aids agriculture by preventing floods and storing the surplus
rainfall in the soil for the use of farm crops. It supplies the
foundation for all our railroads. It is the producer of fertile
soils. It gives employment to millions of workmen. It is a
resource which bountifully repays kind treatment. It is the best
organized feature of the plant world. The forest is not merely a
collection of different kinds of trees. It is a permanent asset
which will yield large returns over long periods when properly
managed.

Our forest fortune has been thoughtlessly squandered by
successive generations of spendthrifts. Fortunately, it is not
too late to rebuild it through coöperative effort.

The work has been well begun, but it is a work of years, and it
is to the youth of the country that we must look for its
continuous expansion and perpetuation. A part of our effort must
be directed toward familiarizing them with the needs and rewards
of an intelligent forestry policy.




CONTENTS


INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER
I. HOW TREES GROW AND MULTIPLY
II. THE FOREST FAMILIES