256 GENERAL SCIENCE 



annually for the last forty years. They are commonly the 

 result of carelessness and indifference on the part of those 

 who camp in the woods, and who fail to take necessary and 

 reasonable precautions against fires. These forest fires not 

 only damage and destroy matured timber, but they destroy 

 the young growths and seedlings, together with the seed- 

 bed of rich decaying vegetable matter and its store of seeds 

 which have not yet germinated. 



So expensive has lumber already become that large use is 

 now made of iron, concrete, cement, and brick in all kinds 

 of structural work. The outlay for the single item of pack- 

 ing-boxes alone aggregates annually large sums in trade and 

 commerce, and merchandise is more and more being packed 

 for shipment in paper, heavy cardboard, fibre, metal, and 

 other wrappings. Such charges as these over what was 

 necessary when there was an abundance of cheap lumber 

 is one of the items in an increased cost of living. The small 

 home owner finds in the high prices of lumber an outlay that 

 proves a serious handicap in buying and paying for a house 

 and its furnishings. Directly and indirectly as the natural 

 resources of a country are reduced, and their cost price 

 advances, those who pay these larger prices out of the wages 

 received for their labor, whether skilled or unskilled, are 

 more and more at a disadvantage, especially where there is 

 but small advance in wages received. 



One direct result of a widespread education, and of an 

 enlightenment of the people that keeps pace with advances 

 in human knowledge and with man's mastery over the forces 

 of nature, should be the husbanding of the resources a nation 

 possesses, and an increase in this store of possessions. It is 

 not only well to make "two blades of grass grow where 

 there was but one before," but two trees should take the 

 place of one in the country at large and two bushels of wheat 

 grown in place of one. 



