46 FOREST CULTUKE AND 



universal forest supervision, nor a judicious restraint 

 of consumption, nor an ample utilization of all the 

 various collateral resources of our woodlands, received 

 that serious attention to which such measures became 

 more and more entitled. 



During the earlier years of our colonization, while 

 the population was but thinly scattered over the ter- 

 ritory, or densely concentrated in a few places only, 

 all demands on the wood resources were comparatively 

 so limited as to cause, perhaps, nowhere vast destruc- 

 tion of the timber vegetation, much less any alarm 

 for meeting the requirements of the future. Then 

 followed the first gold period, with all its bustle, tur- 

 moils and agitations, preventing reflection on almost 

 anything except the immediate wants of that stormy 

 time. Subsequently, when the commotion and ex- 

 citement of the earlier gold era had calmed down, 

 other obstacles arose, which, in their conflicts, brought 

 much sadness on this young country, and retarded 

 for years its full progress. But now, when apparent- 

 ly also these diflBculties have been surmounted, it will 

 be all the more incumbent on our statesmen and legis- 

 lators to exclude no longer from their consideration 

 and watchfulness that remaining portion of a bequest 

 which bountiful Nature, in its rich woods, has in- 

 trusted to our care. The maintenance of these forest 

 riches should engage not only the loftiest forethought, 

 but also a well-guided and scrupulous vigilance. 



How forests beneficially affect a clime, how they 

 supply equable humidity, how they afford extensive 

 shelter, create springs, and control the flow of rivers — ■ 

 all this the teachings of science, the records of history, 

 and more forcibly still, the sufferings or even ruin of 



