128 North American Forests and Forestry 



or in his old age. Forest operations of this kind 

 are advantageous even if the final harvest does 

 not produce a net profit upon the outlay with 

 compound interest during the period of growth. 

 They are considered in the light of making a sure 

 provision for the future, reasonably free from the 

 vicissitudes of business affairs, very much in the 

 nature of life insurance. On the formerly tree- 

 less plains between the Mississippi and the Rocky 

 Mountains, a large aggregate area has within twenty 

 years been planted with trees in small strips. In 

 this case the question of pecuniary profit from 

 these small forests has not usually been taken into 

 consideration, but the owners derive other advan- 

 tages of various kinds. The timber strips protect 

 the farms against injurious winds ; they afford shade 

 for man and beast ; and are in many other ways a 

 benefit to the inhabitants of these monotonous re- 

 gions. In many of the mountainous districts of 

 the East, and to a less extent elsewhere, considera- 

 ble tracts of forest have of late years been acquired 

 by individuals or clubs, and are maintained as 

 game preserves and pleasure resorts. The ques- 

 tion of revenue from lumbering, or otherwise, usu- 

 ally plays no part in the intentions of such owners, 

 and all management has in view merely the pro- 

 tection and maintenance of such forests in their 

 natural state. In cases such as these we have 

 reached the borderland of forestry and another art 

 which is sometimes confounded with it, the art of 

 landscape gardening. It is, of course, possible to 



