Circuli*r TTo. 1. 



U, S. DEP'ARTMB'.'^T OF ACrRICLTlIRE 

 Division 0? FORESTRY 



V/uBhingtcn, V, ''., April 5, 1886 

 Tiear «>ir: 



Allcw roe tc call ycur attention tc the necissity 

 for ctll concerned in the putlic vi^:lfc.re of e-ivinr cerlcuB 

 thcu/i-ht tc the grov/inf impcrtanca of ihQ -^orertr^' qnesticn 

 to the country as a whole and to the individual "tateB, I 

 trust thcit r.he warning voices pointin," out the dting-srs tc 

 th- v/elfcire of the country, ciriBinr frcrn an inaiscriminctte 

 dsstruction of f reats withov. t adecLuate provision for their 

 reotoration, have been heard hy you, and oi.lso the suggeBticn 

 that, in crder to arrest th-^. tendency to <vc Btefulnatir in "'-is 

 particular, it is necossary tc Ic k first cf all to '^he iAd 

 of public Bchcols and other me-Ans o^ education. 



To show that the Bubject isj a serious one, ccn- 

 sidered only from a material point of view, let me submit 

 to vou a fe^ striking fi -ures which seem tc approximates the 

 Btute of affairs as arrivec at in the prsliminary investi- 

 gations carried on by this "department. 



The forest area of the United ""tates seeins tc be 

 less than 4^30 milTio'^ .cr.^s, of vhich more than 10 -nilllon 

 acres yearly are destroyed bv fire, and to supply the neeas 

 of ^lel, ties, lumber, 'stc, it in estimated that certainly 

 not less than 10 ''lillion :.cr'58 <a.re denuded, LvI together an 

 area of over 60,00(' acres p3r diom, the proauct representing 

 a value of racre than ^500,000 per annum, 



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