PREFACE vil 
is simply due to ignorance, which it is hoped this 
book may help to overcome. Whether it will be 
successful or not, time alone can determine. 
Forestry is both misunderstood and underrated 
in this country. When these misconceptions are dis- 
pelled the American people will handle the subject 
with true American spirit. The main point, which 
is not generally understood—in fact the pivot on 
which the whole subject rotates—is that we fail to 
rate the forest as a living perpetual resource. Coal, 
copper, and other resources become in time exhausted, 
but the forest if properly treated will yield an in- 
come forever. It will supply labor and feed other 
industries for all time if the rules of silviculture are 
rigidly practised. In agriculture, fertilizers must be 
used to replace what the plant removes; in forestry, 
the soil actually improves and yields ever-increasing 
returns until the maximum is reached, when under 
good management it remains the same for all time, 
ever yielding a crop of useful materials. 
No subject is of more general interest. It should 
appeal to everybody. It is a many-sided subject. 
To the man in search of health or recreation and 
sport, such as fishing and hunting, and to the lover of 
Nature, the forest has many attractions. Asa yielder 
of useful materials, a support to many industries, and 
a supplier of healthful labor, it has no equal. To the 
