50 WILD FLOWERS AND TREES OF COLORADO 



have suffered because there was no supervision of forests. Conditions 

 in China have been recently described: 



The ruthless destruction of the forests in northern China has brought about, or has 

 aided in bringing about, desolation, just as the destruction of the forests in central Asia 

 aided in bringing ruin to the once rich central Asian cities; just as the destruction of the 

 forests in northern Africa helped toward the ruin of a region that was a fertile granary in 

 Roman days. Short-sighted man, whether barbaric, semi-civilized, or what he may mis- 

 takenly regard as fully civilized, when he has destroyed the forests, has rendered certain the 



ultimate destruction of the land itself This is just one of those matters which it is 



fatal to leave to unsupervised individual control. The forests can only be protected by the 

 state, by the nation, and the liberty of action of individuals must be conditioned upon what 

 the state or nation determines to be necessary for the common safety. 1 



With the continued rise in the price of all kinds of wood the forests 

 of Colorado may be made one of the great economic assets of the state 

 in the future. They will serve for protection to the headwaters of our 

 streams and if rightly managed will furnish a constant supply of timber 

 for industrial and building purposes. 



The cottonwoods of the gulches and river bottoms are, to a con- 

 siderable extent, made use of for fences and for other rough construction 

 work. If farmers and others would take pains to plant these and other 

 more valuable trees they would secure profitable returns. Many of the 

 smaller trees of the state are proving useful as shade trees and still others 

 are being introduced into cultivation for ornamental purposes in parks 

 and private grounds. The thornapples are especially promising as 

 ornamental trees because of both flowers and fruit, while the cotton- 

 woods, hackberries and box-elders are useful for shade. 



Exotic trees. — A great many trees from other parts of the United 

 States and from Europe have been planted in Colorado for their fruit or 

 for shade and ornament. Apples and plums do well at the western edge 

 of the great plains next the foothills, while in the Grand Valley, on the 

 western slope, peaches are much grown. Most of the ordinary shade 

 trees of the eastern United States may be grown at Denver; such as 

 honey locust, black locust, elms, maples, ash, sycamore and catalpa. 

 Trees planted for forest purposes are chiefly black locust, honey locust, 



1 Roosevelt, Theodore, "Message to the Congress of the United States," December 8, 1908. 



