APPENDIX. 241 



of tree planting on the watersheds ; of public water supplies 

 of cities, east and west ; has developed practical methods for 

 reforesting denuded mountain slopes and for establishing new 

 forest growth in regions of little rainfall, and has powerfully 

 contributed to the great work of reclaiming desert lands through 

 water conservation and to the whole irrigation movement. 



The Gain in Economy of Use. 



The Forest Service has in the last seven years added greatly 

 to our visible forest resources. In the saving of waste it has 

 enriched the country by many millions of dollars, and in this 

 way alone has added vastly more to the National wealth than 

 its total expenditures for all purposes during its entire history. 



Its most important achievements in decreasing the drain 

 upon our forests by providing for their more effective utilisa- 

 tion have been along four lines — determination of the strength 

 of different kinds of timber, studies of methods by which 

 timber may be made more durable, efforts to decrease waste 

 in lumbering, and the discovery and introduction of better 

 methods of gathering forest products other than lumber. 



Reserve Administration by the Forest Service. 



The Forest Service had become fully qualified, by its past 

 work, for the responsilnlity laid upon it by the transfer of the 

 reserves to its administrative charge. The immediate effect of 

 the change was the opening of the reserves to much wider use 

 than ever before. This is the natural consequence of intrust- 

 ing the care of these great forests to the only branch of the 

 Government which has the necessary technical knowledge. 

 The inevitable consequence of a lack of such knowledge must 

 be the restriction of right use or the practical certainty of 

 misuse. Only under expert control can any property yield its 

 best return to the owner, who in this case is the people of the 

 United States. 



The forest reserves are certain to become not only self- 

 supporting but a source of large public revenue. 



M.F. R 



