FOREST TREES. % 
than the growth of wood, and is usually so closely 
pastured by domestic animals as effectually to prevent 
a new growth of trees. 
In many of the older States the scarcity of timber 
is already severely felt. Hills and mountains which, 
not many years since, were crowned with wood, now 
rear their heads in unsightly baldness; and streams 
once affording permanent water power have become 
useless for that purpose, or unreliable for a great part 
of the year. It can hardly be supposed that, with our 
rapidly increasing population, the consumption , of 
timber in future years will be greatly diminished, and 
the supply must ere long be brought from great 
distances at vastly increased expense. Much will 
doubtless be done by substituting brick, stone and 
iron for wood, and by the increased use of coal for 
fuel; but the demand for timber will always be 
immense. The necessity for providing for future 
supplies will soon be felt, and it is to be hoped that 
the interest which is beginning to manifest itself in 
some sections of our country will deepen to a general 
sense of the importance of the subject. 
In Germany, France, and some other countries of 
Europe, the forests are the property of the govern- 
ment. Their management has been reduced to a 
system, and they are guarded with care from wanton 
depredation. Our own government, in times past, 
has had ample opportunity to reserve lands which, 
although valuable for their timber, were less desirable 
for settlement. Such tracts might, without great 
expense, be protected from devastation by agents 
