Forest rangers and guards may be assigned to the work of hunting predatory animals for a limited time each year, and will be furnished with necessary ammunition, poisons, and traps. If none is sufficiently experienced or can be spared for the work, professional hunters may be recommended for appointment as guards for such period as their services are required.

Supervisors upon whose Forests rangers or guards are employed as hunters will submit a monthly report to the Forester showing the work accomplished during the preceding month in the extermination of predatory animals. This report should be a summary of the hunter's daily-service reports filed in the supervisor's office. It should be prepared in duplicate by the hunter, who will send both copies to the supervisor, with his service report, at the end of each month. The supervisor will retain one copy and send the other to the Forester. In this report the number of animals of each kind killed should be stated; also the manner in which they were killed, whether by trap, gun, poison, or dogs, and any other information which may be of interest.

Predatory animals killed by Forest officers other than hunters or on Forest where hunters are not employed, will be reported by them in their daily-service reports, and the supervisor will compile the data at the end of each month and submit a report to the Forester.

RECEIPTS.

REG. 75. The Fiscal Agent, Forest Service, Washington, D. C., is authorized to receive all payments to the Forest Service. The Special Fiscal Agent, Ketchikan, Alaska, is authorized to receive payments on account of transactions in Alaska. All other Forest officers are prohibited from receiving any payments. Payments must be by postal or express money orders or national-bank drafts on New York

City, drawn payable to the Treasurer of the United States, but forwarded to the Fiscal Agent, accompanied by printed form letters of transmittal (Form 861), which will be furnished the payor by the Forest officers. The letter of transmittal must designate the transaction on account of which the payment is made, and must be signed by the payor and the Forest officer conducting the transaction. A duplicate of the form letter of transmittal, signed only by the Forest officer, for all payments except grazing fees, must at the same time be sent to the Forester.

Forest officers will explain to persons making payments the requirements of Reg. 75. At the time the letter of transmittal is signed by the Forest officer and delivered to the payor the form in which the remittance must be made should be fully explained. No action will be taken on any application if the remittance is not made as required by this regulation, but the remittance will be returned to the sender. Forest officers should make out the letter of transmittal for the payor and see that it is correct in every particular. Special care should be taken to see that the payor's correct address is given. Before signing any letter of transmittal the Forest officer will make a copy, except when prepared in the Forester's office (p. 57), and except when payments are for grazing fees (see instructions on p. 125) mark it on the upper margin with rubber stamp or pen and ink with the words "Duplicate, for the information of the Forester," and send it to the supervisor, who will make the proper record, initial it on the lower left-hand corner, and send it to the Forester.

REFUNDS.

REG. 76. Claims for refund of payments made on the Forest Service must be addressed to the supervisor, who will forward them to the Forester with his recommendations. If the Forester approves the claim, the amount

found not due the United States will be refunded by the Fiscal Agent upon presentation of a voucher prepared in accordance with the Fiscal Regulations and approved by the Forester.

Claims for refunds should be sent to the supervisor of the Forest on which the original payment was made, who will send them to the Forester with his recommendations. If the claim is allowed, a voucher will be prepared and sent to the claimant for his signature and returned to the Forester, who will instruct the Fiscal Agent to pay the claim. Refunds on grazing permits are subject to special restrictions (Reg. 57).

BONDS AND CONTRACTS.

REG. 77. The Forester and such officers as he may designate may demand and approve such bonds, require such stipulations, and approve and execute such leases and other contracts as are required or permitted by law or these regulations, or as the Secretary of Agriculture is required or permitted to demand, approve, require, or execute in matters affecting the Forest Service and the National Forests.

Final acceptance of any bid or informal offer made to the supervisor or Forester should be postponed until the formal papers embodying the contract are submitted to the proper officer for approval. The reply to the bid may be made in substantially the following form:

"The bid of John Smith will be accepted upon approval by the Forester (or supervisor as the case may be) of the contract of sale."

When a bond is required to secure the performance of any contract, the bond and contract should be approved upon the same date, and the identical date of approval should be noted

in writing upon both the contract and the bond in substantially the following form:

Approved

1907. "

(Signature)

Forester (or Supervisor).

The bond should give the date upon which the contract was signed by the applicant, and should specify the land involved, the use contracted for, and in a timber sale the kind, estimated amount, and price of the timber sold.

The supervisor should see that both the sureties and principals sign their names uniformly throughout the bond. Thus, anyone who signs his name "John B. Smith" on the face of the bond should not sign elsewhere as "J. B. Smith." It is not desirable that members of a corporation which is a party to the contract should act as sureties on the bond executed by the corporation. Bonding companies usually issue continuing bonds for an indefinite period. This form of bond is excellent and may be made to cover all the operations of an applicant. Such a continuing bond must describe as accurately as the circumstances admit the future contracts intended to be secured by it.

PROTECTION AGAINST FIRE.

Probably the greatest single benefit derived by the community and the Nation from National Forests is through the protection of property, timber resources, and water supply against fire. The direct annual loss from this course on unprotected lands reaches many millions of dollars; the indirect loss is beyond all estimate.

The Forest Service, by its protective measures, has greatly reduced the damage by fire on the National Forests. During the last three years the total area burned over has steadily diminished. For the last year

it was less than one-tenth of 1 per cent of the total area of the National Forests.

The burden of adequate protection against fire can not well be borne by the State or by its citizens, much as they have to gain, for it requires great outlay of money to support a trained and equipped force, as well as to provide a fund to meet emergencies. Only the Government can do it, and, since the law does not provide effective protection for the public domain, only in the National Forests can the Government give the help so urgently needed.

Through its fire patrol the Forest Service undertakes to guard the property of the resident settler and miner, and to preserve the timber, water, and range upon which the prosperity of all industries depends. The help it can give to the development of the West may be greatly increased by the cooperation of citizens. Destructive forest fires are not often willfully set, but far too commonly they result from failure to realize that carelessness will be followed by injury and distress to others. The resident or the traveler in forest regions who takes every precaution not to let fire escape, and who is active in extinguishing fires which he discovers, contributes directly to the development and wealth of the country and to the personal safety and profit of himself and his neighbors. He who does not assumes a great responsibility by endangering not only his own welfare, but that of countless others.

Citizens' fire brigades have been organized successfully in many National Forests. Not only is the prevention of fire to the interest of all property owners, but