CLEARING STREAMS FOR LOG DRIVING.

Where this class of work is necessary, the distance to be cleared and the average width of the stream should be stated, and an estimate of the cost, covering the following points, should be sent to the Forester: Removing rock obstruction; building dams, if needed; building new channels to cut off bends, increase the rapidity of the current, or deepen the channel; necessary clearing on each side of the stream; removing log jams; powder, tools, and other supplies,

FIRE LINES.

On a number of the Forests fire lines must be constructed as a protection against disastrous fires. Where this is done to protect the direct water supply of adjacent towns, cities, or ranches, or the range of permitted stock, the cooperation of the interested residents is earnestly requested.

Range fire lines, or lines through open mature timber on easy ground may be cheaply constructed by plowing four or five furrows on each side of a strip 4 rods wide and burning out the intervening strip when conditions render it safe. Lines through chaparral or heavy underbrush should usually be 30 feet wide, cleaned out with an ax, mattock, and brush hook, and the stumps of all strong-sprouting species, such as scrub oak, grubbed out.

RANGERS' HEADQUARTERS.

Eventually all the rangers who serve the year round will be furnished with comfortable headquarters. It is the intention of the Forest Service to erect the necessary buildings as rapidly as funds will permit. Usually they should be built of logs with shingle or shake roofs.

Dwellings should be of sufficient size to afford comfortable living accommodations to the family of the officer. He will be held responsible for the proper care of the buildings and the grounds

surrounding them. It is impossible to insist on proper care of camps if the Forest officers themselves do not keep their homes as models of neatness.

Rangers' headquarters should be located where there is enough agricultural land for a small field and suitable pasture land for a few head of horses and a cow or two, in order to decrease the often excessive expense for vegetables and feed. The amount of agricultural land necessary to supply a ranger's family with vegetables and to raise hay and grain enough to winter his saddle and other stock will vary, as a general rule, from 10 to 40 acres.

Pastures should be of sufficient size to support the stock necessary for the ranger's use. They will vary in size, according to the quality of the feed, from 40 to 200 acres. A two or three wire fence strung on posts or trees 30 feet apart will, in most cases, be sufficient to protect these pastures from range stock.

FENCES, CORRALS, TANKS, WELLS, AND WINDMILLS.

Whenever fences, corrals, tanks, wells, windmills, or any other improvements are needed in order to better control the grazing of stock on the Forests, or to open to grazing areas heretofore unused on account of the lack of water, the supervisor should report to the Forester. The report should give the location, state the conditions which render the construction of the work advisable, and give a detailed estimate of the cost.

MARKING NATIONAL FOREST BOUNDARIES.

For the benefit of the public and for the protection of the Forests, Forest officers will do their utmost to see that all boundaries are established and clearly marked.

All supervisors will be supplied with boundary posters, and with stamps and ink for filling the spaces left on each poster for the name of the Forest and boundary on which the notice is posted. They will see that the Forest limits are kept amply marked, not only at the entrance of trails and roads, but at frequent intervals along the entire boundary where any entrance is probable. There should be at least one notice to each quarter

mile where grazing or timber trespass is likely to occur, and the entire line, where it runs through timber, should be plainly marked with fore-and-aft blazes with two notches above to distinguish them from trail blazes. Each blaze should be stamped in the center with the United States marking hatchet. None of these marks should be used, however, until the lines are definitely fixed and approved.

ON NORTH AND SOUTH LINES / CORNERS ARE MARKED (S) ON W FACE.
» EAST 2 WEST
» N "

FIG. 1.-System of notching corners.

Every notice posted must bear the name of the Forest and the proper boundary. Where the Forest officers can not locate the boundaries of a Forest with sufficient accuracy, or the lines of interior claims or holdings of any kind, the Forester should be informed in order either that surveys may be made by the United States Geological Survey, or that the lines may be retraced by the Forest Service.

The boundaries of interior holdings should be marked in accordance with the blazes used by the Department of the Interior. (See Regulations of General Land Office governing survey of public lands.)

Whenever a Forest officer finds an old survey corner, either on the boundary or inside the Forest, which is in danger of becoming obliterated, he should take time to reenforce it properly.

Destroying, defacing, changing, or moving any corner, meander post, monument, or bench mark, or cutting down any blazed line or witness tree on any Government line of survey is prohibited by specific act of Congress. (Appendix, p. 249.)

SURVEYS WITHIN NATIONAL FORESTS.

The act of March 3, 1899, makes the surveying of National Forest lands identical, in all but the establishing of boundaries, with that of the public domain. Where survey to permit the patenting of valid claims is desired, application should be made to surveyors-general, and action thereon will be governed by the usual considerations.

(For special surveys allowed in the National Forests see Appendix, p. 242.)

SUPERVISORS' OFFICES.

Each supervisor's office should be equipped with a sign, for example: "U. S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Office of Sierra National Forest." Request for authority to rent an office must describe the location and condition of the building and the rooms, and give in detail what is secured with the office, as light, heat, telephone, or janitor service. The danger from fire should be carefully considered and reported upon. In every case a lease will be prepared in the

Washington office for execution by the lessor. Supervisors must never occupy an office that is furnished rent free by a company or individual.

FOREST LIBRARY.

To aid in the work of Forest officers, supervisors' offices are being provided with small libraries of books on forestry and allied subjects. In addition, all available Government publications of interest will be sent to any member of the Forest Service free of charge, on application to the Forester.

In order that rangers may be made more familiar with the books in the field libraries, each supervisor is instructed to send in succession all the books in his library to each ranger, for his inspection or perusal.

Before starting a book on its rounds, the names of all the rangers who are to use it should be entered on the charge card found in the pocket on the inside of the back cover. The book should then be sent to the ranger whose name comes first on the card, to be returned to the supervisor's office when he is through with it. The card should be kept on file by the supervisor, in order that he may know where the book is. As soon as the book is returned by the first borrower, it should be sent to the man whose name comes next on the list. The book should be kept in circulation in this way until every ranger has had a chance to see it.

EXPENDITURES AND SUPPLIES.

All payments for expenses incurred in the administration of the National Forests must be in accordance with the acts of Congress making appropriations for the purpose, the Fiscal Regulations of the Department of Agriculture, and the instructions in the Green Book of the Forest Service. Detailed instructions for the custody and use of supplies are contained in the Green Book, a copy of which should be in the hands of every Forest officer.