130 Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences 



I trust that I may not be accused of undue sarcasm in my view 

 of this philosophy, but it finds expression in so many ways that 

 it must be reckoned with as part of the public attitude toward the 

 conservation question, and it is for this reason that we are con- 

 stantly obliged to emphasize the practical side of facts and sta- 

 tistics, and that appeals based on considerations of sentiment or 

 esthetics have very little weight with our people. I shall limit 

 myself, in the remainder of my address, to a discussion of for- 

 estry problems, for there is no doubt that from every standpoint 

 this aspect of conservation is of paramount importance and 

 interest. 



In the variety and extent of its hardwood forests the United 

 States originally surpassed every other country of similar magni- 

 tude. These forests were of five more or less well-defined types. 

 The northern forest extended as a belt through northern New 

 England, New York and part of Pennsylvania, across the region 

 of the Great Lakes to Minnesota, with an extension in the higher 

 Alleghenies as far south as Georgia. It was composed princi- 

 pally of coniferous trees, chief among which was the white pine, 

 but it included also among hardwoods, birch, cherry, and sugar 

 maple. 



The southern forest became manifest in southern New Jersey, 

 and extended thence southwestward in a belt of increasing width, 

 covering the south Atlantic and Gulf States, as well as the eastern 

 portion of Texas, part of Arkansas, and southern Missouri. In 

 this forest the long-leaved or yellow pine predominated, and in 

 suitable localities occurred stands of gum, cypress, oak, magnolia, 

 and many other hardwoods of minor importance. Between these 

 two regions stretched the great central forest, in which the most 

 valuable of our American hardwoods attained their maximum 

 size and development. It included oaks of various kinds, walnut, 

 hickory, elm, maple, cottonwood, basswood, white poplar, chest- 

 nut, sycamore, ash, red gum, and many other species. 



Separated from the eastern forests by the broad area of the 

 Great Plains, the Rocky Mountain forest followed the general 



