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To the Rouse of Bepresentatives : 



I trausmit herewith a special report upon the subject of Forestry by 

 the Commissioner of Agriculture, with the accompany in oj documents. 



E. B. HAYES. 

 Executive Mansion, 



December 13, 1877. 



Depa-rtjvient of AamCULTURE, 



Washington, D. C, December 13, 1877. 



Sir : By the provisions of "An act making appropriations for the 

 legislative, executive, and judicial expenses of the government for the 

 year ending June 30, 1877, and for other purposes," approved August 

 15, 1876, the Commissioner of Agriculture was required to appoint some 

 man of approved attainments, and practically well acquainted with the 

 methods of statistical inquiry, with a view of ascertaining the annual 

 amount of consumption, importation, and exportation of timber and 

 other forest products ; the probable supply for future wants ; the means 

 best adapted to the preservation and renewal of forests ; the influence 

 of forests upon climate ; and the measures that have been successfully 

 ai^plied in various countries for the preservation and restoration or 

 planting of forests ; and to report upon the same to the Commissioner 

 of Agriculture, to be by him transmitted in a special report to Congress. 



On the 30th of August, 1876, Hon. Frederick Watts, then Commis- 

 sioner of Agriculture, appointed Dr. Franklin B. Hough, of Lowville, 

 Lewis County, New York, to the discharge of this important duty. 



Dr. Hough seems to have diligently prosecuted his investigations and 

 inquiries, not only throughout the tTnited States, but also in foreign 

 lauds, entering into a correspondence with officers of foreign govern- 

 ments connected with the forest management and forestry schools in 

 Europe, where the vital importance of this great interest is well under- 

 stood, and where for many years an intelligent and settled policy has 

 prevailed, looking to the increaseof the woods. The equal and seasonable 

 distribution of the rain-fall, the maintenance of forests upon the higher 

 lands, and the consequent preservation of the regular supply of water 

 to the springs, rivulets, and rivers, and the prevention of the terrible 

 floods which wash bare the unclothed mountain slopes, and by sudden 

 overflows destroy the agriculture and the manufactures of the valleys, 

 are also subjects of anxious observation in this connection. 



While the information Dr. Hough has acquired from these sources 

 has been extensive and in some cases exhaustive, and while from the 

 European modes much may be learned, — the differences that exist 

 between our own and foreign countries in the ownership of lands, make 

 it impracticable to apply for the present, if ever, the systems of admin- 

 istration that prevail elsewhere. Differences exist also in climate, and in 

 the native trees suitable for forest culture; yet there is a very large 

 amount of information collected in the report which is not more valua- 

 ble for practical use than it is for suggestive thought. 



The forest codes of Europe have for us much that is interesting and 

 instructive, in so far as they show to what extent the public welfare may 

 justify governments in imposing restraints upon the enjoyment of forest 



