d on, and it includes the Library of the
Forest Service, by far the most complete and effective forest library in
the United States.

The fourth branch, that of Grazing, supervises the use of the National
Forests for pasture. Over the greater part of the West, this was the
first use to which the forests were put, and an idea of its magnitude
may be gathered from the fact that every year the National Forests
supply feed for about a million and a half cattle and horses, and more
than fourteen million sheep. It is no easy task to permit all this live
stock to utilize the forage which the National Forests produce, and yet
do little or no harm to the young growth on which the future of the
forest depends. To exclude the grazing animals altogether is impossible
and undesirable, for to do so would ruin the leading industry in many
portions of the West. Consequently, many of the most difficult and
perplexing questions in the practical administration of the National
Forests have occurred in the work of the Branch of Grazing, and have
there been solved, and many of the most bitter attacks upon it have
there been met.

The fifth branch, that of Lands, has to do with the questions which
arise from the use of the land in the National Forests for farming or
ranching, mining, and a very wide variety of other purposes, and with
the exceedingly numerous and intricate questions which arise because
there are about 21,100,000 acres of land within the boundaries of the
National Forests whose title has already passed from the Government. The
boundaries of the National Forests also are constantly being examined to
determine whether they include all the land, and only the land, to be
contained within them, and whether they should be extended or reduced.

The first permits for the use of waterpower sites on Government land
were issued by the Forest Service, and the policy which is just being
adopted by the Interior Department and other Government organizations in
their handling of waterpower questions was there first developed. These
permits are prepared in the Branch of Lands. The first steps toward
deterring men who attempt in defiance of the law to get possession of
lands claimed to be agricultural or mineral within the National Forests
are taken here, but the final decision on these points rests with the
Department of the Interior. The examination of lands to determine
whether they are agricultural in character, and therefore should be
o