CHAPTER NINETEEN
EVILS THAT FOLLOW THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FORESTS
We have already learned something about the poverty of the people in those lands where the forests have been destroyed. This poverty is due not so much to lack of wood for fuel and other purposes, but to a whole series of troubles which the removal of the forests has brought upon them.
The burning of the humus, when a fire sweeps the forest, is the next greatest loss to that of the timber itself. Where there has been no fire, the ground under the trees is covered with decaying leaves and stems which are slowly mixing with the soil and becoming a part of it. The more there is of this humus in the soil, the more thriftily plants will grow.
Many people purposely burn over their pasture lands in the fall, believing that this will make the grass better the following year. They should know that every time this is done the soil is made poorer, and that it kills the seeds lying on the ground ready to sprout when the warm spring days come. Instead of a better pasture there is more likely to be a crop of almost worthless weeds. The ground is full of worthless seeds which are always ready to take the place of the grasses when they have a chance.
Before the fire came, the roots of trees, bushes, and grasses kept the earth from washing; and the humus helped to hold the rainwater from running away rapidly, so that more of it had time to soak into the ground. How well this is shown on yonder hills which were once covered with brush. A fire swept over these hills and burned every living thing. What a barren appearance they presented after the heavy winter storms! The slopes were completely covered with little furrows and gullies where the rainwater had done its work. It will be a long time before vegetation will again gain a foothold there and stop the washing of the earth.
American Forestry
The work of the water where the forest has been cut away.