CHAPTER VI 



FORESTS AND FORESTRY 



IN the preceding chapters of this book we have 

 attempted, in a necessarily faint outline, to de- 

 scribe the character of the American forest in the 

 various sections of our continent ; the part it plays 

 in the economic and social life of the nation ; its 

 history, as determined by the forces of nature and 

 modified by the activity of man. The last-named 

 feature forms a natural transition to the second 

 part of the subject-matter of this volume, Ameri- 

 can forestry. 



To the great mass of the American public the 

 word forestry conveys but an indistinct meaning. 

 Not rarely it is said that forestry is something new 

 in this country. Nothing could be farther from 

 the truth. It is the word that is comparatively 

 new, but the thing itself is as old as human life on 

 this continent. With the same truth could it be 

 said that agriculture is something new in this 

 country because agricultural colleges and experi- 

 ment stations are but a generation old, as to say 

 that forestry is new because only within the last 

 few years has it been systematically and scientifi- 

 cally treated in the United States. 



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