234 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



assert, but it must have been considerably aggravated by tlie accumu- 

 lation of minor local floods due to the well-known reckless clearing of 

 the hill-sides, which sent their waters down into the river in torrents. 

 At the season, when the winter snows are melting, watch the news- 

 papers, and you will find an almost daily mention of the disastrous rav- 

 ages of brooks and streams, many of which injuries could have been 

 prevented by avoiding the creation of their distant and indirect cause. 

 Thus we may multiply examples all over the country, showing harm- 

 ful local influences upon agricultural conditions due to forest devasta- 

 tion. 



That the vast stretches of land in the Northwest, from which the 

 white pine has been cut and burned oflF, present the aspect of a desola- 

 tion which sickens the heart, you may hear from every one who has 

 seen these deserts unnecessarily wrought by man. Every traveler in 

 this country, be it to the White Mountains, to the Adirondacks, along 

 the Alleghany Mountains ; be it through the Rockies or the red- 

 woods of California, can not but be startled by the desolate, sad aspect 

 of many of these once beautifully-clad mountain-crests. 



And we are a nation hardly a hundred years old, with over thirty 

 acres per capita to spread ourselves upon. What will become of us, 

 when we must live upon five acres per head ? We are far enough ad- 

 vanced in our recklessness of disresjardincc the indirect sicjnificance of 

 forest areas to have learned a lesson at home, and to feel the neces- 

 sity of being more careful in the utilization of the forest, so as not to 

 lose its protection for our agricultural and general interests. 



While we have seen that all aspects, in which the forest must be 

 considered, from the standpoint of national economy, show our con- 

 ditions to be such as to call for solicitous consideration and action ; this 

 is still more apparent, if we analyze the diflSculties to be overcome. 

 These are much greater, in our case, than those encountered by any of 

 the European nations. For abroad, government is so regarded as to 

 give wider scope to its action, and not only are government forests 

 and government forestry permissible and natural, but government 

 interference, if for the interest of the general welfare, is borne less 

 impatiently. Besides, forest management by these nations has been 

 gradually led up to by an interest outside of forestry proper — the 

 protection of the chase, which was fostered by the king, and then by 

 nobles, on entailed estates, so that to the present generation a nucleus 

 of forests has been preserved, upon which to expend the needful care 

 and management. 



Our difliculties lie mainly in the unique manner in which our coun- 

 try has been settled, and in the spirit of our institutions, which is too 

 prone to resent interference with private rights, even where the com- 

 mon interest seems to call for such. The rapid development of rail- 

 road facilities has brought a whole vast continent within easy reach 

 of market, and has allowed a population of only sixty million people 



