DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY 



Editor } P-f- John M.^Briscoe, 



FOREST INFLUENCES. 

 By John M, Briscoe. 



From the earliest times man has felt and recognized the influence 

 of the forest, but in very different ways. The forest was undoubt- 

 edly the earliest home of man, its edible products then forming its 

 principal value. The presence of wild animals first developed the 

 hunter, and the chase first furnishing subsistence, later developed 

 into a means of exhilaration and pleasure. It was the mast in the 

 openings in the forest that gave it value for the herder, and only 

 with later development in civilization did the wood product become 

 of chief importance. 



To the early Nomadic tribes, the forest was a barrier, a hidden 

 and unknown terror lurked in the shade of deep woods, and the 

 early mythology of China, India, Persia, Greece and Rome all recog- 

 nize a religious veneration for trees, and a fear and dread of forests 

 as the abode of various Deities. An example of this may be found 

 to the present day in the derivation of our word PANIC. (Pan 

 being a woods satyr having the power to stir up the most dreadful 

 " fears and emotions, particularly in any maidens who happened to 

 lose their way in the forest). The earliest restrictions in the cutting 

 of timber, were reservations of sacred trees, making it not only a 

 misdemeanor, but a crime to cut such trees. 



As these wandering tribes gradually settled down in a given re- 

 gion, the necessity of clearing land for agriculture became more 

 and more imperative. The forests were a formidable resistance to 

 this development ; they became the enemy of man — an impediment 

 in his struggle. Clearings were begun first near the streams and 

 springs of water, and were not carried far into the mountains. 

 These were left for the most part in forest cover, and during the 

 middle ages the relation of forest and mountain was inseparable, 

 until with modern developments in methods of utilization and the 

 ever increasing demand for forest products, even the mountains 

 have been stripped of their forest cover in many regions. 



In the early days they were, moreover, an obstruction to trade 

 and intercourse ; a barrier between tribes and peoples ; a hiding place 

 for enemies ; and a refuge for marauders. These conditions were 

 met with even in the early settlement of America, as they have been 

 with colonization elsewhere — the first settlers had to do battle with 

 the forests. They were superabundant, ubiquitous, a menace ! 



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