xvi INTRODUCTION 



lumber and forest situation by the creation of 

 National Forests and the institution of scientific 

 forestry practice. 



Forests and Stream Flow. But the forests not 

 only supply us with wood. For other reasons they 

 deserve governmental consideration. The forests 

 in the mountains control our streams, vitally affect 

 the industries depending upon water power, reduce 

 the severity of floods and erosion, and in this way 

 are intimately wrapped up with our great agricul- 

 tural interests. For this reason forestry is by na- 

 ture less suited for private enterprise. In agricul- 

 ture and horticulture the influence of the farm or 

 the fruit crop rarely extends beyond the owner's 

 fence. What I plant in my field does not affect 

 my neighbors; they share neither in my success or 

 failure. If by the use of poor methods I ruin the 

 fertility of my farm, this fact does not influence 

 the fertility of my neighbor's fields. But in for- 

 estry it is different. Unfortunately, just as the 

 sins of the fathers are visited upon their children, 

 so the sins of the mountains are visited upon the 

 valleys. 



The mountainous slopes of the Appalachian 

 ranges and the steep, broken, granite ridges of the 



