Lumbering and Forest Products 
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national treasury. The rest is returned to the states in which the 
forests are located, for the benefit of their schools and roads. The 
lands most recently included in the National Forests are in the White 
and the Appalachian Mountains. 
Forest rangers are employed to build trails and roads, to prevent 
fires, to fight fires, and to see that the forests are not abused. 
Effort is made to keep the forests in the best condition for tree 
growth. Underbrush is cut out regularly, and diseased and 
stunted trees are felled. The healthy trees are sold and cut only 
when they are full grown. 
The Forest Service makes a special effort to preserve a forest 
growth on steep slopes in order to prevent the soil from being washed 
away. Thus the flow of the rivers is made steady, with the result 
that their water power is of increased value, and the danger of floods 
is diminished. 
FORESTS IN FOREIGN LANDS 
Other North American forests. We have already noted that the 
forests along our northern border extend into Canada. There they 
expand into vast primeval wastes where Indians still hunt fur-bear- 
ing animals, and where the people of America and Canada find an 
enchanting summer playground. The parts of our northeastern 
forest that continue into Quebec and the parts of our Pacific forest 
that continue into British Columbia are especially valuable and 
extensive. Both support thriving lumber industries. Most of the 
Canadian forest growth, however, is fit only for paper making, since 
in high latitudes the trees dwindle, until in the far north they are 
mere shrubs. A cold, grassy, treeless waste extends throughout 
northern Canada. 
To the south of the United States, in Mexico, there are almost no 
forests throughout the great area of the dry northern desert and cen- 
tral plateaus. The forest wealth of Mexico is in the tropical forests 
of the lowlands and the seaward slopes of the south. 
Conservation of European forests. In most of Europe the climate 
is well suited for forests, and within historic times they flourished al- 
most everywhere. As the population increased it was necessary to 
cut the forests in order to use the land for crops. In some places this 
was done unwisely ; the soil was washed away and the growth of new 
forests was hampered. Some countries, like France and Germany, early 
recognized the foolishness of thus slashing away the country’s forests. 
Now their policy is to plant many trees and to give them painstaking