"^F^JH 



THE chief forest work of the Government is in 

 charge of the United States Department of 

 Agriculture. This is because the science of forestry is 



"essentially a branch of agriculture, for it has to do 

 with the growing of successive crops of timber from 

 the soil. It is also closely related to other lines of 

 work in the same department, particularly entomology 

 and plant diseases. 



The administration of the national forests is directly 

 in charge of the Forest Service, which is a bureau of 

 the Department of Agriculture. Its chief is designated 

 "the Forester. " Besides administering the national 

 forests, the service also makes investigations in the 

 interest of the best use of the forests and forest products 

 of the country generally. These investigations are, 

 in purpose and method, comparable with those of 

 other bureaus in the same department and often con- 

 cern kindred matters. The problems involved in the 

 administration of the national forests are funda- 

 mentally agricultural. When forestry is practiced, 

 timber becomes a crop produced from the soil under 

 methods which must be developed scientifically, as 



"other branches of agriculture are developed. In most 



countries where forestry is an important governmental 



activity it is grouped with agriculture. Right han- 



! dling of the forest ranges is a problem of animal hus- 



