NORTH AMERICAN FORESTS 

 AND FORESTRY 



CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTION 



MODERN civilization attains its height, and 

 produces its blossoms and fruits, such as 

 they are, for good and evil, in the artificial life of 

 the great cities ; but its roots are sunk deeply into 

 the soil prepared by nature herself. Millions of 

 years before the first spark of intellectual life in a 

 humanlike being made the beginning of a rude 

 culture possible, that mysterious earth-life which 

 throbs in the multitudinous surges of the ocean,, 

 the stormy atmosphere enveloping the crags of the 

 Sierra, the torrid sunshine of the desert, the splashy 

 brook of the meadow, and the soughing pines of 

 the forest, had laid deeply and lovingly the founda- 

 tions without which there could have been none of 

 the rich, full, invigorating activity of city life. Cut 

 the threads which connect the humanity of New 

 York and Chicago with the remotest solitude, and 

 civilized life must wither and die. 



