92 Conservation Reader 



Our forefathers had all the wood they wanted just for 

 the cutting, and so they warmed their houses by means of 

 fireplaces large enough to hold great logs. They made of 

 wood every tool and household convenience for which this 

 substance could be used. Indeed, they had more wood 

 than they wanted. Trees covered so much of the land 

 that the ground could not be cultivated until they had been 

 cut away. Now we wish that we had the oak, hickory, 

 black walnut, and other kinds of trees, that the pioneers of 

 our country burned in order to get them out of the way, 

 for they have become very valuable. 



Now, partly because wood is becoming scarce, and partly 

 because our large buildings must be made very strong and 

 safe from fire, we are using other materials for them. Stone, 

 brick, and concrete, when tied together with iron beams, 

 are more suitable material for great buildings.. Our land 

 now contains so many people, and so many new homes are 

 needed every year, that the lumber required for houses 

 alone is almost more than we can believe. 



The forests are now disappearing so fast that unless we 

 use wood more carefully we may haye to give up our at- 

 tractive wooden homes and cheery fireplaces and live in 

 houses of stone or concrete. In many parts of the world 

 people have so completely destroyed the forests that they 

 have not only to make their homes of mud bricks or stone, 

 but have Httle wood left for fuel and other purposes. 



We cannot mention all the purposes to which wood is 

 put in our homes and in our industries. It would take a 

 whole page in this book merely to make a list of them. 

 What we ought to remember, however, is that it is not so 

 much the amount of wood that we actually use as it is the 



