164 FORESTS AND MANKIND 



ing trees for the holidays is becoming an important industry. 

 The Government in recent years has been selling Christmas 

 trees thinned out from crowded stands of timber, thus leaving 

 the remaining trees with more room and light. This is actually 

 a conservation measure and good forestry, for the forest is 

 better off after these trees have been taken out. After all, so far 

 as our wood supply is concerned it would be more important, 

 to stop using toothpicks than Christmas trees, for each year 

 six times as much area is cut over by the toothpick industry, 

 as for Christmas trees. 



A picturesque custom that has taken hold in portions of the 

 country is to dig or buy one's Christmas tree, root and all, 

 plant it in a box or tub, for use in the house during the holi- 

 days and later transplant it in the garden. There within a 

 few years, one has a succession of trees of varying ages and 

 sizes, each one a living reminder of a Christmas of past years. 



