During naturalist Henry David Thoreau's journeys through the Maine Woods he prepared himself by reading Forest Life and Forest Trees (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1851.) by John S. Springer (1811 - 1852). The book was a pioneering survey of the Maine woods. A native of Robbinston, Maine, who had worked as a practical lumberman before becoming a Methodist minister, Springer knew his subject and presented things in a clear, orderly manner that has never gone out of style. Thoreau admired the book, but was critical of timber harvesting methods. Indeed, woodsman and environmentalist have ever since argued the merits of Springer's approach to that of Thoreau's.