192 THE HUMAN SIDE OF TREES 



look at a deposit of coal, copper or zinc. It is there 

 for use. Once it is used up, it cannot be replaced. 

 This conception is fundamentally wrong. The 

 forests can be made to be perpetual living resources. 

 In their relation to man, they should be classed as 

 crops and not as unreplaceable timber. Properly 

 managed and taken care of, they can be made to 

 last forever. 



This is no idle theory. All the nations of Europe, 

 particularly Germany, are operating large sections 

 of woodland on this basis. The American govern- 

 ment and the more enlightened private owners are 

 using scientific methods of forestry on a large scale. 



A tree requires less individual care than any other 

 productive plant. All it asks is space and room 

 to grow under approximately natural conditions. 

 The city of Zurich, Switzerland, has owned a for- 

 est for one thousand years. For six hundred of 

 these, it has furnished a definite generous yield of 

 timber annually. It is now in better condition 

 than ever before. As early as 1300, northern Eu- 

 rope adopted some of the principles of national for- 

 estry which we in the United States are just be- 

 ginning to accept. 



As the habit of cultivating tree crops gets more 

 firmly fixed in modern life, it is predicted that we 

 will look more and more to the trees for our food. 



