CHAPTER 1. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The object of forestry is to discover and apply the methods 

 according to which forests are most profitably managed. 

 The principles of this science bear somewhat the same 

 relation to the production of crops of trees that those of agri- 

 culture and horticulture bear to the growing of crops of grains 

 and fruits; but its applications are broader. Forests not only 

 produce wood for the building of houses, and ships, and cars, 

 and for the manufacture of thousands of useful and indispen- 

 sible wooden articles — they do more than this. They prevent 

 the washing of soils from cultivated lands^ where they are 

 needed, into rivers and harbors where they hinder navigation; 

 they hold the water of rains and melting snows and give it out 

 gradually to the springs that regulate the flow of creeks and 

 rivers; they furnish a place for recreation to hunters^ to fish- 

 ermen, to collectors, to students, and to thousands of persons 

 who enter them in search of a restful influence which can be 

 found in no other part of nature; they shelter and furnish 

 homes for multitudes of beneficial mammals and birds ; and 

 they act as protectors from winds, as modifiers of climates, and 

 as beautifiers of landscapes. 



Forestry is not a new science. It was practiced in Switzer- 

 land and Germany and other European countries centuries 

 before it was thought of in America. Some of the countries of 

 Asia and Europe disregarded it. They did not prevent the 

 destruction of their forests when they had the opportunity. 

 When their forests were gone the soil became impoverished and 

 the streams dried up. Then large areas had to be abandoned 

 by every inhabitant, for the land no longer produced any food. 

 Syria, China, Austria, Sicily, Denmark, France, and many 

 other countries have suffered from such neglect. Some of these 

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