Conservation Reader

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...

We have seen that the first men, like the other animals, depended upon the food that Nature supplied them, and when this was lacking they went hungry. When men had learned the u...

For ages, on the silent forest here, Thy beams did fall before the red man came To dwell beneath them; in their shade the deer Fed, and feared not the arrow's deadly aim. Nor tr...

Pure, fresh air is free to all of us, for, like an ocean, it surrounds the whole earth. We need pure water just as much as we do pure air, but it is not always easy to get. A la...

My squandered forests, hacked and hewed, Are gone; my rivers fail; My stricken hillsides, stark and nude, Stand shivering in the gale. Down to the sea my teeming soil In yellow...

Would you like to know something about what I am doing? Would you like to know why my waters are yellow with mud? I am accused of being a noisy, roistering fellow, of robbing pe...

Of all these, _climate_ and _scenery_ are the only ones which we can use and enjoy as much as we like without any danger of their ever failing us. The sun will shine through the...

An ancient story tells us that men were made from the dust of the earth. This dust under our feet, which soils our shoes, this dust which the wind sometimes sweeps along in blin...

We will first put the earth in a dish of water and stir it thoroughly. We notice that the water at once becomes muddy and that little particles of a dark substance rise to the s...

The substances which we found in the soil teach us that it was formed from the rocks. If we could take the sand, clay, potash, soda, lime, and iron that we found in the soil and...

A walk up the mountains on a rainy day is not a pleasant one. There are mud and water under our feet, and overhead are the dripping branches which, if touched, send down a showe...

Not all of the muddy streams are due to the carelessness of men. It is the business of some of the servants of Nature, as we have already learned, to tear down the mountains and...

The ocean is the home of the water. The water would always remain in the ocean if it could, but the sun and air are continually at work stealing little particles away and sendin...

We have come to depend upon trees to supply so many of our wants that we could not possibly do without them. We can no more spare the trees than Nature can. She needs them in he...

Our forefathers who came across the water to America found forests stretching away from the water's edge into an unknown wilderness. The settlements spread very slowly into the...

Every living thing is engaged in a struggle for air to breathe and for something to eat. Those that make their homes on the land also have to struggle for water. The stronger ro...

O forest home in which the songbirds dwell! The squirrel and the stag shall miss the spell Of thy cool depths when summer's sun assails, Nor more find shelter in thy shadowed va...

He who wantonly kills a tree, All in a night of God-sent dream, He shall travel a desert waste Of pitiless glare, and never a stream, Nor a blade of grass, nor an inch of shade-...

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...

As long as the forest shall live, The streams shall flow onward, still singing Sweet songs of the woodland, and bringing The bright, living waters that give New life to all mort...

What does he plant who plants a tree? He plants the friend of sun and sky; He plants the flag of breezes free; The shaft of beauty, towering high; He plants a home to heaven ani...

How eagerly we have looked forward to the coming of spring, and now it is here! The sun is shining brighter and warmer each day. The birds are returning from their winter home i...

Nature seems very prodigal in her ways. She is continually creating on the earth a great multitude of living things, far more than there is room for. Each one of these, if it wo...

If coal, oil, and gas were suddenly taken away, all the nations would become poor and many of their industries would cease. Just think for a moment of the amount of work these t...

Perhaps you think it is absurd to talk about caring for the creatures that live in the water, since they can so easily hide away in its depths where we cannot follow. Perhaps yo...

We have learned something about the struggle among the plants and animals for food and for room on the earth. We must not think, however, that this struggle is at all like the w...

Nature has done more for our land than for almost any other. She has given it vast forests, fertile soil, favorable climate, enormous water power, many minerals, and a wonderful...

Our savage ancestors depended largely for food upon animals, birds, and fish which they obtained. They used the skins and furs for clothing and the plumes for decorating themsel...

Once upon a time, not very long ago, the birds and animals were brought into court to be tried on the charge of committing all sorts of misdeeds. Some of their accusers wanted t...

As we lie partly awake on some bright spring morning, we hear through the open window such a chorus of music that it seems almost as though we must be in some enchanted land. Th...

In the preceding chapters we have learned something of the destructive warfare that men have carried on against wild creatures. We have learned that some species are already ext...