SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 128. 



ests of the public domain. Civil employees, 

 often selected for political reasons and re- 

 tained in office by political favor, insufBci- 

 ently paid and without security in their 

 tenure of office, have proved unable to cope 

 with the difficulties of forest protection, 

 and the reserves are practically unguarded. 

 Excluded from the provisions of the gen- 

 eral land laws and without protection, they 

 invite trespass of every kind and demoral- 

 ize without benefiting the community. It 

 is evident that if the government proposes 

 to protect public property in the reserves 

 and to enforce any laws or regulations 

 which may be enacted for their administra- 

 tion, the assistance of the military must be 

 called in until an organization can be de- 

 veloped in the Interior Department for the 

 protection, management and improvement 

 of all reserved government forest lands ; 

 for without such assistance the experience 

 of the past clearly shows that it is idle to 

 hope that fires can be restricted, pasturage 

 abolished and timber cutting and mining 

 regulated in the reserves; and if this can 

 not be done their forests will sooner or later 

 be ruined and the objects defeated for 

 which they have been established. 



PROPOSED SYSTEM OF FOREST ADMINISTRA- 

 TION. 



It has been shown that the preservation 

 and judicious management of the forests on 

 those portions of the public domain which 

 are unsuited for agriculture are of great im- 

 portance for the flow of rivers needed for 

 the irrigation of arid districts, and to fur- 

 nish forest products for settlers on adjacent 

 arable lands, and for mining operations. 

 The cheapness of forest products in the 

 United States, and the length of time re- 

 quired to produce crops of timber in the 

 West, will make the investment of the capi- 

 tal of individuals in silvicultural opera- 

 tions, for the present at least, a doubtful 

 enterprise in those States and Territories 



where the public domain is now principally 

 situated ; and silviculture in western ISTorth 

 America will only be really succsssful un- 

 der sustained government control and ad- 

 ministration ; for, dealing with crops which 

 often do not reach maturity until the end 

 of one or two centuries, it can only be made 

 profitable by carrying out without interrup- 

 tion and under thoroughly trained officers, 

 plans which must often be followed during 

 the lives of several generations of men. 

 This stability and continuity of manage- 

 ment can only be secured by a permanent 

 government administration composed of 

 officers of the highest character, entirely de- 

 voted to duty. 



Annual taxes on the land of individuals 

 demand annual income ; and to avoid or 

 meet this burden of taxation land which 

 should always remain covered with forests 

 is often denuded before the requirements of 

 commerce justify it, or is devoted to uses 

 for which it is ill adapted. Private owner- 

 ship, for example, of the redwood-bearing 

 land of the California coast region, the most 

 productive forest land in the world, has re- 

 sulted in this land, which should remain 

 covered with forest for all time, being 

 rapidly converted into indiiferent pastur- 

 age. The fee of lands which are most 

 valuable for the production of timber should 

 remain vested in the general government, 

 and these lands, if they are managed 

 wisely, can be made to supply forest mate- 

 rial indefinitely to the agricultural and 

 mining populations of adjacent districts and 

 to improve in productiveness and value. 



Ultimate self-support of a government 

 forest administration is possible in the 

 United States, and it may be expected to 

 yield a permanent income if the national 

 forests are managed with the intelligence, 

 thrift and honesty which characterize the 

 forest administration in Germany, France 

 and other European countries. At first, 

 however, the cost of administration will 



