56 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 



Woodlands are the most unfavorable form of 

 vegetation for the life of ruminants, and therefore 

 for the support of the largest number of men. For 

 food production, for agricultural pursuits, man 

 must subdue and remove the tree growth. Hence 

 /'forest devastation, forest destruction, is the begin- 

 ■ ning of civilization, its necessary prerequisite. 



But while the removal and repression of the 

 wood, as an impediment to culture and food pro- 

 duction, is a necessary step toward a higher civili- 

 zation, the fact that at the same time it furnishes 

 material equally indispensable in building up a civ- 

 ilization requires consideration also, and the neces- 

 sity for its preservation in part, its continuance in 

 possession of some portions of the soil, is indicated. 



Happily, the very soils and situations which are 

 not fit for agriculture are still capable of support- 

 ing tree growth ; and although the best timber, no 

 doubt, may be grown on land most favorable to 

 agricultural crops, the poorer soils and mountain 

 slopes unfit for plough land will still yield wood 

 crops of useful description. 



In reducing, therefore, the woodland condition 

 to one adapted to the highest civilization, the rele- 

 gation of the different soils and sites to the differ- 

 i ent uses to which they are best adapted, as fields, 

 pastures, or forest, is a problem of true national 

 economy. 



Besides the consideration of a proper proportion 

 of woodlands to furnish the needful supply of wood 



