56 Our Field and Forest Trees 



sorely needed, for our nation is using more wood 

 material than any other nation ever did before. 

 Leaving firewood out of the question, we use in 

 proportion to the population eight or ten times 

 as much wood as Germany with all her manu- 

 factures did in times of peace. 



We have been, indeed, as reckless as the people 

 of old France. About the time of the French 

 Revolution, it was said that a peasant would cut 

 down two trees to make himself a pair of shoes. 

 And in consequence, wood in France Is so scarce 

 and dear that our greatest humorist made its 

 preciousness the subject of a joke. 



Mark Twain had promised to send as a wed- 

 ding present the most expensive thing he could 

 get in all Paris. He selected two small logs of 

 firewood, tied them together with red-white-and- 

 blue ribbon, and laid them with the other gifts as 

 something rich and rare. 



