222 



THE AMERICAN MOOSE 



If the timber crop of these wild lands is judiciously 

 harvested, all growing trees measuring less than a 

 certain size being left on the stump, there need be 

 no exhaustion of the timber supply, and at the 

 same time browse and shelter may be furnished 

 for a vast number of moose and deer, besides 

 smaller game animals and game birds. 



With the constant increase in the prices which 

 the consumer must pay for lumber and for meat, 

 may arise indeed the necessity for the governments 

 to take all large tracts of wild land from private 

 ownership. Under the direction of forest and 

 game commissioners the governments of the 

 United States and Canada could thus exercise 

 control over the supply and the price of lumber and 

 of venison. Great quantities of venison could be 

 systematically marketed every winter. The sup- 

 ply would not be unlimited, but there would be no 

 occasion to apprehend exhaustion. 



If a supply of meat equal in quality to the beef 

 and mutton of the butcher shops could be secured 

 at a less price than domestic meat it would be 

 folly not to take advantage of it. "There are 

 counties in the State of New York, within fifty 

 miles of New York City," writes William T. 

 Hornaday, "that could under adequate manage- 

 ment be made to yield annually more pounds of 



