CHAPTER XXXV 



THE FOREST 



429. An area of trees growing close together and having 

 its own features and its own life is a forest. An avenue of 

 trees, or a grove of shade trees, is not a forest. The science 

 and the practice of growing and utilizing forests is forestry. 

 A forest is a great plant society. 



430. Forest trees constitute a crop. The chief product 

 is timber; other products are stove-wood, bark, resin, tur- 

 pentine, rubber, 

 paper pulp. The 

 crop is regularly 

 harvested, in 

 some cases by 

 removing the 

 entire forest and 

 planting anew, 

 but often, in 

 planted and 

 managed forests, 

 by removing 



432. A stand of young timber in need of thinning. 1 1 i 



ripe trees and allowing the forest to continue. 



431. The value of the forest crop depends on the kinds 

 of trees, how they are mixed or associated in the forest, and 

 the distance at which they stand apart, as well as on location 

 and soil and climate, freedom from insects and timber dis- 

 eases, and other factors. A natural forest may not be the 

 most productive forest, any more than a natural or wild 

 meadow may be a perfect meadow. There are likely to be 



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