OUR FORESTS. 91 



the forest-trees, yet we may venture to assert that no subject 

 has been so neglected as that of the cultivation and growth of 

 trees. 



We of New England, living in that part of the land of which 

 it is said that " there is not another equal area of the earth's 

 surface whereon so many kinds of valuable trees grow spon- 

 taneously and rapidly," can hardly realize the want of them. 

 But go to the treeless prairies of the West, stand amid those 

 fertile fields, behold on every side the boundless expanse ter- 

 minated only by the distant horizon, with not a tree to break 

 the monotony ; travel for days over the prairies with no cool- 

 ing shade, no barrier to protect from the sweeping winds ; do 

 this and you will realize as never before the value of trees, 

 and will thank your Heavenly Father for the groves and for- 

 ests of your own New England. But our woodlands are 

 rapidly disappearing. 'The forests of Maine, which in times 

 past have furnished the principal part of the lumber consumed 

 in the United States and the West Indies have nearly dis- 

 appeared, and the rapacious lumberman seeks for fresh con- 

 quests amid the timber-lands of Canada, Michigan and Wis- 

 consin. Many cities and towns are now obliged to depend 

 upon places more than one thousand miles distant for their 

 supply of timber. 



Few seem to be aware to what an extent we are dependent 

 upon the supply of wood and timber for the comforts and 

 even necessities of civilized life. There is hardly a trade or 

 manufacture but requires its use. Bernard Palissy says, "I 

 have divers times thought to set down in writing the arts 

 which shall perish when there shall be no more wood ; but 

 when I had written down a great number, I did perceive that 

 there could be no end of my writing ; and having diligently 

 considered, I found there was not any which could be fol- 

 lowed without wood." The houses we live in, the furniture we 

 employ, the implements with which we work, the vehicles in 

 which we ride, the fuel we burn ; all of these are fast consum- 

 ing our forests. Already 4,000,000 acres are annually dis- 

 appearing to supply these various demands, while the vast 

 extension of our railroad system, the great increase of manu- 

 factures and the mechanical arts are yearly augmenting the 

 demand. It is estimated that the single item of repairing the 



