CHAPTER II 



THE NORTH AMERICAN FOREST 



THERE are in the northern temperate zone 

 three great forest regions : The eastern Asian, 

 including principally the eastern portion of Siberia, 

 Manchuria, and the Japanese archipelago ; the 

 European ; and the American forests, including 

 great portions of the United States and Canada. 

 The American forest may be subdivided into three 

 groups : The great eastern forest, which originally 

 covered nearly all the territory on the Atlantic side 

 of the Mississippi, and in several places extends 

 considerably beyond that river ; the forests of the 

 Rocky Mountain regions, including the minor moun- 

 tain ranges of the great basin ; and the Pacific coast 

 forest. The immense areas lying between these 

 subdivisions are occupied by the grass plains of the 

 eastern slope and the alkali and sage-brush des- 

 erts of the interior, both of them distinguished by 

 the almost total absence of tree growth. On the 

 northern edge these three forest zones converge, so 

 that there is a subarctic forest belt stretching from 

 ocean to ocean. We have before us the task of 

 describing the relations existing between the life 

 of the American people as a social organism, and 



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