70 Our Field and Forest Trees 



An eye-witness gives this account of the slaugh- 

 ter done in the forests of the Pacific coast: 



" Splendid trees, five or six feet in diameter and 

 hundreds of years old, were being destroyed. 

 Auger holes were bored in the trees near the 

 ground, coal oil was poured into the holes, a 

 match applied, and the trees burned down. Dur- 

 ing the dry season these fires were permitted to 

 escape and pass through the forest, covering the 

 whole earth with a cloud of smoke, and rapidly 

 working in this new field the same useless de- 

 struction that has followed in man's footsteps all 

 over the continent." 



Nor was the East guiltless of wasting the coun- 

 try's forest treasures. 



A veteran woodsman says that in New Hamp- 

 shire woods, fifty years ago, sturdy spruces, which 

 would fetch a good price could they be sold today, 

 were felled simply that their prostrate boughs 

 might serve as a sort of mattress to break the 

 fall of doomed pines. Woodcutters in those days 

 cared only for the pine lumber, and left the tangle 

 of fallen spruce to rot upon the forest floor. 



Meantime, as the country grew, more and more 

 wood was being needed, and the need for it grow- 

 ing more and more urgent. Mile after mile of 

 railroad was being built, and for every mile about 

 three thousand ties were required. Mines were 

 being opened, and needing great quantities of 

 timber to support their ceilings and walls. Farms 



