152 North American Forests and Forestry 



I trust that from what has been said in this and the 

 preceding chapter, attentive readers, even if entirely 

 uniamiliar with the subject before, can form a con- 

 ception of the character and objects of the improved 

 methods of forestry now so widely and zealously 

 advocated in this country. The next matter to be 

 considered is how far such methods are applicable 

 to the condition under which American forests must 

 be utilized by their owners. 



The dead-weight of a stupid repugnance to all 

 change, which is encountered by every advocate of 

 improvements, opposes itself also to forestry reform. 

 Without having even a hazy notion of what is pro- 

 posed by the reformers, and being too lazy to inform 

 themselves upon the subject, not a few in some re- 

 spects, quite intelligent people content themselves 

 with saying that the methods possible in little Ger- 

 many cannot be applied to our immense country, 

 with its inexhaustible resources. In order not to 

 fall into the same error with our antagonists and 

 judge of things we know not of, we ought to ex- 

 amine what modicum of truth there is to this 

 objection. 



Always bearing in mind that the chief end of 

 forestry is to make money, let us see whether the 

 producer of timber, who looks to a succession of 

 crops from his forest, can hold his own in competi- 

 tion with the lumberman, who merely seeks to mar- 

 ket the store of timber provided by the forestry 

 methods of nature. To begin with, there is no 

 doubt but what the provision for forest reproduction 



