TIMBER; FORESTRY 111 



104. Meaning and importance of forestry. Forestry is the 

 art of forest management. It should be based on the scien- 

 tific study of woodlands. This study covers all such topics 

 as the distribution of forests over the earth's surface, their 

 dependence on soil and climate, and their own influence upon 

 these. It also discusses their composition as plant communi- 

 ties, their progress from infancy, through youth and maturity, 

 to old age, and their relations to the animal world. The utility 



FIG. 93. A prostrate log of sycamore which has lost its bark by decay 



Note the extraordinarily twisted grain of the trunk. If this log had been sawed 



into lumber, it would probably have shown an unusual grain and would have been 



very valuable for interior finishing 



of forests as sources of timber is a most practical forestry 

 topic which stands foremost in the estimation of the public. 

 Forestry is so extensive a subject that in a portion of a 

 chapter like the present one only a few of its most important 

 sub-divisions can be briefly discussed. Every well-informed 

 person should know, at least in a general way, what forestry 

 is, since the maintenance of some of our best timber lands, 

 and the planting of trees in the prairie and plains region, have 

 become essential to the preservation of the soil and the keeping 

 up of the supply of timber. For about two hundred years one 

 of the chief problems of the pioneer farmer in North America 



