COULD WE GET ALONG WITHOUT THE TREES?

We have come to depend upon trees to supply so many of our wants that we could not possibly do without them. We can no more spare the trees than Nature can. She needs them in her work of protecting the soil on the steep slopes and of holding back the raindrops that they may keep the springs alive. She needs them to form nesting places for the birds, and she needs the dark forest so that the wild creatures may find shelter and a home.

It would be strange if we did not love the trees; for they are not only useful, but add so much to the beauty of our homes. Our early ancestors may at times have made their homes in the trees, as some of the wild people do now. They certainly lived among the trees, for the myth stories that they have given us speak of the deep, dark forests and of the mysterious people supposed to inhabit them.

We feel pity for the people who live in treeless deserts. The few articles of wood which they possess have to be brought a long distance at great cost. The Eskimos of the frozen North are more helpless than the desert people, for before the coming of explorers they had no communication with forested regions. They were not wholly without wood, however, for the ocean waves occasionally washed pieces upon their shores.

From the time when the earliest man found a club a better weapon than his bare fists, wood has been used for an ever-increasing number of purposes. Wood fires kept the early people warm. Wood was used in making their bows and spears; bark and pieces of branches served to make their rude homes.

The inner bark of the cedar and birch was used by the Indians in weaving baskets and mats. From the inner bark of the birch tree they made canoes that were so light that they could be carried from one stream to another. Where there were no birch trees, great cedars were cut or burned down and made into canoes, for traveling by water was much easier than over rocky ground or through dense forests. Some tribes of Indians learned to split the cedar logs into rude boards which they used in making their houses. The Indians also learned to boil down the sweet sap of the maple until it turned to sugar.

The eating of nuts and fruits furnished by certain kinds of trees came as natural to early men as it does to the other animals. They shared with the birds the wild fruits, and divided with the squirrels the many kinds of nuts. So highly do the Italians still value the wild chestnut that this tree, almost alone of all the forest trees that once covered their country, has been saved.

The most important uses of trees in our country are for lumber, for fuel, and for the edible fruits and nuts which they bear. There are several purposes to which logs are put without being sawed into lumber, such as for telegraph poles and for piling for the support of great buildings and for wharves. Long ago nearly all our houses were made of logs. There was then an abundance of clear, straight trees but very few sawmills. It was easy to cut the logs, peel and notch them at the ends, and then lay them up in a house of just the size that was wanted. From the logs that split easily rough boards and shingles were made, as well as chairs and tables. Blocks of wood were set in the openings cut for windows, because of the scarcity of glass.

Our forefathers had all the wood they wanted just for the cutting, and so they warmed their houses by means of fireplaces large enough to hold great logs. They made of wood every tool and household convenience for which this substance could be used. Indeed, they had more wood than they wanted. Trees covered so much of the land that the ground could not be cultivated until they had been cut away. Now we wish that we had the oak, hickory, black walnut, and other kinds of trees, that the pioneers of our country burned in order to get them out of the way, for they have become very valuable.

Now, partly because wood is becoming scarce, and partly because our large buildings must be made very strong and safe from fire, we are using other materials for them. Stone, brick, and concrete, when tied together with iron beams, are more suitable material for great buildings. Our land now contains so many people, and so many new homes are needed every year, that the lumber required for houses alone is almost more than we can believe.

The forests are now disappearing so fast that unless we use wood more carefully we may have to give up our attractive wooden homes and cheery fireplaces and live in houses of stone or concrete. In many parts of the world people have so completely destroyed the forests that they have not only to make their homes of mud bricks or stone, but have little wood left for fuel and other purposes.

We cannot mention all the purposes to which wood is put in our homes and in our industries. It would take a whole page in this book merely to make a list of them. What we ought to remember, however, is that it is not so much the amount of wood that we actually use as it is the wood that is wasted that is likely to bring us to want. Two thirds of the wood of the trees cut throughout our country is wasted in its manufacture into lumber and other objects. Besides this, as much wood is burned every year in needless forest fires as is cut by the lumberman. The waste of trees that are cut merely for their bark which is used in tanning leather is a wrong for which Nature will sometime call us to account.

In Switzerland, where the forests are given the care that we bestow upon a garden, not a particle of wood is allowed to go to waste. The branches are all picked up and saved. Even the sawdust is made use of in the manufacture of wood alcohol, which has an important use as fuel.

There are many kinds of trees the sap of which has great value. If care is used in tapping the trees, they are not greatly injured and will live for years. Sap of the maple affords delicious maple sugar. The sticky sap of the coniferous trees is obtained by making a cut in the bark. Canada balsam, thus obtained, is a clear liquid from a fir tree of the same name. It is the finest of all the turpentines and is used for many purposes in the arts. Enormous quantities of turpentine are obtained from the yellow pines. The pine forests of the Southern states supply nearly all our turpentine. From this by a process of distillation is obtained resin and spirits of turpentine.

The rubber tree found in the tropical forests has become one of the most necessary of trees. Rubber made from the sap of this tree is now used for many purposes for which we have been able to find no other material.

We sometimes forget how valuable trees are for various substances used in medicine. Our lives may depend on having such medicines within reach. Quinine made from the bark of the cinchona tree is perhaps the most important. Camphor gum is furnished by another tropical tree. The acacia supplies gum arabic. The poison, strychna, comes from a nut tree. The eucalyptus, birch, and other trees too numerous to name, supply various other medicinal products.

While we are trying to find other substances to replace wood as far as is possible, so as to keep the forests from being used up, we are requiring more and more for the manufacture of paper. The spruce forests are fast disappearing in pulp mills, from which the blocks of wood emerge as sheets of paper. Perhaps after a time we shall find something to take the place of wood in the manufacture of paper.

The one use to which we put the trees, which does not destroy or injure them in the slightest, is growing them for their fruit and nuts. We take great care of such trees, selecting the best varieties and cultivating, trimming, and spraying them in order to keep them healthy and strong. The better the care that we give them, the finer and larger become their fruits.

Trees are valuable to us in so many ways and appeal so deeply to our love of the beautiful things in Nature that we should all be interested in them. If we give the trees a chance, they will do their share toward making our lives comfortable and happy.