1 86 Esthetic Forestry 



than trees, whose idea of a forest is a mass of trees like a 

 massed army, straight, tall, stripped of all unnecessary 

 branches, cannot close his eyes entirely to the beauties of 

 the object of his industrial activity. Hence the foresters of 

 Europe who manage forest properties mainly or merely for 

 the money revenue that may be derived from the sale of 

 timber have in many instances had an eye toward the utiliza- 

 tion of the artistic elements at their disposal, at least in some 

 corner of their districts. 



In England, the artistic aspects of forestry have probably 

 become more prominent than on the Continent, the rich 

 landed proprietors holding their woodlands mainly for 

 game preserves and pleasure grounds; their forest manage- 

 ment becoming more and more park management. But 

 it has been reserved for our people, even before industrial 

 forestry has become an established art, to set aside for park 

 purposes immense woodland areas, where the practice of 

 esthetic forestry is called for. 



The various national parks belong to this class; into which 

 has also fallen the forest preser\'e of the State of New York, 

 although originally designed for quite a different purpose. 

 The Metropolitan Park system of Boston also comprises 

 large areas of native woodlands which it is intended to leave 

 as such for pleasure purposes, so that we may speak of them 

 as forests in which esthetic forestry is to be practised. Here 

 perhaps for the first time we find a conscious attempt at 

 making the esthetic side in forest areas paramount on a 

 large scale. 



In other large parks, like Central and Bronx Parks in 

 New York, Forest Park in St. Louis, and Soldiers' Home in 

 Washington, small areas of forest growth are left to natural 

 development, or at least they are natural woodlands, in- 

 tended so to remain as far as the park managers may permit. 



