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