THE harvest! Artists, poets, historians and orators have 

 all glorified the harvests of the grain fields till the mere 

 mention of a harvest turns the thoughts of all to those 

 now immortal scenes. And yet those same grain crops which 

 make up this famous harvest are a comparatively recent in- 

 vention in the history of the human race, and the harvest of 

 the forest, now almost forgotten, was for centuries all suffi- 

 cient to man. 



The owner of the wigwam knew nothing of the crops we 

 prize so highly. He toiled not, neither did he spin as our 

 farmers do, and yet he reaped a harvest more bounteous for 

 is needs than the ones the farmers reap today. Food, cloth- 

 j, warmth and shelter were all furnished him, for they were 

 for the taking. It was the harvest of the forest. He 

 inted and fished, and plucked his needs wherever he found 

 jm provided for him. What was the work of his life now 

 ikes up the 'play of ours. We hunt and fish for amusement, 

 did the same to live. Speak of the forests today to the 

 man of the cities and his thoughts instantly turn to the possi- 

 bilities of camping and hunting in those mysterious wilds. 

 The forests have become the play ground of the city people. 

 But we are likely to be deceived by these impressions. For 

 the harvest of the forest has by no means degenerated en- 

 tirely into a mere source of amusement. To a certain class, 

 to be sure, it represents a play ground, but to a much larger 

 class than we usually realize it still supplies the majority of 

 their needs. How many people there are, white men as well 

 as Indians, who depend on the deer, rabbits, and partridges 

 for their meat supply. We little know till we have visited the 

 forest dweller in winter, what that harvest is. How many 

 tons of fish are taken each year from the forest lakes and 

 streams? The express companies and commission men could 

 tell us marvelous tales of that. Many a lady pulls her warm 

 furs about her shoulders in winter and many a husband pays 



