FORESTRY 163 



destructive by the brush and dead tree tops, left as 

 wreckage on the ground, wherever logging has been 

 carried on. The fires are often started by the criminal 

 negligence of hunters and campers in not putting out 

 all remains of their camp-fires, or in other careless 

 ways. Some of these fires have done immense dam- 

 age to the standing forest, and have caused great dis- 

 tress and loss of human life. Among the most destruc- 

 tive of these are the great Peshtigo fire of 1871, in 

 Northeastern Wisconsin, and the Hinckley fire of 

 1894, in Minnesota. 



The Economic Use of the Forest. The science and 

 art of forestry has for its purpose the perpetuation 

 and, at the same time, the economical utilization of the 

 forest. It teaches men how to keep the forest alive 

 by cutting out only the trees that have got their growth 

 and are ripe, in such a way as not to injure or endanger 

 the remaining growth. The younger trees are thus 

 given more light and air and room to grow, while the 

 undergrowth is also preserved. The "forest floor" of 

 decaying leaves, rotten wood, and other debris is pre- 

 served as a means of enriching the soil and, especially, 

 of retaining moisture and preventing the rains from 

 running off too quickly in surface wash and floods. 

 Forestry also teaches the best ways of replanting, or 

 "re- foresting," areas in which the timber has already 

 been wastefully destroyed. This art of prudently man- 

 aging timber lands, so as to keep up their blessings to 

 their owners and others, has long been practiced in 

 European countries, particularly in Germany, and has 



