CHAPTER II. 



THE FOREST AS A RESOURCE. 



IT may be stated without fear of contradiction 

 that outside of food products no material is so 

 universally used and so indispensable in human 

 economy as wood. Indeed, civilization is incon- 

 ceivable without an abundance of timber. 



The nomad of to-day, who herds over the treeless 

 plains and prairies, is still like the Scythian of 

 ancient times ; his life, his culture, his attainments, 

 are no more advanced. The successful settlement 

 and civilization of our own treeless regions of the 

 West became possible only through the develop- 

 ment of means for the transportation of this most 

 needful material. So general and far-reaching 

 has its use become that a wood famine, however 

 improbable its occurrence, would be almost as 

 serious as a bread famine. We may become less 

 wasteful, both as regards food and wood, but the 

 necessity of wood, as far as we can foresee at 

 present, will always be second only to the neces- 

 sity of food, and far greater than that of any other 

 material used in the arts. 



The necessity to us of any material depends on 

 the extent and nature of its use, and on the possi- 



