In recent years the demand for lumber and wood pulp and the careless and wasteful way in which the forests have been handled by the lumbermen has greatly reduced the forests of the United States. It has been authoritativelystated that if the present waste of our forest land con tin ues, the timber supply of the country will be exhausted before 1940. Not only are the forests being recklessly cut down,but forest fires are each
year destroying millions
BAD FORESTRY.
The forest was razed, leaving no small trees for future growth.
of dollars worth of timber. When the importance of lumber to all kinds of industries is considered, the rapid exhausting of our forest supplies becomes almost appalling.
But not only is the destruction of the forests a menace to the industries in which lumber is necessary, but the effects are far reaching in many other directions. Slopes from which the forests have beenBAD FORESTRY.
The hillside was stripped, leaving it a prey to erosion.
removed become an easy prey to the forces of erosion, and the soil which for thousands of years has been accumulating may be swept away by the rainfall of a few seasons, leaving the slopes bare of soil and devoid of vegetable life. Thus the sites of valuable forests, which by proper care might have been continual wealth producers, are rendered nearly profitless deserts.
The harmfulness, however, does not stop here. The rain that falls upon these slopes, and which was formerly retained by the roots and vegetation, so that it slowly crept downward into the valleys and streams, now runs off quickly, flooding the rivers and doing damage to regions at a distance. Streams which formerly varied but little in their volume during the entire year, now become subject to great extremes of high and low water. This renders them less useful for manufacturing, commerce and water supply to say nothing of the frightful damage done each year by floods.
GOOD FORESTRY.
Notice how carefully the underbrush has been
removed to guard against fire.
The destruction of the forests tends also to exterminate the wild animals and deprives man of a chance to get away from his artificial surroundings and obtain a knowledge and an enjoyment of life and nature which has been unaffected by his own dominant influence.
In many European countries the forests have become a national care and not only is the cutting of trees, except under certain restrictions, prohibited, but the greatest care is maintained to guard against fires. In our own country the government hasrecently established a number of forest preserves which are carefully patrolled, and here the destruction from forest fires is rigidly guarded against. Great care of all forests should be taken by hunters, campersGOOD FORESTRY.
Notice how the underbrush and small limbs have been cleaned up.
and all others who visit them, and also by the railways passing through them. Loggers and lumbermen should see that it is to their interest to maintain growing forests and not wantonly to destroy them.
When the native forests are destroyed, trees of other kinds may in time replace those removed, but frequently these are of less commercial value. Thus, when the conifer forests of the northern states are cut off, birches and poplars replace them. If only the larger trees had been cut, leaving the smaller and younger trees to hold the ground, the more valuable forests might have been retained.
122.Flora of the United States. -The United States has such agreat range of climate, soil, elevation and other geographical condi- tions that it possesses a large variety of plants. About five hundred dif- ferent kinds of native treeshave been listed, and there are many different kinds of shrubs and smaller plants. To these native plants must be added many useful as well as ornamental plants and not a few noxious weeds, which have been imported from other countries and havefound an agreeable home here.
A CALIFORNIA BIG TREE.
Notice the size at the base.
The largest and perhaps most remarkable trees in the United States are the Big Trees of California, a species of redwood. Trees of this species have been measured which were 325 ft. high, more than 100 ft. higher than Bunker Hill Monument, and others which were more than 90 ft. in circumference. A plant which has probably appropriated more territory than any other plant in the world is the "sage brush" of the arid western plains. These low grayish shrubs cover hundreds of thousands of square miles. They are useless except for fuel. In the well- watered part of the country, plants are abundant and varied, rangingfrom the subtropical palms of the Gulf coast to the semi-arctic types of the northern border.
123.Fauna of the United States. -As the wide treeless plainsand prairies of the central part of the country contained few coverts for skulking animals of prey, they were admirably adapted to the wants of gregarious grazing animals. Here were found the countless herds of antelopes and buffaloes which in the early days of transcontinental travel swarmed over the territory crossed by the railroads and not in- frequently forced the trains to stop and wait until they had crossed the track. To-day they are almost exterminated.
The forests of the northern regions with their grassy glades and meadows, once the home of great herds of caribou and great numbers of moose, have too frequently resounded to the sound of ax and gun still to contain many of these noble creatures.
Among the mountains with their rough surfaces and rugged fastnesses the black, brown, and grizzly bear onceroamed supreme, but now they find
COYOTE.
The prairie wolf of the western plains.
security only in the most inaccessible
places. Wolves once skulked in bands far and wide over almost the entire country, ready to pull down and devour weaker animals, but now both they and their prey have almost vanished.