SUMMARY OF LEGISLATION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF TIMBER 
Oh FORESTS ON THE PUBLIC DOMAIN. 
By N. H. EGLESTON, 
Forestry Division, 
‘The earliest action of the General Government having regard to the 
preservation of timber was in 1799, when Congress appropriated $200,000 
for “the purchase of growing or other timber, or of lands on which tim- 
ber is growing, suitable for the Navy, and for its preservation for future 
use.” The special object of this legislation was to secure a supply of 
Live-Oak timber, which was considered peculiarly valuable for ship-build- 
ing and was in great demand for that purpose, both at home and abroad, 
while its growth was confined to a limited portion of our territory in the 
vicinity of the Gulf. Two small islands on the coast of Georgia, con- 
taining together about 2,000 acres, were purchased under the act of 
1799. Another act (Revised Statutes, section 2458), having the same 
object in view, was passed in 1817, by which the Secretary of the Navy 
was directed to cause lands producing Live Oak or Red Cedar to be 
explored, and to have selections made of tracts necessary to furnish for 
the Navy asufficient sapply of such timbers. Under this act 19,000 acres 
in Louisiana, which had recently become ours by purchase from France, 
were reserved. 
Additional enactments were made in 1820 and 1827, by which the 
selection of lands to be reserved was intrusted to the surveyor of Pub- 
lic Lands in place of agents appointed by the Secretary of the Navy, 
and the President was authorized to withhold such lands from sale. 
In 1822, an act was passed (Revised Statutes, section 2460), authoriz- 
ing the President to employ the land and naval forces so far as neces- 
sary effectually to prevent the felling or other destruction of timber in 
Florida, and to take such other measures as might be deemed advisable 
for the preservation of timber there. (Florida had recently been ceded 
to the United States by Spain, and was known to abound in Live-Oak 
timber.) 
In 1831, an act was passed (Revised Statutes, sections 2461, 2462, and 
2463) of wider scope than that of 1822. This made it a felony, with 
penalty of fine and imprisonment, to eut or remove timber from any of 
the publi lands, whether reserved or not, except for the use of the 
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