8 
previousyear. Grazing, which formerly had been free, has brought in 
nearly $1,400,000 under the permit system inaugurated in January, 1906. 
The free use of timber and stone which, at the discretion of the 
Secretary of Agriculture, is granted to settlers and others who may 
not reasonably be required to purchase, as well as to school and road 
districts, churches, or cooperative organizations of settlers, very greatly 
aids the development of the regions in and near the Forests. 
It is the active policy of the Forest Service to manage the National 
Forests upon a sound technical as well as business basis. Only 
improvement in the standard of the technical management can secure 
steady and constant increase in returns without depleting the forest. 
To this end careful investigation is essential. This includes special 
study of the habits and requirements of tees as a basis for the regu- 
lation of cutting of every kind. Special attention is given to finding 
new uses for species at present valueless or little used, as well as for 
the trees already classed as commercial and for timber killed by fire 
or insect attacks. Studies are made of damage by fire and the best 
means of preventing it, and, in cooperation with the Bureau of Ento- 
mology, of the prevention and control of insect ravages. In these 
and in many other ways the basis of knowledge necessary for the best 
forest work is being laid. 
Aside from the care and perpetuation of the National Forests, the 
Forest Service has to do with the practical uses of forests and forest 
trees in the United States, especially with the commercial management 
of forest tracts, woodlots, and forest plantations. It undertakes such 
forest studies as lie beyond the power or the means of individuals to 
carry on unaided. It stands ready to cooperate, to the limit of its 
resources, with all who seek assistance in the solution of practical 
forest problems, particularly where such cooperation will result in 
setting up object lessons to serve as encouraging examples for the 
general benefit. 
Cooperative State studies are carried on with States which request 
the advice of the Service. Examples of this work are the studies of 
forest conditions in New Hampshire, which appropriated $7,000 
toward the total cost, and California, which appropriated $25,000. 
Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Rhode Island, Delaware, North Caro- 
lina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, and Mississippi have also called 
upon the Service for expert ence 
The fruits of its more important studies are published and dis- 
tributed without charge upon request, or sold at a low price by the 
Superintendent of Documents. 
ORGANIZATION. 
The work of the Forest Service is organized under four Branches 
and fourteen Offices. The Office of the Forester stands at the head, 
and the Branches, which are Grazing, Operation, Silviculture, and 
Products, report to the Forester. The accompanying chart (fig. 1) 
shows this organization graphically. 
[Cir. 36] 
