TREES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
THE FORESTS. 
T'xe immense variety, the many and important uses, and 
the great beauty of our forests, must, naturally, attract the 
attention of an observer; and, as the preservation and im- 
provement of the forests, in their highest degree, are above 
private effort, require jomt action, and must be effected on a 
large scale, on a system wisely begun and long continued, by 
the men of one generation for those of the next; and by the 
application of science, taste and skull, not by one but by many 
men, not in one village or town, but in a county and state; 
it is wise in a government not acting merely for the present, 
but extending its forethought generously onwards, making its 
knowledge and wisdom an invested capital for future use, and 
desiring to do for coming generations, what they, when looking 
back, shall wish it had done,—it 1s wise, prudent and patriotic 
for such a government to order a survey of the forests, among 
its other domains, that the people may know the sources of 
their wealth and its extent, and learn how to value, enlarge 
and enjoy it. The conception and ordering of this general sur- 
vey, was worthy of the descendants of those who established 
free schools, free courts of justice, and freedom in religion. 
The idea was a noble one, with whatever success the work 
may have been executed. 
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