INTRODUCTION xvii 



Rockies, the Sierras, and the Cascades are the sites 

 most suited in our country for forestry purposes. 

 The Appalachian ranges have been affected most 

 by the reckless cutting of forests. When these 

 mountains were clothed with forests, the rivers ran 

 bank full, ships came to the harbors at low tide with 

 ease, and factories and cotton-mills ran steadily all 

 year long. Since the destruction of these forests 

 the surrounding country has suffered from alter- 

 nate floods and droughts ; great manufacturing cen- 

 ters have lost their steady supply of water ; harbors 

 are filled with silt from the mountain sides; and 

 fields, once fertile, are covered with sand, gravel, 

 and debris, deposited by the ungovernable stream. 

 These forests belonged to private individuals who 

 disposed of the timber and pocketed all the profits, 

 while the community below suffered all the loss. 

 In other words, private ownership is inadequate 

 since private interest and private responsibility are 

 not sufficiently far-reaching and far-sighted. 



Forests and Erosion. Erosion is one of the most 

 serious dangers that threaten our farms both by 

 transporting fertile soil and by covering the bottom- 

 lands with sand, gravel, and debris. Since we are 

 largely an agricultural people, the importance of 



