FARM FORESTRY 251 



the cargo safe. We are rocked in wooden cradles, play 

 with wooden toys, sit in wooden chairs and benches, 

 eat from wooden tables, use wooden desks, chests and 

 trunks, are entertained by music from wooden instru- 

 ments, and learn by information printed on wooden 

 paper with black ink made from wood. 



Forest influences. Besides serving the great purpose 

 as the source of our needed supplies, the forests exer- 

 cise a great influence upon the earth and its inhabit- 

 ants. Forests are often the source of streams, and 

 here the rains and snows are allowed to sink slowly 

 and deeply into the soil, through the leaves, roots, and 

 mould, to run gradually into the streams through 

 springs and underground levels, preventing excessive 

 floods, and extremes of drought. The forests break the 

 force of winds and temper the climate. In short, the 

 forest is one of man's greatest blessings, and yet it is 

 the one which he has abused with the most reckless- 

 ness and ignorance. In no part of the world has this 

 reckless waste been greater than in the United States. 



The use of the forests. It was not intended that the 

 forests be hoarded up as a miser hoards his gold; 

 they are to be used. But it is possible to use the for- 

 ests so wisely that they may last as long as the earth 

 stands. The destructive cutting by lumbermen, and 

 the prevalence of forest fires have been the causes of 

 waste in our great forest resources. Ex-President 

 Roosevelt said that forestry is the art of saving the 

 forests by a wise use of what they afford. Forestry 

 teaches men how to keep the forests alive by cutting 



