THE PINES 



to blame for much wanton destruction. Young 

 hemlocks, from four to six inches in diameter, 

 are felled, stripped of their bark, and left 

 cumbering the ground, to invite fire and to 

 make of the woods an unkempt cemetery. 

 The fall of a tree from natural causes is fol- 

 lowed by the interesting and beauty- making 

 process of its mossy decay and return to the 

 forest floor, furnishing in the process nour- 

 ishment for countless seedlings and plants. A 

 tree felled in maturity under enlightened for- 

 est management is all removed for its timber, 

 and leaves the ground clear; but the opera- 

 tions of the bark -hunter leave only hideous 

 destruction and a "slash" that is most difficult 

 to clear in later years. 



This same hemlock makes a most impres- 

 sive forest. To walk among primeval hem- 

 locks brings healing to the mind and peace to 

 the soul, as one realizes fully that "the groves 

 were God's first temples," and that God is 

 close to one in these beneficent solitudes, 

 where petty things must fall away, vexations 

 cease, and man's spiritual nature absorb the 

 message of the forest. 



55 



