THE GOVERNMENT FORESTS 



57 



and "i.C'iO miles of trails were built. 

 The present value of all public improve- 

 ments on the forests is somewhat over 

 $;5,()00.()00. two-thirds of this amount 

 having been put into lines of communi- 

 cation and protection. 



Receipts from all sources for the 

 year were slightly under $"^,.")0(),00(), 

 showing an increase of 14 per cent over 

 191 1^, while expenditures for adminis- 

 tration and protection were slightly 

 over $1,()00,000, showing a decrease 

 from li)12 of 2 per cent. It is pointed 

 out that the work of examining and ap- 

 praising timber prior to sale is seriously 

 l)ehindiiand in some regions and that 

 larger receipts from timber are contin- 

 gent upon the funds that can be made 

 available for this purpose. Although 

 money for timber-sale work is neces- 

 sarily subtracted from what is needed 

 to protect the forests against fire, im- 

 ])roved organization of the fire-protec- 

 tive system has increased its efficiency. 

 Owing partly to favorable weather con- 

 ditions the total fire loss was only 

 $()r,000, less than 19 per cent of last 

 year, which was the best to date. 



The resident population of the for- 

 ests is given as nearly 200,000, and the 

 transient population as over 1,500,000. 

 Recreation use of the forests is in- 

 creasing greatly, and is in some places 

 giving rise to the need for careful sani- 

 tary regulation in the interest of the 

 1.200 cities deriving their water sup- 

 plies from streams protected by the 

 forests. 



MONEY FOR THE STATES. 



Under existing law, 25 per cent of 

 the gross receipts from the forests is 

 paid o\'er to the States by the Federal 

 Government for the benefit of county 

 schools and roads. An additional 10 

 per cent is expended in building roads 

 ■Mid trails for the benefit of the public. 

 About $5S: ,000 will be available for the 

 vStates during the current year from last 

 year's receijjts. besides $2:35,000 pro- 

 vided for in the road fund. Altogether, 

 including special funds to Arizona and 

 New Mexico, the national forests pro- 

 vided nearly $80';, 000 to be expended 

 for the benefit of the States in which 

 they are situated. 



APPALACHIAN FORESTS. 



More than ^00 thousand acres have 

 been acquired for national forest pur- 

 l)oses in the southern Appalachians and 

 White mountains, of which considera- 

 bly more than half was secured during 

 1913. These lands are being protected 

 against fire, and the work of the Gov- 

 ernment has greatly strengthened local 

 sentiment against forest fires. Some 

 250 miles of trail, to help in fire control, 

 were completed during the year. 



CO-OPERATION WITH STATES. 



Co-operation with States in protect- 

 ing forested watersheds from fire has 

 brought about a co-operative field or- 

 ganization in fifteen States and the 

 same arrangement is contemplated with 

 three others. 



FORESTRY ADDRESSES FOR STUDENTS 



THE address on the Conservation 

 of the Natural Resources of 

 the Nation by Henry Sturgis 

 Drinker, LED., president of 

 Lehigh University, and president of 

 the American Forestry Association, 

 published in the December number of 

 American Forestry, was an address 

 delivered at the Tome Institute, of 

 Port Deposit, Maryland, in October at 

 the invitation of the Institute. Its pub- 

 lication in our December issue should 



have been so credited but unfortunately 

 the footnote stating that the address 

 was delivered at Tome was dropped 

 through an error while the article was 

 going through the press. It is a type 

 of forestry address setting forth ele- 

 mentary forestry principles in a way to 

 reach and interest the intelligent young 

 student. Dr. Drinker expects to follow 

 this address with one at Oberlin College, 

 Ohio, before the student body of that 

 Institution on January 16th. 



