Conservation Reader Part 1

Conservation Reader.

by Harold W. Fairbanks.

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 pa.s.s 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 furnis.h.i.+ng 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 ill.u.s.trate the book, thanks are extended to the persons to whom the various ill.u.s.trations 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 cooperation of Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson, Secretary of the National a.s.sociation of Audubon Societies.

CONSERVATION READER

CHAPTER ONE

HOW OUR FIRST ANCESTORS LIVED

Before these fields were shorn and tilled Full to the brim our rivers flowed; The melody of waters filled The fresh and boundless woods; And torrents dashed, and rivulets play'd, The fountains spouted in the shade.

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, quoted in _American Forestry_, XIV. 520

The earth is our home. It is a great treasure house filled with the most wonderful things. Although people have lived on the earth for many thousands of years, they have been very slow in learning the secrets of their treasure house. This is because early men were much like the lower animals. During all these years their minds have been slowly growing.

Now we can learn and understand many things which our ancestors of long ago could not.

In habits and appearance the first men that roamed the earth were little different from the other animals except that they walked upright. When they had enough to eat and a home safe from enemies, they seemed perfectly happy and contented.

These early men lived in the same wonderful treasure house as we do, but they did not know how to make use of its riches. In truth, their wants were so few that they would have had no use for the things that now seem so necessary to us. The rich fields about them lay untilled. The gold, silver, copper, and iron in the earth remained undiscovered; and the animals and birds that we now use in so many ways then served them mainly for food.

Since they had no furry coats to keep them warm as do the animals of the cold regions, and had not learned to make clothing, their homes must have been in the warm parts of the earth. While they were without weapons to defend themselves against the lion and tiger, yet they were sharp witted and very quick in their movements and thus were usually able to escape their more powerful enemies.

Although these early ancestors of ours seemed so much like the other animals, they were in reality very different. They had the same keen senses of sight, hearing, and smell, but they were more intelligent.

When the dog and cat have had enough to eat, they lie down perfectly happy and contented. But when early men had had enough to eat, they were often not satisfied. They had other longings which finally led them to make discoveries about the uses of things around them and how to make their lives more comfortable.

The little bear cub, for example, as it grows up learns from its mother just what it should do on all occasions. It learns what its mother knows and that is all. But among the early people of whom we are speaking the children not only learned all that their parents knew, but a little more. In this way each generation of children came to know more about the world.

Thus after many years had pa.s.sed people came to understand something of the wonderful world in which they lived. They were no longer at the mercy of wild animals, storms, heat, cold, hunger, and disease.

The first people, like the other animals, used only their hands and teeth in hunting and in fighting their enemies. Finally some of the brighter ones discovered that a stick or club served better than the bare hands.

The use of flint knives may have been brought about through some one cutting himself accidentally upon a piece of flint sticking out of the ground. If he happened to be very bright, he would at once see the value of such a piece of stone tied on the end of an arrow or club. By such means, perhaps, implements of wood, bone, and stone came into use.

We have discovered the sites of many of the villages as well as the caves in which the ancient inhabitants of the earth lived. The implements of bone and stone which we have dug up in such places enable us to learn a great deal about their lives.

There was a time when people did not know the use of fire. What a fearful thing fire must have seemed to them, at first. Their knowledge of it probably came from lightning or from hot lava flowing from a volcano. After they had learned to control fire, and to make it by rubbing two sticks together, they must have felt rich indeed. The discovery of fire was one of their greatest triumphs. It kept the cold, damp cave warm and dry, even though it filled their eyes with smoke. It was a means of keeping them safe from the dangerous wild beasts when they had to sleep out in the open. It was useful in cooking their food, and by and by it was to prove valuable in still other ways, when they began to _make_ things as well as to _find_ things.

They began, by and by, to build rude shelters,--huts and wigwams, low houses of dried mud, and dugouts in the hillside. They learned to weave simple coverings out of the fibers of certain plants, or hair or wool, to protect their bodies against the cold and the wet. They learned, somehow, to tan the skins of animals, so that they would not first stretch and grow slippery. They learned to hold things together by sewing, using sharp bones for needles and the sinews of animals or fibers of plants for thread.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _American Forestry a.s.sociation_ The Laplander of the far North uses the reindeer to pull his sled, its flesh for food, its skin for clothing, and its horns for various purposes.]

How did men discover that they could travel on the water? Some one may at first have made use of a log to cross a river and, afterwards, have tied several logs together, making a raft. When they had learned how to make a canoe out of a log, by burning or hewing it out with rude axes, they could then take long journeys on the water to new lands. Since paddling was very tiresome, some one, brighter than the rest, probably thought of making a sail of bark or skins and so letting the wind push the canoe along.

We do not know how the metals were discovered. Perhaps fire melted some of the copper in a vein of ore. Perhaps pure copper was found, for Nature sometimes leaves it in this form. Copper could be easily hammered into various useful articles, but it was too soft for many needs. After tin was discovered, it was learned that by melting it and copper together a new and very hard metal, known as _bronze_, was formed. Next, we think, came the discovery of iron, which has become so important that we could not get along without it. Think what this must have meant for them! To get firewood, to make rude boats and simple houses, to fight wild animals, now became easier. After iron they discovered gold and silver, and began to take an interest in making beautiful as well as useful things.

It is easy to see how, once these new ways of using the earth were found, men could move into other regions than the belt where it was always warm. They could store up food for the winter, they could build warm shelters and get warm clothing, and they could sit by a fire.

Sometimes when the first people were out hunting, instead of killing the young animals that they caught, they took them home and cared for them.

So the little creatures became quite tame and grew up about the camps.

The wild jungle fowls were the ancestors of the domestic hens which we find so useful. The wild cow was tamed in like manner, and made to supply milk in addition to food and clothing. The colts of wild horses and donkeys were captured and used for carrying loads. Sheep and goats were tamed in the same manner, and became the most valued possessions of some of the ancient peoples as they are of some peoples today. When they had learned to weave the wool of these animals into clothing and blankets, they had taken another step upon the long road which leads from ancient times down to us.

Did these early people live entirely upon meat? If they had done so, we should never have had the wonderful variety of fruits and vegetables that we now enjoy so much. We must not suppose that Nature grew these things wild just as they are found in our gardens today. Our ancestors grew them for many generations, gradually improving their size and flavor. By selecting the best and carefully cultivating them, we are still continuing to make them better.

The horse, donkey, cow, and camel proved valuable in another way to the people who were learning to cultivate the ground. When harnessed to a crooked and sharpened stick they aided in breaking up the ground in which the young plants were growing.

And so the long years pa.s.sed while the early people were discovering and making use of the things around them. They came to building better and more permanent homes, because they did not have to move from place to place in search of food. Where there were forests, wood served for their buildings. Where there were few trees, stone or mud bricks were used.

The brighter people learned to understand Nature more quickly than those who were dull. Each discovery of some new way of doing things aided them in making others, and in this way people finally came to have all the comforts of today. Those people less quick to learn the secrets of Nature, or those who lived in countries to which Nature had given little, gained few comforts and even now remain savage.

After our ancestors had learned to cultivate the soil, to use the minerals and the forests, and had tamed the animals and birds, they were still unsatisfied. They attempted to make the forces of Nature work for them. For a long time people made flour by crus.h.i.+ng grain in a mortar.

Next, two flat stones were used, one being made to turn upon the other by a handle. After that some animal, such as an ox or a horse, was harnessed to larger stones which, as they slowly turned, ground the grain. This was a great deal of work, and so some one thought of making the water tumbling over a ledge of rock grind the grain for them. The water was made to go over a water wheel. This wheel then made the millstones go around. It was a great deal easier.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The wild home of early men.

_H. W. Fairbanks_]

Where there was no water power, wind was made to do the same work. A crude windmill gathered the power of the rapidly moving air. After wind and water had been forced to serve them, some one who had seen the lid of a tea kettle dancing up and down, thought of using steam. Then electricity, which in the form of jagged lightning had seemed so fearful a thing to the early people, was harnessed and made the greatest servant of all the forces of Nature.

The discovery of powder led to the making of guns so destructive that dozens of birds could be killed at one shot.

Some people became greedy and used all these wonderful discoveries to rob Nature. It seemed as if in some places all the wild life would be destroyed. Fires were allowed to burn the forest unhindered. The soil was made to produce crops until it grew poor.

If we become selfish and indifferent and neglect to care for the treasures which Nature has placed in our hands, very serious things will happen to us, as they have happened to other people. How to use the storehouse of Nature without wasting or destroying these treasures is what we mean by _conservation_.