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[Illustration: _Nat'l Ass'n Audubon Societies_
The passenger pigeon, an extinct species.]
CONSERVATION SERIES
CONSERVATION READER
BY
HAROLD W. FAIRBANKS
AUTHOR OF "HOME GEOGRAPHY, STORIES OF OUR
MOTHER EARTH," "ROCKS AND MINERALS,"
"THE WESTERN UNITED STATES,"
"PRACTICAL PHYSIOGRAPHY,"
"GEOGRAPHY OF CALIFORNIA,"
ETC.
ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS AND
WITH REPRODUCTIONS OF PAINTINGS
IN COLOR
YONKERS-ON-HUDSON, NEW YORK
WORLD BOOK COMPANY
1920
WORLD BOOK COMPANY
THE HOUSE OF APPLIED KNOWLEDGE
Established, 1905, by Caspar W. Hodgson
YONKERS-ON-HUDSON, NEW YORK
2126 PRAIRIE AVENUE, CHICAGO
The need for education in the principles of conservation is imperative.
As Henry Fairfield Osborn states the matter, "We are yet far from the
point where the momentum of conservation is strong enough to arrest and
roll back the tide of destruction." The movement for the preservation of
natural resources can succeed only with the establishment of an
enlightened public sentiment on the subject. To create and maintain such
a sentiment is the proper work of the schools. In making this
_Conservation Reader_ available for school use, author and publishers
have had in mind the great and lasting service that such a text might
render. The publishers believe that this little volume and others
forthcoming in the Conservation Series will rank high among "Books That
Apply the World's Knowledge to the World's Needs"
Copyright, 1920, by World Book Company
Copyright in Great Britain
_All rights reserved_
INTRODUCTION
The wave of enthusiasm for the conservation of our national resources
must reach the children or it will expend much of its force uselessly.
It is from the education of the children in right ways of looking at
Nature that everything is to be expected in the years to come. If they
learn to understand the value of the things about them, as well as to
appreciate their beauties, the carrying on and enlarging of the
conservation program which is now so well under way can be safely left
to their care.
The West, although it has already been ruthlessly exploited, has lost
less of its natural wealth than have the longer-settled Eastern states.
In the newer parts of our country we can reasonably hope to save most of
the forests and most of the wild life, and pass them on down to our
children and grandchildren in something of their primeval beauty and
richness.
In the East we can hope to arouse a stronger sentiment for preserving
what remains of the forests as well as for extending their areas, for
proper forestation will lessen the danger of erosion of the soil and of
floods, and will encourage the return of the wild creatures that are of
so much economic importance and add so much to the joy of life.
A book bringing out in a simple and interesting manner the principles of
conservation has long been needed, for there has been little that could
be placed in the hands of pupils. It is with the earnest hope of
furnishing something which will answer in part the present need that
this _Conservation Reader_ has been prepared.
Acknowledgments are due the publishers of _American Forestry_ and the
_Century Magazine_ for courteous permission to reprint poems taken from
those publications. For their help in supplying photographic subjects to
illustrate the book, thanks are extended to the persons to whom the
various illustrations are accredited in immediate connection with their
use in the text. The reproductions in color of two bird subjects have
been secured through the friendly cooeperation of Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson,
Secretary of the National Association of Audubon Societies.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
1. HOW OUR FIRST ANCESTORS LIVED 1
2. HOW OUR NEEDS DIFFER FROM THOSE OF THE FIRST MEN 9
3. THE EARTH AS IT WAS BEFORE THE COMING OF CIVILIZED MEN 18
4. NATURE'S UNEQUAL DISTRIBUTION OF HER GIFTS 25
5. THE LAND OF THE POOR PEOPLE 32
6. WHAT THE MUDDY RIVULET HAS TO SAY 39
7. HOW FAR WILL NATURE RESTORE HER WASTED GIFTS? 44
8. THE SOIL--THE MOST IMPORTANT GIFT OF NATURE 51
9. THINGS OF WHICH SOIL IS MADE 57
10. HOW THE SOIL IS MADE 61
11. HOW VEGETATION HOLDS THE SOIL 67
12. WHAT HAPPENS WHERE THERE IS NO PROTECTING CARPET OF VEGETATION 73
13. THE USE AND CARE OF WATER 81
14. COULD WE GET ALONG WITHOUT THE TREES? 89
15. WHERE HAS NATURE SPREAD THE FOREST? 96
16. WHAT ARE THE ENEMIES OF THE TREES? 104
17. HOW THE FORESTS ARE WASTED 112
18. HOW THE FORESTS SUFFER FROM FIRES 119
19. EVILS THAT FOLLOW THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FORESTS 125
20. HOW OUR GOVERNMENT IS HELPING TO SAVE THE FORESTS 130
21. OUR FOREST PLAYGROUNDS 139
22. WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE WILD FLOWERS 144
23. NATURE'S PENALTY FOR INTERFERING WITH HER ARRANGEMENTS 150
24. WHAT SHALL WE DO WHEN THE COAL, OIL, AND GAS ARE GONE? 155
25. NEED FOR PROTECTION OF CREATURES THAT LIVE IN THE WATER 162
26. MAN MORE DESTRUCTIVE THAN THE OTHER ANIMALS 171
27. WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE ANIMALS AND BIRDS 176
28. THE TRAGEDIES OF MILADY'S HAT AND CAPE 183
29. THE COURT OF THE ANIMALS AND BIRDS 188
30. THE BIRDS OUR GOOD FRIENDS AND PLEASANT COMPANIONS 195
31. HOW TO BRING THE WILD CREATURES BACK AGAIN 203
INDEX 213
CONSERVATION READER
CHAPTER ONE
HOW OUR FIRST ANCESTORS LIVED
Before these fields were shorn and tilled
Full to the brim our rivers flowed;
The melody of waters filled
The fresh and boundless woods;
And torrents dashed, and rivulets play'd,
The fountains spouted in the shade.
WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, quoted in _American Forestry_, XIV. 520
The earth is our home. It is a great treasure house filled with the most
wonderful things. Although people have lived on the earth for many
thousands of years, they have been very slow in learning the secrets of
their treasure house. This is because early men were much like the lower
animals. During all these years their minds have been slowly growing.
Now we can learn and understand many things which our ancestors of long
ago could not.
In habits and appearance the first men that roamed the earth were little
different from the other animals except that they walked upright. When
they had enough to eat and a home safe from enemies, they seemed
perfectly happy and contented.
These early men lived in the same wonderful treasure house as we do, but
they did not know how to make use of its riches. In truth, their wants
were so few that they would have had no use for the things that now seem
so necessary to us. The rich fields about them lay untilled. The gold,
silver, copper, and iron in the earth remained undiscovered; and the
animals and birds that we now use in so many ways then served them
mainly for food.
Since they had no furry coats to keep them warm as do the animals of the
cold regions, and had not learned to make clothing, their homes must
have been in the warm parts of the earth. While they were without
weapons to defend themselves against the lion and tiger, yet they were
sharp witted and very quick in their movements and thus were usually
able to escape their more powerful enemies.
Although these early ancestors of ours seemed so much like the other
animals, they were in reality very different. They had the same keen
senses of sight, hearing, and smell, but they were more intelligent.
When the dog and cat have had enough to eat, they lie down perfectly
happy and contented. But when early men had had enough to eat, they were
often not satisfied. They had other longings which finally led them to
make discoveries about the uses of things around them and how to make
their lives more comfortable.
The little bear cub, for example, as it grows up learns from its mother
just what it should do on all occasions. It learns what its mother knows
and that is all. But among the early people of whom we are speaking the
children not only learned all that their parents knew, but a little
more. In this way each generation of children came to know more about
the world.
Thus after many years had passed people came to understand something of
the wonderful world in which they lived. They were no longer at the
mercy of wild animals, storms, heat, cold, hunger, and disease.
The first people, like the other animals, used only their hands and
teeth in hunting and in fighting their enemies. Finally some of the
brighter ones discovered that a stick or club served better than the
bare hands.
The use of flint knives may have been brought about through some one
cutting himself accidentally upon a piece of flint sticking out of the
ground. If he happened to be very bright, he would at once see the value
of such a piece of stone tied on the end of an arrow or club. By such
means, perhaps, implements of wood, bone, and stone came into use.
We have discovered the sites of many of the villages as well as the
caves in which the ancient inhabitants of the earth lived. The
implements of bone and stone which we have dug up in such places enable
us to learn a great deal about their lives.
There was a time when people did not know the use of fire. What a
fearful thing fire must have seemed to them, at first. Their knowledge
of it probably came from lightning or from hot lava flowing from a
volcano. After they had learned to control fire, and to make it by
rubbing two sticks together, they must have felt rich indeed. The
discovery of fire was one of their greatest triumphs. It kept the cold,
damp cave warm and dry, even though it filled their eyes with smoke. It
was a means of keeping them safe from the dangerous wild beasts when
they had to sleep out in the open. It was useful in cooking their food,
and by and by it was to prove valuable in still other ways, when they
began to _make_ things as well as to _find_ things.
They began, by and by, to build rude shelters,--huts and wigwams, low
houses of dried mud, and dugouts in the hillside. They learned to weave
simple coverings out of the fibers of certain plants, or hair or wool,
to protect their bodies against the cold and the wet. They learned,
somehow, to tan the skins of animals, so that they would not first
stretch and grow slippery. They learned to hold things together by
sewing, using sharp bones for needles and the sinews of animals or
fibers of plants for thread.
[Illustration: _American Forestry Association_
The Laplander of the far North uses the reindeer to pull his sled, its
flesh for food, its skin for clothing, and its horns for various
purposes.]
How did men discover that they could travel on the water? Some one may
at first have made use of a log to cross a river and, afterwards, have
tied several logs together, making a raft. When they had learned how to
make a canoe out of a log, by burning or hewing it out with rude axes,
they could then take long journeys on the water to new lands. Since
paddling was very tiresome, some one, brighter than the rest, probably
thought of making a sail of bark or skins and so letting the wind push
the canoe along.
We do not know how the metals were discovered. Perhaps fire melted some
of the copper in a vein of ore. Perhaps pure copper was found, for
Nature sometimes leaves it in this form. Copper could be easily hammered
into various useful articles, but it was too soft for many needs. After
tin was discovered, it was learned that by melting it and copper
together a new and very hard metal, known as _bronze_, was formed. Next,
we think, came the discovery of iron, which has become so important that
we could not get along without it. Think what this must have meant for
them! To get firewood, to make rude boats and simple houses, to fight
wild animals, now became easier. After iron they discovered gold and
silver, and began to take an interest in making beautiful as well as
useful things.
It is easy to see how, once these new ways of using the earth were
found, men could move into other regions than the belt where it was
always warm. They could store up food for the winter, they could build
warm shelters and get warm clothing, and they could sit by a fire.
Sometimes when the first people were out hunting, instead of killing the
young animals that they caught, they took them home and cared for them.
So the little creatures became quite tame and grew up about the camps.
The wild jungle fowls were the ancestors of the domestic hens which we
find so useful. The wild cow was tamed in like manner, and made to
supply milk in addition to food and clothing. The colts of wild horses
and donkeys were captured and used for carrying loads. Sheep and goats
were tamed in the same manner, and became the most valued possessions of
some of the ancient peoples as they are of some peoples today. When they
had learned to weave the wool of these animals into clothing and
blankets, they had taken another step upon the long road which leads
from ancient times down to us.
Did these early people live entirely upon meat? If they had done so, we
should never have had the wonderful variety of fruits and vegetables
that we now enjoy so much. We must not suppose that Nature grew these
things wild just as they are found in our gardens today. Our ancestors
grew them for many generations, gradually improving their size and
flavor. By selecting the best and carefully cultivating them, we are
still continuing to make them better.
The horse, donkey, cow, and camel proved valuable in another way to the
people who were learning to cultivate the ground. When harnessed to a
crooked and sharpened stick they aided in breaking up the ground in
which the young plants were growing.
And so the long years passed while the early people were discovering and
making use of the things around them. They came to building better and
more permanent homes, because they did not have to move from place to
place in search of food. Where there were forests, wood served for their
buildings. Where there were few trees, stone or mud bricks were used.
The brighter people learned to understand Nature more quickly than those
who were dull. Each discovery of some new way of doing things aided them
in making others, and in this way people finally came to have all the
comforts of today. Those people less quick to learn the secrets of
Nature, or those who lived in countries to which Nature had given
little, gained few comforts and even now remain savage.
After our ancestors had learned to cultivate the soil, to use the
minerals and the forests, and had tamed the animals and birds, they were
still unsatisfied. They attempted to make the forces of Nature work for
them. For a long time people made flour by crushing grain in a mortar.
Next, two flat stones were used, one being made to turn upon the other
by a handle. After that some animal, such as an ox or a horse, was
harnessed to larger stones which, as they slowly turned, ground the
grain. This was a great deal of work, and so some one thought of making
the water tumbling over a ledge of rock grind the grain for them. The
water was made to go over a water wheel. This wheel then made the
millstones go around. It was a great deal easier.
[Illustration: The wild home of early men.
_H. W. Fairbanks_]
Where there was no water power, wind was made to do the same work. A
crude windmill gathered the power of the rapidly moving air. After wind
and water had been forced to serve them, some one who had seen the lid
of a tea kettle dancing up and down, thought of using steam. Then
electricity, which in the form of jagged lightning had seemed so fearful
a thing to the early people, was harnessed and made the greatest servant
of all the forces of Nature.
The discovery of powder led to the making of guns so destructive that
dozens of birds could be killed at one shot.
Some people became greedy and used all these wonderful discoveries to
rob Nature. It seemed as if in some places all the wild life would be
destroyed. Fires were allowed to burn the forest unhindered. The soil
was made to produce crops until it grew poor.
If we become selfish and indifferent and neglect to care for the
treasures which Nature has placed in our hands, very serious things will
happen to us, as they have happened to other people. How to use the
storehouse of Nature without wasting or destroying these treasures is
what we mean by _conservation_.
CHAPTER TWO
HOW OUR NEEDS DIFFER FROM THOSE OF THE FIRST MEN
We have seen that the first men, like the other animals, depended upon
the food that Nature supplied them, and when this was lacking they went
hungry. When men had learned the use of fire they took the first step in
making Nature serve them better than she did the lower animals. Today
she works for us in so many ways that we can hardly name them all.
After the use of fire the next thing that men learned was to make better
homes, to tame some of the wild animals, and to raise a part of their
food supplies, instead of depending entirely upon what they could pick
up here and there.
As the number of people increased, the question of securing food became
more and more important. Would it not seem pretty hard to have to go out
and hunt for your breakfast in the woods, or fields, or along the water?
If you were alone you might find enough to eat, but if there were
thousands of other people doing the same thing, you would probably go
hungry. For this reason people began to cultivate berries, fruits,
roots, and grains, and to take better care of their herds.
Living as they did, in those parts of the world where the climate was
warm, they usually found an abundance of food. But when these places
became too crowded, and some of them had to move to new regions, they
often found less food and a climate not always comfortable.
In this way people spread into the colder and drier parts of the earth.
The need for things which they did not have there sharpened the wits of
these people. It led to one discovery after another. New needs were felt
and new ways of satisfying them were sought. They kept finding out more
about Nature and how she works. After many years they knew much more and
were also far more comfortable than those people who continued to live
where Nature supplied everything.
There are now so many more people on the earth than there were long ago
that to furnish them all with food is a very great task. Besides, there
are now many people engaged in work other than farming, hunting, and
fishing. All such people have to be provided for by those whose business
it is to get food. People of the great cities are dependent upon those
in the country for all that they eat! We can picture to ourselves the
suffering that would follow if for only one week every one had to get
his own food.
We need many things that the first people thought nothing about, because
their manner of life was so much simpler than ours. Let us see now what
they are.
We live in tightly closed houses, and so have less trouble in keeping
warm and dry. But we do not always get the supply of fresh air that we
need. Many of us are sickly and weak because of this. Our ancestors
lived in the open air, which is always pure and fresh. A supply of pure
air, then, is one of the things that we must now provide for.
People once gave no thought to the purity of the water that they drank.
When there were few people, water did not easily become impure. One
could drink water wherever one found it and there was small risk of
harm. Now in many places there are so many thousands of people gathered
together that they have to take the greatest care about drinking water,
in order to keep in good health. To get pure water it is often necessary
to bring it many miles from mountainous regions where no one lives.
Clothing is another thing that concerns us very much. Our ancestors were
not troubled about their clothing. In the warm countries they went
almost naked. Where it was cold the skins of animals served very well.
Changes of fashion did not disturb them and cause them to throw away
warm covering. To supply ourselves now with clothing we call upon Nature
for many things. As she cannot, without our help, furnish what we need,
we have to keep a great number of flocks, for their wool and skins, and
cultivate vast fields of cotton and flax.
When Nature raised in her own way the berries, grains, and roots that
the first men ate, no thought was given to the soil in which these
things grew. In truth, it was not necessary to pay any attention to the
soil. Nature is very careful in her way and never makes the soil poor by
growing more plants than it can support. In her own gardens she always
renews the foods in the soil which the plants require as fast as they
take them away.
The needs of men have increased so fast that the soil has often been
forced to grow more than it ought. Men have been a long time in learning
that they cannot keep on growing the same crops on the same soil year
after year without supplying to the soil extra foods, or _fertilizers_,
as we call them. The care of the soil is another thing to which we have
to give attention, but which did not worry our ancestors.
Nature clothes the earth with a carpet of grasses, bushes, or trees.
When the rain falls on the ground, their roots hold the soil so firmly
that it usually washes away only very slowly. When men first began to
cultivate the soil, they paid no attention to the fact that water washes
away the loose earth very easily. In this loose earth at the top of the
ground is stored most of the food which the plants require. Care of the
surface of the ground is, then, another thing which we have to keep in
mind.
Men at first made shelters for themselves from anything that was at
hand, such as bark, skins, rock, or earth. When they learned to make
sharp-edged tools, they began to use trees. Where it is cold, much wood
is required to build warm houses. As the numbers of men increased, they
used greater and greater quantities of wood. Wood also proved to be most
useful for many other purposes than house building. In order to plant
larger fields the trees were cut down or burned off, without thought of
doing any harm. In time trees became scarce in many parts of the world
and men began to realize that care must be used or the supply of wood
might fail them.
Coal was finally discovered and men said, "Now we have something that
will last always, for there must be an inexhaustible amount in the earth
beneath our feet. All that we shall have to do is to dig it out." When
men grew wiser they learned that coal must not be used carelessly any
more than the other gifts of Nature; otherwise the supply may give out
and leave them with nothing to take its place.
Hunting and fishing continued to be the business of many. They invented
destructive weapons with which they were able to kill such large numbers
of wild creatures that some kinds disappeared entirely. Fish, also, of
which people thought the sea and the rivers contained a never failing
supply, became scarcer. They did not know that fish live mostly in the
shallow waters along shores, and that the great ocean depths contain
very few.
[Illustration: _George J. Young_
Sierra junipers above Tuolumne Meadows, near the Yosemite Valley,
showing how roots will force their way in apparently most unfavorable
places.]
Thus, as the earth became thickly settled with men and their wants
increased, they discovered that they had to treat Nature in a very
different way from that of their early ancestors.
Because of our great numbers we have to be careful not to use the earth
in such a way as to lessen its fertility and productiveness. Where
people have been careless, famine has often resulted. Poverty and
suffering have come to many parts of the earth, as we shall learn
farther along in this little book.
THE CITY ON THE PLAIN
Strange indeed were the sounds I heard
One day, on the side of the mountain:
Hushed was the stream and silent the bird,
The restless wind seemed to hold its breath,
And all things there were as still as death,
Save the hoarse-voiced god of the mountain.
Through the tangled growth, with a hurried stride,
I saw him pass on the mountain,
Thrusting the briers and bushes aside,
Crackling the sticks and spurning the stones,
And talking in loud and angry tones
On the side of the ancient mountain.
The tips of his goatlike ears were red,
Though the day was cool on the mountain,
And they lay close-drawn to his horned head;
His bushy brows o'er his small eyes curled,
And he stamped his hoofs,--for all the world
Like Pan in a rage on the mountain.
"Where are my beautiful trees," he cried,
"That grew on the side of the mountain?
The stately pines that were once my pride,
My shadowy, droop-limbed junipers:
And my dewy, softly whispering firs,
'Mid their emerald glooms on the mountain?
"They are all ravished away," he said,
"And torn from the arms of the mountain,
Away from the haunts of cooling shade,
From the cloisters green which flourished here--
My lodging for many a joyous year
On the side of the pleasant mountain.
"The songbird is bereft of its nest,
And voiceless now is the mountain.
My murmurous bees once took their rest,
At shut of day, and knew no fear,
In the trees whose trunks lie rotting here
On the side of the ruined mountain.
"Man has let in the passionate sun
To suck the life-blood of the mountain,
And drink up its fountains one by one:
And out of the immortal freshness made
A thing of barter, and sold in trade
The sons of the mother mountain.
"Down in the valley I see a town,
Built of his spoils from my mountain--
A jewel torn from a monarch's crown,
A grave for the lordly groves of Pan:
And for this, on the head of vandal man,
I hurl a curse from the mountain.
"His palpitant streams shall all go dry
Henceforth on the side of the mountain,
And his verdant plains as a desert lie
Until he plants again the forest fold
And restores to me my kingdom old,
As in former days on the mountain.
"Long shall the spirit of silence brood
On the side of the wasted mountain,
E'er out of the sylvan solitude
To lift the curse from off the plain,
The crystal streams pour forth again
From the gladdened heart of the mountain."
MILLARD F. HUDSON, in _American Forestry_, XIV. 42
[Illustration: _Pillsbury's Pictures, Inc._
"'Where are my beautiful trees,' he cried,
'That grew on the side of the mountain?'"]
CHAPTER THREE
THE EARTH AS IT WAS BEFORE THE COMING OF CIVILIZED MEN
For ages, on the silent forest here,
Thy beams did fall before the red man came
To dwell beneath them; in their shade the deer
Fed, and feared not the arrow's deadly aim.
Nor tree was felled, in all that world of woods,
Save by the beaver's tooth, or winds, or rush of floods.
WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, _A Walk at Sunset_
The earth has not always been as it is now. Those parts now possessed by
the more civilized peoples have been very greatly changed. If we could
look back and see some of the countries as they were long ago, we should
hardly know them. In certain lands the forests have been cut down, the
wild creatures driven away, and the soil so carelessly cultivated that
it has become poor. In other lands Nature's gifts have been carefully
used; even the barren deserts have been turned into green fields and
blooming gardens for hundreds of miles.
Let us try to picture to ourselves how our own country looked when white
men first found and explored it. A few hundred years ago it was the home
of wild animals and Indians only. We have been given our freedom in one
of the richest of Nature's gardens, and, like so many children, have
tried to see who could gather the most treasures from it. We have given
little attention to keeping up the garden.
If you have been in some part of the country that is still wild and
unsettled, it will help you to form a picture of how the entire land
once looked. If you have been in one of our great natural parks, this
will be a better help. In these parks everything remains just as Nature
made it. There the animals, birds, and plants are free to live their
lives unmolested. Is it not a good thing that our government has been
wise enough to have large tracts of land left in just the condition in
which the whole country was when our ancestors first came?
We will think of our whole land, then, as a great wild park, rich in all
kinds of animal and plant life. It was not an altogether happy family
that lived in this park, for all were struggling for food, drink, and
sunshine. But as none were possessed of such deadly weapons as those of
civilized man, no one kind of animal was able to kill off all of any
other kind.
Neither the Indians in their wigwams, nor the wild animals in their
lairs, nor the birds singing in the trees, nor the ducks quacking in the
marshes dreamed of the change that was coming to their homes. They did
not dream of civilized man with his terrible weapons and his many needs,
who was to change the whole appearance of the country and nearly or
quite exterminate many of them.
The life of the Indians was almost as simple as that of the lower
animals. Their clothing required little care. Their homes were easily
made. Some of them had learned to cultivate the soil, but they depended
mainly upon food obtained by hunting, and such roots, berries, and nuts
as the women could collect. If we could have looked down on our land as
the bird does, we should have seen little sign of human inhabitants.
There were no roads or bridges, and only indistinct trails led from one
village to another.
In the far Southwest there were people quite different from those of
whom we have been speaking. They were called the Pueblo Indians. In
Mexico there were similar people called the Aztecs. All these Indians
still live in permanent stone villages, as they did a thousand years
ago. They learned more about Nature than the wandering Indians, but we
do not believe they would ever become civilized if left to themselves.
The only animal that the Indians had tamed was the wolf. They made
little use of the wolf-dog except in the far North, where it drew their
sleds over the snow.
Some of the Indians of our country once knew of the use of copper, but
it had been forgotten when white men first came.
All about the Indians was the same world that surrounds us. In truth, it
was a richer world in some ways, for since then many of its treasures
have been lost through greed and waste.
The rich soil of the valleys was almost undisturbed. The forests were
uncut save for an occasional tree used in making a canoe or a rude
cabin. The forests suffered only at the hands of the insects, storms,
and fires. The flowers that covered the ground in spring went
ungathered. The vast grassy prairies were disturbed only by the feeding
of such animals as the buffalo, elk, deer, and antelope.
A single great forest spread over all the mountains and valleys of the
eastern part of our country. Now you can travel for many miles in the
more thickly settled portions of this region and see not a single tree
of the original forest.
To the west of the forest came the prairies and plains. Still farther
west came lofty mountains and desert valleys. On these Western mountains
were other forests with trees of wonderful size.
[Illustration: _American Forestry Association_
The elk once roamed the valleys.]
This great natural park, with its long seacoasts, rivers, lakes,
marshes, dense woods, and open plains, was a paradise for wild creatures
of every description, and the Indian was contented to leave it so.
Grizzly and black bears roamed the thickets. Elk wandered through the
mountains and valleys. Deer were abundant everywhere. The antelope raced
over the plains, mountain goats and sheep lived among the rocks, and
moose filled the Northern woods. Great herds of buffalo darkened the
surface of the plains. When the first railroad was built across the
plains, less than fifty years ago, the trains were sometimes stopped by
herds of buffalo crossing the track.
Most of the songbirds that filled the country then are still with us,
for they were of little commercial value to the hunter. No other land
has richer bird music than ours. Many of the birds that are valuable
for food are, however, nearly extinct. Now we have laws for their
protection, but these laws went into effect too late to save some
species. The passenger pigeon is one of our greatest losses.
The cutting down of the vast forests that once covered the Eastern
states, and the cultivation of fields, has helped to drive many of the
wild creatures away. We are just beginning to learn how poor our country
would be if we lost them all. Refuges are being established in many
places, where those birds and animals most in danger of extinction may
live safe from the hunter.
The coast waters, lakes, and streams of our country were once alive with
fish. The Indians made use of them, but their rude traps did not catch
enough to affect the number seriously. We have fished with every kind of
trap that the brightest fisherman could think of. Many important food
fishes are now very much reduced in numbers. The fur seal and sea otter
are so nearly gone that only the most watchful protection will save them
from extinction.
The land, as the Indian knew it, was beautiful, and was filled with
everything that one could wish. But the Indian did not know how to use
it. He lived a poor life, suffering from cold and hunger.
We came into the possession of a land unspoiled by its primitive
inhabitants. It was just as Nature made it. In a few short years we have
almost exterminated the Indian. We have swept away a large part of the
forests. We have almost destroyed many of the species of animals and
birds. We have robbed the soil and injured the flow of the rivers. Some
of this loss we could not help, for when many millions of people occupy
a land there must be many changes. But for the losses that we have
needlessly and carelessly caused we shall sometime be sorry.
[Illustration: _Pillsbury's Pictures, Inc._
"Such beautiful things in the heart of the woods! Flowers and ferns and
the soft green moss."]
Do you not think we are wise in seeking how to take better care of this
land of ours?
IN THE HEART OF THE WOODS
Such beautiful things in the heart of the woods!
Flowers and ferns and the soft green moss;
Such love of the birds in the solitudes,
Where the swift winds glance and the treetops toss;
Spaces of silence swept with song,
Which nobody hears but the God above;
Spaces where myriad creatures throng,
Sunning themselves in his guarding love.
Such safety and peace in the heart of the woods!
Far from the city's dust and din,
Where passion nor hate nor man intrudes,
Nor fashion nor folly has entered in.
Deeper than hunter's trail hath gone
Glimmers the tarn where the wild deer drink;
And fearless and free comes the gentle fawn,
To peep at herself o'er the grassy brink.
Such pledges of love in the heart of the woods!
For the Maker of all things keeps the feast,
And over the tiny flowers broods
With care that for ages has never ceased.
If he cares for this, will he not for thee--
Thee, wherever thou art today?
Child of an infinite Father, see;
And safe in such gentlest keeping stay.
MARGARET E. SANGSTER, in _American Forestry_, XIV
CHAPTER FOUR
NATURE'S UNEQUAL DISTRIBUTION OF HER GIFTS
Pure, fresh air is free to all of us, for, like an ocean, it surrounds
the whole earth. We need pure water just as much as we do pure air, but
it is not always easy to get. A large part of the earth is buried
beneath water so salt that we cannot use it. Other parts of the earth
are so dry that if we venture into them we may die of thirst. The solid
land on which we make our homes is not all of the same value. Thousands
of square miles are so rocky or so cold or so dry that they support no
living thing. Other thousands of miles of the earth have been so favored
by Nature that they are fairly alive with every sort of creature.
We say that a country is rich in natural resources when it has an
abundance of those things that men need or can make use of for their
pleasure and comfort. A country is poor when it has few of these things.
The first men were poor, although they lived in a rich part of the
earth. They did not know how to make use of what lay around them. If
civilized men are poor now, it is because they have wasted Nature's
gifts or because they live in a country upon which she has bestowed
little.
When we say that the far North where the Eskimos live is a dreary,
desolate region, we mean that it lacks most of those things necessary to
make men comfortable and happy. When we read of the life of the
wandering Arabs in the desert of Arabia, we think of a country to which
Nature has not given its share.
When we speak of Spain as poor, we have in mind a country once favored
by Nature, but no longer prosperous because its resources have been
wasted. Our own land is now rich and prosperous because of the abundance
of its natural resources. We should guard these well lest we meet a fate
similar to that of the people of Spain.
[Illustration: _H. W. Fairbanks_
Where Nature has supplied little rain; desert sand dunes.]
If we journey over our own land, we shall discover that Nature has been
very partial to certain parts, giving them more than they need. Other
parts have been left with little. We shall also discover what wonderful
things men are doing to make up for the failures of Nature, and to make
habitable many of those places which she left uninhabitable.
The forests of the eastern half of the country have been thinned out.
West of the Mississippi River there are thousands of square miles of
prairies where there are almost no trees. In such places the first
settlers had difficulty in getting firewood, and had to build their
houses of earth or stone.
Upon the northwest coast there is fog and rain and little sunshine.
There the forests grow so dense that it is difficult to travel through
them. In the deserts of the Southwest the sun shines out of a cloudless
sky almost every day in the year. The ground becomes very dry and the
living things found there have strange and curious habits.
In the Central and Eastern states there is much coal; and because of
this, millions of people have gathered there to engage in manufacturing.
In California coal is scarce and has to be brought from other parts of
the earth.
The vast prairies of the Mississippi Valley are covered with fields of
waving grain, much of which is shipped to distant regions. In New
England much of the soil is rocky and not enough grain is raised there
to supply the needs of the population.
[Illustration: _U. S. Office of Farm Management (J. S. Cotton)_
A farming scene in the fertile valley of the Missouri River.]
The work that people do in different places is determined by the way in
which Nature has distributed her resources. The farmers are mostly found
in the valleys where the soil is best. Cattle are pastured on those
lands not suited to farming. The miners go to the mountains, where they
can more easily find the minerals they are after. The lumberman finds
his work where the climate favors the growth of forest trees. The
manufacturer seeks the waterfalls, where there is power to turn his
mills.
Now let us try to discover in how far we can change Nature's plan and
make habitable those places which she left uninhabitable. There are some
things which we cannot do. We cannot make the air warmer or colder. We
cannot cause rain to fall even though the fields are parched with
drought. We cannot stop the rain falling, and we cannot stop the winds
blowing.
[Illustration: _H. W. Fairbanks_
The prickly pear in its desert home.]
While we cannot stop the water falling from the clouds, we can drain the
lowlands and marshes and so make them fit for the farmer. We can raise
great dikes or embankments along the rivers and so shut out the flood
waters. The people of Holland have saved thousands of acres from the sea
by building dikes and pumping out the water from the inclosed fields.
While we cannot make it rain where not enough rain falls, we can do that
which is just as good or better: we can carry water by ditches and pipes
to the land that needs it. Much of the soil of the great deserts in the
southwestern part of our country is rich in plant food. All that it
lacks is water.
The Indian roamed over the rich lands of the great delta of the Colorado
River. He often went hungry and thirsty. He did not think of taking the
water out of the river in a ditch and allowing it to flow over and wet
the rich soil. The white man came and turned the river out of its
channel and spread the water over hundreds of square miles of the
richest land on the earth. Now, where once you would have died of thirst
and hunger, there are green fields and growing crops as far as you can
see.
[Illustration: The Owens River aqueduct, through which water is carried
to Los Angeles from a source more than two hundred miles distant.]
The city of Los Angeles is situated in a dry region where there is not
water enough for the needs of a great city. There has now been completed
a great aqueduct which brings a river of water through deserts and
mountains from the Sierra Nevada Mountains, over two hundred miles away.
There is now sufficient water for hundreds of thousands of people.
When it rains too much, many rivers rise and overflow their banks. The
farmer's crops are destroyed, his cattle drowned, and his buildings
washed away. We can lessen the danger from these floods, which are very
bad in such river basins as those of the Ohio and Mississippi, by
building reservoirs in the highlands where the rivers take their start.
If when summer comes these rivers are too shallow for safe navigation,
the reservoirs can be opened and the streams supplied with this stored
water.
The lack of trees upon the prairies was once a serious matter for the
settler. We must not think, however, that because Nature placed no trees
on the prairies that trees will not grow there. She may not have had
handy the seed of the kind suitable for such dry lands. Our government
has found in the dry regions of other countries trees that will grow
upon our prairies. In their own home these trees had become used to a
dry climate like that of our prairies.
Steep canons and cliffs of rock once kept people, living on the opposite
sides of mountain ranges, from becoming acquainted with one another. Our
ancestors were afraid to venture out on the boundless oceans with their
small, frail boats. Because of this the continent that we live on long
remained unknown. Those who first found it, the ancestors of the present
Indians, came here by accident. Storms probably blew their boats across
the North Pacific Ocean, and thus they found a new home. Now railroads
enable us to cross the deserts in perfect comfort. Tunnels have been
made through the mountains, so that we can go easily from one valley to
another. Boats of giant size carry us safely and quickly across the
stormy oceans. Nature did not intend us to fly through the air or swim
beneath the water, but we are learning so much about her laws that we
shall soon be almost as much at home in the air and the sea as the birds
and fish are.
CHAPTER FIVE
THE LAND OF THE POOR PEOPLE
My squandered forests, hacked and hewed,
Are gone; my rivers fail;
My stricken hillsides, stark and nude,
Stand shivering in the gale.
Down to the sea my teeming soil
In yellow torrents goes;
The guerdon of the farmer's toil
With each year lesser grows.
ROBERT M. REESE, _The Spendthrift_; quoted in _American Forestry_,
XIV. 269
This is the story of a land of plenty that became almost a desert. Long
ago there dwelt in this land a people wise in all the things that
concerned their home. Through many hard years of toil and struggle they
had learned to take the very best care of what Nature had given them.
Although Nature seemed to them to be wasteful, she punished waste in her
children. As long as they obeyed, they had comfortable homes, fertile
fields, and sleek herds.
The country of which we are speaking was very beautiful. There were
lofty mountains and broad, fertile valleys. Many streams, fed by clear,
cool springs, flowed through the land. There were also green meadows and
deep, dark forests.
The forests contained many wild animals, for in the forests the animals
found both food and protection. Birds of every sort abounded, and their
music filled the air. Trees overhung the streams, shading them from the
hot sun, so that they did not dry up in the summer. The springs never
failed, for the carpet of leaves and decaying vegetation underneath the
trees of the forests held much of the rainwater from running away, so
that it sank into the ground. Instead of making floods in the rivers, it
fed the springs gradually and steadily through the long, dry summers.
The people of this land had learned the secrets of the growing plants
and how these plants could be made better by cultivation. They had also
learned to tame the wild animals and make them useful. The farms were
managed with great care so that they never grew poor. The soil never
refused to grow their crops. The people had learned during their earlier
years of struggle that they must not clear the forests from the
hillsides, for, if they did, the soil would begin to wash away. They had
learned that they must leave the forests on the mountains in order to
save the springs.
Rain did not always come when it was needed for the crops, and at other
times it rained too much. Reservoirs were built to hold the surplus
water for use in time of drought. Canals were dug to carry it to the
fields.
The wild animals and birds bothered the crops, and the first thought of
the people was to kill them. But it was soon discovered that this was
not wise. Those who destroyed the wild creatures about their farms began
to suffer from rats, mice, rabbits, and a multitude of little insects
that all but devoured the crops.
It did not take these people long to learn that Nature was not to be
trifled with. If they took too much from the earth one year, she made
them pay for it the next. They not only became wise enough to take care
of every good thing that Nature had given them, but improved upon many
things that she had left unsuited to their use.
Thus the land was kept beautiful and fertile. The inhabitants became
rich, and, instead of fearing Nature as they once did, they came to love
the rocks, the woods, the streams, and the wild creatures.
Let us now leave this rich and fertile land and come back to it after
hundreds of years have passed. We find a new people living there and the
country so changed that we can hardly believe it is the same land.
Yet it must be the same, for there are the very mountains that were
there long ago. To be sure, they do not look just as they did. When we
last saw them they were covered with forests, but now they are barren
and scarred with many gulches. Here is the same river, but it also looks
different. While it was once overhung with trees and its waters were so
clear that we could see the fish in the bottom, it now has a broad,
sandy bed; the trees are gone, and the water is shallow and muddy.
The new inhabitants of this land have a tired and discouraged
appearance. They have a hard struggle to get enough to eat. The soil is
rocky, and it takes much labor to raise the scanty crops. They never
seem able to gather all the rocks from the fields, for the soil washes
away and new ones are constantly uncovered.
Where are the forests that once grew here? We find in their stead only a
few stunted trees and bushes. There is little grass and almost no
flowers, even in spring. Sheep and cattle wander far for their forage
and do not have the sleek appearance they once did.
There are few wild creatures of any sort, for since there are no woods
there are few hiding places. Neither do we see any birds, and we listen
in vain for a song or note of any kind.
[Illustration: _H. W. Fairbanks_
The women carry home the fuel.]
The houses are made of mud or stone and look cold and cheerless. The
people must suffer from cold in winter. The only wood they have is small
brush which the women and children gather upon the far hills and bring
home in huge bundles upon their backs.
In the towns of this country the only fuel now to be had is charcoal.
This is brought upon the backs of burros from the distant mountains,
where the few remaining trees give work to charcoal burners. The
charcoal is peddled through the streets and sold in tiny quantities at
each door. The people are too poor to buy much at a time and are very
careful in its use. It is burned in a metal or earthen dish called a
brazier, and a double handful may last a family a whole day.
Rains still fall in this country of the Poor People, as they did long
ago. But the waters gather quickly upon the unprotected slopes and run
off in muddy torrents, taking along some of the soil. Thus each
succeeding year there is less plant food for the crops.
[Illustration: _H. W. Fairbanks_
The rocky land of the poor people.]