service, being a volume table for yellow poplar. The height and volume tables are given at the close of the forest description (Tables 8, 9, 10 and 11).

These volumes were then applied to the stand table showing the number of trees on an average acre of each type, resulting in a stock table which shows the volume for the average acre of each type and separately for each species and diameter. (See tables 5 and 7 in forest description.)

The following tables show how the final estimate for each type was computed based upon the stock table for volume and the area. of the type as planimetered from the map.

8

TABLE 3.

CONSERVATION COMMISSION

SUMMARY OF ESTIMATES (ALL TYPES)

Being the merchantable stand on 1,730.48 acres of the Slope Type and on 1,494.81 acres of the Ridge Type; a total of 3,235.29 acres. Based on Tables 1 and 2.

The necessity of such a tremendous deduction for defect is explained in the forest description.

The map, which accompanies this report, is based upon strictly horizontal measurements. Topography was adapted from the Phoenicia and Margaretville quadrangles of the United States Geological Survey. In future work of a similar nature, elevations could better be secured by means of aneroid barometers. The location and names of the chief peaks is somewhat different from that shown on the geological survey maps; a new name (Mt. Leonard) has been adopted to distinguish the high point of Big Indian mountain from the peak which is locally known as Big Indian.

All the original figures have been kept on file in the Department of Forestry at Cornell University, where access may be had to them at any time.

ITHACA, N. Y., June, 1914.

A. B. RECKNAGEL.

By B. H. PAUL

The area covered by the estimate comprises lots 1, 2, 3 and 4 of division III and a parcel of lot 3 of division II, of the Livingston tract, in the township of Shandaken, Ulster county, N. Y., all in the southeastern portion of the Catskill mountains. The area is bounded as follows: On the north by lots 1, 2, 3 and 4 of Division II of the Livingston tract; on the east by lot 5 of Division III belonging to the Winnisook Lodge; on the south by the town of Denning; and on the west by the town of Hardenburgh. The total area, exclusive of alienations, is 3,429.04 acres.

The topography is generally rugged with comparatively little level land and many steep slopes. The height of the hills ranges from 1,000 to 2,000 feet above the streams in the valleys. The area is drained by the following streams: the Elk Bushkill, Cascade, and Hanging-birdsnest creeks, tributaries of the Esopus; Biscuit, Pine Shanty, Peck Shanty, and Rock creeks, tributaries of the west branch of the Neversink; and the headwaters of the east branch of Dry Brook. Neversink and Dry Brook are Delaware drainage. The Esopus drains into the Hudson, but is impounded at the Ashokan dam and constitutes the main source of water supply for New York city.

The slope ranges from medium to precipitous; the aspect on the north side of the ridge is mainly northeast and on the south side southwest.

The structure of the Catskill * mountains is simple. The strata lie almost flat, with slight dips to the west, northwest and southwest in various places. Shale commonly outcrops on the lower slopes of the valleys, but sandstones occur higher in the section, and on the summits of the principal peaks the rock is generally a conglomerate, very durable and thick. The flatness of the strata is expressed in the flat summits of the mountains, a characteristic feature and one that often interferes with the view. While the valleys among the mountains are broad and open, their sides are often cliffed to a notable extent for some distance. This is due to the system of almost vertical joints, which are the principal

*See Bowman. "Forest Physiography," pp. 691-692. John Wiley & Sons, New York city. [9]

lines of weakness along which secondary erosion and valley widening take place. Abrupt ledges are frequent and are often a source of great difficulty in ascending a peak by unsual paths. To the vertical jointing and erosion along the joints is also to be attributed the successive steps which are common features of the valley floors and give rise to numerous picturesque cascades. (See Plate No. IV.)

Although the Catskills were overridden by pleistocene ice, signs of which are everywhere abundant, the ice appears not to have had any important effect upon the topography; rather, it conformed to the broad slopes, only slightly moulding them here and there by the deposition of small quantities of glacial till or by the erosion of the sharper forms.

The soil consists of a stony sheet of glacial till composed for the most part of a sandy loam. In the valleys and on the lower slopes it is of good depth, but becomes very shallow on the upper slopes and ridges. Places are to be seen where the surface of the ground is covered to a depth of several feet with large boulders, the only soil being a slight accumulation of decaying leaves and other debris. While in these places no water is ever found on the surface, it can often be heard running through the rocks a few feet below. Practically none of the land on the area described is of such a character that it could ever be used for agricultural purposes.

In the forest cover the following types have been recognized characterized by differences of topography and composition of the stand:

(1) The slope type comprises the area along the small streams and extends up the hillsides to the steeper slopes where a change to a certain extent in composition, but mainly in the form and height of the trees, becomes very marked. (See height tables for slope type and ridge type.)

The most noticeable change in composition is the dropping out of such species as basswood, white ash and hemlock as one begins to ascend the steeper slopes and the prescence of balsam fir and black cherry on the upper slopes and ridges.

The heaviest stands and best timber are necessarily found on the lower slopes where the deeper soil affords a more abundant supply of moisture and plant food elements. On the lower slopes