316 REPORT OF THE FORESTRY COMMITTEE 



lina only some of the far eastern and western counties, 12 to 15 per cent of the 

 State, now has free range. A larger percentage of most of the other States are 

 still without the benefits of the stock law. This law is usually a local option 

 measure and spreads slowly by townships or counties. 



What Is to be Done 



The important measures necessary to bring about general fire protection 

 throughout the South come under the heads of (1) Education; (2) Legis- 

 lation; (3) Cooperation. Education will bring about the legislation, and educa- 

 tion and legislation should aim to bring about the cooperation. 



1. Education: Publicity and propaganda work must be conducted through- 

 out the South for many years to come, reaching not only the landowners and 

 other adults, but also, and perhaps chiefly, the children of the public schools. 



Federal: The Federal Government has already in operation an excellent 

 organization for carrying on propaganda work. Lectures, exhibits and demon- 

 strations are now being carried on. The Government should be allowed and 

 urged to extend this work in every way possible. Miniature exhibits, if only of 

 photographs, might be made at State and even county fairs; lectures might be 

 given in connection with these exhibits, as has been done at some of the larger 

 exhibits made. Lecture courses, illustrated when possible, now given at many 

 summer schools, should be extended; they might even be made to include the 

 teacher's institutes at which the public school teachers meet and study before 

 dispersing to their various schools. The demonstration work now carried on in 

 the National Forests should be extended to as many States and as many parts of 

 States as is possible under the Weeks Law. The publications of the U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture are many of them unexcelled for propaganda work. 



State: The various States should employ technically trained foresters, at 

 first chiefly with the object of interesting people in this subject. A subsequent 

 duty, and sometimes one long postponed, will be to organize and carry out actual 

 protective work. The public schools are of course under direct control of the 

 States, and it is the State's duty, in one way or another, to bring this matter to 

 the attention of the children. The general observance of Arbor Day should be 

 insisted on, and some elementary instruction, either in connection with botany 

 or some other course, or as a special course, should be given in all schools. Lec- 

 tures and addresses at schools and colleges, at public meetings, farmers' institutes, 

 etc., should be given as often as opportunity offers. Demonstration forests should 

 be purchased and administered by the State, As many State educational institu- 

 tions as possible should teach forestry, not as a professional course but as an 

 auxiliary, aiming to train for their life work prospective landowners and 

 lumbermen. 



Association : The organization of live Forestry Associations, or the forma- 

 tion of Forestry Divisions in already existing organizations, will be of great 

 assistance. The appointment in our half-dozen large lumbermen's associations of 

 Forestry Committees and the organization of Forest Protective Departments, 

 such as some of the northern associations have, should be advocated and worked 



