been so constantly employed by the business of making a living. But the
forest playgrounds are calling us to return for a little time each year
to the wilds that were once our home, and to renew our acquaintance with
the trees, the streams and the rocks, and with the wild creatures that
live among them. To be able to make our beds on the leaves under the
trees, and to build a fire of sticks and cook our own food, seems quite
natural and like old and familiar times.
The stories and legends that have come down to us about the forests and
the imaginary people who lived in them were believed to be true by the
people of long ago. The deep, dark woods once covered nearly all Europe
where our ancestors lived. To be lost in the woods was to be in danger
of meeting the strange and mysterious people who were thought to live in
their depths. Among these beings, some of whom were good and others bad,
were fairies, nymphs, gnomes, and ogres. When people ceased to believe
so much in these stories, they began to lose their fear of the woods.
Among some of these people there grew up a love and fascination for the
trees which they believed were the dwelling places of spirits or
divinities.
If in our great forest playgrounds we can lead this out-of-door life for
a few weeks each year, it will make us healthier, stronger, and happier.
We no longer fear any mysterious creatures in the woods or the forces of
Nature as shown in the lightning, the winds, and the waterfalls; but
year by year we are finding more to love and admire in the wild scenery
of the woods and mountains and in their animal and plant inhabitants.
The wild woods call many of us on jaunts and picnics when, if it were
not for them, we should stay at home shut up in stuffy rooms. In time
may not the love of the forest wilds come back to us all? May not the
time come when each one of us shall be able to look at a beautiful tree
and not think only of how much lumber it would make? May not the time
come when we may hear the grouse drumming its call and not feel the
desire to kill and eat it?
If the time does come in which we think as much of our beautiful
mountains as the people of Europe do of the Alps, we shall then guard
them with far more jealous care than we do today. In spite of the fact
that the Alps are wet and cold and that no one thinks of sleeping out of
doors there, yet the people of Europe love their mountains almost
passionately.
Our mountains are much more attractive summer playgrounds than the Alps.
We can wander at will over a far greater number of untrodden ways than
Europeans can in the Alps. We can make our beds under the trees with
rarely a thought of the weather. The air is always balmy and the skies
are almost always blue.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE WILD FLOWERS
How eagerly we have looked forward to the coming of spring, and now it
is here! The sun is shining brighter and warmer each day. The birds are
returning from their winter home in the South. The buds on the trees are
swelling and, in the warm nooks, some of the wild flowers have already
opened their delicate petals. Who will find the first _spring beauty_ in
the Eastern woods? Who will find the first of the _purple trilliums_
that open their dark flowers in the shady groves, or the _golden
poppies_ on the warm hillsides of the West?
The spring air affects us as it does the plants and wild creatures. We
long to get away from school, and taking our lunches, to spend the
delightful days wandering through the fields and woods. There is no
place like the open country when all Nature is waking. We feel like
running and frisking as the young lambs do.
Can it be wrong to gather all that we wish of the beautiful flowers with
which the earth is carpeted? Has not Nature grown them in her great
garden in such abundance that all we pick will make no difference to
her? Let us go with the children on their rambles after flowers and
learn if Nature does take any account of their innocent raids on her
treasures.
Here is a party of children chasing across the fields. Each one is
searching for the flowers that have bloomed since last they were out,
and each is trying to get more than his companions. The children have
learned that some kinds of flowers grow in the woods, others in the
marshy places, and still others on the dry hillsides. They know where
to go for each kind, and not a spot escapes their sharp search.
Here they find a patch of violets, and all are quickly picked. There are
some baby-blue-eyes, and yonder dry field is brilliant with the colors
of many others. In the gathering of the flowers some of them are pulled
up by the roots, but the children do not think of the harm this does.
They wander on and on until many have more in their hands than they can
carry. Some of those picked first are already wilted, and, to make their
burdens lighter, the children throw these away. At last a tired but
happy band turns toward home.
[Illustration: _H. W. Fairbanks_
The wild oxalis loves the moist, shady places.]
What will be done with all the flowers that have been picked? In each
home the vases are filled and the tables decorated. There is no room for
all of them and some are thrown out. These flowers, once so fresh and
bright as they nodded in the breeze, now lie crushed and wilted on the
ground.
Another spring returns and the children are out again looking in the
familiar places for the flowers they know so well. But there seems to be
something wrong, for there are not so many as there used to be. The
children have to go farther and search more carefully to get their arms
full.
Still a third spring comes and the children are just as ready for the
happy excursions and just as anxious to get the flowers. They hunt the
fields over, but in the places where the flowers used to be so thick
there are only a few scattering ones. They cannot understand what is
wrong, but Nature could tell them if they would ask her. The year before
she was short of seed, but this year it is much worse, for she had
hardly any to plant in her garden. She is short of bulbs also, and of
many other plants that grow from year to year, for the children
carelessly pulled these up.
[Illustration: _H. W. Fairbanks_
Wild asters cover the mountain meadows.]
The children do not want to go home with only a few flowers, and so they
wander farther into the country than they have ever been before. Here
they find them as abundant as they used to be near home.
The children do not stop to think that at the base of the bright,
fragrant blossoms grow the seed that will make the flowers of the next
year. Nature can spare the seed of a part of the blossoms, for she grows
many more than she needs; but if we pick them all, what can she do for
the coming year?
The wild flowers are living things struggling for a place in the world,
just as are the animals and birds. We cannot abuse and destroy too many
of them if we would have them stay and add to the beauty of our homes.
Should we not take just as much pleasure in gathering the flowers if we
did not bring home more than we needed? Would it not be better to be
satisfied with smaller bouquets and leave enough in the fields to go to
seed and gladden us next year?
The reckless gathering of wild flowers has gone on so long and they have
been picked so closely about many of our towns and cities, that they are
disappearing. When there are no longer wild flowers within reach of the
children who live in the cities, they will have lost a great joy out of
their lives.
There are besides the flowers of which we have been speaking other low
plants of beautiful foliage with which we love to decorate our homes. We
must take care that these are not gathered too closely or they also will
become scarce. We cannot go out into the woods and pull up ferns by the
roots year after year and expect Nature to keep up the supply.
The huckleberry is one of the many beautiful shrubs which we admire
for its delicate leaves and colors. It is cut and brought in from the
country in huge bundles to supply the florists. The time will come when
these decorations can no longer be had if the men are allowed to cut all
they can find. Just as in the case of the flowers, seekers for them will
be obliged to go farther each year and by and by the shrubs will be so
scarce and high priced that we shall be obliged to do without them.
[Illustration: _Pillsbury's Pictures, Inc._
Nature has grown flowers in abundance, but we should not pick or destroy
too many of them.]
We hunt far and wide for the beautiful "holly berries" with which to
decorate our homes at Christmas. When we have found a berry-laden bush,
we eagerly break off the branches and bear them home in triumph. The
bush, once so gay with berries, is a sad-looking thing when we are
through with it. The branches are broken so far back that next year it
will bear few berries and we shall have to seek another.
We treat the beautiful earth on which we have been placed in a most
thoughtless manner. We think only of what we want _now_, and forget that
another year is coming in which also we shall want some of the earth's
treasures. If we take only the surplus which each year produces, there
will always be enough for us and for the people who live after us.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
NATURE'S PENALTY FOR INTERFERING WITH HER ARRANGEMENTS
Nature seems very prodigal in her ways. She is continually creating on
the earth a great multitude of living things, far more than there is
room for. Each one of these, if it would live, must have a certain
amount of air, sunshine, and food. As there is not enough of these
things to supply every one, there arises a struggle. Those that are
weakest die, because they are not able to get what they need. To us this
seems hard, but it is Nature's way.
And further, since many of the animals feed on the flesh of other
animals, the latter have, in addition to the struggle for their food, to
watch constantly for their lives. Every organism is in one sense the
enemy of every other one. We do not mean that they often try to kill
each other because of hate, as men do, but that they are after food to
satisfy their hunger. Some of the higher animals as well as men fight
for mastery, in addition to struggling for food. We hope that among men
the unnecessary fighting will sometime cease, and that kindness and
unselfishness will rule.
The struggle for life is ceaselessly going on around us, but so quiet is
it that we are not often aware of the countless tragedies that take
place. This struggle extends from the plants and animals in the pond, so
small that we cannot see them with the unaided eye, upward through all
the larger animals.
The struggle among all living things helps us to understand the
necessity for Nature's prodigality. If the plants and animals that serve
as food for others were not produced in great numbers, they would soon
become extinct. It is seldom that any one kind of plant or animal,
because of its many enemies, has an opportunity to spread and obtain
more than its share of food and sunshine. According to Nature's
arrangements, each organism does its share in keeping down the numbers
of the others. This we call the "balance of Nature."
Sometimes the balance of Nature is disturbed and one particular kind of
animal gets the start of its enemies and increases until it becomes a
_plague_. This may be caused by a favorable season or by the decrease of
its enemies on account of disease among them. We have read of the
plagues of grasshoppers which have sometimes visited the Western states
and eaten up every green thing. Plagues of rats and field mice have been
known to do a great deal of damage. In such cases their natural enemies,
the hawks, owls, and coyotes, may be attracted to the region from far
around, because of the extra food supply. After a time they may succeed
in reducing the numbers of these pests.
This balance among the animals, which comes from one living upon
another, is a strange and wonderful thing. No one kind can long overrun
its fellows. If one does get a start and increases until it becomes a
pest or plague, some enemy is sure sooner or later to spring up to
destroy it. We use this method in fighting some of the insect pests
which are injuring our trees. Men have searched in various parts of the
world from which such pests as the gypsy moth and the San Jose scale
have come to find some of their enemies and bring them to this country
to feed on these insects.
When men came upon the earth, they soon began to upset Nature's
arrangements, and from that time until now matters of this kind have
been growing worse. We have killed large numbers of the beneficial
animals and birds that kept the harmful ones in check. We have carried
others from the homes given them by Nature, where they were doing little
harm, to new homes where they have become terrible plagues.
The killing of large numbers of hawks and owls, all the species of which
many people have wrongfully thought to be harmful, has been followed by
a great increase in the numbers of rats and mice. We have killed off
most of the coyotes, the chief food of which was rabbits and ground
squirrels. The two latter animals have now become a serious pest. They
do enormous damage to the crops, and we spend thousands of dollars
fighting them.
The common rabbit has in most parts of its native country so many
enemies which are always on the lookout for a good meal, that it cannot
increase enough to do much harm. Years ago a number of rabbits were
taken to Australia, where there were none. Here they found a favorable
climate and few enemies. They have now increased so that they overrun
much of the continent and are a terrible pest which the farmers are
unable to control.
Some years ago the gypsy moth and the browntail moth were introduced by
accident into the New England states. Finding there a congenial climate
and few enemies, they increased rapidly. They soon began to strip the
leaves from the beautiful elms which make the streets and parks of this
region so attractive. Now these moths have turned their attention to the
white pine and are doing an ever-increasing amount of damage; and
although they are being fought by every means in our power, we are not
certain that we can ever control them.
The codling moth, whose larva is the little apple worm, causes an
immense loss in our fruit orchards. The cotton-boll weevil, which
destroys so much of the cotton, is, like the codling moth, an insect
imported from another country. The San Jose scale reached California
from China and has now spread throughout our country. It has a special
fondness for the sap of fruit trees, and, being so small, was not
noticed until it had got beyond control. This scale causes more loss
than any other of the tree insects.
The Hessian fly, introduced from Europe more than one hundred years ago,
causes during certain seasons a very great loss to the wheat crop. The
Argentine ant has been brought to us from South America and is proving a
most destructive pest. The Norway rat was brought to our country on
sailing vessels and causes more loss than most of us realize. The
English sparrow has spread over much of the country and is driving many
of the native birds from their homes, because of its quarrelsome
disposition. It makes itself a nuisance on all our city streets.
The mongoose, in its home in India, is a great rat killer, but does not
there increase so as to do much harm. Wherever it has been carried for
the purpose of using it as a rat killer, this little four-footed animal
has become a terrible scourge. After it destroys the rats it goes after
the snakes. Then it attacks the other small animals and birds. Finally
it begins upon the chickens, and even the vegetables in the garden are
not safe from its voracious appetite.
Men are now watching at every port to see that no more dangerous insects
and animals are brought into the country. They are particularly on the
watch for the Mediterranean fruit fly and for the mongoose.
When we upset the balance of Nature, we start a whole chain of troubles.
What can we do to escape the consequences of our ignorance and
carelessness? In the first place we can protect the birds, for they eat
enormous quantities of the harmful insects. In the second place we can
see that no more of these dangerous pests are allowed to land on our
shores. In the third place we shall have to fight, by every means that
we can discover, those that are already here.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
WHAT SHALL WE DO WHEN THE COAL, OIL, AND GAS ARE GONE?
If coal, oil, and gas were suddenly taken away, all the nations would
become poor and many of their industries would cease. Just think for a
moment of the amount of work these things do for us and what an effort
there would be made to find something to take their place!
Wood once formed the chief fuel. It was used only to cook our food or to
keep us warm. Now fuel is required for so many different purposes that
with the decrease of the forests wood has been found insufficient.
Peat is one of those substances that has been used in parts of Europe to
take the place of wood, but it is used so little in our own country that
many have never seen it.
Peat is dug from bogs or marshes. We might say that a peat marsh is the
beginning of a coal bed. Peat is the partly decayed vegetation which has
slowly accumulated in wet places. In the colder countries it is formed
largely of moss and similar water-loving plants, but where the climate
is warm other kinds of marsh vegetation, and even trees, aid in forming
peat. Sometimes floods bring earth and deposit it in the marshes, in
which case the peat is less suitable for fuel, but forms a rich and
productive soil instead.
In many of the vast swamps of long ago, when there were no men nor even
the higher animals upon the earth, vegetation grew very rank. It is
believed that at that remote time the air contained more carbonic acid,
a substance which promotes the growth of plants. Thus the plants in the
warm, moist parts of the earth grew more densely and luxuriantly than
they usually do today.
In the decay of this vegetation deposits similar to the peat marshes
were formed, but they differed in being much thicker and more extensive.
If the story of these ancient peat marshes had stopped here, we should
never have had any coal. Fortunately it did not, for some of the swamps
sank beneath the water of a lake or ocean and thick beds of gravel,
sand, or clay were deposited over them. While buried deep in the earth,
the decaying vegetation was heated and pressed together by the great
weight of the earth above, and was finally changed to shining, black
coal.
After the coal was made, but before men came to the earth, parts of the
sea bottom with its buried treasures were raised to form hills and
mountains. Then the rainwater began its work upon the slopes, and after
a time washed away so much of the overlying material that the coal was
exposed at the surface. At last through some accident, such as lightning
perhaps, men learned that this black substance would burn. Coal was
little used, however, as long as there was an abundance of wood and the
needs of people were few.
As manufacturing and the use of the steam engine increased, coal grew in
value. The business of mining coal finally became one of the great
industries. The mining operations were carried on as carelessly as
though the supply in the interior of the earth were inexhaustible. In
the underground working it is customary to leave about one quarter of
the coal in the form of pillars for the purpose of supporting the roof.
At a little more expense other materials could be substituted for these
pillars and all the coal could be taken out.
In using the coal we waste about another quarter. Stoves and furnaces
are usually built so poorly that a large part of the value of the coal
escapes as gas and smoke. In large cities and manufacturing districts
the smoke becomes a great nuisance. In the making of coke from coal,
enormous quantities of coal tar and gas have been lost. Most engines
consume a far greater amount of coal than they should in doing a given
amount of work. Most of us do not know how to use coal economically in
our homes, and thus aid not only in wasting the coal supplies but in
making the cost of living higher than it should be. All together, in the
handling of coal we lose fully half of it. The coal supply of the earth
is disappearing very fast, and at the rate at which its use is now
increasing it may not last more than one hundred years.
If we cannot use coal without wasting so much, would it not be wiser for
us to turn our attention more fully to the sources of power in the
streams which are flowing down all our mountain sides? The use of this
power when turned into electricity would enable us to save a large part
of the coal, oil, and gas that are now used, and so make them last
longer.
It is far easier to waste oil and gas than coal, for, when we have
drilled holes in the earth, unless we are very careful the gas will
escape into the air and the oil will become mixed with water, so that it
will be difficult for us to get it.
Oil and gas are confined under great pressure hundreds and often
thousands of feet below the surface. To make clear how easy it is to
waste them, we might compare them to the compressed air in an
automobile tire. If the tire is punctured by a nail, the air issues
suddenly with a sharp, whistling sound until the pressure inside is gone
and no more will come out.
For many years we have been puncturing the crust of the earth, where oil
has been discovered, and letting the oil and gas escape. We have saved
most of the oil, but nearly all the gas has been wasted. The gas will
finally stop coming out when the pressure is gone, just as the air did
in the automobile tire.
On the opposite page is a picture of a "gusher" in the Sunset oil field,
California, which tells the story of how we are permitting the valuable
substances within the earth to be wasted. In drilling this well the oil
men suddenly struck a deposit of oil and gas under great pressure. The
drilling tools were blown out of the well and a column of oil and gas
shot up 150 feet. For a time the well flowed forty thousand barrels of
oil each day, and an unknown quantity of gas. Much of the oil was
scattered around the surrounding country, and all the gas was lost. Men
worked for weeks making reservoirs of earth in an attempt to save the
river of oil.
Another well a few miles distant struck an enormous quantity of gas. It
blew off for days with a roar like that of the steam from a giant
engine. Then it took fire, and the column of flame at night was a
fearful sight. There was gas enough lost from this one well to light a
city for months.
Gas has been escaping during many years from hundreds of wells in the
Pennsylvania, Ohio Valley, Oklahoma, Texas, and California oil fields.
The gas from all these wells together has been estimated to be equal
in value to a river of oil flowing several hundred thousand barrels each
day. In many districts the gas was nearly gone before people discovered
its great value. It is impossible for us to realize the waste which this
represents.
[Illustration: _Myrl's Studio, Bakersfield, California_
A "gusher" in a California oil field wasting great quantities of oil and
gas.]
It has taken Nature a long time to make the oil and gas which we are
losing. When she began this work, the oil regions which have been
mentioned were beneath the sea. In its waters lived countless numbers of
minute organisms, as well as fish of many kinds. As they died, their
bodies accumulated in beds which finally became thousands of feet thick.
Then the currents of the water changed and sand and mud were washed over
these beds, burying them deeply.
Finally the bottom of the sea was lifted and became dry land. The
movement squeezed and folded the rocky layers made of the skeletons of
the animals and plants. The soft parts of their bodies held in these
rocky layers produced a greenish or brownish oil and gas. The gas tried
to escape from the rocks, for they were hot and it wanted more room. In
some places it found openings through the rocks and escaped to the
surface, usually bringing some of the oil with it. The gas was lost, but
a part of the oil remained, forming deposits of tar. In other places the
oil and gas could not reach the surface, but found porous, sandy rocks
into which they went and remained until the oil driller found them.
The tar springs, or "seepages," indicate to the oil prospector where
deposits of oil may possibly be found. He examines the country about
and, selecting a favorable place, drills a well. If he is successful, he
will strike oil-bearing rocks. The oil may be a few hundred feet below
the surface, or it may be a mile below. In the latter case it takes
months to drill the well.