SPARE THE TREES 325 



It is time to call a halt on forest destruction, and 

 order a forward march on forest restoration. The 

 great pines once used for spars and planks in the 

 king's ships are all gone. The great oak forests are 

 seen no more. Their grandeur and beauty are 

 known only in legend, song, and story. But a 

 worse disaster is close at hand. In a few years we 

 shall experience the inconvenience of a wood famine. 

 If we would minimize its effects, and prevent the 

 dire results of forest destruction upon the streams, 

 fish and game, we must bestir ourselves. 



At least two lines of action it is certainly our duty 

 to follow. The state should immediately acquire 

 a million acres more land in the Adirondacks, and 

 five hundred thousand more acres in the Catskills. 

 Then, not only should the state plant millions of 

 trees each year upon its denuded lands, but it should 

 encourage private owners to reforest all ground not 

 good for agriculture. The State should raise and 

 distribute seedling trees, at actual cost, or, if pos- 

 sible, free of cost, to all persons who will plant them 

 according to directions furnished by the state. 



SPARE THE TREES 



BY MADAME MICHELET 



ALAS, in how many places is the forest which once 

 lent us shade, nothing more than a memory. The 



