POSSESSIONS IN THE APPALACHIAN FORESTS 135 



and comprehend the extended scope of the idea of conservation. "Nihil est 

 homine libero dignius," says Cicero, whom Evelyn quotes with delight, add- 

 ing this from the poet of the Georgics, "Silvae sunt consule dignae" — "No, not 

 ihe majesty of a consul." If at one time or another — if in this matter or that 

 matter, he has been over-zealous — even wrong-headed, if his opponents please 

 — this in no resitect affects the basic fact that, owing to his zeal and his pas- 

 sion and his patriotism, has come into being the sudden realization on the part 

 of the American people that they have a great possession which was steadily 

 passing away forever, and that they have awakened to the vital importance of 

 so using it, as to preserve it for the future benefit of posterity. 



It is well for the American people that the alarm bell has been rung and 

 that this trumpet note has been sounded haply in time. For the exigency is 

 not less great in America today than it was in England when Charles II, amid 

 the dissipations of his court, was suddenly awakened to the fact that the for- 

 ests of England were being destroyed beyond the hope of resurrection, and 

 founded the Royal Society of Great Britain with a view to establishing a great 

 scientific society which should scientifically promote the reforestation of 

 England. 



When the curtain which had through the ages veiled this western conti- 

 nent from the peoples of Europe was drawn aside and the vision of America 

 first dawned on their astonished view, nothing impressed them so much as the 

 unimagined wonders of the products of this virgin land. The repor.'s of the 

 first voyagers and of their successors not only for some years, but for some 

 generations, were so wonderful that they were considered to excel the narra- 

 tives of Mandeville, Marco Polo, and even to eclipse those of the redoubtable 

 Baron Munchausen. Gold, of course, was believed to be here in such quan- 

 tities that even the commonest vessels of the bai'barous inhabitants were be- 

 lieved to be formed of this precious metal. The sea shore was believed to be 

 pebbled with precious stones, the rivers were reported to be so filled with fish 

 that men might walk over dry shod upon them. Even now the dream of El- 

 dorado remains in men's minds and if the imagined city of the Incas has not 

 been found, in desert regions long afterward discovered, gold has been found 

 in quantities greater than even fancy imagined. As they penetrated further 

 to the westward they found other products in equal magnitude. Wild fowl 

 that filled the rivers, the fore.sts and the prairies in quantities which sur- 

 passed the capacity of the mind to calculate Wild game, not only such as 

 kings and nobles were entitled to hunt in the )ld country ; but of new species 

 — the buffalo, the elk, and the antelope — filled the forests and covered the 

 prairie. The quantity was beyond the previous reach of the imagination of 

 man, and even today it staggers the credulity of a generation whose fathers 

 saw them with their own eyes. 



But of all the wonders of America, nothing amazed Europe more than the 

 vastness of the forests which covered the continent. All records and reports 

 are filled with the proof of this amazing growth of forests from sea to sea, 

 and from the icy north to the tropical regions of Mexico. But a few genera- 

 tions ago, at most in the time of our grandfathers, this well-nigh fabulous 

 condition as to game still remained. The buffalo, the elk, the antelope, though 

 they had retired before the advance of the destroyer, man, still covered the 

 prairies and filled the mountains of the west, in almost infinite numbens. The 

 wild fowl in their flight, at times darkened the sun and quite blackened the 

 waters and filled the forests. Today there are of the most noted species 

 scarcely left enough to stock the zoological gardens, while other species both of 

 animals and fowl are rapidly disappearing and in a few generations will 

 probably be not less scarce than the buffalo and the antelope are today. 



The same fate which has befallen the denizens of the forest at the hand of 

 man, is now proceeding and with equal rapidity against the forest itself. With 



