1U50 .lOl^RNAL OF FORESTRY 



From tables exhibiting the condition of the Forest Branch organiza- 

 tion we learn that the personnel is reduced from 378 in 191 5 to 287. 

 This reduction appears mainly to have hit the technical stafif and 

 rcmgers, the staff having been reduced by 50 per cent, the rangers by 

 60 per cent. An increase of patrolmen from 25 to 92 appears to be an 

 attempt to supplant the rangers. There are 150,000,000 acres involved; 

 they are divided into 29 ranger districts, hence- averaging over 4 million 

 to the district, 1:)ut running from 2 million to over 11 million acres. 

 The average mininuim of assistant rangers' and patrolmen's districts 

 runs close to one million acres. 



The usual fire statistics appear in detail, and the improvements in 

 roads, trails, telephone lines, etc., on which the modest sum of a little 

 over $6,000 was spent. 



B. E. F. 



Report of the Division of Forestry, Department of Conservation, of 

 Louisiana, ipi6-i8. Reprint from the Biennial Report of the Depart- 

 ment. 



Forest and Grass Fires in Louisiana. By R. D. Forbes, Superintend- 

 ent of Forestry. Bull. 6, Dept. of Conservation. 



As far as can be found out from indications in the report of the 

 "Superintendent" of Forestry, the first legislation in the interest of 

 forestry in Louisiana dates back to 1904, for the inauguration of a 

 "department" of forestry and of a "State forester," "under general 

 supervision of the conservation commission," was enacted in 1910 as an 

 amendment of the 1904 act. The nomenclature of the officials is cer- 

 tainly confused. 



According to the law of 1916, there is provision made for a "forestry 

 department" of the "department of conservation," which latter is pre- 

 sided over by a single commissioner, who is to consult, however, with 

 an unpaid "general forestry advisory board" of four appointed mem- 

 bers, with the commissioner as chairman. "Said membership shall be 

 chosen, two from well-known timber owners, one from farmland 

 owners interested in farmland reforesation, and the professor of for- 

 estry in the State University. The said forestry advisory board shall 

 meet quarterly at the domicile of the department of conservation, and 

 not oftener, except on call of the chairman, and shall have no salary, 

 compensation, or per diem, but shall have actual traveling expenses for 

 attendance upon such meetings." A "technically trained forester" is 

 to "superintend" the forestry "department." The law also provides 



