The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1908-09-23
WILL STUDY YELLOW PINE
This Woods Development Ia by Far
the Most Important and Most
Valuable Timber In the Southwest
To Test Second Growth.
WASHINGTON. Sept. a. flores,

10 plans which have just been com
peted by the United States Forest
Service These new stations are ex.
peetcd to do the same for the de-
velopmcnt Of American forests rs ag-
ricuItural experiment stations have
done for the Improvement of the
eountry's farms,
A. a first step il this work an ex.
pertinent station has already been es'
labished on the coconino National
Forest in the Southwest, with head
quarters ~ Flagstaff, Arizona. Sta
lons IN other National Forests will
be established later, and il IL the IN.
tcn,ion ultimately 10 have at least
one experiment station IN each Of the
silyicultnral regions Of the West
One Of the most important parts Of
the work Of the new experiment sta.
tions will be the maintenance Of mo.
del forests typical Of the region.
These areas will furnish the most val
uabic and instructive object lessons
for the public in general, for protes.
sional forestefs, lumbermen. and own
err Of forest land, and especially 10
the technical and administrative Of
Grers u the National Forests,
In the recently established station
on the Coconino National Forest one
OF tho FIRST problems to be taken up
will be the study oi the reproduction
OF western yellow pine and the couscs
Of it, success and failure, A solution
Of this problem ot how to obtain sat-
istactory reproduction OF the yellow
pine IL of the greatest practical i'm.
prtance 10 the South west, since the
yellow pine, which is by far the most
valuable tree there is in many eases
not forming satisfactory second
growth, The study will be carried on
largely by means Of sample plots
which will be laid out for future OBJ
seryation TO determine the effects OF
grazing, Of the different methods of
cutting and disposing Of the brush,
and other factors on the success OF
reproduction.
Other studies which will be taken
up soon are study OF the light re,
Quiremcnts Of different species at diff
fercnt attitudes and the construction
Of scale OF tolerance which will be
based on the actual measurements Of
the light intensity, and not only, as
has hitherto been the case, on gener-
\ al observations alone; the taking OF
meteorological observations 70 deter
mine the effect Of the forest upor
temperature, humidity. melting Of
snow. wind velocity, etc; study Of
the relative value Of the terminating
power of seeds IRON trees Of differ.
ent sizes, ages, and degrees OF health;
and similar studies of value to the re-
gion. A complete collection Of the
fora OF the forest will be made to
form herbarium, which will be kept
ON the forest and will be available for
reference at any time
The stations will carry on scientific
experiments and studies which will
lead to full and exact knowledge Of
American silviculture, and the indi-
rect benefits OF the forests will deal
particularly with those problems OF
particular Importance to the regions
In which they are located.
While work Of this character il new
in this country, it is not without pre-
cedent abroad, The value Of the sys-
tematic organization for forest re-
search work was officially recognized
in Germany in 1870, when the first
forest experiment static. was estab-
lishcd in Balen, in connection with
the Polytecknikum at Carlsruhe Half
a dozen OF the German states follow
ed the example, instituting main ex-
pertinent stations in connection with
forest schools, and branches in var
ious forest districts. The work done
is intensely scientific, and the policy
Of forest experiment stations is stead
lily growing in favor.
in India, where after half cen
tury Of administration the state Of
the forest is hardly better than in the
United States at present, the work Of
research has been almost wholly ne