CHAPTER II. 



THE FOREST AS A RESOURCE. 



It may be stated without fear of contradiction 

 that outside of food products no material is so 

 universally used and so indispensable in human 

 economy as wood. Indeed, civilization is incon- 

 ceivable without an abundance of timber. 

 (The nomad of to-day, who herds over the treeless 

 plains and prairies, is still hke the Scythian of 

 ancient times ; his life, his culture, his attainments, 

 are no more advanced. The successful settlement 

 and civilization of our own treeless regions of the 

 West became possible only through the develop- 

 ment of means for the transportation of this most 

 needful material. So general and far-reaching 

 has its use become that a wood famine, however 

 improbable its occurrence, would be almost as 

 serious as a bread famine. . We may become less 

 wasteful, both as regards ■f<)od and wood, but the 

 necessity of wood, as far as we can foresee at 

 present, will always be second only to the neces- 

 sity of food, and far greater than that of any other 

 material used in the arts. ) 



The necessity to us of any material depends on 

 the extent and nature of its use, and on the possi- 



