124 LAWS APPLICABLE TO THE NATIONAL FOEESTS. 



Fruit trees, grapevines, and rosebushes purchased for planting on 

 ranger stations can not be paid for out of any appropriation for the 

 Forest Service made in the appropriation act of 1911. (1 Sol. 

 Op., 556.) 



A contract for the construction of a cabin for use as a ranger sta- 

 tion need not be supported, necessarily, by a bond, since such cabin 

 is not a " public building " within the meaning of that term as used 

 in the act of February 24, 1905 (33 Stat., 811) . (Opinion of Solicitor 

 dated Feb. 19, 1914.) 



Fire-fighting- fund. 



Fees of an employment agency for services in securing fire fighters 

 may be paid from the appropriation for fighting forest fires and 

 other unforseen emergencies. (1 Sol. Op., 349.) 



Reforestation. 



The appropriation for the year 1911 of $166,640 " For silvicultural 

 and other experiments," etc., is available, in the discretion of the 

 Secretary, for allotment to the various forests, not for experiments 

 and investigations merely, but to carry on the work of reforestation. 

 The amounts allotted may be used cumulatively with the amounts 

 authorized in the appropriations for the various forests by name. 

 (2 Sol. Op., 705.) 



Supplies. 



Supplies ordered under annual contracts for one fiscal year, but not 

 delivered in that year, may be paid for at prices fixed by the contracts 

 out of the appropriations for the succeeding year. (1 Sol. Op., 311.) 



If the need for ordering wire existed in the fiscal year 1910, and the 

 contract in question was properly made under the appropriation for 

 that year, the purchase price may be paid from that appropriation, 

 even though the wire was not delivered until the next annual appro- 

 priation has become effective, and it can not be put to physical use 

 until some time in the next fiscal year. (Id.) 



Refunds. 



The refund provision in the agricultural appropriation act of 

 March 4, 1907, contemplates cases of sales of National Forest products 

 and does not apply to erroneous or excess collections for trespass on 

 National Forest lands, or to erroneous collections for products of 

 lands not a part of the National Forests. (17 Comp. Dec, 204.) 



No refund can be made, under the act of March 4, 1907, of money 

 paid for timber cut in the construction of an irrigation ditch under 

 permit from the Forest Service, pending approval of maps filed with 

 the Secretary of the Interior, even though the lands affected have been 

 eliminated from the National Forest. (2 Sol. Op., 676.) 



Where a timber-sale contract expired by limitation before all the 

 timber paid for was cut, the right to damages, either actual or liqui- 

 dated, became vested in the United States, and could not be waived 

 or released by any officer of the Government. If in such case the 

 contract provided for liquidated damages, or if the United States sus- 

 tained actual damages by reason of the breach, and the amount de- 

 posited did not exceed the sum of the purchase price of the timber cut 



