CHAPTER XIX 



TREES, SHRUBS, AND FORESTS 

 IMPORTANCE AND USE 



Ornament and protection. The ornamental and protective 

 function of trees is so well known that very little can be said 

 to emphasize this aspect of their importance to man. The 

 shade trees of our cities and towns, the great beauty of trees 

 and shrubs on private lawns and in public parks, the pictur- 

 esqueness of the mountains and of the open country with 

 wooded hills and streams, all attest to the value of trees and 

 shrubs and to the need of an adequate knowledge of their 

 habits and uses. 



These facts are more evident if one travels from the wooded 

 regions of the East or the Far West across the Western 

 prairies, where little protection is offered against wind, sun, 

 and storm except where early settlers have established wind- 

 breaks by setting out trees or where streams are bordered by 

 protective stands of timber. While isolated trees, or trees in 

 small groups, are thus contributory to man's pleasure and com- 

 fort, it is to trees aggregated in forests that one must turn in 

 order to understand the great importance of tree life to the 

 industrial life of men and to the progress of civilization. 



The national forests. The national forests of the United States 

 formerly occupied an area of 850,000,000 acres, which has 

 been reduced at the present time to about 545,000,000 acres. 

 This vast forest domain includes the northern coniferous forests 

 of the Great Lakes and the mixed coniferous and hardwood for- 

 ests of the New England States ; the great southern forests, 

 composed largely of pines ; the central, sparsely covered forest 

 of hard woods; and the Rocky Mountain and Coast Range 

 forests of the extreme western states (Fig. 223). 



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