A PRIMER OF FORESTRY. 



CHAPTER I. 

 ;V THE PRACTICE OF FORESTRY. 



THE SERVICE OF THE FOREST. 



Next to the earth itself the forest is the most useful 

 servant of man. Not only does it sustain and regulate 

 the streams, moderate the winds, and beautify the 

 land, but it also supplies wood, the most widely used 

 of all materials. Its uses are numberless, and the 

 demands which are made upon it by mankind are 

 numberless also. It is essential to the well-being of 

 mankind that these demands should be met. They 

 must be met steadily, fully, and at the right time if the 

 forest is to give its best service. The object of prac- 

 tical forestry is precisely to make the forest render its 

 best service to man in such a way as to increase rather 

 than to diminish its usefulness in the future. Forest 

 management and conservative lumbering are other 

 names for practical forestry. Under whatever name it 

 may be known, practical forestry means both the use 

 and the preservation of the forest. 



7 



