164 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 



proved of the greatest advantage. The people of the 

 United States are just waking up to the necessity of 

 such a course, and the United States Department of 

 Forestry is now doing excellent service in educating 

 the people to greater intelligence and foresight in the 

 management of such remnants of our once magnifi- 

 cent forests as yet remain ; though we are reminded of 

 the old saying about locking the stable door after the 

 horse is stolen. The new policy of our government in 

 setting off Forest Reserves in the unsold lands of the 

 Western States, particularly in the mountain regions, 

 deserves the earnest approval and support of all citi- 

 zens interested in the future welfare of our country. 

 Lumbermen, generally, have blindly followed the ex- 

 ample of the woman who killed the goose that laid 

 the golden eggs ; and the future good of our land ought 

 not to be left longer at their mercy. 



The Wood Lot. But we need not look upon for- 

 estry as a matter which concerns only the far off 

 forests of the North and West. Every farmer who 

 has a "wood lot" left ought to understand its prin- 

 ciples and apply them to his own possessions. 



Care of the Wood Lot. The importance of caring 

 for the farm wood lot cannot be too strongly empha- 

 sized. When our country was new and land had to 

 be cleared to make room for the crops, farmers cared 

 little for timber and less for wood. Great trees were 

 cut down and rolled into the log heap. Good material 

 for lumber went up in smoke, and in those days no one 

 ever thought of saving wood. But now all is changed. 



