Naval Timber Reservations. 469 



ment became concerned as regards supplies for naval 

 construction, and, by act approved in 1799, appro- 

 priated $200,000 for the purchase of timber fit for 

 the Navy, and for its preservation for future use. 

 Small purchases were made on the Georgia coast, but 

 nothing of importance was done until, in 1817, an- 

 other act renewed the proposition of the first, and 

 directed the reservation of public lands bearing live- 

 oak or cedar timber suitable for the Navy, as might be 

 selected by the President. Under this act, a reser- 

 vation of 19,000 acres was made, in 1828, on Com- 

 missioners, Cypress and Six Islands, in Louisiana. 

 Another appropriation of $10,000 was made in 1828, 

 and some lands were purchased on Santa Rosa Sound, 

 where, during a few years, even an attempt at culti- 

 vation was made, including sowing, transplanting, 

 pruning, etc. This was done under a more general 

 act of 1827, by which the President was authorized 

 to take proper measures to preserve the live oak timber 

 growing on the federal lands. Under these acts, al- 

 together some 244,000 acres of forest land were re- 

 served in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Missis- 

 sippi. 



But, although another act, of 1831, provided for 

 the punishment of persons cutting or destroying any 

 Live Oak, Red Cedar, or other trees growing on any 

 lands of the United States, no general conception of 

 the need of a broad forest policy, or even of a special 

 value attaching to the public timberlands dictated 

 these acts, except so far as the securing of certain 

 material, then believed necessary for naval con- 

 struction, was concerned. Indeed, the act of 1831 



