Thoughtful men probably at all times looked with pity and apprehension upon the wasteful use of the timber as they do now, yet squander went on, just as it still does; but the apparently inexhaustible supplies in those early times called for no restriction in its use. At the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century, a fuel-wood famine must have appeared in some parts of the country, just as in Germany at that time and for the same reasons, the wood having been cut along the rivers, which were the only means of transportation, and hence, the distance to which wood had to be hauled increasing the cost. This was probably the reason why the Society of Agriculture, Arts and Manufactures of New York, after an inquiry by circular letter, issued in 1791, published, in 1795, a report on the “best mode of preserving and increasing the growth of timber.” This condition probably also led the wise Governor of New York, DeWitt Clinton, of Erie Canal fame, in a message in 1822, to forecast an evil day, because “no system of economy” for the reproduction of forest supplies was being adopted; and he added: “Probably none will be, until severe privations are experienced.” Like Great Britain at that time, the federal government became concerned as regards supplies for naval construction, and, by act approved in 1799, appropriated $200,000 for the purchase of timber fit for the Navy, and for its preservation for future use. Small purchases were made on the Georgia coast, but nothing of importance was done until, in 1817, another act renewed the proposition of the first, and directed the reservation of public lands bearing live-oak or cedar timber suitable for the Navy, as might be selected by the President. Under this act, a reservation of 19,000 acres was made, in 1828, on Commissioners, Cypress and Six Islands, in Louisiana. Another appropriation of $10,000 was made in 1828, and some lands were purchased on Santa Rosa Sound, where, during a few years, even an attempt at cultivation was made, including sowing, transplanting, pruning, etc. This was done under a more general act of 1827, by which the President was authorized to take proper measures to preserve the live oak timber growing on the federal lands. Under these acts, altogether some 244,000 acres of forest land were reserved in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi. But, although another act, of 1831, provided for the punishment of persons cutting or destroying any Live Oak, Red Cedar, or other trees growing on any lands of the United States, no general conception of the need of a broad forest policy, or even of a special value attaching to the public timberlands dictated these acts, except so far as the securing of certain material, then believed necessary for naval construction, was concerned. Indeed, the act of 1831 remained for 60 years the only expression of interest in this part of the federal domain.