s 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.

[Illustration: _H. W. Fairbanks_
A giant sugar pine in a National Forest in the Sierra Nevada
Mountains.]

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 completel