FORESTS AND FORESTRY 



22GG 



FORGERY 



Forest creation is one of the most interesting 

 ptlMnn of the work, and in it two main methods 

 are employed. Such trees as oaks, birches, 

 chestnuts, elms most of those hardwood 

 trees which lose their leaves in the fall will 

 grow in coppice; that is, when they have been 

 cut they will send up shoots from the stumps, 

 some of which shoots will reach, in the course 

 of a generation, a fair size. The cone-bearing 

 trees, however, and all others which do not 

 sprout well, are grown from seed, either start- 

 ing life in a nursery and being transplanted 

 or growing from the first on the area set aside 

 for them. Larger trees can be obtained from 

 seeding than from coppicing. 



In the United States. 'Scientists had realized 

 for years that the United States was in a 

 fair way to exhaust its forest resources, and 

 occasional spasmodic laws were passed to pre- 

 vent this; but not until 1891 did the country 

 have anything like a national policy. In that 

 year a law was passed authorizing the President 

 to set aside forest areas as national reserves, 

 while a change was made in the laws relating 

 to the management of government timber land. 

 The Division of Forestry, created in 1880 under 

 the Department of Agriculture, and becoming 

 of ever-increasing importance, was made, in 

 1901, the Bureau of Forestry, and in 1905 was 

 reorganized as the Forest Service, with greatly 

 enlarged powers. All the phases of forestry 

 enumerated above the Service attends to, and 

 in addition it gives assistance to individuals 

 and to state governments in developing and 

 protecting their forests. By no means the 

 least of its achievements has been its successful 

 campaign against forest fires, formerly a fright- 

 fully destructive agency; for it is estimated 

 that since the settlement of the United States 

 fire has destroyed more timber than has man; 

 and this gigantic loss the Forest Service has 

 practically eliminated. 



National Reserves. These are not literally 

 reserves in the sense of being withheld from 

 use, but they are very carefully managed so 

 that the greatest possible good will come from 

 them. The privilege of cutting a certain num- 

 ber of trees within the reserve each year is 

 usually leased to individuals, but the methods 

 to be employed are clearly specified, and the 

 trees which may be cut are designated by 

 authorized forest rangers. At present there 

 are in the United States over 160 national 

 forests, with a total of 164,068,393 acres, most 

 of this area being west of the Mississippi 

 River. In very recent years considerable land 



has been acquired by the government in the 

 White Mountains and the Southern Appa- 

 lachians, the object being to prevent the de- 

 forestation of stream sources. 



In Canada. Canada has at the head of its 

 very efficient forestry service a Director of 

 Forestry, who works under the Department of 

 the Interior. His problems are similar to those 

 of the Forest Service of the United States 

 rather than to those of the foresters of Europe, 

 for the forests of the two American countries 

 are far vaster than those in Europe. Patroling 

 the huge forest districts of the Dominion are 

 rangers, who, like those of the United States, 

 have sole right to designate the trees which 

 may be cut and who with their subordinates 

 have done remarkable work in preventing for- 

 est fires. 



Under the Dominion government there are 

 thirty-one national forests, the total area of 

 which is 23,017,504 acres; more than half of 

 this is in one great reserve, Rocky Mountains 

 Forest Reserve, in the province of Alberta. 

 But this total is far from representing all the 

 public forest land in Canada, for several of the 

 provinces control great reserves, those of Que- 

 bec having an area of 111,401,280 acres. All in 

 all, there is a reserve area of 147,200,000 acres, 

 or almost one-fourth of the total forest region 

 of the country. A.MC c. 



Consult Green's Principles of American For- 

 estry ; Roth's First Book of Forestry. 



Related Subjects. The following articles in 

 these volumes contain much information that 

 will be of interest in connection with the above. 

 The articles on the various important countries 

 may also be consulted. 



Climate Rocky Mountains Park 



Conservation Tree (see list) 



Erosion Yellowstone National 



Glacier National Park Park 

 Lumber Yosemite National Park 



Parks, National 



FORGERY, jor'jeri, the act of making or 

 altering in the slightest degree any written 

 instrument, for the purpose of deceit or fraud. 

 Before conviction can be secured an intent to 

 defraud must be shown; it is not required that 

 anyone should have been injured, but that 

 the forged instrument may be hurtful or preju- 

 dicial is sufficient proof. The punishment of 

 forgery is either fine or imprisonment. In 

 the different states of the American Union and 

 the Canadian provinces the penalty varies, the 

 statutes in some cases having been enlarged 

 to include acts which were not formerly pun- 

 ishable as forgery. 



