TREES AND CIVILISATION 189 



and natural protectors ! To restore China's forests 

 now would necessitate many centuries of elaborate 

 toil. 



The effect of the deforestation on the people is 

 obvious. The resulting impoverishment and fre- 

 quent famines have made them men and women 

 without ambition and initiative. They have to 

 spend too much time keeping alive to think much 

 of making progress. Except for small groups or 

 isolated ornamental specimens, the Chinese never 

 see a tree, and so lose all the spirit of uplift and 

 inspiration which man's forest friends always ra- 

 diate. 



The picture of China to-day is a picture of Amer- 

 ica in a very near and imminent to-morrow. The 

 fate which has overtaken China, India, Palestine 

 and parts of Spain is in store for her unless she 

 mends her ways. This is not sensationalism but a 

 prediction as sure as the statement that water will 

 run down hill. 



When the white men first came to North Amer- 

 ica, they found a continent completely clothed with 

 beautiful forest verdure. There were great central 

 prairies to be sure, but at least three-quarters of 

 the country, comprising 850,000,000 acres, was 

 wooded. For three centuries we have hacked away 

 at this great sylvan store house with unprecedented 



