78 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



uproots or breaks the trees leaving desirable places for fungi 

 and bacteria — the most harmful of all plants. Animals, such 

 as mice, gnaw the bark of young trees and kill them, birds eat 

 great quantities of seed; insects devour many parts of the tree; 

 and cattle trample upon seeds and pluck shoots. Man how- 

 ever, is the most formidable enemy of the forest for more dam- 

 age is done every year by fire and lumberers than by any other 

 cause. Practically every forest fire is the result of human 

 carelessness. 



Notwithstanding the number of enemies the forest has, 

 and the losses thereby sustained, it remains one of the most 

 valuable gifts bestowed upon mankind. One of its missions is 

 the regulation of temperature. We find in large forested 

 areas a total absence of the scorching winds so common on our 

 treeless plains. That like large bodies of water, they lower 

 the average temperature of summer and raise that of winter 

 is more doubtful. They serve also as valuable windbreaks, 

 game preserves, and recreation grounds, services not to be 

 scorned. 



Another function — perhaps the most important — is the 

 regulation of the water supply, and the prevention of floods 

 and torrents by the gradual feeding of springs and streams. 

 Owing to the shade of the forest and the spongy covering of 

 its floor, the water is hindered from evaporating or running 

 off as rapidly as it would on a barren stretch of land and thus 

 the forests aid in storing water which re-appears evenly and 

 continuously to stock streams, etc. The forests are also the 

 source of such products as wood alcohol, vanilla, turpentine, 

 rosin ; and of such industries, as cooperage, furniture making, 

 musical instruments, vehicle manufacture, agricultural imple- 

 ments, car building, railroad ties, telephone poles, and house 

 building and finishing. And as we think of the value of these 

 forest industries — they being second only to agriculture in the 

 United States, the question comes to our minds, can we afford 



