SPORT AND SCIENCE ON THE 
the peasant, whose one concern is to lay by suffi- 
cient food and money for the years when his crops 
fail and starvation threatens him. 
The owners of the great forests in the high 
mountain ranges are even more prodigal in their 
ravages amongst the trees than the wood-owners 
of the foothills. With utter disregard for the 
future, large areas of timber are cut out, and 
though the planting of new trees would be but a 
simple matter, nothing is done to replenish the 
stock. Immense areas of what was, but a few 
years ago, extensive forest land, now lie bare 
and brown, with scarcely a vestige of vegetation 
left. Here again a sad lack of discrimination in 
the size of the trees cut down is evident. Every- 
thing that comes into the way of the woodcutter 
is hacked down, and if it is too small to be of 
value is left where it falls. 
If North China is poor in trees, Southern Mon- 
golia is absolutely destitute. Only in the Ordos 
did we see any trees at all, and then they were 
but stunted willows. The rich grasslands of the 
Mongolian Plateau we were told were too exposed 
to the cold blasts from the north for the cultiva- 
tion of trees, but there must be some varieties 
which would stand the exposure. 
(a) GYMNOSPERMS 
The bulk of the heavy timber in the forests of 
Western Shansi is composed of conifers, chiefly 
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