That all things in nature are related to each other and interdependent
is a common saying, a fact doubted by nobody, yet often forgotten or
neglected in practical life. The reason is partly indifference and
partly ignorance as to the actual nature of the relationship; hence we
suffer, deservedly or not.
The farmer's business, more than any other, perhaps, depends for
its success upon a true estimate of and careful regard for this
inter-relation, he adapts his crop to the nature of the soil, the
manner of its cultivation to the changes of the seasons, and altogether
he shapes conditions and places them in their proper relations to each
other and adapts himself to them.
Soil, moisture, and heat are the three factors which, if properly
related and utilized, combine to produce his crops. In some directions
he can control these factors more or less readily; in others they are
withdrawn from his immediate influence, and he is seemingly helpless.
He can maintain the fertility of the soil by manuring, by proper
rotation of crops, and by deep culture; he can remove surplus moisture
by ditching and draining; he can, by irrigation systems, bring water
to his crops, and by timely cultivation prevent excessive evaporation,
thereby rendering more water available to the crop; but he can not
control the rainfall nor the temperature changes of the seasons. Recent
attempts to control the rainfall by direct means exhibit one of the
greatest follies and misconceptions of natural forces we have witnessed
during this age. Nevertheless, by indirect means the farmer has it
in his power to exercise much greater control over these forces than
he has attempted hitherto. He can prevent or reduce the unfavorable
effects of temperature changes; he can increase the available water
supplies, and prevent the evil effects of excessive rainfall; he can so
manage the waters which fall as to get the most benefit from them and
avoid the harm which they are able to inflict.
Before attempting to control the rainfall itself by artifice, we should
study how to secure the best use of that which falls, as it comes
within reach of human agencies and becomes available by natural causes.
How poorly we understand the use of these water supplies is evidenced
yearly by destructive freshets and floods, with the accompanying
washing of soil, followed by droughts, low waters, and deterioration of
agricultural lands. It is claimed that annually in the United States
about 200 square miles of fertile soil are washed into brooks and
rivers, a loss of soil capital which can not be repaired for centuries.
At the same time millions of dollars are appropriated yearly in the
river and harbor bills to dig out the lost farms from the rivers,
and many thousands of dollars' worth of crops and other property are
destroyed by floods and overflows; not to count the large loss from
droughts which this country suffers yearly in one part or the other,
and which, undoubtedly, could be largely avoided, if we knew how to
manage the available water supplies.
The regulation, proper distribution, and utilization of the rain waters
in humid as well as in arid regions--water management--is to be the
great problem of successful-agriculture in the future.
One of the most powerful means for such water management lies in the
proper distribution and maintenance of forest areas. Nay, we can say
that the most successful water management is not possible without
forest management.