ferent kind of trees, isn't it, just
as a school is made up of a lot of boys? And each of these trees has an
individuality, just in the same way that each boy has an individuality.
That, of course, is easy to see. But what is more important, and much
less known, is that just as the school as a whole gets to have a certain
standard, so does the forest as a whole."

"That seems queer," remarked Fred.

"Perhaps it does, but it's true none the less. In many schools there are
some boys bigger than others, but who are not good for as much, and
they're always picking at the others and crowding them down. In the
same way in a forest there are always some worthless trees, trying to
crowd out the ones which are of more value. As the trees of better value
are always sought for their timber, that gives the worthless stuff a
good chance to get ahead. One of the duties of a Forester, looking after
his section of the forest, is to see that every possible chance is given
to the good over the bad."

"It's really like having people to deal with!" cried Fred in surprise.
"It sounds as if a tree were some kind of a human being."

"There are lots of people," said the Chief Forester, "who think of trees
and speak of trees just exactly as if they were people like themselves.
And it isn't even only the growing of the right kind of trees, but there
are lots of ways of handling them under different conditions and at
different ages. Thus, a Forester must be able to make his trees grow in
height up to a certain stage, then stop their further growth upwards and
make them put on diameter."

"But how can you get a tree to grow in a certain way?" asked Fred in
utter amazement.

"Get Loyle here to tell you all about it. I suppose you learned that at
the Ranger School, didn't you?" he added, turning to the younger boy.

"Yes, sir. We had a very interesting course in silviculture."

"But just to give you a rough idea, Fred," continued the Forester, "you
know that some trees need a lot of light. Consequently, if a number of
young trees are left fairly close together, they will all grow up
straight as fast as they can, without putting out any branches near the
bottom, and all their growth will be of height."

"See, Fred," interjected Wilbur, "that's why saplings haven't got any
twigs except just at the top."

"Just so," said the Forester. "Presently," he continued, "as these young
trees grow up together, one will overtop the rest. If the adjacen