Il8 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 



tion on which the farmer relies, special considera- 

 tions regarding the relation of crop to climate occur. 

 While most of our farm crops come originally from 

 climates very different from those in which they 

 are now grown, the possibility of extending forest 

 crops beyond their native limits is very much more 

 circumscribed, and even with native species the 

 climatic influences of frost, drought, winds, require 

 the adaptation of the crop to the site, and after- 

 treatment different from farm crops. On the other 

 hand, where, as in the high altitudes and northern 

 latitudes, agriculture finds its climatic limits, forest 

 cropping is still possible ; again, good farm crops 

 may be raised in the semi-arid regions, where forest 

 crops, while possible to establish, must by necessity 

 be of only inferior value. Agriculture deals almost 

 entirely with vegetable products, which, to be sure, 

 originated with nature, but have been improved by 

 man for human use ; its products are, if we may be 

 permitted to exaggerate, unnatural, artificial ones, 

 and the possibility of varying their character and 

 adapting them to climatic conditions seems almost 

 unlimited. 



Wood-crops, on the other hand, are still, even 

 under the forester's hand, as nature unaided can 

 and does produce them ; the possibility of influenc- 

 ing their character is exceedingly limited : under 

 the skilful guidance of the forester, to be sure, the 

 manner in which the wood is deposited on boles 

 and branches, the development of clear long shafts 



