MODERN FORESTRY 



the earlier and middle portion of the century 

 just closed, to arouse interest in forest preserva- 

 tion, but it was not until 1876 that anything 

 like effective national steps were taken, and 

 not until 1881 that the present Bureau of For- 

 estry was established. The work of this Bureau 

 became greatly widened and enhanced in 

 importance through the transference, in 1905, 

 of the management of the forest reserves from 

 the land office of the Department of the 

 Interior to the Forest Service, — a sensible and 

 logical act. In 1898, Mr. GifFord Pinchot was 

 appointed forester, an admirable selection. To 

 him great credit is due for the progress of 

 American forestry. 



Sixty-three millions, three hundred thousand 

 acres of forest thus came under the care of the 

 Bureau of Forestry, and upon this large, but 

 still all too inadequate tract, practical problems 

 of forestry are being solved upon a large scale. 

 How to conserve these forests ; how to harvest 

 out the merchantable timber and provide for 

 regular harvests through coming decades and 

 centuries; how to help those who need for- 

 estry service to the best possible advantage, so 

 that their timber-lands may be continuously 



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