Page:Harold Titus--Timber.djvu/134

126 the seed bearers and the seeds that lie ready to sprout and the life of the soil itself.

"To exist as a nation, we must have forests; to have forests all we need to do for a beginning is to give this worthless land a chance. We can speed up its work by helping—by keeping out fire, by planting trees by good forest practice. Can't you see all these Michigan plains growing pine again? And in Wisconsin and Minnesota, Pennsylvania and New England, the South, and everywhere where hills and valleys have become blackened eyesores? Don't you see what it would mean to people, not only in cheaper homes and steel and railroads, but something else? Fish and game and a chance to play as men were intended to play! It is so simple to do; to show people that it is simple is such a task!"

She stopped with a smile and Taylor rapped the ash from his pipe.

"That's a head-full," he said soberly.

Helen drew a deep breath.

"I'm glad I don't bore you," she said. "There are few people who will listen, few who realize their dependence on forests."

"But they must listen to you, now. You've succeeded."

"I have only commenced. You can grow the trees and that will satisfy the people who love trees. Sentiment doesn't get far; it's necessary to show profit. Is reforestation an economic possibility? men will ask. That is the question to answer."

"But you have! Look at what you have produced!"

Again she shook her head.

"There are trees, yes, but think what it has cost to grow them."