34 THE CAROLINA MOUNTAINS 
North Carolina mountains ought also to exercise 
the functions of a landscape gardener. No one asks 
that great tracts of primeval forest be kept for sen- 
timent, but one does ask that certain portions of 
exceptionally beautiful tracts lying along the most 
frequented routes of travel be hedged about by 
some protecting power. 
Moreover, on the slopes of those ridges that stand 
at imposing or beautiful points of view, the trees 
should be kept to preserve those picturesque sky- 
lines so characteristic of these mountains and which 
are disappearing with startling rapidity. It is asking 
too much that we wait a hundred years for the trees 
to grow again before we can enjoy the pictures that 
have made the mountains in their early days so 
enchanting, and the destruction of which brings, 
comparatively speaking, so small a return. It is easy 
to cut a big tree, but we must wait a century or two 
to get it back again, and who of us can afford that? 
The genius of man has overcome the uttermost 
defenses of nature, and to-day the triumphant saw- 
mill shrieks and devours in every stronghold of the 
mountains. The high places, the birth-chambers 
of the rivers, have struck their colors before the 
advance of the enemy. The sceptre has long since 
fallen from the hand of the red man. His successor 
roams the forest for pleasure, and also puts it to a 
thousand uses the aborigine did not so much as 
dream of; but the wisdom of the invader is such that 
he can if he will use the forest and yet preserve it, 
strengthen it, enhance its beauty, and increase its 
