134 FIEST BOOK OF FORESTRY 



to find the New World ; and even to-da}' a large part of 

 our people and goods are carried in tliousands of wooden 

 ships, landing at hundreds of miles of costly wooden wharfs. 

 Our thousands of miles of railway rest on millions of 

 wooden ties, and cross on thousands of miles of wooden 

 trestles and bridges. The grain and goods of our land are 

 hauled in wooden boxes and Ijarrels, on wooden wagons, 

 in wooden cars, and are housed in wooden structures ; 

 and, in spite of the great progress of our times, we still 

 finish even the finest of parlors in wood; we prefer a 

 wooden chair and table to any other, and the choicest of 

 furniture is of wood in its natural colors and appearance. 

 One of our greatest needs, that of cheap paper, was sup- 

 plied only when man learned to make paper from the 

 common product of our forest. Nor is this all, for the 

 very mines which supply us with coal for fuel and with 

 iron for our manufactures require millions of feet of tim- 

 ber every year, if they are to be worked with any degree 

 of economy. 



Thus, we see that the forest was necessary to the sav- 

 age ; that on the forest depended the progress of our race ; 

 and that even to-day, in this age of steel, the product of 

 the forest is used in greater quantities and supjDhes a 

 greater variety of demands than ever before. 



Let us examine a little more in detail the ways in 

 which some of our farmers utilize their woods. 



