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.