2 PRACTICAL FORESTRY 
A forest is a community or society of living things, 
the most important of which is the tree. The forest - 
is a unit or organized whole consisting of three dis- 
tinct parts—the canopy, the floor, and the wood-mass. 
The forester speaks of an assemblage of trees as a 
stand. The stand may be young or old, good or bad, 
thin or crowded, mixed or pure, regular or irregular. 
A pure stand consists of one species of trees, a mixed 
stand of more than one. In a regular stand the trees 
are all about the same age and size. In an irregular 
stand there is no uniformity. The forest canopy and 
forest floor are interdependent. The forest canopy 
protects the forest floor, and, in turn, upon the vigor 
and healthfulness of the canopy depends the nature 
of the forest floor. Upon the quality of both de- 
pends the rate of growth, and upon the rate of growth 
depend the quality and quantity of wood production. 
Animals such as earthworms loosen and ventilate the 
soil; bees, in many instances, fertilize the flowers and 
thus increase the seed crop, and in consequence the 
number of young trees; toads, bats, birds, and other 
animals keep in check injurious insects; and countless 
toadstools, puffballs, and other fungi hasten the de- 
composition of the leaves and sticks on the forest 
floor. The forest is a mass of living, struggling or- 
ganisms. Hundreds of forces are at work for good or 
bad, to be restricted or favored by the forester for 
