CURRENT LITERATURE 287 
questions affecting the welfare of the nation, and who love the life of nature 
without standing apart from the more strenuous current of human affairs. 
___ The chapter on the North American forest contains an excellent résumé 
2 of distribution of forests before they were changed by the influence of man. 
_ It is shown that the forest is controlled by certain definite factors and that the 
struggle of the forest with the prairie and the bog is constant, as is also the 
§ ruggle between the individual trees of the same forest; so that a correct 
understanding of the complex conditions which determine the distribution of 
trees becomes of utmost importance in silviculture. 
The next chapter contains a brief history of the relation of the forest to 
oe the growth of the nation. It was absolutely necessary for the pioneer to clear 
_ the forest, and the damage his immediate successors have done by car-_ 
_ tying this destruction too far must be repaired by the present generation. 
oe author takes a very optimistic view of the future condition of the forests. 
__ Forest finance and management, forestry and government, protecting ee 
e ts fn rom fires and thieves, and forestry and taxation are so treated as to 
that the author is well informed on these phases of the forestry proble em. 
n chapters on reform in forestry methods, and forestry asa profession, a brief 
‘story of the reform is given and some mistakes are pointed out. Attention 
s called to the number of schools of forestry recently established, and to the - 
ractical results obtained by applying scientific methods to certain plots, 
the Forestry Division of the U. S. Department of cneee is now 
ouraging owners to do. ee 
volume is not without literary merit : ihe author's 3 syle is clear a oo 
rest 
“MINOR NOTICES. 
0 receive a paper which | 
. 
iS — and Central — 
and Rose, i oe A synopsis. 
Wash. ta: Sci. 4; eomews ¢ 
