Evening star., 1933-04-05
FORESTRY.
---
PROJECT RECALLED
-N~f-
Large Scale Experiment Was
Backed by Vanderbilt at
BiItmore, N. c. @..-
By the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press
BuTMORE, N. c., April 5.-The
first large scale experiment In AneT1s
lean forestry was started in the same
general locality where President Roose-
welt plans to start an experiment for. y
rutting 250,000 men to work.
The late George w. Vanderbilt in
1889, purchased a large area Of noun o
tain land along the French Broad
River, one Of the main tributaries ef
the Tennessee River, and chose Gif-
ford Pinchot, now Governor Of PENN
sylvania, as forester" -
On the Vanderbilt estate was estab-
lished a plantation Of trees with / 400
trees to the acre, rs per cent of which
were white pines. This experiment at
tracted wide attention and forestry ex-
perts travelled many thousands of miles
to see the results.
Pinchot Studied Abroad. VeI :
Young Pinchot went abroad to study {
forestry methods of Europe and upon
the advice of Sir Dietrich Brands, en- Z
tered the Forest Academy at Nancy;
France, and became the first Amerf-
can student Of forestry.
Frederick Law Olmstead, designer o. :
Central Park in New York and of the :
Worlds Fair Grounds in Chicago, be-
development Of the Biltmore forest but
management of the project was dsfs-..
gated to Pinchot after his return from
Europe
In taking over management Of the
forest, Pinchot had three objectives:
First, profitable production; second,
nearly constant annual yield which
would give occupation to a trained
force and make regular operations pos
sible; and third, improvement In the
mediocre condition Of the forest with
q view to its future possibilities. -
He adopted two systems of manage
ment. On the east side of the river
he planned to group trees Of the same
age for cutting on 150-year rotation,
while on the west side Of the river the
Selecttve system was used.
These areas were divided into sec
tions OF about 40 acres each, separated :
by natural boundaries such as ridges.
streams and the old woods roads which
crossed the forest in every direction,
Such a division necessitated the use
OF accurate topographic maps of the
region, and as none were available q
cooperative arrangement with the
United States Geological Survey was
made for obtaining them. lea
German Is Chosen.
P1nchot resigned his work at Bit
more in 1895 and DR.. Carl A. Schenchs
Of Darmstadt, Germany, was chosen as
his successor. He was confronted with
the problem of quickly converting lln-
slightly gullies into forested slopes and
to this end planted young trees very
closely spaced, usually mixing hard
wood with pine q
Along 200 miles Of road there are
now strips Of paintings made by DR..
Schenck to conceal the undeveloped
fields as well as to test the desirabilftx,
Of the species for permanent forest
production. Almost all the reforesta.
ton work on the estate was done under
DR.. Schenck's direction. Norway spruce.
and other species Of trees were added
after he left the work 4sass
More than 40 growing seasons have
passed over the white pines first
planted on the Biltmore estate. Thins.
ming experiments are now being cayg
rted on by the Appalachian Forest Exs-
pertinent Station on special plots.
But the groundwork of Pinchot
Olmstead, Schenck and others In con-
nection with the early development of
the Vanderbilt forestry experiment has
formed the basis for other experiments
and projects IN this section and when
reforestation is undertaken on q large
scale in the Tennessee Valley foresters
Will not move on uncertain ground. ocv