THE USE OF THE FOREST. 285 



The rule is universal that the amount and value of material that can be 

 taken from an area of wild forest remains far behind what the same land 

 may bear if properly treated by the forester. It is certain, therefore, that 

 in the future, when most American forests shall be in a high state of cul- 

 tivation, the annual output of forests will, from a much restricted area, ex- 

 ceed everything known at the present day (Bruncken, North American 

 Forests and Forestry, pp. 134-135 ) 



It is probable that the virgin forest produces but a tithe of the useful 

 material which it is capable of producing. (Fernow, p. 98.) 



Mr. Burbank has demonstrated that trees can be bred for any particu- 

 lar quality, for largeness, strength, shape, amount of pitch, tannin, sugar 

 and the like, and for rapidity of growth; in fact that any desirable attri- 

 bute of a tree may be developed simply by breeding and selecting. He has 

 created walnut trees, by crossing common varieties, that have grown six 

 times as much in thirteen years as their ancestors did in twenty-eight years, 

 preserving at the same time, the strength, hardness and texture of their 

 forebears. The grain of the wood has been made more beautiful at the same 

 time. The trees are fine for fuel and splendidly adapted to furniture manu- 

 facture. (Harwood. The New Earth, p. 179.) 



Nature provides in the forest merely those varieties that will sur- 

 vive. Man, by interfering in Nature's processes but obeying her laws, 

 raises what he wants. Nature says: those trees that survive are fit 

 and does not care whether the trees be straight or crooked, branched 

 or clear. Man says: those trees shall survive which are fit for human 

 uses. Man raises better grains and fruits and vegetables than Na- 

 ture, unaided, can, and, in Europe, better trees for lumber. In 

 America there has been such an abundance of trees good enough for 

 our purposes that we have simply gone out and gathered them, just 

 as a savage goes out to gather berries and nuts. Some day our de- 

 scendants will smile at our treatment of forests much as we smile at 

 root-digging savages, unless, indeed, we so far destroy the forests that 

 they will be more angered than amused. In Europe and Japan, the 

 original supply of trees having been exhausted, forests have been cul- 

 tivated for centuries with the purpose of raising crops larger in 

 quantity and better in quality. 



There are various methods used in forest improvement. Improve- 

 ment cuttings, as the name implies, are cuttings made to improve the 

 quality of the forest, whether by thinning out poor species of trees, 

 unsound trees, trees crowding more valuable ones, or trees called 

 "wolves"; that is, trees unduly overshadowing others. Improvement 

 cuttings are often necessary as a preliminary step before any silvi- 



