SECTION XXXV. FOREST TREES 



THE true value of trees is scarcely realized until we con- 

 sider the sufferings of people who live in countries that 

 are almost without trees. Parts of India, Egypt, China, 

 and Korea are in this treeless condition. In winter the 

 people surfer intensely from cold and have to work very 

 hard to supply themselves with even a little fuel. A day's 

 hard work may be rewarded with only a basket of the 

 roots of shrubs. Every bit of refuse in the streets and 

 stables is collected and dried for fuel. 



Rapid destruction of the forest. Our own country is in 

 danger of becoming a country that will lack trees enough 

 to furnish lumber for our homes and to supply our fac- 

 tories. Those who have studied the matter state that in 

 the United States each year three times as much wood 

 is consumed as is supplied by one year's growth of all 

 the trees in the country. Some even declare that unless 

 this waste is promptly stopped, in twenty-five years there 

 will be practically no forests east of the Mississippi 

 River. This misfortune can be prevented by every one's 

 quickly realizing the true value of a tree. There is no 

 time to be lost, for it takes most kinds of trees 50 to 100 

 years to grow large enough to make the best lumber. 



The tree lives longer than any other form of vegetable 



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