vill PRACTICAL FORESTRY 
engineer it is of importance as a means of checking 
the destructive forces of Nature. 
The host of inquiries which the author has re- 
ceived and the expressions on the subject by promi- 
nent educators and foresters have led him to believe 
that there is a definite place for such a book. 
Although not primarily intended as a text-book, 
it may be advantageously used as a guide in secondary 
schools and other institutions where forestry deserves 
a place. It could be used to advantage in connection 
with commercial and physical geography. To the 
subject of Forest Geography there are four important 
sides, which have been treated more or less at length 
in this volume. The first relates to forest products 
and industries. This is an important branch of com- 
mercial geography with which every young man about 
to enter business life should be more or less familiar. 
The second relates to the influence the forest exerts 
in checking the destructive forces of Nature, the for- 
est being, in fact, a protective blanket over the face 
of the earth. The third relates to the distribution of 
forests. It deals with those factors which produce 
the spread of forests and the barriers which prevent 
their extension. It explains the presence of prairies 
and. deserts in one place and forest-growth in another. 
The fourth, which should be of great interest to geo- 
graphical students, relates to our great reservations 
