No attempt was made in the general land office to develop a technical forest service. There were, indeed, at the time of passage of the act, less than ten trained foresters in the United States, no means of training more, and very little conception of what forestry actually meant. The purpose of the administration was therefore mainly protection against trespass and fire, particularly the latter. Regulations were made giving effect to the provisions of the act of June 4, set forth above, but in the absence of technical knowledge as to what might safely be done, the tendency was rather to restrict than to extend the use of the forest. Meanwhile, however, there was rapidly developing in another branch of the government service an organization qualified for actual forest management. One year after the passage of the act of June 4, 1897, the division of forestry in the Department of Agriculture ceased to be merely a bureau of information, and became an active agency for introducing the actual practice of forestry among private owners and for conducting the investigations upon which a sound American forest practice could be based. The work awakened great interest among forest owners, and exerted a powerful educational influence upon the country at large. The division extended its work and became (July 1, 1901) the Bureau of Forestry. It drew into its employment for a time nearly all the men who were preparing themselves in increasing numbers (at first abroad, then in the newly-founded schools in the United States) for the profession of forestry, and was soon recognized as qualified to speak authoritatively on technical questions connected with the administration of the national forests. This led to a request from the secretary of the interior for the advice of the bureau on such questions. Working plans were accordingly undertaken for a number of the forests. The general land office, however, was not ready to attempt active forest management. Though some timber was sold and the grazing of stock regulated to some extent, the main object of the land office administration continued to be protection against fire. Many of the regulations which it made could not be enforced. The disadvantages of dispersal of the Federal government forest work among three separate agencies grew more and more apparent, until, on the 1st of February 1905, control of the 63,000,000 acres of forest reserves which up to that time had been set aside was transferred from the general land office to the Bureau of Forestry. In recognition of its new duties the designation of the bureau became the Forest Service. [Illustration: National Forests and National Parks of the United States.]