Vol.i -^HU^p^ No. 2 



TORREYA 



February, 1901 



THE VALUE OF FORESTRY IN A COURSE OF 

 NATURE STUDY 



By Elizabeth Carss 



Until very recently, little or no attention was paid to the care 

 of our forest trees or to the relation of our forests to water sup- 

 ply and soil preservation. Forests were cut only for immediate 

 gain with no regard to future productiveness. Tracts of land 

 were also carelessly burned and no means taken to prevent such 

 occurrences. The consequence is that many districts once cov- 

 ered by forests are now barren wastes of stumps. Farms are 

 often seen where a good wood patch has been so reduced as 

 scarcely to provide the household fuel. I recall one farm in 

 northern New York where the only plot of woodland that the 

 farmer possessed has been almost entirely cut away within the 

 last five or ten years. At first, as the wood was abundant and 

 the farmer felt no particular need for economy, the cutting was 

 done in a most wanton manner. Tall stumps forty and fifty 

 inches in height have been left, and great tree trunks have been 

 felled and left to decay, often crushing small trees in their fall. 

 In the same region there are two striking examples of hillsides that 

 have been cut and burned to the ground to form " pasture." The 

 result is scarcely satisfactory even for sheep. The soil at best was 

 very scant and the hard rock ledges formed uneven masses to 

 which soil could not cling without the aid of vegetation. 



It is not difficult to find many illustrations of such destruction 

 as has been described, which is the result of ignorance and con- 



[The exact date of publication of each issue of Torreya is given in the succeed- 

 ing number. Vol. I, No. I, comprising pages I-I2, was issued January 29, 1901.] 



