PREFACE. 



Throughout America and especially New England there has 

 been a rapid awakening of interest in forestry during the past few 

 years. The disappearance of old forests, together with increased 

 prices of lumber, has made ready converts to the forestry 

 propaganda of the federal and state governments; but up to the 

 present time nearly the only available literature on the subject 

 is in the form of government bulletins. There are, to be sure, 

 a number of good books on the trees written from a botanical 

 standpoint, and several books dealing with forestry in a general 

 way, besides a very few advanced textbooks. There is now 

 such widespread interest in the subject, that a book dealing 

 with the specific forestry problems of New England will not 

 only be of interest to the nature lover but of real assistance 

 to the land owner who wishes to adopt approved methods of 

 forest culture, or to the student of forestry. Books are legend 

 dealing with specific agricultural problems, and it is intended 

 that this work shall be for the woodland owner what these are 

 for the agriculturist. Every year more people are moving from 

 the cities and acquiring country places. Many owners of this 

 class cannot afford their personal time for farm supervision, and, 

 without this supervision of the owner, farming is apt to be too 

 expensive. Forestry particularly appeals to this class of owners 

 because it requires less frequent attention than any other land 

 culture. 



It is gratifying to find that the farmers themselves are taking 

 up forestry in the same practical way in which they are accus- 

 tomed to handle other problems, and the authors frequently 

 have been asked by farmers to recommend some good book on 

 forestry. Practical problems, such as the planting of an old 

 hill pasture to pine, or the advisability of pruning pine and 



