PART TWELVE 



FORESTRY 



Like horticulture and bacteriology, forestry is a child of 

 botany and it restricts itself to the study of trees. In later 

 years, forestry has itself become fertile and has given rise to 

 an area known as "Forest Products." 



Before the white man came to our shores with his image 

 of wooden houses, great tracts of virgin timber were found 

 wherever growing conditions were suitable. Expansion of the 

 country has wiped out much of this type of timber, although 

 some remains. Today's forestry viewpoint is aimed at pre- 

 serving these virgin tracts as museum pieces and raising what 

 timber we need from seed. Foresters are not only found in 

 the woods but in the laboratories working on basic prob- 

 lems long neglected by the pioneers. Forest taxonomists are 

 minutely studying the variation exhibited in the population 

 of a species, and in some cases they are finding differences 

 wide enough to justify setting up new species. Forest genet- 

 icists are making many crosses of forest trees in an effort to 

 produce more valuable lumber or wood products of various 

 sorts. Large forestry departments have their own anatomists 

 and physiologists to study these aspects of trees. 



How can water rise 300 or more feet in a tree? This is an 

 astounding feat, apparently defying some of the laws of 

 physics. We have explanations of this phenomenon but it will 

 be some time before we can write the full answer to this 

 question. 



There are hundreds of sizes, shapes, and uses of trees. 

 Tree species have their own characteristics and requirements. 

 There are trees good for bottom lands, trees for hillsides, trees 

 for erosion control, trees for the desert, and trees for city 

 planting. If the forester has his way, there will always be 

 trees for man to use and enjoy. 



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