CHAPTER V 



DESTRUCTION AND DETERIORATION 



THAT the area of forest land within the boun- 

 daries of the United States is decreasing, there 

 can be no doubt. It is unnecessary to bore the 

 reader with columns of statistics on this point, 

 even if accurate statistics were in existence ; for it 

 is quite unnecessary, in order to understand this 

 phase of our subject, to know even approximately 

 the number of acres of woodland annually con- 

 verted into other forms of plant association. 



However, for such an understanding it is neces- 

 sary first to get rid of a number of vague and 

 erroneous notions that are widely prevalent among 

 ■people, even persons who ought to know better, 

 such as lumbermen, economists, and leaders of pub- 

 lic opinion. One of these mistaken notions is that 

 there is danger of the forests disappearing all over 

 the country, so that our grandchildren may be in 

 the position in which it is alleged that the people 

 of Spain, Greece, and other Mediterranean countries 

 find themselves, where, according to popular view, 

 wide regions have been converted into deserts by 

 the ruthless destruction of forests. It is very likely 

 true that there are districts in several portions of 



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