Excerpt from The Important Timber Trees of the United States: A Manual of Practical Forestry

The sincere but mistaken belief that our forests were inexhaustible was quite a natural one. Such a conclusion arose from their vast extent and vigorous growth, and when a cry for their protection and conservation was heard, it was, at first, deemed but a repetition of theory of "Wolf!" in the fable, and was unheeded. In the beginning the cry was very faint and apparently far away, but it grew louder and nearer as the danger of irreparable disaster became more imminent, and we now hear it in strong voice and on every hand. As this awakening to the impending danger has become widespread, there arises in the public mind a strong and earnest desire to know (1) whether the productive capacity of the forests of our country is adequate to meet the demands which will inevitably be made upon them, and, if not, (2) whether any system of conservation which will make it adequate can be devised and applied. Moreover, the public desires to know (3) whether planting new forests on non-agricultural land, where the axe of the lumberman and successive fires have destroyed all valuable tree-growth, is practicable, and, if so, (4) what species of trees would best be grown, where they should be planted, and how they can best be propagated and cared for.

A comprehensive answer to the first two of these inquiries must take cognizance of the condition of existing forests and, likewise, their possible future productive capacity. Such answer should show whether we are consuming our forests faster than they grow, and whether, under any system of forest management, they can be made to meet such future demands as the inevitable increase of population and new uses for forest products are sure to bring about.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.