ECONOMY OF THE FOREST. 
303 
such circumstances, it is difficult to protect the forest, whether 
it belong to the state or to individuals. Property of this kind 
would be subject to much plunder, as well as to frequent 
damage by fire. The destruction from these causes would, 
indeed, considerably lessen, but would not wholly annihilate 
the climatic and geographical influences of the forest, or ruin¬ 
ously diminish its value as a regular source of supply of fuel 
and timber. For prevention of the evils upon which I have 
so long dwelt, the American people must look to the diffusion 
of general intelligence on this subject, and to the enlightened 
self interest, for which they are remarkable, not to the action 
of their local or general legislatures. Even in France, govern¬ 
ment has moved with too slow and hesitating a pace, and pre¬ 
ventive measures do not yet compensate destructive causes. 
The judicious remarks of Troy on this point may w r ell be 
applied to other countries than France, other measures of 
public policy than the preservation of the woods. “ To move 
softly,” says he, “ is to commit the most dangerous, the most 
unpardonable of imprudences; it diminishes the prestige of 
authority; it furnishes a triumph to the sneerer and the in¬ 
credulous ; it strengthens opposition and encourages resist¬ 
ance ; it ruins the administration in the opinion of the people, 
weakens its power and depresses its courage.” * 
The Economy of the Forest. 
The legislation of European states upon sylviculture, and 
the practice of that art, divide themselves into two great 
branches—the preservation of existing forests, and the creation 
of new. From the long operation of causes already set forth, 
what is understood in America and other new countries by 
the “ primitive forest,” no longer exists in the territories which 
were the seats of ancient civilization and empire, except upon 
a small scale, and in remote and almost inaccessible glens, quite 
out of the reach of ordinary observation. The oldest European 
woods, indeed, are native, that is, sprung from sell-sown seed, 
* Etude mr le Rebowement des Montagues , p. 5. 
