122 North American Forests and Forestry 



For let it be understood as clearly as the Eng- 

 lish language can express it : Forestry is not, as 

 many imagine, the science or natural history of 

 woodlands ; nor is it the art of planting trees ; nor 

 that of preserving woodlands. It embraces all 

 these things, or at least special phases of them 

 are required in its practice. But it is made up of 

 many things besides. Nor should it be forgotten 

 that forestry as such is not a matter for poets, art- 

 ists, or sentimentalists, nor even for lovers of sport 

 with rod and gun. There is no reason why the 

 forester should not be a lover of the beauty of 

 woodland scenery. Very often he is, but not by 

 virtue of his being a forester, but because he is a 

 man of wide and liberal culture and with strong 

 esthetic sensibilities. 



If forestry is not all this, what under the sun is 

 it, the impatient reader will be ready to cry. It is 

 simply the art of managing forests and utilizing 

 them for the benefit of their owners. As soon as 

 a human being begins to take for his use the 

 manifold natural sources of wealth contained in 

 the primeval woods, he practises the art of for- 

 estry. The mountain farmer who uses the un- 

 cleared portion of his land as a pasture for his 

 lean cows and a rooting ground for his razor-back 

 hogs, is practising a rude sort of forestry ; the 

 lumber king who sends out his crews to fell the 

 white pine and convert it into boards and beams, 

 is a forester on a large scale ; the turpentine manu- 

 facturer of North Carolina, the maple-sugar boiler 



