"There's a sinful waste of wood here," I said, as we climbed over and
around the windfalls and rotting tree-trunks. "The old trees die and are
blown down. The amount of rotting wood equals the yearly growth. Now, I
want to show you the worst enemies of the trees. Here's a big white oak, a
hundred and fifty years old. It's almost dead. See the little holes bored
in the bark. They were made by a beetle. Look!"

I swung my hatchet and split off a section of bark. Everywhere in the bark
and round the tree ran little dust-filled grooves. I pried out a number of
tiny brown beetles, somewhat the shape of a pinching-bug, only very much
smaller.

"There! You'd hardly think that that great tree was killed by a lot of
little bugs, would you? They girdle the trees and prevent the sap from
flowing."

I found an old chestnut which contained nests of the deadly white moths,
and explained how it laid its eggs, and how the caterpillars that came from
them killed the trees by eating the leaves. I showed how mice and squirrels
injured the forest by eating the seeds.

"First I'd cut and sell all the matured and dead timber. Then I'd thin out
the spreading trees that want all the light, and the saplings that grow too
close together. I'd get rid of the beetles, and try to check the spread of
caterpillars. For trees grow twice as fast if they are not choked or diseased.
Then I'd keep planting seeds and shoots in the open places, taking
care to favor the species best adapted to the soil, and cutting those that
don't grow well. In this way we'll be keeping our forest while doubling its
growth and value, and having a yearly income from it."