CHAPTER X 



THE FUTURE OF THE MOOSE 



In view of the constantly increasing cost of 

 lumber, our children must consider more seriously 

 than our fathers did the conservation of the timber 

 supply. Vast forests reached from ocean to ocean 

 before the first white settlers came. The portions 

 of this land adapted for raising grain and vege- 

 tables will never revert to timber, but much of 

 this ancient wooded area is adapted for nothing but 

 forest, and with intelligent care and protection it 

 may to the end of time supply the lumber markets 

 and the pulp mills of the United States and Canada. 



The people of central Spain in the Middle Ages 

 destroyed their forests because the forests har- 

 bored the birds which ate their grain. Today it is 

 said if a bird would fly across the arid wastes of 

 Don Quixote's country he must carry his forage 

 with him. The Quixotic Spaniards are rid of the 

 birds, and of the grain as well. 



Protection of existing forests is vastly easier than 



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