98 OUR VANISHING FORESTS 



In many sections efficient fire prevention is all that 

 is needed to permit a natural re-stocking of the land, 

 but unfortunately a few of our eastern forests have 

 been destroyed by axe and fire beyond the possibility 

 of valuable natural reproduction. In such cases the 

 only alternative is to start from the very beginning 

 with artificial planting. Can we overcome this ob- 

 stacle? France, in her regions devastated by the 

 German army, is facing a similar question; Eng- 

 land with one-half of all her woodlands cut clean for 

 war purposes expects to re-establish them on a 

 better basis than ever. How do these nations hope 

 to go through all the labor of planting trees and 

 through all the years of waiting thereafter, and still 

 find the operation profitable? Simply because pub- 

 lic interest is awakened, because the people, know- 

 ing that they have to have lumber and wood, face 

 their problem squarely and honestly. They, must 

 seek every possible means, they must combat every 

 difficulty, in short they must accept the cost or go 

 without. When that slogan becomes our3, we too 

 will eventually succeed. 



