FOREST AND FORESTRY DEFINED. 89 



the latter has not yet been able to fully establish 

 itself under unfavorable soil and climatic condi- 

 tions. In such cases, which are frequent in the 

 arid and sub-arid and the arctic regions, the single 

 stragglers of trees, the park-like open stand, their 

 stunted and scrubby appearance may leave it doubt- 

 ful whether the term " forest," with its economic 

 significance, is applicable to these woodlands, or 

 may exempt them from consideration under the 

 term. 



Forest conditions, then, imply a more or less 

 exclusive occupancy of the soil by arborescent 

 growth, a close stand of trees, as a consequence 

 of which a form of individual tree development 

 results unlike that produced in the open stand, 

 and a more or less dense shading of the ground 

 which excludes largely the lower vegetation. 



By so much as these conditions are deficient, by 

 so much does the forest fail to fulfil its economic 

 functions, as a source of useful material and as 

 a factor in influencing climatic and soil conditions. 



With regard to the first function, it must be 

 understood that it is not wood simply that is 

 required for the industries of man, but wood of 

 certain quahties and sizes, such as are fit to be cut 

 into lumber, as boards, planks, joists, scantlings, 

 or into timber as beams, sills, and posts, into bolts 

 free from blemish, which can be advantageously 

 manufactured into the thousands of articles that 

 are indispensable to human civilization. Such 



