f land that were
cleared.

In 1799 Congress set aside $200,000 for the purchase of a small
forest reserve to be used as a supply source of ship timbers for
the Navy. About twenty-five years later, it gave the President
the power to call upon the Army and Navy whenever necessary to
protect the live oak and red cedar timber so selected in Florida.
In 1827, the Government started its first work in forestry. It
was an attempt to raise live oak in the Southern States to
provide ship timbers for the Navy. Forty years later, the
Wisconsin State Legislature began to investigate the destruction
of the forests of that state in order to protect them and prolong
their life. Michigan and Maine, in turn, followed suit. These
were some of the first steps taken to study our forests and
protect them against possible extinction.

The purpose of the Timber Culture Act passed by Congress in 1873
was to increase national interest in reforestation. It provided
that every settler who would plant and maintain 40 acres of
timber in the treeless sections should be entitled to secure
patent for 160 acres of the public domain--that vast territory
consisting of all the states and territories west of the
Mississippi, except Texas, as well as Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. This act,
as well as several State laws, failed because the settlers did
not know enough about tree planting. The laws also were not
effective because they did not prevent dishonest practices.

In 1876, the first special agent in forestry was appointed by the
Commissioner of Agriculture to study the annual consumption,
exportation and importation of timber and other forest products,
the probable supply for future wants, and the means best adapted
for forest preservation. Five years later, the Division of
Forestry was organized as a branch of the Department of
Agriculture. It was established in order to carry on
investigations about forestry and how to preserve our trees.

[Illustration: CUTTING MATURE TREES AND LEAVING SEED TREES TO
INSURE A SECOND CROP]

For some nine years the Division of Forestry was nothing more
than a department of information. It distributed technical facts
and figures about the management of private woodlands and
collected data concerning our forest resources. It did not manage
any of the Government timberlands because there were no forest
reserves at that time. It was not until 1891 that the first
f