XXXVIII. FORESTRY 



IN a general way every one has some idea of what is meant by 

 forestry. It does not deal with individual trees, but with an assem- 

 blage of trees; and for this reason Professor Coulter of the Univer- 

 sity of Chicago suggests that forestry be defined as the manage- 

 ment of woodland, not only for timber that will be afforded, but 

 also because of its important relations to climate, water supply, 

 soil preservation, and the beauty of our natural surroundings. 



In the settling of new sections of our country forests were 

 looked upon as obstacles to farming, and the first care of the settler 

 was to cut down the trees and clear the.farm. In this way much 

 valuable timber was wasted. We may not appreciate the value of 

 trees until we visit treeless countries as China, Korea, and parts 

 of India and Egypt, where the people have but very little fuel for 

 making fires and often suffer severely from cold weather. Tn these 

 countries the laborer is fortunate if he secures a basket of the roots 

 of shrubs for his evening fire. Even the refuse from the stable is 

 collected, dried, and used as fuel. 



Unless proper measures are taken to protect the forests in the 

 United States, we shall soon reach a point when the supply of tim- 

 ber will be wholly inadequate to furnish the lumber needed for 

 building our houses and for supplying our factories. The paper 

 required for printing our daily and weekly newspapers is made 

 from wood pulp, and thousands upon thousands of trees are 

 required for this purpose every year. Because of the scarcity of 

 wood pulp the price of paper has advanced, and many popular 

 magazines have found it necessary to advance their prices. We are 

 just beginning to look for substitutes for wood pulp. Large quanti- 

 ties of trees are consumed in the manufacture of matches, railroad 

 ties, piles, fence posts, furniture, and building materials. In many 

 parts of the United States a great deal of timber is used as fuel. 

 The demands made upon our forests from all these sources in a year 

 is said to be three times as great as all the timber supplied by one 



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