FORESTRY AND AGRICULTURE 



353 



moval of trimmings when trees are cut. Trees damaged by storm 

 should be harvested, as insects often attack such weak or dying 

 trees and thus make a place from which to spread to live trees. 



Seed trees should always be left if the area is to be a perma- 

 nent forest. This need not reduce the value of the harvest. Trees 

 which are of little value for lumber or poles may be left for this 

 purpose. 



When large trees are felled it should be done in such a way as 

 to avoid the destruction of saplings, as these should be left to take 

 the place of the trees being harvested. The methods in use in the 



FIG. 246. Land skinned, burned over, and left a barren waste. (U. S. D. A.) 



government forests of Germany could well be followed by the 

 American lumbermen and woodsmen. 



Forestry and Agriculture. The farmer is as much or 

 more interested in forestry as any one else. The destruction 

 of forests brings on floods followed by droughts. In many agri- 

 cultural sections of the country the forest area is so limited that 

 the water from heavy rainfall is not checked, but rushes in great 

 torrents to the fields, valleys and water courses carrying with it 

 destruction of crops and devastation of homes! As soon as the 

 water is gone the free water table of the soil is rapidly lowered and 

 crops suffer from drought. Formerly the dense mass of leaves 

 and growth on the "forest floor" held the water from heavy rains 

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