192 PRACTICAL. FORESTRY 
Other means of transportation are replacing the 
river drive. Only those timbers which float high can 
be successfully driven. Theretore, to properly utilize 
the forest resources, the river-drive system is inade- 
quate. Furthermore, it fills the stream with bark and 
dirt, renders the water unpalatable, monopolizes the 
stream for a large portion of the year, and is harm- 
ful to the fish, especially trout and other desirable 
kinds. : 
Many and varied are the devices to divest our 
mountains of their mantle of green. Timber-slides, 
flumes, cable-tramways, and logging railroads are ac- 
complishing the work with praiseworthy skill, but 
with destructive consequences. 
Thus hundreds of square miles of our northern 
woods have been cleared of spruce and pine, and mil- 
lions of young trees are sacrificed in exploiting the 
timber which is of merchantable size. 
Every good tree which grows adds to the wealth 
of this nation. Tt will grow on soil which is fit for no 
other purpose, and yields a material with almost limit- 
less uses. When mature it should be cut and utilized, 
but waste and destruction is nobody’s gain even in 
the presence of apparently inexhaustible resources. 
The white pine of the North has contributed so much 
to the material prosperity of this country, that it 
seems little more than good business to protect and 
