Forest Administration in China 587 



place for showy work. It would be foolish to attempt in the be- 

 ginning to organize the service as completely as that of the 

 United States or of any other countries. But the skeleton of the 

 service may take somewhat the following form: 



The Central Forest Office is to be established first : a provincial 

 forest service will be established in the Provinces where the need 

 of reforestation is most urgent. The Central Service is placed 

 under the Department of Agriculture and Commerce in the 

 Bureau of Agriculture and Forestry.^ The head of the Service is 

 the Forest Director. In the administrative work of the Service 

 four divisions seem indispensable. These are: Information and 

 Editing Division; Land Division; Investigation Division; Ac- 

 counts. 



The Information and Editing Division is charged with the pub- 

 licity and the editing work. Data and results are co-ordinated 

 and compiled here. Publication and information of general in- 

 terest and not local in character are edited here in order to avoid 

 duplication. 



To the Land Division is given the charge of the record of the 

 government lands. At present, the government lands are in the 

 form of small patches in every magistrate district. These may be 

 mountains, swamps, waste lands, and farm lands. The central 

 government has no record, the record being kept by the magis- 

 trate and the provincial authorities. 



The records ought to be returned over to this Division. This 

 Division would see that these lands are reclaimed and kept in 

 good condition and, if possible, exchange agricultural lands for 

 those in mountains and on headwaters so as to make the govern- 

 ment lands a continuous tract of considerable area without being 

 mixed with private properties. To this Division may be also 

 assigned the function of acquiring land for the Government by 

 purchase if the Government desires to do so. 



The Investigation Division has the general function of encour- 

 aging directly or indirectly the timber industry in the country. 

 It may be engaged in introducing and developing new uses of 

 forest products, in experimenting on silvicultural problems and 



" The Department of Agriculture and Forestry has been changed into 

 the Department of Agriculture and Commerce which has four Bureaus, 

 namely, (1) Bureau of Agriculture and Forestry, (2) Bureau of Com- 

 merce, (3) Bureau of Mining, and (4) Bureau of Fish and Game. 



