CAKE AND PROTECTION OF THE FOKEST 97 



CARE AND PROTECTION OF THE FOREST 



A piece of wildwoods, as we have seen, may do very 

 well without the care of man ; young growth will start up 

 where old trees die and fall ; in the dense thickets the 

 more vigorous choke out the weaker, the taller shade 

 down the shorter ; the tolerant crowd out the intolerant. 

 A gap made by the storm is filled in sooner or later by 

 trees starting as sprouts, or by trees whose seeds have 

 been carried there by the wind. Large openings made by 

 fire are restocked, here slower, there faster, according to 

 the circumstances ; and large areas of forest destroyed by 

 some caterpillar are gradually reforested by those kinds 

 which this particular insect does not feed upon. This 

 would seem to tell us that forests need 110 care. But this 

 is true only if we are satisfied with the small amount of 

 good growth which most wildwoods make. Where man 

 wishes the forest to produce a larger amount of wood and 

 wood of particular kinds and sizes, more or less care is 

 necessary. In the stately forests of red fir and cedar of 

 the Puget Sound country, where a good forest soil, mild 

 and humid climate, and excellent kinds of forest trees 

 combine to make a forester's paradise, a little care might 

 suffice ; but even in these districts the old trees hinder the 

 young, and the young trees crowd each other, and thus 

 the trees themselves call for help, for interference, for 

 improvement. 



