USE OF THE FOREST 133 



fungi, and also that especially the more sensitive trees, 

 like maple, beech, spruce, etc., cannot stand being hacked 

 and scalped with the ax, or barked in felling and dragging 

 out timber, but are almost sure to suffer further injury if 

 thus hurt. 



In the South and West the mistletoe is a factor in the 

 destruction of trees. In California many of the noble 

 white oaks are yielding their lives to this parasite. 



USE OF THE FOREST 



We have already learned how to start new growth and 

 how to care for it, and thereby keep up the forest. Let us 

 now consider what we may get from the forest and how 

 the material is usually taken out and used. 



To primitive man the forest gave meat, shelter, and 

 fuel. At the beginning of our era the people of central 

 and northern Europe, and nearly all of the people of North 

 America, obtained their food by hunting and fishing. With 

 us to-day the forest no longer furnishes meat ; the people 

 are too many, the forests too small. 



But while it no longer furnishes our meat, it still sup- 

 phes the great mass of our fuel, as well as the lumber and 

 timber for the houses which shelter us. In addition it 

 was the forest, with its large, soft, easily shapen timbers, 

 which alone made it possible for the ancient Phoenicians to 

 trade with the people of the North Sea, and for Cohmibus 



