16 



INTRODUCTION. 



part of the country^ as an exceedingly cruel 

 and mischievous act. I suppose^ after all^ that 

 though timber is worth much, corn and cattle 

 are worth more." 



It would/' said I, be cruel and mis- 

 chievous, in a high degree, to drive people 

 from their houses and lands by mere force, to 

 make the finest and most productive forest 

 that ever was heard of ; how much worse to 

 do it, merely to secure a place for the amuse- 

 ment of a few ! As to the question, whether 

 the produce of a forest, or of farms, be the 

 most valuable, that must depend upon cir- 

 cumstances, with which we cannot at present 

 be sufficiently acquainted to form a judgment. 

 Yet I am inclined to think, that a thousand 

 acres of fine wood land would now yield more 

 to its possessor than the same extent of mea- 

 dows and corn fields." 



