110 
The investigations in wood preservation by the use of creosote, 
which is nothing more than the dead oil of coal tar, and zinc 
chlorid, are considered of such importance by the government 
that one branch of a bureau in the Department of Agriculture — 
the "Office of Wood Preservation" in the Forest Service — is given 
over entirely to the work of experiments in cooperation with rail- 
road companies, mining corporations and individuals who desire 
to prolong the life of the timber which they use. Advice and 
practical assistance is furnished all who request it of the For- 
ester at Washington. 
WHAT FORESTRY HAS DONE. 
The following extracts arc reprinted from Circular 140, Forest 
Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 
INTRODUCTION. 
Many people in this country think that forestry had never been 
tried until the Government began to practice it upon the National 
Forests. Yet forestry is practiced by ©very civilized country in 
the world, except China and Turkey. It gets results which can 
be got in no other way, and which are necessary to the general 
welfare. Forestry is not a new thing. It was discussed two 
thousand years ago, and it has been studied and applied with in- 
creasing thoroughness ever since. 
The principles of forestry are everywhere the same. They rest 
on natural laws, which are at work everywhere and all the time. 
It is simply a question of how best to apply these laws to fit local 
needs and conditions. No matter how widely countries may differ 
in size, climate, population, industry, or government, provided 
only they have forests, all of them must come to forestry some 
time as a matter of necessity. 
The more advanced and progressive countries arrive first and 
go farthest in forestry, as they do in other things. Indeed, we 
might almost take forestry as a yardstick with which to measuie 
the height of a civilization. On the one hand, the nations which 
follow forestry most widely and systematically, would be found *o 
be the most enlightened nations. On the other hand, when we 
applied our yardstick to such countries as are without forestrv. we 
could say with a good deal of assurance, by this test alone, "Here 
is a backward nation." 
A singular and suggestive exception is England, which, though 
provided with mountain and heath lands capable of producing a 
large part of the wood for home consumption, has, with strange 
indifference, been leading all nations in volume of wood imports 
