Chapter I: 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