12 OUTLINES OF FORESTRY. 



the destruction should not be complete. The prin- 

 ciples of forestry teach that the truest economy 

 will permit certain tracts to remain covered with 

 trees; for the ultimate gain to the farmer from 

 such a course will be greatly in excess of the 

 sums paid for rental, or the interest-charges on 

 the land that is not directly productive in ordi- 

 nary farm products. 



The areas required to be taken from the forests 

 for agricultural purposes necessarily greatly ex- 

 ceed those required for the location of ordinary 

 roads or railroads. The damage done indirectly 

 to the forest, however, by the location of new 

 roads, especially railroads, is often greater than by 

 the location of new farming-lands, since the loca- 

 tion of new roads greatly increases the liability to 

 destructive fires, and also opens up extensive tracts 

 of yet unmolested forest to the greed of the lum- 

 berman, or to the indifference of the railroad 

 authorities or of the travelling public. 



Besides this, an area taken for agricultural pur- 

 poses is, to a certain extent, protected from the 

 loss of its soil by a covering of vegetation. Dur- 

 ing the construction and operation of a road-bed, 

 much of the adjoining land is often needlessly 

 destroyed by being thoughtlessly left for floods 



