170 



THE FORESTER. 



July, 



Recent Publications. 



A Primer of Forestry, Part I. Gifford Pinchot. 



A simple book on forestry in the United 

 States has long been needed a book that could 

 be readily used in schools and yet one thorough 

 enough to serve as a basis for advanced work 

 later on. Mr. Pinchot's forthcoming volume 

 is the first part of a book written for this very 

 purpose, and for this reason merits a welcome 

 from all who have sought in vain for such a 

 help to elementary study. 



This account of the life of trees and forests 

 is written in a light and very interesting way, 

 yet contrives to tell all the facts and explain all 

 the laws of forest growth which are not too 

 abstract and difficult for the aim in view. It 

 consists of four chapters. The first chapter 

 tells of the habits of a tree; how it lives, and 

 gains food, and breathes. The second chapter 

 shows how numbers of trees live when they are 

 grouped together in a forest. When this hap- 

 pens the trees are no longer able to follow their 

 separate inclinations, but commence at once 

 to fight with one another for the required 

 amount of sunlight and growing space. There 

 begins that competition between one tree and 

 another, and between one kind of tree and 

 another kind, which lends so much interest to 

 the history of the forest. 



Yet in spite of the struggle that is going on 

 for survival, the trees are, oddly enough, bound 

 together in mutual helpfulness, in this way re- 

 sembling not a little the members of a human 

 community ; so that the sharpness of the ri- 

 valry is softened, and the tree that wins, claims 

 our true admiration. 



Chapter three is of special interest. It is de- 

 voted to the story of a forest crop through all 

 its long and gradual growth from the seedling 

 to the mature tree. At first the young trees 

 start on nearly an equal footing ; but before 

 long they crowd up against one another, and 

 their branches interfere, so that the sunlight is 

 shut out from the leaves, and the least advan- 

 tage of faster growth quickly gives some trees 

 the means of overtopping tne rest, leaving the 

 latter to starve and die while they stretch up 

 to gather strength and bulk for the next stage 

 in the struggle. 



This fight is repeated until the trees have 

 reached their full height, when, being unable 



to develop a larger crown of leaves above them,, 

 they resort to growing sideways, so that their 

 branches again interfere with those of their 

 neighbo'S. All this while the trees are grow 

 ing in three ways : n height, thickness and vol- 

 ume and it is shown how there comes a time 

 when the trees can be cut or harvested with 

 more profit than at any other time. 



The final chapter deals with the enemies of 

 the forest. Fire comes first in importance. 

 The author describes how fires arise and how 

 they are best prevented or extinguished. Next 

 in order comes sheep grazing, which, besides 

 being a frequent cause of destructive fire, is a 

 menace to the forest in many other ways, such 

 as the tearing of the soil on hillsides, the tramp- 

 ling or devouring of seedlings, and the like. 

 Then there are insects without number, cattle, 

 horses, swine, snow and wind a whole army 

 against which the forest battles more or less 

 strenuously all its life. 



But if Nature were left to herself, as was the 

 case before the intrusion of man into the depths 

 of the virgin forests, a very great part of all 

 this damage now being done to the forest 

 would never happen. Man has been the worst 

 enemy of the woods. Independently of the 

 fires which his interest- occasion, there is lum- 

 bering which, as now conducted, despoils the 

 forest, and benumbs or destroys its growing 

 power for long periods. 



" The Forest" is rendered doubly attractive 

 to the general reader, and doubly useful for 

 the end which it is written to serve, by its 

 plentiful illustrations. There are forty-three 

 full-page illustrations and eighty-seven more 

 in the text. They consist almost entirely of 

 photographs taken in the forest. The greater 

 number were secured expressly for the book, 

 while all elucidate various points of the expo- 

 sition. The photographs of the different phases 

 of forest life are remarkable for the clearness 

 with which they show the contrasting stages 

 of growth, distinct forest types, the effects of 

 fire, grazing and wind, and the characteristics 

 of many species of trees. In addition there 

 are a number of photographs showing the parts- 

 of a tree, such as cones, roots, bark, and, par- 

 ticularly, the wood itself. 



