work of the Forest

Products Laboratory includes investigations on the mechanical properties

of wood; the physical and chemical characteristics and properties of

wood; air seasoning and artificial drying of wood; agencies destructive

to wood; wood preservation; wood distillation; production of naval

stores; and the production of pulp and paper and other chemical

products of wood. This work is carried on at the Laboratory and

sometimes in coöperation with the National Forests and district experts.

At the Laboratory there is a director and a large staff of technical and

scientific men, such as chemists, physicists, and engineers, each of

whom is an expert in his particular line of work.

A good deal of attention is given to testing the strength of woods

grown in the United States, as a means of assisting users to select the

species best adapted to a given purpose, or to find substitutes for

species which are becoming difficult to obtain. The strength of a good

many species used for structural timbers has been tested. The species

most used for this class of timber are the Southern pines, Douglas fir,

Norway pine, Tamarack, and Red spruce. An important discovery was made

several years ago that Western hemlock, generally considered an inferior

timber, showed an average strength 88 per cent. as great as that of

Douglas fir, one of the best construction timbers in the United States.

Strength tests have also been made on fire-killed timber and these have

shown that timber killed by fire is almost as strong as green timber.

Other tests have been made to determine the effect of preservative

treatment upon the strength of timber. As a result of the large number

and variety of strength tests carried on by this Laboratory the United

States Government now has a more thorough and comprehensive collection

of data on the mechanical properties of wood than any other nation.

Many studies are also conducted to determine the physical properties

and the structure of the different kinds of wood grown in this country.

The minute structure of the wood of many of our native species has been

studied by means of microscopic slides. A study has also been made of a

large number of species to determine the specific gravity of the actual

wood substance. Other tests are made to determine the specific heat of

woods.

The drying or seasoning of woods, more especially of certain species

which have been found difficult to season, has received a good deal of

attention. A new type of kiln, invented by a Forest Service man, has

been devised to season such woods as the eucalyptus, which has always

been very difficult to handle in drying. Western larch has been seasoned

with a loss of only 5 per cent., whereas the loss in ordinary commercial

kilns usually ran between 60 and 70 per cent. As a result, many

manufacturers have remodeled their old kilns to embody the new Forest

Service methods. A new method has also been developed for the rapid

dry-kilning of Eastern hemlock, which has great commercial possibilities.

Experiments in wood preservation have to do with the kind of

preservatives it is best to use, the character of the wood to be

treated, and the methods of injection. Experiments have developed the

best methods for treating railroad ties, mine timbers, fence posts,

wood paving blocks, telephone and telegraph poles, and wharf piling.

Untreated mine timbers have been found to last only from 1 to 2 years,

while treated ones are usually entirely sound at the end of 4 years.

Untreated railroad ties last from 5 to 10 years, while treated ones will

last over 15. Such experiments as these have shown the advisability

of treating all kinds of timbers with creosote or zinc chloride, or

some other preservative. Many new preservatives are being proposed or

marketed each year by various companies or individuals. These are all

tested to determine their value to prevent the growth of fungi in the

wood. Their efficiency varies greatly and many of them have been shown

to have very small value.

Studies in wood distillation seek to find new woods which can be used

for this industry, new and more efficient methods which can be employed,

and new uses for wood waste and stumps. Charcoal, wood alcohol, acetate

of lime, and tar are derived from the distillation of such woods as

beech, birch, and maple, to which tar oils and turpentine are added

for the pines and other resinous woods. These by-products of wood

distillation have many uses, as well as the many products which are, in

turn, made from these by-products. Charcoal is used in the manufacture

of black powder, acetic acid is used in the manufacture of explosives,

and wood alcohol is converted into formaldehyde for disinfection against

contagious diseases. By means of temperature control methods developed

at the Laboratory in the destructive distillation of hardwoods, the net

gain per annum of one company's plant was over $17,000. About one-half

of the plants of the country have adopted the new method developed by

the Forest Products Laboratory.

Experiments have been conducted by the Laboratory in the distillation

of the needles of coniferous trees and the distillation of the crude

gum of some of the important timber trees of the South and West. The

oils distilled from many trees in this way have found great use for

various purposes. Shoeblacking owes its peculiar aromatic odor, faintly

suggestive of the deep spruce and hemlock woods, to an oil which is

distilled from these same kind of needles. Evergreen tree leaf oils

are used for the perfume of soap, and in the manufacture of liniments,

insecticides, and medicinal preparations.

Investigations have been carried on at the Forest Products Laboratory

in making artificial silk from sawdust. The industry has already

attained considerable proportions. It consists principally of converting

cellulose into viscose, which, in turn, is manufactured into an almost

endless number and variety of silk and other goods varying from sausage

casings to silk hose and tapestries. Sawdust is used also in the

manufacture of inlaid linoleum and dynamite.

Experiments in naval stores are attempting to improve the old methods

of harvesting turpentine, which have proven very destructive to the

forests. With the approaching exhaustion of the Southern Pinery as

a field for the naval stores industry, it has become more and more

important to find other species for this purpose. Consequently the

Laboratory has conducted experiments with the various pines on the

National Forests in California, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico.

[Illustration: Figure 32. A plank of Incense cedar affected by a disease

known as "pin rot." By cutting the cedar timber when it is mature this

can be largely avoided. Lassen National Forest, California. Photo by the

author.]

[Illustration: Figure 33. The western pine forests will some day be a

great source for naval stores. By distilling the crude resin of the

Jeffrey pine a light volatile oil--abietene--is secured which has great

healing and curative properties. Lassen National Forest, California.

Photo by the author.]

A great many pulp and paper investigations are also conducted by this

Laboratory. The large size of the industry and the threatened exhaustion

of the native spruce forests which furnish the principal supply are

circumstances which call for intensive investigations. About nine-tenths

of the paper which we use is made from wood, and the amount of wood

which is converted into paper annually has reached almost 5,000,000

cords. There are over 2,500 newspapers in the United States, and it

is said that a single issue of a New York Sunday paper consumes the

trees on about 15 acres of forest. The main object of the work at the

Laboratory has been to use other species of wood for the manufacture of

paper to offset the fast waning supplies of spruce. Poplar, hemlock,

pine and balsam are now being used in considerable quantities. News

and wrapping paper has also been successfully made from many National

Forest species, including Sitka spruce, Western hemlock, Engelmann

spruce, Red fir, White fir, and Lodgepole pine. Kraft paper has been

made and manufactured into suitcases, bags, wall coverings, twine, and

similar articles. Not only has the Forest Products Laboratory brought

into use species of trees never before tried for paper making, but it

has also improved some of the old methods of paper making to such an

extent that the results have been adopted by various large paper mills.

Many strength tests are conducted with packing boxes. The railroad

companies of the United States are paying annually claims amounting to

many millions of dollars because of goods damaged in shipment. Much of

the damage is preventable through properly constructed boxes. Tests

conducted at the Laboratory have shown for canned-food boxes an increase

in strength of 300 per cent, by the use of four additional nails in each

end of the box. The results of these tests are being rapidly adopted by

manufacturers and canners.

The dyeing principle of the Osage orange wood was not used prior to the

investigations conducted by the Laboratory. The value of this material

has been so conclusively shown that about one million dollars' worth

of the dye is now being manufactured annually in the United States and

practically all from material which was formerly wasted.

The discovery that sodium fluoride is superior to sodium carbonate in

preventing sap stain in lumber promises to reduce materially the present

estimated loss of $7,000,000 from this cause.

_Industrial Investigations._ The function of the Office of Industrial

Investigations of the Branch of Forest Research is to conduct

statistical and industrial studies of uses of wood in the United States.

The aim of these investigations is to determine methods and conditions

under which wood is now used; the marketable products obtained from

it; tendencies in methods of manufacture; and improved methods

possible, especially in the utilization of waste. When practicable,

such investigations are followed by the commercial application of their

results. This office also conducts all statistical investigations of the

production and use of forest products.

The work of industrial investigations includes the following: collection

and compilation of statistics on the production and consumption of

forest products, prevailing market and stumpage prices, imports

and exports, and transportation rates; the compilation and study of

specifications of rough and manufactured forest products; studies of

lumber manufacture and wood-using industries as to methods, forms

of material, waste, costs, equipment, substitution of one species

for another, and improvements through a more conservative use of

raw material; studies of special problems or features of wood-using

industries; advice and assistance to States, industries and individuals

along such lines of work; and the dissemination of results by

publications.

Many studies in wood utilization are made not only of certain industries

like the shingle, or the lumber industry, but also dealing with the

industries of particular sections of the country and with the various

States. These investigations in the States show the kinds and amounts

of woods required by the various industries, the purposes for which the

various species are employed, and the extent of their use. So far the

wood-using industries of 35 States have been studied and the results

published.

Records of lumber prices for important woods are compiled quarterly.

These figures are useful in establishing timber sale prices on the

National Forests. Statistics as to the annual consumption of lumber in

the country are also compiled by this office.

The wood waste exchange was established in 1914 by the Forest Service.

It consists of two lists of manufacturers, which are sent out quarterly

to persons desiring them. One of these is of "Opportunities to Sell

Waste" and contains the names of firms which use sawdust and small

pieces of wood. This list is sent to people having waste for sale. The

other list is of "Opportunities to Buy Waste," and gives the names of

concerns which have waste to dispose of. This list is sent to people who

wish to buy material. No charge is made for this service, and at the

present time over 500 coöperators are using this exchange.

By the use of this exchange, makers of wooden novelties have been

successful in finding supplies of material near their plants. Other

wood-working industries have been able to dispose of their waste at

higher prices than they could otherwise have obtained. Many firms were

located within short distances of each other, but until recently have

had no way of getting together. A Philadelphia firm, engaged in the

manufacture of composition flooring, has been able to obtain a portion

of its sawdust from a New York lumber company. A New York woodworking

establishment disposed of its waste pieces of white oak and sugar maple

to a maker of wooden novelties in Connecticut for use in the manufacture

of furniture knobs. A clock maker of Connecticut secured waste material

for making clock boxes from the planing mill of a New York lumber

company.