UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



MISCELLANEOUS CIRCULAR No. 91 



WASHINGTON, D. C. January, 1927 



A FORESTRY PROGRAM FOR WOMEN'S 

 ORGANIZATIONS 



By Lilian T. Conway, Forest Service 



1. OUR FRIEND THE FOREST 



How generous a friend the forest is to mankind 

 we can hardly realize. Its influence pervades the 

 history of the human race. Through the ages the 

 forest has given man shelter and warmth and food, 

 has made the landscape beautiful for him, has moth- 

 ered his ships of discovery and migration, and has 

 furnished him with numberless articles of daily use. 



Instead of naming the gifts of the forest it would 

 perhaps be as easy to name the useful things for which 

 we are not indebted to it. Of the five primal neces- 

 sities of life — food, water, shelter, clothing, and fuel — 

 our supplies of each in some way depend upon the 

 forest. The purity and constancy of the water for 

 most of our cities and towns and for innumerable 

 farms depend on the forests which guard the springs 

 and streams. Nearly all American homes are built 

 partly or entirely of wood, and the furnishings that 

 make them comfortable and attractive are of wood. 

 Our railroads are laid on wooden ties, and the goods 

 they carry are packed in wooden boxes. Pine forests 

 furnish turpentine and rosin, products indispensable 

 to industry. Wood makes the paper on which our 

 daily news is printed. In recent years even clothing 

 has been added to the list of forest products, through 

 the manufacture of wood fiber into artificial silk. 

 Forests feed and shelter the animals that supply 

 meat, wool, leather, and furs. Forests protect farm 

 crops from destructive winds, and moderate climatic 

 extremes both of heat and of cold. Many a farm 

 household still depends entirely on the wood lot for 

 fuel. Even where other fuels are available, nothing 

 so cheers a gloomy winter evening as the blaze of a 

 crackling log. 



Not the least of the forest's uses is to provide 

 healthful recreation. Millions of Americans each 

 year make their way to the forest to camp, to fish or 

 hunt, or simply to rest a while away from the noise 

 and heat of the city. With the beauty and wonder 

 23584°— 27 1 



