THE GROWTH OF THE FORESTRY IDEA 77 



American forests. There were no schools of for- 

 estry in this country. During the period 1898- 

 1903, several such schools were established. 



President McRinley, during his term of office, 

 increased the number of forest reserves from 

 28 to over 40, covering a total area of 30,000,000 

 acres. President Roosevelt added many minions 

 of acres to the forest reserves, bringing the net 

 total to more than 150,000,000 acres, including 

 159 different forests. In 1905, the administra- 

 tion of the forest reserves was transferred from 

 the Department of the Interior to the Department 

 of Agriculture, and their name changed to Na- 

 tional Forests. No great additions to the govern- 

 ment timberlands have been made since that time. 

 Small, valuable areas have been added. Other 

 undesirable tracts have been cut off from the 

 original reserves. 



The growth of the Division of Forestry, now 

 the United States Forest Service, has been very 

 remarkable since 1898, when it consisted of only 

 a few scientific workers and clerks. At present it 

 employs more than 2,600 workers, which number 

 is increased during the dangerous fire season to 

 from 4,000 to 5,000 employees. The annual ap- 



