Forestry as a Profession 257 



because forestry is one of the great foundation- 

 stones of the nation, it behooves every American to 

 have a just conception of its meaning. Such a con- 

 ception the author has tried to give. It is not nec- 

 essary, for this purpose, to know much about the 

 technical details of the forester's labors. The mys- 

 teries of silviculture and mensuration, let them re- 

 main mysteries to all but those whose business it is 

 to apply these arts. The complicated lore of the 

 lumber camp and the sawmill, the jargon of the 

 market, would be a useless burden to the memories 

 of all but those whose business requires such knowl- 

 edge. But how can one intelligently participate in 

 the great social and political life of our people ; how 

 especially dare one aspire to take a leader's part on 

 any of the multifarious roads along which travels 

 the nation's progress, unless he sees the relation 

 which this vast subject of forestry bears to the other 

 great interests of our people ? Therefore this book 

 hopes to impart to some educated and intelligent 

 Americans a kind of knowledge on this subject, 

 which as yet many of them utterly lack. Therefore 

 we have tried to unroll a picture, inadequate though 

 it must naturally be, of the American forests as 

 they grew and flourished under the guidance of 

 nature alone. We endeavored to show how the 

 primeval woods were not the product of accident, a 

 vast assemblage of trees growing where they did 

 without order and reason, and having no relation or 

 interdependence with each other and the rest of the 

 natural life of the world. On the contrary, we 



