The North American Forest 33 



ceed in the consideration of the subject-matter of 

 this volume, we will have frequent occasion to treat 

 of the forest as subject, not to natural forces, but 

 to control by the will of man, who may destroy, 

 maintain, or regenerate it as suits his purposes. To 

 understand clearly how such control is possible, 

 we must bear in mind that it is done, not by sus- 

 pending or reversing the action of the processes of 

 nature, but by guiding and giving special directions 

 to them. 



Such guidance and control are possible only to 

 men who have a knowledge of those natural pro- 

 cesses. Not as if anybody now possessed or was 

 ever likely to possess such knowledge perfectly. 

 But even an imperfect knowledge gives us a means 

 of exercising some influence. It is only within a 

 relatively short time that a partial understanding of 

 the life processes of a forest has been accomplished 

 anywhere, and in America we are still far from 

 knowing as much of our forests as the Europeans 

 know of theirs. During the greater part of our 

 history, we were very far from exercising an im- 

 portant influence on our forests. On the contrary, 

 our history as a nation was far more intensely in- 

 fluenced and largely determined by the primeval 

 woods. The manner of this influence by the forest 

 on our national history shall be the theme of our 

 next chapter. 



