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varied climate and difficult sylvicultural conditions existing in these forests, and the great pecuniary success of the Indian administration, make it specially interesting to the students of the American problem who find here many valuable suggestions.

The forest department code is applicable to all the provinces under the control of the government of India, but not the presidencies of Madras and Bombay, which, however, by special order may adopt the system.

The officers of the forest department are: One inspector-general, an assistant inspector-general, conservators of three grades of pay, deputy conservators of four grades of pay, assistant conservators of three grades of pay; also a director and instructor at the School of Forestry, and a superintendent of surveys.

The subordinate employees are graded as sub assistant conservators, forest rangers, foresters, forest guards, etc.

The inspector-general is attached to the secretariat of the home department of the government of India. He assists in dealing with forest matters, and controls the School of Forestry at Dehra Dun, the forest survey, and the working plans. He is aided by an assistant inspector-general. He makes inspections and submits reports thereon either to the government of India or to the local governments; and he may correspond with the officers in local charge of forests, but can not give orders to them.

Immediate forest management is vested in the local governments of the several provinces. Their executive is a conservator. His charge is divided into "divisions," "ranges," and "beats." The range is the unit of administration. It is subdivided into beats, and grouped into divisions, each in immediate charge of a forest officer of suitable grade. The numbers and pay of subassistant conservators are regulated by the government of India, which also fixes the maximum amount to be spent for the lower-grade employees. The appointments are made directly by the local governments, or are delegated to the conservator. Subassistant conservators are usually promoted from the grade of forest ranger. Forest rangers are appointed from graduates of the Dehra Dun Forest School, or from subordinates of good record, or from native noncommissioned officers of the army.

Vacancies in the lowest grade of forest officer are filled (1) from candidates who have had a professional training in a manner prescribed or approved by the secretary of state for India, or (2) by promotion for special merit after a service of at least five years. Promotions in the lower grades are regulated by the local governments, but in the higher grades by the government of India. Seniority is recognized. Examinations and favorable reports from superiors influence the selections. Transfers from one province to another are exceptional below the grade of conservator. Officers are entitled to retirement, and may be reduced in rank for misconduct. All resignations must be accepted by the government of India.

Working plans are prepared by local officers under the direction of local governments, but are subject to supervision and approval by the inspector-general. In case of disagreement reference is had to the government of India.

The Royal Indian Engineering College, at Cooper's Hill, England, since 1885 has had a forestry course designed to fit students for the service in India. About ten graduate annually. Applicants selected by competition before the civil-service commission are then put to further tests by the Indian office, and, having taken the course at the

college, are, with application and good conduct, sure of appointment in the Indian forestry service.

The total area of forest land under the control of the forest service in 1894-95 was 12 per cent of the total surface of India, or 112,952 square miles, of which 74,271 miles were reserved forests, 7,090 protected forests, and 31,591 unclassed state forests. The increase for the previous year exceeded 9,000 square miles, acquired by the settlement or extinction of prescriptive rights. The total length of boundaries demarcated up to June 30, 1895, in provinces under the government of India alone, was upward of 60,000 miles.

Working plans in operation cover 14,769 square miles, and in a territory of 30,963 square miles fires are kept in check. Protective measures failed on 6.6 per cent of this area during the last year, so that 28,913 square miles were effectively protected, at a cost of 8.75 rupees per mile. The present value of the rupee is about 30 cents, and therefore the cost of effective protection in India, where fires are at least as difficult to control as in the United States, is rather less than half a cent an acre per annum. An area of 33,420 square miles is covered by topographical surveys, executed in nearly the same proportion by the forest survey branch and the survey of India department. Forest offenses of all kinds during the last year averaged less than 1 to 3 square miles of forest.

The product of the great area administered by the forest service yielded during the year 1894-95 46,000,000 cubic feet of timber, 100,000,000 cubic feet of fuel, 134,000,000 bamboos, and minor products to the value of more than 3,000,000 rupees. The gross revenue from the forests is given at 16,788,880 rupees, and the net at 7,415,590, or about $3,000,000.

This surplus has grown from less than 2,000,000 rupees in 1870-71 to 2,500,000 rupees in 1880-81, to a little less than 7,000,000 rupees in 1890-91, and finally to almost 7,500,000 rupees in 1894-95, when the yield was nearly 1,000,000 rupees less than that of the year before. These results have been reached with a consistently conservative forest policy and in spite of the enormous drain made by the holders of prescriptive rights in the forests, which in 1894-95 amounted to nearly 6,000,000 rupees.

Systematic government forestry in India is of recent growth. The first Indian forest act was passed in 1865, although nearly ten years before Dr. Dietrich Brandis, the first inspector-general of the Indian forests, had begun to manage the teak forests of Pegu.

Dominion of Canada.-Physical and topographical conditions in Canada so much resemble our own that special interest attaches to its legislative measures regarding forests. As in the United States, the title to lands situated in the older provinces and not held by individuals is vested in the provincial governments, while in the central and western provinces the Dominion itself, as representative of the Crown, holds the fees. Hence result different and independent systems of forest administration in the different provinces.

The Provinces of Ontario and Quebec, bordering upon the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River, and extending far to the northward, contain on the high table-lands that form the divide between the southern watershed and Hudson Bay immense areas of Crown lands which have never been sold, and which are generally rocky, unsuitable for the plow, and clothed with timber. In both of these provinces the management of the Government forests devolves, under quite similar regulations, upon the department of crown lands, the administrative

direction forming a branch or bureau which is charged with public instruction in forestry as well as with the supervision of the forested districts. The latter are divided into "agencies," of which the control is vested in officers denominated Crown lands and timber agents, having under them experienced woodmen called forest rangers, fire rangers, etc.

The agents are charged with the inspection and sale or lease of the public lands, the granting of licenses to cut timber, the collection of dues, and the protection of the public domain against trespassers and fires. Of the subordinates, some hold office during the entire year and others only during the dangerous fire months, the number of the latter being discretionary with the commissioner of crown lands. The functions of justices of the peace, constables, and watchmen are performed by these subordinate officers. The last annual report for the Province of Quebec gives the names of such employees, amounting to 40 Crown lands and timber agents, 65 forest rangers, 73 fire rangers, 81 game keepers, together with a superintendent, an assistant, and 3 clerks of the branch of woods and forests, making a total of 264 officials. The total revenue from lumbering operations in this province collected during the year ending June 30, 1896, amounted to $951,098.92.

The system of disposing of the timber on the Crown lands of Quebec and Ontario was adopted many years ago and has been found to work well, except that it does not provide for future crops of timber on lands unsuitable for tillage, and which therefore remain unsettled and unproductive after the forest has been removed. Under the rules now in force, when it becomes advisable to sell the timber from certain determined areas, forest rangers, who are experienced woodmen employed by the Government under the direction of the different crown timber agents, are sent out to examine the forests and furnish the department of crown lands with estimates of standing timber. The territory is then divided into timber "berths" of different sizes, which are advertised for sale at auction to the highest bidder, the department fixing a minimum price based upon the estimate of the forest rangers. The timber is sold at a rate per square mile subject to stumpage dues, but as these are low, large sums are bid by way of bonus for the license to cut over certain areas. At the last sale, that of 1892, the sums paid in Ontario as bonus average $3,657.18 per square mile.

The timber when cut also pays dues on saw logs of from $1 to $1.25 per thousand feet board measure, and on square dry timber of from $20 to $25 per thousand cubic feet. The timber licenses are for one year, renewable on the license holder complying with the conditions of the license, which include a yearly ground rent of $3 per square mile. Although the early licenses included all timber, in sales held since 1891 the white pine only has been specified. The land, it must be remembered, is not sold to the licensee or "limit holder," but is reserved for settlers. When the land under license is required for settlement, the licensee or limit holder is given a reasonable time to remove the white pine, all other timber becoming the property of the settler on his complying with the terms of settlement. In case of unsettled land the limit holder, as long as he continues to pay ground rent, retains control of the limit until the land is required for settlement. Forest Rangers under this system are also employed to watch areas not under license to prevent unlawful cutting of timber.

A provisional fire act, based on laws of several of our States, had, prior to 1886, been on the statute books of the Province of Ontario, but from lack of proper means for the enforcement of its provisions it had not succeeded in checking forest fires. In that year the system now in force

was adopted and in practice has proved highly successful. Under its provisions a number of men are placed upon the Crown lands from May until October, when forest fires are most dangerous, in those localities specially exposed by reason of settlement, railway construction, or lumbering. Where the land is under license the cooperation of the limit holders is required, it being optional with them to avail themselves of the system. The number of men necessary to properly protect a piece of property is determined by the owners of the limit, who are supposed to be familiar with the country and with local conditions and special dangers. The selection of the men to be employed in this protective force is also left to the limit holders, the department reserving, however, the right to reject or remove any man whom it may consider unit for the position. These fire rangers are constituted officers for the enforcement of the fire act, and are governed by instructions from the department. They make the public acquainted with the provisions of the fire act by posting it in conspicuous places and circulating it among settlers and lumbermen. In case forest fires break out, they are authorized to engage assistants to suppress them; if dangerous, it is their duty to notify the limit holder and the department. One-half of the expense incurred in maintaining this forest staff and in suppressing fires is borne by the Crown lands department and the other by the owners of the limits. The pay of fire rangers is fixed at $2 a day, without board or other extras. The good effects of this system were especially manifested during the summer of 1895, which was extremely hot and dry. In consequence of this exceptional danger the staff of rangers was strengthened in specially exposed places and close vigilance was maintained.

Reports from 49 timber limits where this system was in operation. during the summer of 1895 show that the value of the timber damaged by fire was only $41,600. The number of fires specifically reported was 93; in addition to these many others, principally small, were not enumerated in the reports of the fire wardens; and the Canadian forest officers are convinced that forest areas which might well have amounted to hundreds of square miles would have been burnt over during that exceptionally dry summer without the presence at exposed points of this trained corps of Forest Rangers. This saving in Ontario has been effected by the employment of 114 men for a few months, at a total cost of $26,253, shared between the public treasury and the owners of timber limits. The Ontario forest-fire system has now been tried for nine years and its compulsory extension is recommended by the Canadian Government officers. In Quebec equally satisfactory results have followed the introduction of the forest-patrol system, which can no longer be regarded as experimental in that Province.

In the districts of Upper and Lower Ottawa during the summer of 1895, where it was also unusually dry, no serious conflagrations occurred. No less than fifty-six incipient fires, however, were extinguished by the Forest Rangers, any one of which might have assumed serious damages and caused heavy losses. The total damage in the district amounted to between $500 and $1,000. In other districts in Quebec numerous small fires are extinguished every year by Rangers, who, appearing promptly on the scene, assist the inhabitants in suppressing them.

The forests of the western provinces of the Dominion are under the control of the minister of the interior, who, following the system adopted in the older provinces, has under him Crown timber agents charged with the administration of suitable districts.

The value of the system which has been adopted in Canada, under S. Doc. 105-2

which the Government retains the fee of its forest lands, would have been inestimable in large immediate revenue and in future crops of timber in such regions as those adjacent to Puget Sound or the coast of northern California; but the fee of nearly all the best timber land in the United States has now passed into the hands of individuals or corporations, and such a policy can now be applied only to comparatively small areas generally covered with inferior timber.

THE RESERVED FOREST LANDS OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

The peculiar topographical and climatic conditions of western North America would appear to make the preservation of its forests essential to the profitable and permanent occupation of the country. The precipitation of moisture west of the one hundredth meridian is unequally distributed throughout the year; the summers are hot and dry, and the whole territory, with the exception of the coast region of the northwest, is watered so imperfectly that forests are restricted to the slopes of high mountain ranges or to elevated plains and mesas, the valleys of the interior and of all the south being practically treeless. In all the interior and southern regions precipitation is insufficient for certain and profitable cultivation, and permanent agricultural prosperity can only be assured through irrigation. Much of the region is traversed by lofty mountain ranges well wooded at the north and sparsely wooded at the south. Their forests serve to collect and in a measure regulate the flow of streams, the waters of which, carefully conserved and distributed artificially, would render possible the reclamation of vast areas of so-called desert lands. Irrigation systems have been undertaken in many localities under State or corporate control and have been prosecuted until their value has been amply demonstrated, although the one essential condition of their permanent success, the preservation of the forests on high mountain slopes, has been entirely neglected.

Under authority of section 24 of the act of Congress approved March 3, 1891, by which the President of the United States can withdraw from sale and entry and set apart as forest reservations parts of the public domain, whether wholly or in part covered with timber, seventeen forest reserves, with a total estimated area of 17,500,000 acres, were established prior to 1894. During the journey made by your committee last summer through the Western States and Territories it became impressed with the importance of extending this reserved area before further encroachments were made on the public domain; and on its return it prepared a short preliminary report, recommending the establishment of thirteen additional forest reserves with an estimated total area of 21,378,840 acres and roughly designating their boundaries. On the 6th of February this report was submitted by the Secretary of the Interior to the President, who on the 22d of February issued proclamations making the recommendations of your committee effective. The correspondence relating to this matter is appended to this report. (Appendix A.)

Members of your committee visited during the summer and autumn all the forest reservations established prior to February 22, 1897, with the exception of the Pecos River Reserve in New Mexico, the Battlement Mesa Reserve in Colorado, the Yellowstone National Park Timber Reserve in Wyoming already well known to its members, and the small and comparatively unimportant Afognak Reserve in Alaska, the Bull Run Forest Reserve in Oregon, and the Trabuco Canyon Reserve in southern California, and studied also forest conditions in many of

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