Forests and Trees 



some rob others of air and sunshine and food, even as 

 people are robbed. Trees, like men, succeed or fail ; some 

 die young, some struggle on, scarred or dwarfed or broken 

 by the forces with which they contend ; many reach middle 

 age, while a few live to be very old or grow to a great size. 

 With trees as with men only a few become really old or 

 really great. But the forest lives on, and the dead bodies 

 of trees that die, the roots in the earth and the leaves 

 that fall on the surface, all go back to the soil, making it 

 rich and mellow so that other plants may live. It took 

 perhaps millions of years to supply the fertility that is 

 stored up in a few inches of the surface soil, and man 

 often wastes this in a few seasons, or allows it to be burned 

 off in a few hours. 



All animal life, too, depends on the trees for food, 

 shelter or protection. A few of the larger beasts sought 

 the open and for a time became numerous. The bison 

 grew fat and multiplied, nourished by the rich grass 

 of the prairies and, migrating in immense herds, were 

 apparently lords of the domain over which they trod. 

 They defied the frosts and the fires ; the floods and the 

 droughts left their numbers apparently unchanged. They 

 seemed perfectly suited to their surroundings and their 

 numbers were limited only by the extent of their pasture. 

 The first serious enemy they met was man, and in a few 

 years they were gone. Exposed to attack on all sides, un- 

 protected by trees and the course of their enemies un- 

 impeded, they could not stand the struggle and only a 

 remnant that took refuge in the woods now remains. 



