different manuscripts in progress at the same time in different rooms of his house. Explaining his work habits, he said, "I seek repose in labor." In 1854, Hough was appointed as superintendent of the 1855 New York State census, the first complete census of the state. He returned to Lewis County in 1860 to settle in Lowville, New York. The same year, he published A history of Lewis County, in the state of New York. In 1862, he started a periodical, The American Journal of Forestry. Due to a lack of subscribers, he retired it after only a year. In 1861, with the advent of the American Civil War, Hough worked as an inspector for the United States Sanitary Commission. In 1862, he enlisted as a surgeon in the 97th New York Volunteer Infantry. The same year, he translated French military surgeon Lucien Baudens' account of medical conditions during the Crimean War, publishing it as On Military and Camp Hospitals. He published an account of his war experiences in History of Duryee's Brigade (1864). Brigadier General Abram Duryée had commanded the 97th, 104th and 105th New York Infantry Regiments and the 107th Pennsylvania Infantry. Father of American forestry Ten years after supervising the 1855 New York State census, Hough returned to the job of overseeing the 1865 state census. Reviewing the returns, he noted with alarm a declining trend in the availability of timber. Finding additional evidence in the federal census of 1870, which he also supervised, he presented a paper entitled On the Duty of Governments in the Preservation of Forests to the 1873 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Portland, Maine. Hough argued that Mediterranean countries had harmed the environment by excessive harvests of trees, and that a similar problem faced the United States. He proposed regulation of the use of forests and the establishment of forestry schools. As a result of Hough's presentation, the Association formed a committee to educate Congress and state legislatures on the dangers of deforestation, and to recommend legislation to avoid it. Hough was appointed to chair the committee. In 1876, as a result of the Association's lobbying, Congress created the office of Special Agent in the U.S. Department of Agriculture to assess the state of the forests and lumber in the United States. USDA Commissioner Frederick Watts appointed Hough to fill the new position. Hough traveled widely