268 

 FOREST SERVICE. 



(From the Year-1)ook of the L'. S. Department of Agriculture, 

 Report of the Secretary.) 



During the past year the Government work in forestry en- 

 tered upon a new phase. Practical work in the actual intro- 

 duction of forestry began in 1898, but it w^as not until Februar}^ 

 1905, when the care of the National forest reserves was trans- 

 ferred to the Department of Agriculture, that the Forest Ser- 

 vice became an administrative organization. 



This transfer was a logical outcome of the recent work of the 

 Service. During the last six or seven years it has passed 

 through a remarkable development, which has followed but not 

 kept pace with its demonstration of capacity for public useful- 

 ness. On July I, 1898, the Division of Forestry employed 

 eleven persons, of whom six filled clerical or other subordinate 

 positions, and five belong'ed to the scientific stafif. Of the lat- 

 ter, two were professional foresters. The Division possessed! 

 no field equipment : practically all of its work was office work. 



At the opening of the present fiscal year the employees of the 

 Forest Service numbered 821, of whom 153 yere professional 

 trained foresters. Field work was going on in 2"/ States and 

 Territories, from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from Canada, 

 to Mexico. Over 900,000 acres of private forest were under 

 management recommended by the Service, and applications on 

 file for advice from ovv^ners contemplating management covered 

 2,000,000 acres more. During the year nearly 62,000 letters 

 were sent out from the offices at Washington, the majority of 

 them in reply to requests for information and advice from the 

 public, of a kind which could not be met by printed informa- 

 tion. 



This contrast imperfectly indicates the full extent of the 

 change which has taken place, and the progress which has been 

 made. Seven years ago there were in the whole United States 

 less than ten professional foresters. Neither a science nor a 

 literature of American forestry was in existence, nor could an 

 education in the subject be obtained in this country. 



The real need of forestry was urgent. A time had come 

 which presented at once a great opportunity and a dangerous 

 crisis. Forest destruction had reached a point where sagacious 



