“Tell me what you thought of the forests.” “I saw many, many plantations of pine in orderly rows. But I did not consider them to be forests.” “Indeed. Then what in your consideration is a forest?” Charley said slowly, “I am sure that wild natural woodlands are the only true forests. The entire atmosphere—the surrounding air, the intertwined roots, the humble ferns and lichens, insects and diseases, the soil and water, weather. All these parts seem to play together in a kind of grand wild orchestra. A forest living for itself rather than the benefit of humankind.”
