WHAT IS FORESTRY? 5 
priated money for the purchase and preservation of tim- 
ber for the use of the Navy. Under this and subsequent 
acts land suitable for the growing of live oak was pur- 
chased, acorns were sown and forest conservation for 
naval purposes only had a short inning. 
Following the Civil War the exploitation of the West 
opened up virgin fields and lumber consumption in- 
ereased tremendously with only an occasional thought of 
the future of our forest resources. During the decade 
from 1865 to 1875 several important reports and 
opinions were rendered by prominent Americans. Pro- 
fessor F. W. Brewer in 1870 attempted to take stock 
of our forest resources and as a result of his efforts and 
those of his predecessors the Committee on Forestry of 
the American Association for the Advancement of 
Science suggested to Congress the appointment of a 
commission of forestry to submit a report on the re- 
sources in and methods of preserving our forests. In 
1876 Dr. Franklin B. Hough was appointed forest agent 
in the Federal Department of Agriculture. 
Owing to the lack of interest and financial support 
little apparent progress could be made although a great 
deal of research was done and valuable information was 
spread abroad. In reality a splendid foundation was 
laid and much of the later work of the Forest Service 
proceeded along lines marked out by the early officials. 
At that time most of the Western States contained 
large areas of land owned by the Government called the 
public domain. In 1891 Congress passed a law permit- 
ting the president to set aside from the public domain 
land to be used as forest reservations. President Harri- 
son set aside the first reserves, and when his term of 
office was finished he had created public reservations 
to the extent of 13.000,000 acres. President Cleveland 
