Practical assistance to tree planters

Historic, archived document

Do not assume content reflects current
scientific knowledge, policies, or practices.

Circular 22 (Fourth Revision).

United States Department of Agriculture,

FOREST SERVICE.

PRACTICAL ASSISTANCE TO TREE PLANTERS.

THE OFFER AND ITS OBJECT.

The Department of Agriculture through the Forest Service gives prac-
tical assistance to landowners in establishing commercial forest plan-
tations, shelterbelts, windbreaks, and snowbreaks, and in reclaiming
shifting sands and other waste lands by forest planting. In connection
with this work, information will be given, when possible, to interested
communities by public meetings.

The purpose of the Service in its cooperation in forest planting, the
plan of which has been followed continuously since July 8, 1899, is to
establish in suitable localities examples of forest plantations of the
highest possible usefulness and value to their owners, to afford object
lessons of correct methods of forest planting, and to encourage the
artificial extension of forest growth in regions where the public welfare
demands a greater forest area.

This offer does not include the preparation of plans for landscape
gardening or decorative tree planting of any kind, since such work is
entirely outside the province of the Forest Service.

NATURE OF THE ASSISTANCE GIVEN.

The assistance rendered is usually embodied in a planting plan. After
an application for assistance in forest planting has been approved, a
representative of the Service is usually sent to make a preliminary
examination of the applicant's land in order to determine the advisa-
bilit}^ of forest planting upon it. In localities where the needed acquaint-
ance with local conditions is possessed by the Service, the preliminary
examination will not be necessary. For small areas where neither pro-
longed study nor the services of assistants are required, the representa-
tive will secure the data for an office report and planting plan at one
examination, and the planting plan, if planting is advisable, will be
sent to the owner from Washington. For larger areas, requiring pro-
longed study or the services of assistants, or both, the results of the
preliminary examination will be embodied in a report to the owner.
If, as a result of the preliminary examination, the preparation of a
detailed planting plan is recommended, and the owner so desires, the
Forest Service will as soon as practicable undertake to prepare such a
plan.

A planting plan contains full and comprehensive instructions for the

2

necessary forest planting upon the area examined, based upon a thor-
ough study of its needs and possibilities. It enumerates the proper
species to plant upon each particular planting site, gives instructions
for the preparation of the ground and for the spacing and setting of the
young trees, shows by diagrams the arrangement of the different species
when more than one is advised, and conveys information relative to
procuring or producing the seed and young trees. A planting plan for
a large tract or for an area possessing great variations in topography
and altitude is accompanied by a sketch map of the area studied. In
addition to the instructions for establishing the forest plantation, the
planting plan outlines the cultural and protective measures necessary
to mature a profitable forest crop. A copy of the complete planting
plan, with all essential measurements, maps, and other data, is sent to
the owner. The Forest Service does not furnish labor, seeds, or nursery
stock needed for the execution of a planting plan, save in certain
exceptional cases and under special conditions, details of which will
be sent on request.

REGULATIONS GOVERNING COOPERATION WITH TREE PLANTERS.

The conditions upon which the Department of Agriculture, through
the Forest Service, will undertake the preparation of planting plans are
stated in the specimen agreement on pages 3 and 4. This agreement
provides that the expense of the study shall be based upon the neces-
sary outlay, but that the actual cost to the owner may be materially
lessened, or in some cases the work may be done for nothing, in con-
sideration of its value as an example in practical forestry. Advice for
farm plantations often can be given free of cost, since the necessar3 T
detailed study in many localities has already been made.

Applications will be taken up in the order in which they are received,
but precedence will be given to those most likely to furnish useful
examples.

No planting plan need be put in effect unless it is satisfactory to the
owner, but when the plan has been accepted the owner will be expected
to enter upon its execution vigorously, to complete it within a reason-
able time, and to give such reports upon the work as the Service may
request of him.

It is of great importance that the owner or his representative shall
accompany the Service representative upon the preliminary examina-
tion, in order that the wishes of the owner may be fully known and the
plan shaped, to conform with them. To this end the owner will be
given proper notice of the date of the examination.

If the plan submitted is not clear in every point, the owner should
ask at once to have it fully explained.

The specific agreement under which the Department of Agriculture
conducts cooperative work in forest planting is as follows:

3

TREE PLANTING AGREEMENT.

Washington, D. C, , 190 .

The Department of Agriculture of the United States and

, of

county of , State of ,

mutually agree as follows :

1. The Department of Agriculture, in pursuance of investigations in forestry
and in order to disseminate a knowledge of improved w 7 ays of planting and
developing forest plantations, woodlots, shelterbelts, and windbreaks, shall,
after personal study on the ground by its agent or agents, prepare a plan for
planting and caring for a forest plantation, woodlot, shelterbelt, or windbreak,

on acres of land of the said ,

situated and described as follow r s:

town of , county of ,

State of

2. As soon as possible after the termination of said study, the Department of

Agriculture shall report to the said

the results obtained and its recommendations.

3. The Department of Agriculture shall not furnish seeds nor trees, nor partici-
pate in any degree in the expenses of planting and tending said forest planta-
tion, woodlot, shelterbelt, or windbreak.

4. The cost of said plan to the owner shall be based upon the actual expense
to the Department of the necessary study on the ground. It may be reduced,
or in some cases the study may be made without charge, in consideration of the
usefulness of the work done under this agreement as an example in practical
forestry. Neither the Department of Agriculture nor its agents shall share in any
profit which may arise from the execution of the said plan.

The cost of the said plan to the said

is estimated at dollars, which shall be used as

follows:

5. After the completion of said plan, and upon its acceptance by and a- writ-
ten request from the said , the Department

of Agriculture shall supervise the execution thereof, so far as may be necessary,
at a cost to the said owner to be definitely agreed upon before such supervision
is undertaken.

6. The said shall, when so requested by

the Department of Agriculture, make reports upon the progress and results of
planting under this agreement, and the Department of Agriculture shall have
the right to publish and distribute the said plan and its results, for the informa-
tion of the public.

7. All machines, implements, and materials purchased with funds furnished

by said and not consumed, together with

all unexpended cooperative funds, shall be turned over to him when no longer
needed in the cooperative work. All machines, implements, and materials
furnished by the Department of Agriculture, and all specimens, samples, models,
plans, drawings, negatives, and notes or manuscripts which have resulted from

4

the cooperative work and which may be desired by the Department of Agricul-
ture for record or publication, 'shall be retained by said Department.

8. This agreement may be dissolved by either party upon ten days' notice
given to the other in writing.

9. No Member of or Delegate to Congress is or shall be admitted to any share,
part, or interest in this agreement or to any benefit to arise therefrom.

(See sections 3739 to 3742, inclusive, Revised Statutes of the United States.)

(Signed)

Owner.

(Signed)

Secretary of Agriculture.

HOW TO MAKE APPLICATION.

Persons desiring the assistance of the Forest Service under the pro-
visions of this circular should use the application blank which will be
sent upon request, or should make application by letter to the Forester
of the Department of Agriculture, specifying the exact location, State,
county, township, range, and section on which the planting is contem-
plated, the acreage to be planted, and the time they desire to begin
planting. Applications received during the fall and winter are not likely
to receive attention before the following spring, on account of the
difficulty of carrying on field work in the winter.

GlFFORD PlNCHOT,

Forester.

Approved :

James Wilson,

Secretary of Agriculture.

Washington, D. C, March 26, 1906.

O