XXXVI REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 



growing apace it will be well worth while to fix the types of varieties 

 and disseminate better strains of standard sorts. If the Department 

 would set a high standard in this matter it would probabl}- result in a 

 great diminution of the indiscriminate renaming of varieties and in 

 the introduction of such as are new onl}^ in some slight respect. It is 

 obvious that work of this kind to be of the greatest value must be con- 

 ducted under very careful conditions and be carried on in a sufficient 

 number of regions to get results which Avill be of real value. 



BUREAU OF FORESTRY. 



On eluly 1, 1901, the Division of Forestry became a bureau. It has 

 therefore completed its first year under the new form of organization. 

 The results obtained have amply justified the change and the increased 

 appropriation which accompanied it. Interest in forestry and a per- 

 ception of its possibilities as the means of making productive a great 

 national resource have developed so swifth" in the United States that 

 the discrepanc}^ between the capacity for public service of this branch 

 of the Department of Agriculture and its opportunities was never so 

 great as it is now. 



During the past year the Bureau of Forestr^^ has notablj^ increased 

 the store of knowledge on which all forestry depends, and has made 

 large gains in introducing practical management of forests, both of 

 public and private ownership. Its field work has engaged 162 men, 

 and has been carried on in 1:2 States and Territories. 



The forest work of the Department of Agriculture has hitherto pro- 

 ceeded as rapidl}^ as the scanty means of forest education would supply 

 men, and its growth has been normal and safe. In view of the greater 

 product of the forest schools and the immenseh" growing demand upon 

 its services it miglit hereafter safely increase its rate of progress. To 

 check the growth of the Bureau of Forestrv at this time will likewise 

 check the spread of public sentiment in favor of forest protection. It 

 will dull the desire of forest owners, applicants to the Bureau for 

 assistance, some of whom have already waited for their turn until their 

 patience is almost exhausted. It will dampen the willingness of young 

 men of the right stamp to make forestry their profession, because they 

 look forward with practical unanimity to the Government service. A 

 single frost which would pass over a mature tree without effect will 

 often injure and retard for years the growth of a health}^ seedling. I 

 conceive the Bureau of Forestry to be in precisely that situation. 



Organization of the Bureau. 



The work of the Bureau of Forestry is organized along four lines: 

 Forest management, forest investigation, records, and tree planting. 



