The forests of the Rocky Mountain region are made up of relatively small 

 timbered tracts mostly of ponderosa and lodgepole pine. The forested 

 ridges and higher mountain plateaus are interspersed with great treeless 

 stretches, sometimes arid, sometimes rocky. 



The Pacific coast region is the native home of the large Douglas fir, pines, 

 hemlocks, cedars, and redwoods. This region, with about one-seventh of 

 the total commercial forest area of the United States, contains more than 

 half our total saw timber. The coastal belt of Oregon and Washington, 

 eastward to the timber line of the Cascade Range, has dense stands of large 

 timber, mostly Douglas fir. Alaska has great reserves of virgin timber in 

 her coast forests. 



The tropical forest region in the United States is limited to very small 

 areas in southern Florida and Texas where the tropical species probably 

 sprang from seeds washed ashore or carried by birds from Central America, 

 South America, and the West Indies. 



How Do Forests Help in Our Daily Activities? 



In the home. — Wood is always used to some extent in the building and 

 furnishing of a home. The all-wood house is not as common as it once 

 was, but it is estimated that 8 out of every 10 houses in the United States 

 are still built principally of wood. Other modern houses are often brick 

 veneer over a wood structure. 



Even though metal has been used by some companies as a substitute for 

 wood in furniture, 95 percent of all household furniture is still made cf 

 wood. As the population of the country has increased, so has the demand 

 from furniture companies for lumber increased. 



Furniture and countless other things are either painted or varnished, 

 and the forest supplies three important ingredients of finishing liquids; 

 namely, turpentine and rosin from the pines of the South, and oil from the 

 seeds of the tung tree, a native of China which has been introduced success- 

 fully into the United States. 



A home without trees is like a picture without a frame. Trees beautify 

 the exterior of our homes and protect them from wind and sun and storm. 

 Many of the magazines, newspapers, and books which we enjoy in our 

 leisure are available to us because we have learned to make paper from 

 wood. It is possible that the draperies at the windows of our homes were 

 once just as much a part of a great forest as was the log on the hearth. 

 (See tables 3 and 4, pp. 42 and 43.) 



Forests and food. — We seldom think of the forests as a source of food, but 

 our favorite dishes and festive holidays are enriched by the fruit of the nut 

 trees. Those used in greatest quantity are pecans, chestnuts, walnuts, 

 Brazil nuts, and cocoa nuts. Most of these are harvested from natural 

 forests. 



Pecans rank high in nut production in our country. Chestnuts, once 

 obtained in great quantity from extensive chestnut forests, are now im- 

 ported from Italy. Black walnuts and butternuts come from the central 

 hardwood belt. Persian (English) walnuts are produced in large quantities 

 in the Pacific coast States. Brazil nuts come almost entirely from the virgin 

 forests of the lower Amazon Basin in South America. 



Maple sirup and sugar, produced largely in the woodlands of the North- 

 eastern States, rank high both as delicacies and as energy foods. 



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