12 FOOD OF WKST VIRGINIA BIRDS 



are of interest because of the quantity and variety of the birds' daily 

 fare. 



Birds in Relation, to Trees and Forests. 



The lumber industry is one of the most valuable of all our manu- 

 facturing enterprises. Under normal conditions West Virginia ought to 

 produce 1,600,000,000 feet of lumber per year. At an average of $20.00 

 per thousand feet the gross income from lumber sales in our own State 

 would be $32,dOO,000.00 each year. In 1911 about 26,000 men were en- 

 gaged in the various phases of the lumber industry in West Virginia. 

 Together these had an annual income of not less than $16,000,000.00*. 

 In addition to the immediate profits that come to hosts of men as they 

 cut the trees in the woods, haul or otherwise transport the logs to the 

 mills, saw them into merchantable materials of different kinds, finish 

 the boards into a condition fit for use in building; in addition to the 

 great gains that come to the owner of wood-lots and to the owner of 

 large timber tracts as they dispose of their wood and wood-products to 

 others, and in addition to the pecuniary gains that come to carpenters 

 and all workers in wood, we have, in our every day life, a thousand 

 advantages that come to us from our forests, our trees and the things 

 that are made of wood. The forests of West Virginia are of incalculable 

 pecuniary worth to the State. 



Aside from the immediate gains that come to so many of our citizens 

 as they engage in the lumber business, as they sell their forest lands 

 and as they profit in many ways from lumber and the many things 

 that are made from wood and in addition to the comforts that come 

 to us all because of this common building material, there are other 

 advantages in which we all share, when we consider the economic 

 and esthetic value of our trees and our forests. For centuries wood 

 was the common fuel of our country and is still used in great quantities 

 for that purpose. The forests conserve our water supply by storing 

 up in the masses of leaves and decaying vegetation, that accumulate 

 under the trees, the rain that falls, and, thus, holding it, give it out 

 gradually to the springs and, by evaporation, to the cloud masses 

 that form in our mountain sections. By this process floods are held 

 back, droughts are made less probable, and the moisture is more evenly 

 distributed over all the land surface. Our forests also contribute to 

 the general health of the State and are the source of much pleasure to 

 an increasing number of campers, hunters, fisheflmen and naturalists. 



Not only are trees valuable in the large groups that we call forests 

 or woodland, but they are of great value considered specifically or 

 individually. A well-formed tree is one of the most beautiful objects 

 in all the natural world. The flowers and the foliage produced by 

 some of our trees add much to the landscape, and the shade of a tree 

 is most delightful. Some species produce valuable fruit and others yield 

 nuts. In many ways trees are of value to every man, woman and 

 child within our State. Their conservation is most important. 



The birds do much to protect the trees and the forests. Were it not 

 for the presence of the birds it would be only a few years till the 



