sure from what we know of Nature's ways that she is not the cause of the
trouble. Through greed and ignorance of how to take care of their land
the present inhabitants have wasted and squandered its wealth until it
has become almost a desert.
We can do things with Nature, and direct many of her forces so that they
will work for our good. We cannot, however, as we have learned, change
the amount of rain that falls, nor can we make it warmer or colder.
How, then, are these poor people to blame for the condition of their
country? The troubles which overtook them came from two things. In the
first place they did not know how to take care of their rich land, and
in the second place they were greedy and wanted to become wealthy faster
than they ought.
Why does the rain, which once made this country fruitful, now wash away
the soil and make it barren? It is because in those earlier times much
of the land was covered with cool forests. The rain then fell more
gently because of the forests. More of it soaked into the ground and the
springs were larger. Now the rains are delayed by the hot air of the
thirsty land until, when they finally do come, the water falls in
torrents. Such rains or cloudbursts, as we often call them, carry away
the unprotected soil faster than Nature can renew it.
[Illustration: _Bailey Willis_
The shallow, rock-filled river along whose banks the trees have been
destroyed.]
The strangers in the land, under whose rule it became poor, thought they
knew better than Nature. They did not look upon her as the great wise
mother of them all. Soon after these people came into possession of the
land, they found that in other places there was a demand for their
grain, cattle, and wool. They began to increase their fields and herds.
To do this it was necessary to cut down the forests which had stood so
long. It seemed to them too bad to leave valuable land covered only with
trees.
The people began to look askance at the birds, for they thought they
were eating too much grain. Because they did not know what good the
little creatures were doing, they killed them. Since most of the birds
nested in trees, they got rid of them faster by cutting down the trees.
The steep hillsides were finally cleared of trees and the soil began to
wash, and the rocks soon appeared. No plant food was given to the soil
to replace that taken by the growing plants, and the crops soon began to
show the effect of starvation. The cattle began to suffer for lack of
food. They ate the grass down so closely that much of it was killed.
The rainwater, instead of feeding the springs, now ran swiftly away. The
clear, steady rivers turned to muddy floods during the rainy season.
They swept through the valleys, washing away houses and crops. In the
summer they dried up so that the fish died.
When these people at last discovered their mistake, they strove by hard
labor to repair the damage which they had done through years of
ignorance and greed. This was such slow, difficult work that the land
still remains a dreary place in which to live. It is known as the Land
of the Poor People.
CHAPTER SIX
WHAT THE MUDDY RIVULET HAS TO SAY
Would you like to know something about what I am doing? Would you like
to know why my waters are yellow with mud? I am accused of being a
noisy, roistering fellow, of robbing people of their wealth and of doing
all sorts of wicked deeds. But, worst of all, I am accused of carrying
away the tiny particles of soil in which the plants find their food and
of dropping them in the depths of the sea.
Perhaps, when you really understand my work, you will say that I have no
evil intentions at all. I am only one of Nature's servants. Each one of
us has a work to do. Sometimes we have to do things that seem to be bad,
but that is because some one on the earth has broken Nature's laws.
Nature has many servants. To each one of us is given a different kind of
work. I am the great leveler of the land. No mountain is too great or
too high for me to tear down. I can carry it all away grain by grain and
leave it in the lowlands or in the sea. Many mountains I have destroyed
so completely that you would hardly believe they ever existed. Long
before there were any animals and men on the earth I was busy, and I
shall be busy when they are all gone.
The farmer believes me his enemy, but if I do injure his fields it is
because I cannot help it. The work that has been given me to do is the
carrying away of the loose earth wherever I can find it. If the farmer
does not want his hillsides made poor, he should take care of them.
The farmer does not know that he has me to thank for the richest of his
lands, those lands where the soil is deep and dark, and filled with
plant food. I and my brother rivulets have been thousands of years in
collecting the soil which forms the fertile lowlands in the valleys
through which we flow. We all unite to form the mighty river which
finally ends in the sea.
[Illustration: _H. W. Fairbanks_
Because some farmer was careless, a rivulet has nearly destroyed this
rich valley.]
Upon all the slopes which drain toward the river we rivulets are at
work. Other servants of Nature are working here. Some of them are making
the rocks soften and fall apart. Others are bringing seeds of the
grasses and trees that they may take root in the crumbling rock. It is
their business to make a carpet of plants over the earth and thus stop
my work. But wherever the slopes are steep we rivulets have our way. We
pick up and carry away the particles of sand and clay so that only the
bare, hard rocks remain.
When the steep slopes become gentle, and we can no longer carry away all
the particles of crumbled rock, then the carpet of plants spreads over
the surface. Now our waters become clear. We seem like different
beings. Once in a while, when the rains fall very heavily, some of us
break through the protecting carpet and dig great hollows and gullies
into the earth.
Would you like to know how we rivulets get rid of the load we carry from
the mountain slopes? When we are muddy and swollen with the heavy rains,
we turn the river into a flood. The river then breaks its banks and
spreads out over all the lowlands along its course. Now the river flows
more slowly and drops a part of the sand and mud which we rivulets
brought to it. Finally, when the storm is over and the river goes back
into its channel, there is left on the surface of the valleys a layer of
earth rich in plant food. We brought the river the finest of the rock
particles, together with the leaves and stems of plants that lay in our
way.
[Illustration: _H. W. Fairbanks_
The rivulets have united to form the broad, shallow river loaded with
the soil from the farms along its upper course.]
As year after year we made the river overflow, the soil of the lowlands
grew deeper and deeper until it became as you see it today. Now the
slopes about the head of the river are not so steep as they were once.
Our waters do not run away so rapidly and the river seldom overflows.
Thus the farmer can use the land for his crops, which grow so
luxuriantly that he is envied by his less fortunate neighbors who live
upon the hills.
[Illustration: _U. S. Office of Farm Management_
The soil of this valley has been washed to its present location by flood
waters.]
Upon the slopes about the valleys we rivulets did not leave so much
soil. The farther one goes up the slopes the thinner one finds the soil,
until at the top the bare rock may appear.
But our work, says the muddy rivulet, was not finished with the making
of the fertile valley lands. We carried a part of our load of sand and
mud on to the mouth of the river. Here in the bay into which the river
empties we began another great task. It seemed hopeless at first to try
to turn the bay into dry land, but year after year we kept at work,
through a time so long that I have forgotten when we began. At last we
succeeded in bringing so much material to the bay that the waters
became shallow. Then the soft mud began to show itself when the water
was low. At last the water was replaced by dry land, which appeared much
like the lowlands which we had made along the river.
Now you who think we muddy rivulets do only harm see what we have
accomplished. We have built a great delta of the richest land that
extends away on every hand as level as a floor and almost as far as you
can see. The soil of the delta is hundreds of feet deep and the richest
to be found on the whole earth. It is on such river deltas that the
first civilized men made their homes, and became rich and powerful.
Now I have told you what Nature has appointed the muddy rivulets to do.
Is not the good that we do far greater than the harm? When we do harm it
is because people have not learned how, or have not tried, to obey
Nature's laws. If we make people poor, it is their own fault.
We still find much to do upon the earth. Nature is still making
mountains which we have to tear down. We are still building deltas which
will sometime be inhabited by rich and prosperous people. We do not
willingly spoil the lands of the farmers on the hills and make them
labor hard for a living.
In those happy lands where people understand Nature we rivulets have a
different kind of work to do. We become pure and clear. We furnish a
home for the fish, drink for the thirsty flocks, and a never-failing
power to turn the mill wheels. Our waters are of service to every living
thing.
CHAPTER SEVEN
HOW FAR WILL NATURE RESTORE HER WASTED GIFTS?
The natural wealth of our country is its soil, water, forests, minerals,
animal and bird life, and, finally, its climate and scenery.
Of all these, _climate_ and _scenery_ are the only ones which we can use
and enjoy as much as we like without any danger of their ever failing
us. The sun will shine through the blue sky, the winds will blow, and
the storms will come just the same, no matter what we may do.
Did you ever think how long a time it has taken to make the wonderful
world in which we live, and place upon it the mountains and valleys,
lakes and oceans? Did you ever think how long a time it has taken to
make the rocks and store away in them gold, silver, copper, and iron?
Did you ever think how long a time it has taken to cover the rocks with
soil, and spread over the surface the flowers and trees and to stock it
with uncounted numbers of animals and birds?
Nature usually works very slowly, but she never rests. The earth and all
things on its surface, have always been changing, but changing so slowly
that we do not ordinarily notice what is going on. When there is an
earthquake, or a slide of rock on a mountain side, or an eruption of a
volcano, we are astonished and often terrified.
Stories that have come down to us from the distant past tell us that the
earth looked then much the same as it does now. If we could look away
back to a time long before the first men lived, when even the animals
and plants were different from those around us, we should discover that
the surface of the earth was quite different from that of today. We
should then see mountains and hills where now we find valleys, and dry
land where now lies the blue ocean.
Nature has been such a long time making the beautiful world in which we
live, that we ought to treat it with great consideration. It is also a
wise thing for us to be heedful of her requests, for, if we will work
with her, the earth with all its treasures will be at our command.
Shall we not now seek to learn which of the natural resources of our
land will never be replaced if we squander them? Let us also learn which
may be made good again by Nature, if we are willing to wait long enough,
as well as to assist her in her slow work.
Each year the growing plants take certain substances from the soil. It
is necessary for us to put back like substances if we would keep up the
fertility of the soil. If we are neglectful of this law, or allow water
to wash the soil away until only the bare rocks remain, poverty will be
our lot for many years.
Nature will, however, if we give her a chance, renew the soil. The rocks
will crumble and, by and by, seeds will sprout and tiny plants obtain a
foothold. But it may take a whole lifetime, or hundreds of years, even,
for a new and fertile soil to come again.
During the early years of placer mining in California thousands of acres
of rich lands in the foothills were destroyed. Only boulders were left.
Now fifty years have passed and a new soil is being formed, but it will
be a long time yet before it will be as good as it was in the first
place.
Upon the Western prairies only grain has been raised for so many years
that in many places the soil will scarcely grow a crop worth gathering.
Many farmers have never thought of this, but the wise ones understand
that they must frequently add plant food to the soil to replace that
taken by crops. They understand also that it is a good thing to change
the crops grown upon any particular field from year to year, since
different plants take different substances from the soil.
[Illustration: _H. W. Fairbanks_
The miner in his search for gold ruins the beautiful valley, leaving it
a mass of boulders.]
Water goes through a ceaseless round. It rises from the sea and lakes to
form the clouds, falls as rain or snow, and then flows back down the
slopes to the sea. Although we have learned that we cannot change the
quantity of rain that falls in any place, we can influence the way in
which it runs back to the sea. This in turn affects the lives of people.
We can store water in reservoirs, and by building canals have it to use
on the land during the summer. We can also keep it from flowing back to
the sea as rapidly as it otherwise would, by leaving uninjured the
covering of vegetation which has been spread over the mountain slopes.
The water will run from bare rocks and bare soil much more quickly than
it will from soil that is covered with leaf mold and held by plant
roots. Do you not see, then, that we have almost as much control over
water and its distribution as though we could increase or decrease the
rainfall?
What about the forests? If we cut them down, will they ever come back?
All through the eastern part of our country and in the mountains of the
West are lands once forested which have been cleared and turned into
farms. Many of these farms, when abandoned, have in a few years been
covered with a growth of young trees. The scattering trees that had been
left in the vicinity of the clearings furnished the seed. The winds and
the birds carried the seed to the open fields and so the forests began
again.
[Illustration: _H. W. Fairbanks_
But Nature, after a lapse of fifty years, has spread a new carpet of
soil over the valley.]
It will be hundreds of years before the trees are as large and
valuable as those of the first forest. The "big trees" of the Sierra
Nevada Mountains are found nowhere else in the world, for they are the
last of their race. Some of these trees are more than 4000 years old.
They stood here when our forefathers were still savages and lived in
trees or caves. Much of the region where these trees are found has now
been reserved as a park. If the lumberman had been allowed to get at
them, they would have soon been gone forever.
[Illustration: _George J. Young_
Uncle Sam has preserved both forests and water power.]
It is far more difficult to destroy completely most of the species of
forest trees than it is to destroy the species of animals and birds. We
can cut down the trees and in some cases they will grow again from
sprouts. Many will hide away in remote places and furnish seed for new
forests.
The animals as well as the plants have had a long history. They have had
a harder struggle than the plants, because many of them prey upon one
another. We often dig up the skeletons of strange animals unlike any now
living. These must have all been killed long ago. Each species or kind
of animal now living must have come off victorious in the struggle with
its enemies.
Does it not seem a heartless thing for us, who call ourselves civilized,
to destroy so completely any species of animal or plant that not one of
its kind remains alive? No species which we destroy will ever come back
again, and its place will always remain empty. There are a few predatory
animals and birds that destroy vast numbers of useful ones. We should
keep these in check by every means in our power, but for our thoughtless
destruction of the valuable ones the world will always be poorer.
What of the mineral treasures hidden away in the earth? Will these be
replaced when once they have all been used up? It took Nature a very
long time to make coal out of the vegetation which had gathered in some
ancient swamp. It took her fully as long to make the oil and gas from
the bodies of the little organisms that once lived in the sea.
The bodies of the little creatures from which oil is made are still
gathering upon the bottom of the sea, and there are many swamps where we
find vegetation and peat accumulating. But it is a long story from these
substances to oil and coal. I am afraid we should get tired of waiting
for Nature to make a new supply.
Gold, silver, copper, and other minerals, so useful to us, are found in
very small quantities scattered throughout most of the solid rocks of
the earth. It would be impossible for us to obtain these from rocks,
because there is so little in any one place. But Nature has collected a
part of them in veins in the rocks. We sink shafts upon these veins and
mine the ores. It will be a long time before we shall have mined all
there is of these minerals. Because they are so hard to get we are not
likely to waste them. But it is quite certain that there is a limit to
the supply of mineral treasures, and equally certain that they can be
renewed either very, very slowly, or not at all. Shall we cause our
remote descendants to suffer for our carelessness?
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE SOIL--THE MOST IMPORTANT GIFT OF NATURE
An ancient story tells us that men were made from the dust of the earth.
This dust under our feet, which soils our shoes, this dust which the
wind sometimes sweeps along in blinding clouds, is indeed precious. The
delicate tissues of our bodies are made from the food we eat. If it be
plant food, it comes directly from the soil. If it be meat or eggs or
milk, it comes from animals which live upon the plants, that in turn got
their nourishment from the soil.
This soft, dark substance which covers the rocky skeleton of the earth
we call the _soil_. How common and cheap it looks when it is placed by
the side of a piece of gold! But how much more wonderful it would seem
if we could know all about it. The soil is far more necessary to our
comfort and prosperity than gold. Gold, silver, or precious stones
cannot keep us alive. They are of little worth to us compared with food
and clothing. The soil, then, is the real wealth of the world. The
farmer, who tills the soil, is the one worker we could not possibly do
without. All the wealth of the world, all the comforts which we have,
all the luxuries brought from far corners of the earth, come in the
first place from the soil.
We do not have to journey far over the earth to learn that there are
many lands where the fields are not fruitful, and yet such lands are
often rich and prosperous. How can this be if the soil is so necessary?
Let us go to New England and ask the people living there if they can
tell us why rich people sometimes inhabit lands which do not raise
enough for them to eat.
[Illustration: _H. W. Fairbanks_
These jagged rocks are formed of once molten lava. By and by they will
crumble and be covered with a layer of soil.]
Much of New England is hilly and has a poor, rocky soil. The farmers who
first settled there toiled hard, working early and late, and yet got few
of the comforts of life. Most of the farmers did not know how to improve
the soil or even to keep it in as good condition as it was when they
first cleared away the forests and began cultivating it; so many left
their farms to seek a living elsewhere. There are now many abandoned
farms that are growing up to forests again.
In spite of this poor land, the New England states form one of the most
wealthy and prosperous parts of our country. There are many great cities
containing hundreds of thousands of people in this territory. The
inhabitants enjoy luxuries of every kind sent from all parts of the
world. The farmers of New England certainly do not produce this wealth
from their rocky soil. Where, then, does it come from?
Industries of almost every sort except farming are carried on in the
cities of New England. All these people have to be fed and the farms of
this region would hardly support them even if the soil were very
productive. So much food is needed every day that if the supply were cut
off for only a short time, there would be great suffering.
Somewhere there must be farmers at work raising food supplies for the
people of the great cities. The many beautiful and wonderful things made
by the workers in the cities must be exchanged with the farmers for the
real necessities of life.
Somewhere there must be vast fertile fields which produce much more than
their owners require. We will journey westward to the prairies of the
Mississippi Valley. Here for hundreds of miles we can see hardly
anything but fields of waving wheat and corn. Here are hundreds of
granaries and flour mills. Upon the rivers and lakes there are many
boats, and upon the land railroads, all carrying flour and other farm
products to feed the people of New England. Here are great stock ranches
with thousands of cattle and hogs, which, when fattened upon the grain,
are also shipped to New England to help feed the people there.
[Illustration: A field of wheat on one of the Western prairies.]
We must conclude, then, that if it were not for the vast fields with
their deep, rich soil, where the farmers are able to grow much more than
they need for themselves, it would not be possible for the people of New
England to become wealthy by working at other things than farming. The
articles which they are making add to their own comfort and pleasure as
well as to that of the farmers, but they have to have the products of
the soil to keep alive.
If the farmers of the Mississippi Valley and of all the other valleys
that help support the city people are careful of their soil and keep up
its fertility, our country will remain prosperous. But we are sorry to
say that the farmers have not always been careful. Many have wanted to
make more than they should from their lands. The plant food with which
Nature has filled the soil has been taken away year after year faster
than she has been able to renew it. Many fields do not produce the crops
they once did. The smaller the yield becomes, the higher the prices the
produce brings. This makes it more difficult for the workers in the
cities to live comfortably. The less abundant the supply of food
becomes, the less prosperous is the country.
There are countries, such as England, that have neglected agriculture
but have, in spite of this, become rich and powerful through devoting
their time to manufacturing articles to sell to other people. But those
who work in the factories of England have to be fed, and so they must
depend upon other countries to supply much of their food. If, for any
reason, they were cut off from trade with these countries, not only
would their manufacturing be ruined, but they would be in danger of
starvation.
To the first men, who lived entirely upon hunting and fishing, the soil
was of little consequence. Now things are different. The wild game has
mostly gone and we have to depend upon the products of the soil.
[Illustration: _H. W. Fairbanks_
At the top of the bank we see a layer of dark, rich soil.]
The people of those lands where the climate is unfavorable and the soil
poor and rocky lack most of the comforts of life, unless they are able
to obtain them through trade. It does not follow, however, that people
living in lands favored by Nature are always happy and prosperous.
You must remember that when the first men increased in numbers over the
earth, the soil was fresh from the hand of Nature. Although they had
everything about them that could be asked for, yet they were poor. There
are men living today on the rich deltas that we have learned about who
have few of the comforts that we have. This is because they are lazy and
ignorant, and do not make proper use of this valuable gift, the rich
soil.