ICC FORESTRY INVESTIGATIONS U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



creosoting it is subjected to a process of partial distillation, by which the separation of the 

 lighter oil is effected, and the percentage of the phenylic compounds and of the heavy hydro- 

 carbons to which the creosotiug process owes its merits is increased. 



The pyroligneous acid is of a yellowish or reddish color and contains 4 per cent of hydrated 

 acetic acid. In its crude state it serves for the manufacture of pyroligneate of iron, the so-called 

 black dye, and for the preparation of acetate of lime, acetate of lead, and pure acetic acid. The 

 light oil is used for dark paints, fit to cover metals and stone. It does not work well, however, 

 on wood. 



DEVELOPMENT OF A FOREST POLICY. 

 HISTORICAL. 



The recognition that attention to satisfactory forest conditions is as necessary as to other 

 economic; conditions, has existed among a few wise heads since the beginning of the settlement of 

 the country. Thus William Penn, the founder and first legislator of Pennsylvania, as early as 

 1682, in his ordinances regarding the disposal of lands, stipulated that to every 5 acres cleared 

 of forest growth 1 acre of trees should be reserved for forest growths by those who took title 

 from him, a provision which was probably soon forgotteu. 



In Ki40, only two years after its settlement, the inhabitants of Exeter, N. IT., adopted a 

 general order for the regulation of the cutting of oak timber, a precaution which other towns 

 followed. In 1708 the provincial assembly of New Hampshire forbade the cutting of mast trees 

 on ungranted lands, under a penalty of 100, and at that early time the province had a surveyor- 

 general of forests, appointed by royal authority, for the purpose of preventing depredations upon 

 timber. 



A noteworthy effort to inculcate rational treatment of our forest resources, which took at 

 least its incentive in these earlier times, although it came to a result much later, is that made by 

 two noble Frenchmen, botanists, Andre Michaux and his son Andre' 1 Francois, who between the 

 years 1 785 and 1805 explored and studied the forest flora of the United States, and, besides shorter 

 discussions on the subject, published a magnificent work on the same, the North American Sylva, 

 in three volumes. 



The latter, Andre Francois Michaux, translated his love and zeal for this study into practical 

 action by leaving two legacies for the study of silviculture in the United States. 



In his will, dated September 4, 1855, A. F. Michaux made the following provision : 



Wishing to reeogni/e the services and good reception which my father and myself, together and separately, 

 have received during our long an.l often perilous travels in all the extent of the United States, as ii mark of my 

 lively gratitude, and also to contribute in that country to the extension arid progress of agriculture, and more 

 especially of silviculture in the United States, I give and bequeath to the American Philosophical Society of 

 Philadelphia, of which I have the honor to bo a member, the sum of $12.000; I give and bequeath to the Society of 

 Agriculture and Arts in the State of Massachusetts, of which I have the honor to be a member, the sum of $8,000; 

 these two sums making 180,000 francs, or, again, $20,000. I give and bequeath the sole ownership to these two 

 abovesaid societies, and the usufruct to my wife for her life. 



This bequest did not become available until 1870. The American Philosophical Society at 

 Philadelphia, being the trustee of one of the Michaux legacies, has devoted part of its income 

 fi'om this fund to aid in the beautification of Fairmount Park, especially by the propagation of 

 various species of oaks; another part is devoted to popular lectures on subjects relating to forest 

 liotany and forestry. 



The bequest to the Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agriculture is applied to aid 

 the botanical garden at Harvard and the Arnold Arboretum, and to the occasional publication of 

 pamphlets on forestry subjects. This society, founded in 1792, has also occasionally tried to 

 encourage forest culture by paying premiums for successful forest plantations (especially in 187(i). 

 As early as 1804 such prizes were offered. 



A similar society the Society for Promotion of Agriculture, Arts, and Manufactures in New 

 l^ork, founded in 1791, also considered it among its functions to foster forest culture by publishing 

 in 1795 a report on the best mode of preserving and increasing growth of timber, an outcome of 

 an inquiry by circular letter issued in 1791. 



