FORESTRY. 19 



through the timber-dealer and lumberman. It is not the ex- 

 ercise of their vocation, but their frequent abuse of it, that 

 calls for criticism, a distinction that has not always been 

 made by the critics. Estimates show that thirty billion feet 

 are required annually in this country for building and manu- 

 facturing purposes alone, leaving the fuel question out of con- 

 sideration. It is the unwise, improvident, stupid method, or 

 want of method, by which the cutting has heretofore too often 

 been done, that is deplored. Under the old practice the 

 forests have rapidly disappeared, and, if it continues, in a few 

 years none will be left. The lumberman will have ruined his 

 own business, as there will be no forests to furnish him with 

 his stock in trade. It is the purpose of forestry to point out 

 to the lumberman the true methods of exercising his own 

 profession, which will provide him material for the future, as 

 well as the present, by maintaining permanent forests through 

 a succession of crops." 



