49 



It has been reserved for the present era, with the development of na- 

 tural science, to find and appreciate the reasons for this loss and deteriora- 

 tion of our great sources ol wealth ; and finding the reasons, to suggest the 

 remedy and prevention of further loss. 



We have learned only in modern times to appreciate that all things are 

 in relation, that, therefore, we cannot take away anything from the com- 

 plex conditions of nature, that we cannot destroy or modify one condition, 

 without affecting more or less all other conditions. 



With regard to the soil, we have learned that its stability and its fertil- 

 ity are in most direct relation to the water conditions and the topography 

 of the land. But a third important factor that enters into the problem ol 

 the conservation of the soil and of water is its cover. This was perhaps 

 most definitely expressed by that great exponent of natural philosophy, A. 

 v. Humboldt, when he exclaims in his Cosmos: "How foolish does man 

 appear in destroying the mountain forests, for thereby he deprives himself 

 of wood and water at the same time" ; and he should have added : Of soil, 

 also! 



The importance of the forest cover of the earth has only lately been 

 fully realized, not only as a furnisher of a material most needful to civiliza- 

 tion, next to food, but because of its relationship to soil and water con- 

 ditions. 



Last night we learned how forests form and change in their aspects 

 under the laws of evolution without the interference of man. 



To-night we propose to take up the history of the forest at the time 

 when man came upon the scene and became a tactor in the further evolution 

 of forest growth. 



The history of the forest in all parts of the world has been the same. 



During the age of the hunter and these ages are not separated by 

 long distances of time, but occur simultaneously in different parts of the 

 world the forest served as a harborer of the game besides furnishing the 

 small amount of fuel needed. 



Perhaps, too, portions of it were carefully burned over to subdue the 

 undergrowth and facilitate the pursuit of the game without destroying the 

 shelter. 



When the hunter became a farmer portions of the better soils had to 

 be cleared of their forest growth for fields and pastures, and increased de- 

 mand for wood materials to construct barns, sheds and stables, and for 

 family use necessitated further inroads upon the neighboring forest. Fires 

 used in the clearing of farm lands probably often ran beyond their bound- 

 aries through carelessness and harmed the forest more than the hunter's 



fires. 



Finally, when the age of modern civilization arrived, cities were 

 built and demands for wood materials arose beyond the needs of domestic 

 uses, the first lumberman found his calling, cutting and marketing the crop 

 of timber, which he found accumulated in the virgin forest. 



