6 AMERICAN FORESTRY 



commerce, raw and manufactured, are daily the basis of trade in our markets 

 and affect our lives at every turn. This is too important to be overlooked if 

 the school is to teach what is going on in the world. No teacher of commercial 

 geograj>hy, history, or arithmetic can avoid the consideration of problems 

 and questions which deal with the forest and its products. Then, aside from 

 the articles of commerce produced, the forests are coming more and more to 

 be recognized as having an important influence upon the economic develop- 

 ment of the country through the influences they exert upon climatic conditions, 

 soils, and water supplies. 



In view of all these facts, it seems to me well worth while for the teacher 

 who wishes to make the work of the class room at once broadly instmctive, 

 entertaining, and uplifting, to draw freely upon the forest for material to 

 illustrate and intensify the studies of the school. 



FORESTRY IN NATURE STUDY. 



The tree has long been a favorite subject for nature study. It has so 

 many points of interest, so many phases in its yearly life and is so constantly 

 and universally available that it is invariably drawn upon by teachers look- 

 ing for illustrative material. Each tree seems to have its own particular ef- 

 fect upon our feelings. The oak, for example, impresses us with its strength, 

 the elm with its grace, the weeping willow with a sense of humility or sorrow. 



We find a new cause of interest in the tree as the seasons change and 

 with the coming of winter the leaves fall away, leaving the branches bare. 

 Winter affords the best opportunity to study tree forms. An old chestnut or 

 elm, for example, will show plainly the deliquescent or dissolving type of 

 branching, while the poplar or cedar are types of the excurrent form. 



The student of nature study will want to know how the tree grows, and 

 an interesting experiment is to dig and wash away the soil from the roots of 

 a small seedling and learn by actual measurement how far the roots extend. 

 Then occasionally in the forest w^e may find a large tree uprooted by the wind 

 and see how the roots penetrate and hold the soil. No better evidence can be 

 had as to the value of trees in preventing erosion. 



Considering the parts of the tree found above ground, we may compare 

 the erect and self-supporting trunk to the stems of vines and herbs. When we 

 study the growth of the tree, no more striking evidence of this growth can be 

 found than the fresh shoots of the evergreen's branches as they appear in 

 the spring. 



Now let us leave the study of the individual tree and consider the forest. 

 Here we find not only trees to study but whole colonies of smaller plants and 

 of animals which go to make up the life of the woodland, and there are also 

 for consideration a great many conditions of soil and water supply that 

 depend upon the forest. We need to observe, for example, how the forest floor 

 is intei'woven with roots and enriched by the humus of vegetable decay. This 

 can be easily seen in some place where the forest floor extends to the edge of 

 a bank and is thus shown in vertical section. 



One of the most important lessons we may learn from the forest is the 

 appreciation of beautj', not only of form but of color. No where can we find 

 such rich and delicate colorings, such a variety of tints and such a procession 

 (f changes as our common hardwood forests produce with the changes of the 

 seasons. When the season is mild and Jack Frost does not spoil the show, 

 the autumn leaves set forth for our enjoyment a perfect symphony of color 

 not excelled anywhere in nature. Even stern winter entering ui)on the stage 

 cannot entirely quell the joyous riot, for the sturdy conifers in their coats of 

 green stand erect amid the snows and continue to i>lay their parts unmindful 

 of the sharpest cold. 



