New-York tribune., 1901-12-22
TIE LOVE OF AGE IN FORESTS.
HOW TO RECONCILE IDEAL BEAUTY WITH USE
FULNESS
From The Forester.

FULNESs.
From The Forester.
Il is q pity that an often mistaken sentiment for
helping 10 perpetuaIe the forest confirm pre1udicss
against the true forester. The trouble is not SO
much that those who know the Importance of a
large forest crop forget il: as that many men and
as = Mac If rcreatinn and poi,Tre of a.stnetic
enjoyment associate the operations Of the lumber
hold most dear. Yet a virgin forest is idle for
est and extensive tracts of useful land cannot lie
as New-England. The fact that places Ike the
are more thoroughly exploited than any others in
Germany-are among the most admired and greatly
visited parts Of Europe is sharp suggestion tnat
more closely you examine it the more OF preju-
dice does IL appear to be. and the less ike reason
In the frst place. the people who travel over the
parts OF Maine, New-hork vermont aId OF pther
States to the south attributing much OF the charm
Of the country 10 the virgin character Of its for
ests are reading into the scene what IS nor there
For. on the one hand what they take TO be an un-
once. II not many times; and on the other Il IS I'M
possible, except in the case Of young woods. to
tell at distance whether forest is first growth
or second. What makes the beauty OF the distant
rnouutatnside covered with trees is not that these
separate trees large and old. but that their
thronged crowns present to the eye certain sur
form and the texture vary as the surface is com
posed of the tops of c0nifeTs or OF hardwoods. or
Of trees OF many sorts: they vary with the sea-
sons. with the age Of the forest and in thousand
other ways, and no one with half an eye Would
venture TO say in general that this or that sort OF
growth should be preserved for the greatest beauty
For scenery lovers TO call out for prl1neVal TOT
such, and without further specification, is al
most meaningless.
Similarly the beauty Of the woods for him who.
instead Of gazing them from afar, walks be-
meath their shade, is of many forms that 10
recognize them all is abandon generaltza-
ton. Beauty. as well uglfness. can be found
anywhere. under any conditions, even where the
echoes OF stroke have hardly died away.
Indeed, IL wdness is desired there few places
which are so completely natures own those
abandoned ciearngs where the lumbermen have
admitted the sunlight to great stretches or the
forest floor and among the scattered remnant 9
Of the old growth young vegetation birds ano
beasts thTonging to take advantage OF the
or Yportunities Once get beyond the sense o.
tie beauty Of tall. clear bOles rising nightly III
what Stevenson has called 1.-The crypt of the FOR
and age-to just perception Of the younger ana
more active forms of forest life and finds thai
they have a beauty and self-suffciency OF tneir
would disqualify all that complex mixture OF lusty
forest SO stirs imagination, and which an or
dered and thoroughly managed forest lacks. The
best virgin forests, indeed. are what other for
ests can be- but in regard to certain parts OF our
country economic conditions make ii absolutely
irnr ossible that much first growth permanently
and TO grasp at the consolation which may follow
and which VIII not be insignificant, after all
clIed forest is not inferior in appearance to
old one and IL is surprising how much of what al
ready passes old among the uncritfcal was plain
lv Young fifty years ago. To call aloud for the
the axe to the woods which he is 20 manage. Is
simply 10 multiply contra dictions. and 70 heap OBJ
scIes in the path of the only sort of forest pres
ervation which is attainable