24 Forests and Trees 



Wasteful methods of cutting timber often serve to de- 

 stroy the remaining trees. When wood was very plentiful 

 and correspondingly cheap, it was hardly possible to re- 

 quire lumbermen to pile and burn all the refuse. Even 

 trimming off all branches so that they would fall on the 

 ground, thus hastening their decay and lessening the 

 chances of fire, was considered too expensive. It is time 

 now so to regulate the quantity of timber cut that a suf- 

 ficient price will be paid for it to make proper methods of 

 cutting possible. 



Destructive methods of clearing, careless selection of 

 land to be cleared and wasteful methods of cutting, all 

 belonged to the time when our timber was thought to be 

 inexhaustible, and any means was permissible which could 

 make open spaces in the apparently endless woods. The 

 means most often used, and which proved effective beyond 

 the wish of the most destructive mind, was fire. The 

 harm done to the forest by all other means combined is as 

 nothing in comparison. In fact, it is only by invoking the 

 aid of fire that man can overcome the forest. Its natural 

 growth would more than replace all he could use or destroy, 

 did not fire and disease follow in his wake. 



Few things may be more commonplace or more terrible 

 than a forest fire. In any wooded district, where land 

 is being cleared for cropping and the setting of fires is not 

 regulated by law, small fires may be seen around the edge 

 of almost every clearing. These have been set to clear 

 off brush piles and other refuse, and have been allowed to 

 escape to the neighboring woods. Often the settler is 



