KEPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. LXIII 



forest products; the study of economic tree planting- and the prepara- 

 tion of planting- plans. The Bureau is cooperating- with the Federal 

 Government, with several States, and with man}" private owners in 

 handling- their forest lands. Its assistance has been asked for a total 

 area of 52,170.036 acres, of which about 4,000,000 acres are held by- 

 lumber companies and other private owners. In its studies of com- 

 mercial trees and forests, and of their forest problems, it is pursuing- 

 lines of investigation indispensable to the development and perpetua- 

 tion of our national forest resources. Its work of tree planting on 

 the treeless plains already involves the making of planting plans for 

 many thousands of acres of wood lots, shelter belts, and commercial 

 plantations. 



On the 1st of Jul}^ of the present year the Division of Forestry 

 became a Bureau. The change was incidental to the partial reorgani- 

 zation of the Department of Agriculture bj- Congress at its last ses- 

 sion, but it was brought about by the increased understanding of the 

 need of forestry among our people, and especialh" by the appreciation 

 in Congress of the practical methods used by this Department in its 

 forest work. The change from a Division to a Bureau opens a way 

 for larger organization and more extended work which the public and 

 private demands for assistance in practical forestry have made imper- 

 ative. The work of the Bureau of Forestry is now conducted along 

 three principal lines: First, forest management, which involves the 

 preparation and execution of working plans for Federal. State, and 

 private forest lauds; second, forest investigation, wdiich includes the 

 study of commercial trees, of economic tree planting, of forest fires, 

 grazing, lumbering, forest products, and other important lines of 

 research; and third, the making and maintenance of records, which 

 covers the routine work of the Bureau and the care of its library, lab- 

 oratory, and photographic collection. 



I am glad to report that the Bureau, under its present organization, 

 can meet much more eflectively the demands made upon it than was 

 possible as a division. During the fiscal 3'ear these demands have not 

 only increased along lines already established, but the growing tend- 

 ency to refer all important forest matters to the Bureau has been 

 more marked than at any time in the past. 



The demands for the assistance and advice of the Bureau are insist- 

 ent and widespread, and its sphere of usefulness has extended widely 

 with the sound and steady development of the forest movement. 

 With the added effectiveness of its present organization, the adequate 

 extension of its field force, now first made possible by the training of 

 men in our forest schools, and the urgently growing need of its serv- 

 ices, the Bureau of Forestry has before it a future rich in possibilities 

 for useful work if its resources do not fall too far behind its actual 

 needs. I have not hesitated to recommend a considerably increased 

 appropriation for the Bureau of Forestry for the coming fiscal year, 



