CARE AND PROTECTION OF FORESTS. 67 



not afford to draw recklessly upon the present stand. The careless, waste- 

 ful method of handling it must become a thing of the past in order to 

 supply the constant demand and check the rapidly growing scarcity of lum- 

 ber. It will take intelligent thought followed by intelligent action, to make 

 the forests better, and keep them from undergoing further destruction 

 and deterioration. 



Everyone, especially the consumer, knows the price of lumber is high 

 and going higher. Those who own timber should take care of it, just as 

 any other property. This does not mean they ought to let it stand and 

 go to waste. Timber should be used, but used properly. It should be 

 utilized in an economic way. Also a new growth should be secured and 

 freed as far as possible from forest fires, especially dangerous to newly 

 cut-over lands. 



Xo remaining woodland should be cleared without carefully consider- 

 ing whether it is worth more for farm land than for timber. Certainly 

 some should never be cleared, but kept for tree growth; for if cleared 

 and put under cultivation, they would soon wash away, unprotected by 

 the forest cover. Nearly everyone can bring to mind land of this char- 

 acter, which has been cultivated only a few years, and which has become 

 worn out, full of gullies, and shows many "hang-rocks" on the surface. 

 The washing away of the soil has left rock outcroppings, which would 

 make the land difficult if not impossible to cultivate, even though it had not 

 become poor. 



It necessarily takes a great deal of timber to supply the stove and fire- 

 place. But a big saving of the better class of timber could be made and 

 still have them well furnished. Many trees of the better class find their 

 way to the "wood-pile" because they are easier to "work up" than the 

 knotty trees. The good trees should be allowed to grow and mature 

 for a more profitable use. There is usually enough dead and down timber, 

 and trees of poor quality and inferior species to supply fire-wood, and 

 besides, the room they take up is frequently needed to give sufficient space 

 for the more rapid growth of the better species. It may take more time 

 to prepare the poorer than the better class of trees for wood, but a gain 

 will be made in saving the latter for lumber. 



The farmer would scarcely think of attempting to grow his cotton and 

 corn crops without a certain amount of thinning. The same principle 

 applies to trees. The scrubby and inferior ones can be cut over for use 

 and the stand left improved. Even if thinning is not necessary to give 

 room for growth, the space occupied by them, if they are removed, would 

 have a chance to be taken up by the better class of trees left standing. A. 



