44 PEACTICAL FOEESTEY. 



first opportunity. What they have come to learn in this way and 

 have recognized as good will be carried out, and that better and better 

 from year to year." 



Britisli India. — For many years after the British conquest forestry 

 in India made very httle progress. Much time was wasted in half 

 measures, until in. 1856 Doctor (now Sir Dietrich) Brandis was put 

 in charge of the teak forests of Pegu. He acted at once upon the 

 idea of preserving them by making them pay. At first the oii^ut 

 of teak had to be somewhat restricted, much against the will of the 

 timber merchants of Rangoon, who protested that the business of 

 their city would be ruined. But after this momentary check the 

 teak trade of Rangoon grew until it was far greater than ever before, 

 and it is now a chief and increasing source of the prosperity of that 

 city. 



The appointment of Doctor Brandis was the beginning of the 

 Indian forest service. In 1866 he was made inspector-general of for- 

 ests, and from that time progress was rapid. The Indian forest serv- 

 ice now has nearly 300 superior officers and over 10,000 rangers and 

 forest guards. It has charge of about 200,000 square miles of forest, 

 and produces a net revenue, after all expenses have been paid, of 

 about ,1.3,000,000 a year. In addition, the forests furnish to peasant 

 holders of forest rights products whose value is estimated to be con- 

 siderably greater than the whole cost of the forest service. About 

 30,000 square miles are effectively protected against fire, at an aver- 

 age yearly cost of less than half a cent per acre. These admirable 

 results are especially interesting because India is Hke the United 

 States in the great extent and variety of her forests and in the number 

 and fierceness of forest fires. 



KOBE STB Y AT HOME. 



The forests of the United States cover an area of about 699,500,000 

 acres ; or more than 35 per cent of the surface of the country. Before 

 so large a part of them was destroyed they were perhaps the richest 

 on the earth, and with proper care they are capable of being so again. 

 Their power of reproduction is exceedingly good. 



In the Northeastern States, and as far west as Minnesota, once 

 stretched the great white pine forest from which, since settlement 

 began, the greater part of our lumber has come. South of it, in a 

 broad belt along the Atlantic and the Gulf coasts, lies the southern 

 pine forest, whose most important tree both for lumber and naval 

 stores is the southern yellow pine. In the Mississippi Valley Hes the 

 interior hardwood forest of oaks, hickories, ashes, gums, and other 

 hardwood trees. It is bordered on the west by the plains, which 

 cover the eastern slope of the continental divide until they meet the 



358 



