92 FORESTS AND MANKIND 



as in parts of the northern Rockies, where growth is slow and 

 markets far distant, it is not economically possible to practice 

 even the most elementary forestry except fire protection. 



In some localities and with certain species the forester can 

 begin cutting when the forest is quite young and thin out trees 

 that are growing too close together. These thinnings are help- 

 ful to the trees that remain since they can now obtain more 

 light and soil space. But thinning can only be made profitable 

 where there is a market for small material, such as fence posts, 

 or fuel wood. It is by these intensive methods, whenever they 

 are possible, that the forester attains his goal of improving on 

 nature herself. 



For, after all, nature is far from being a perfect forester. Her 

 methods are too leisurely for a busy world and too wasteful 

 for a wood-hungry generation. A wild forest contains many 

 open, unused places that good management demands should 

 be filled with trees. In some parts of a forest individual trees 

 are so crowded together they can scarcely grow. In other parts 

 they are so widely separated they will produce low grade, 

 knotty lumber. Valuable species are often overtopped and 

 killed by valueless neighbors. Large areas are often encumb- 

 ered by trees of little or no use. All these conditions exist in 

 the wild forests of nature. 



In improving on nature's work the real art of the forester 

 comes into play. By judicial cutting, by a little planting, by 

 thinning out certain species early and allowing others to go 

 to seed, the forester makes an acre of land produce much more 

 than it would under nature's unaided guidance. Just as a 

 sculptor creates beauty and values by the wisdom and skill he 

 employs in what he takes away, so the forester by removing a 



