76 Canadian Forestry Journal. 



Secretary of Agriculture, in whose Department the Bureau of 

 Forestry is located. Mr. Wilson, as President of the American 

 Forestry Association, by which the Congress was convoked, gave 

 the delegates a hearty welcome, and pointed out the great signi- 

 ficance of the Congress, a body of men representing great a^nd 

 varied interests, gathered together to discuss temperately and far- 

 sightedly the policy and the methods under which the highest per- 

 manent usefulness oi the forest can be maintained. As ]\Ir. 

 Wilson pointed out: the extension of railroads, the settlement 

 of the public domain, the building of cities, towns and villages, the 

 use of wood in paper making and the opening of the mines call 

 for more wood every year, and the forests respond to the demand. 

 There are only a few large reserves left from which to draw sup- 

 plies. The extreme east, the extreme west, and the Gulf coast 

 are now the sources of commercial supply. The industries of 

 the country will be carried on at greater expense as wood becomes 

 scarcer, and the substitutes become dearer. Agriculture, com- 

 merce and mining will greatly miss the cheap supply of wood 

 to which they have been accustomed. 



The Report of the Board of Directors of the American For- 

 estry Association, presented at this Session, gave a resume of the 

 present position of forest legislation in the United States, and 

 some points may be noticed particularly with such additional ex- 

 planations as may be necessary to make the subject clearer to 

 Canadians. 



The Forest Reserves of the United States now number sixty- 

 one, and embrace a total area of 63,348,656 acres. The policy of 

 selling the mature, dead and down timber in the reserves, has 

 been adopted, and during the past year 377 sales were held, reahz- 

 ing $58,000. These sales, combined with the privilege allowed 

 settlers to take without cost, for their individual use, timber from 

 the Forest Reserves for domestic purposes, have resulted in 

 clearing the reserves of much dead and down timber, and in every 

 way improved their condition. The forest rangers in the reser\-es 

 have done excellent work in preventing fires. The grazing privi- 

 leges in the Forest Reserves are of special value in the west, es- 

 pecially where sheep are grazed, and where the highlands in- 

 cluded in the reserve are required for summer range. Excessive 



