WHERE TO PLANT. 31 



of the West has that his seed will produce a 

 harvest. On the western coast of France vast 

 districts of barren sand have been reclaimed by 

 planting, and where formerly was an uninhab- 

 ited desert are now populous villages ; while 

 from the pines by which the wastes were re- 

 claimed a large revenue is annually derived 

 through the manufacture of turpentine, as well 

 as by the sale of trees for timber and fuel. 



The pines will flourish on poor and sandy 

 soils, though they do not refuse to grow on such 

 as are fertile. And we have no wood at pres- 

 ent more valuable than the pine, or one which 

 for years to come will have a greater market- 

 able worth. The white pine, especially, enters 

 into more uses of ordinary life than any other 

 wood. Formerly it was so abundant in our 

 Northern States, from the St. John to the Mis- 

 sissippi, that we hardly noted its peculiar and 

 surpassing value. The supply was at hand, and 

 seemed inexhaustible. So we cut and consumed 

 unsparingly, recklessly even. We consumed 

 not only to meet our own wants, but for the 

 wants of the world. 



But at length we have found a limit to the 



