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MAM  DIV  THE  LANDSCAPE 


MM  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

The  Fundamentals  of  Plant  Conservation 


BY 

VERNON   GILL   CARTER 

Educational  Director 
National  Wildlife  Federation 

Supervisor  of  Conservation  Education 
Zanesville,  Ohio,  Public  Schools 


Published  by 

NATIONAL  WILDLIFE  FEDERATION 

WASHINGTON,   D.   C. 

1949 


o 


Copyright  1949 

by 
National   Wildlife   Federation 

All  rights  reserved,  except  that  quotations 
may  be  used  in  book  reviews. 


Second  Printing,  January,  1950 
Third  Printing,  November,  1950 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 
Monumental  Printing  Company,  Baltimore 


TO  ZANESVILLE 

One  of  America's  most  conservation  conscious  cities — center 
of  varied  official  watershed  laboratory  studies  embracing  soil 
and  water  conservation,  reforestation,  fish  and  game  manage- 
ment, flood  control,  and  climatic  research— pioneer  in  con- 
servation education,  with  organized  curriculum  work  in  this 
field  since  1937 — to  the  teachers,  and  all  other  citizens  of 
Zanesville,  this  book  is  dedicated. 


A  CONTRIBUTION 

BY  THE 

NATIONAL  WILDLIFE  FEDERATION 

Distributed  by  the  Committee  on  Conservation  Education 

NATIONAL  WILDLIFE  FEDERATION 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

Other  Publications 

THE  FOUNDATIONS  OF  CONSERVATION  EDUCATION 
ONCE  UPON  A  TIME — A  CONSERVATION  FILM   (SILENT) 
POVERTY  OR  CONSERVATION? 
BOTANY  AND  OUR  SOCIAL  ECONOMY 

MY  LAND  AND  YOUR  LAND — ELEMENTARY  SERIES: 
WOULD  You  LIKE  TO  HAVE  LIVED  WHEN — ? 
PLANTS  AND  ANIMALS  LIVE  TOGETHER 
RAINDROPS  AND  MUDDY  RIVERS 
NATURE'S  BANK — THE  SOIL 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS  AND  RESPONSIBILITY 

I  have  stated  publicly  the  opinion  that  no  man  could,  from  his 
own  resources  alone,  successfully  write  a  book  on  the  total  relations 
of  man  to  his  environment.  There  are  too  many  sciences  involved. 
Having,  with  much  travail  and  the  aid  of  a  corps  of  obstetricians, 
brought  forth  the  following  brain  child,  I  have  found  no  reason 
to  change  my  mind.  It  is  with  deep  gratitude  that  I  acknowledge  the 
help  of  the  following  men: 

Clyde  H.  Jones  of  the  Ohio  State  University  Department  of 
Botany,  who  has  saved  me  from  many  a  technical  error  in  his  field ; 

Charles  Dambach  of  the  Ohio  State  University  Department  of 
Zoology,  whose  grasp  of  the  field  of  organic  resources  is  exceeded  by 
few; 

William  A.  Albrecht,  Chairman,  Department  of  Soils,  University 
of  Missouri,  outstanding  pioneer  in  the  relations  of  soils  to  health ; 

H.  A.  Morgan,  Director  of  the  Tennessee  Valley  Authority,  and 
the  following  members  of  the  TVA  staff :  Rosslyn  B.  Wilson,  Writer ; 
William  M.  Landess,  Head,  Program  Exposition  Unit;  E.  0.  Fippin, 
Agriculturalist,  Program  Review  and  Analysis  staff;  Paul  E.  Johnson, 
Nutritionist,  Tests  and  Demonstration  Staff — all  of  the  Agricultural 
Relations  Department;  Ira  N.  Chiles,  Area  Education  Officer,  Reser- 
voir Properties  Department; 

E.  A.  Johnson,  Acting  Chief,  Range  Division,  Soil  Conservation 
Service ;  L.  E.  Thatcher,  Associate  in  Agronomy,  and  Wise  Burroughs, 
Department  of  Animal  Industry,  Ohio  Agricultural  Experiment  Sta- 
tion ;  0.  D.  Diller,  Associate  State  Forester,  Ohio  Division  of  Forestry. 

To  these  men,  and  to  innumerable  others  whose  writings,  re- 
searches, and  remarks  have  contributed  to  my  still  feeble  grasp  of  the 
complex  landscape,  I  offer  thanks  for  their  help. 

It  must  be  clearly  understood  that  no  one  of  those  mentioned  is 
responsible  for  statements  in  this  book,  except  when  a  direct  refer- 
ence is  made.  I  have  not  in  every  instance  agreed  with  their  opinions 
or  with  their  interpretations  of  data. 

No  apology  is  made  for  laying  hold  of  the  most  advanced  thinking 
in  the  relations  of  man  to  the  landscape.  A  few  phases  of  those 
relations  may  still  be  controversial.  My  stand  on  such  questions  is 
deliberate.  I  choose  boldness  rather  than  the  extreme  caution  of  the 
scientific  and  technical  specialists — because  I  do  not  believe  that 
modifications  resulting  from  further  (and  needed)  research  will  make 
any  great  difference  in  the  broad  social  conclusions  now  apparent. 

V.G.C. 
vii 


CONTENTS 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS  AND  RESPONSIBILITY  vii 

INTRODUCTION  _  xi 

APOLOGY  FOR  CHAPTER  I  .  xv 

CHAPTER  I — A  GLOBAL  VIEW  .  1 

CHAPTER  II — How  Do  WE  LIVE  AND  GROW  ?  _        13 

CHAPTER  III — Do  PLANTS  HAVE  QUALITY?  ..        20 

CHAPTER  IV — ARE  THERE  ENOUGH  PLANTS?  _  35 

CHAPTER  V — THE  EVOLUTION  OF  PLANTS  ..  48 

CHAPTER  VI — THE  EVOLUTION  OF  ENVIRONMENT  __  57 

€HAPTER  VII — RELATIONS  BETWEEN  PLANTS  AND  ENVIRONMENT  .     68 

CHAPTER  VIII — LIFE  AND  THE  NATURAL  LAWS  ..  83 

CHAPTER  IX — THE  PROBLEM  OF  MAINTAINING  THE  CLIMAX  ._          92 
APPENDIX  A — EDUCATIONAL  IMPLICATIONS  _  _  108 

APPENDIX  B — CLASSROOM  ACTIVITIES  ..  ..  113 

INDEX  ..  .  125 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

For  illustrations  the  author  wishes  to  acknowledge  the  fine  assis- 
tance of  Mr.  Hermann  Postlethwaite,  photo  editor,  and  his  assistant, 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  B.  Elmore,  of  the  U.  S.  Soil  Conservation  Service. 
From  SCS  files  came  the  following : 

Frontispiece  (2),  Figs.  1,  2,  4,  5,  6,  7,  10,  14,  15,  16,  17,  18,  19,  20, 
22,  23,  24,  25,  26,  38,  39,  40,  41,  42,  44,  45,  46,  50,  51,  53. 

The  U.  S.  Forest  Service  supplied  Figs.  21,  43,  52. 

The  U.  S.  Strategic  Bombing  Survey,  Fig.  3. 

The  Issac  Walton  League  of  America,  Figs.  47,  48,  49. 

Dr.  William  A.  Albrecht,  the  University  of  Missouri,  Figs.  8,  9, 
11,  12,  13. 

By  the  author,  Figs.  27  through  37. 


INTRODUCTION 

TO  START  WITH- 

There  ought  to  be  a  reason  why  anyone  should  read  this  book. 
Some  people  have  itching  brains  and  will  read  anything.  They  are 
welcome,  but  in  the  main  we  are  after  more  cautious  game.  To  be 
blunt,  we  hope  to  snare  those  who  think  plants  a  fit  topic  for  exer- 
cising the  intelligence,  and  fit  objects  for  engaging  the  muscles. 

Thus  far,  we  have  as  our  potential  audience  the  curious  citizen,  the 
agriculturist  in  all  his  forms,  the  forester,  the  home  gardener,  the 
feeder  of  animals  both  gentle  and  wild,  the  sportsman,  the  nature 
lover,  that  considerable  body  of  folk  who  eat  plants  on  occasion,  and 
in  particular,  we  have  the  teacher  and  student  of  plant  life. 

Teachers  and  students  of  plant  science  doubtless  think  the  subject 
important.  It  is  our  thesis  that  it  is  more  important  than  even  they 
claim.  The  demonstration  of  this  proposition  is  a  task  on  which  we 
descend  with  considerable  enthusiasm.  Assuming  that  we  shall  be 
successful,  we  must  conclude  that  those  among  our  readers  who 
happen  to  teach  or  will  some  day  teach  may  want  to  pass  on  to  their 
students  the  facts,  ideas,  and  proofs  here  presented.  And  so,  we  can- 
not refrain  from  making  suggestions  on  how  to  do  it.  However,  these 
suggestions  will  not  be  imposed  upon  those  remote  from  the  teaching 
art,  but  will  be  buried  in  that  Potter's  field  of  the  penman — an 
appendix. 

If  we  were  to  assume  anything  about  our  audience,  it  would  be 
that  it  has  some  knowledge  of  plants — that  it  knows  an  oak  from  a 
pine.  However,  we  are  not  going  to  assume  anything  in  this  connec- 
tion except  that  it  is  interested  in  plants  or  is  willing  to  become  in- 
terested. In  fact,  little  will  be  said  about  individual  plants.  We  shall 
proceed  quickly  to  a  consideration  of  plants  in  the  mass. 

It  is  in  the  mass  that  plants  affect  man  most  strikingly.  It  is  the 
pasture,  the  meadow,  the  range  which  eventually  put  the  beefsteak 
on  the  platter  or  the  rabbit  in  the  game  bag.  It  is  the  grove,  the 
woodlot,  the  forest  which  put  the  newspaper  on  the  front  porch,  the 
vension  on  the  peg.  It  is  when  we  do  not  have  plants  in  the  mass  that 
trouble  starts  for  man. 

AND  SO,  NATURALLY- 

In  the  chapters  which  follow  we  shall  discuss  many  of  the  troubles 
of  man.  We  shall  see  how  he  has  brought  them  upon  himself,  and 
how  he  can  throw  them  off — by  using  plants  en  masse.  In  diagnosing 
and  prescribing  for  these  troubles  we  must,  like  the  physician,  inquire 
into  what  may  seem  unrelated  conditions,  but  which  turn  out  to  be 
fundamentally  inseparable.  In  nature  we  find  wheels  within  wheels; 
and,  as  in  a  watch,  a  flaw  in  one  immediately  disrupts  the  proper 
functioning  of  the  whole  instrument.  Each  wheel  is  important  and 
worthy  of  attention,  but  to  the  user  it  is  the  function  of  the  whole 
that  counts  most.  It  is  comparatively  simple  to  become  an  expert 

xi 


concerning  one  of  nature's  wheels,  such  as  soils,  or  water,  or  birds,  or 
wildflowers;  but,  for  real  understanding  we  must  consider  the  total 
landscape.  Plants  can  be  only  the  starting  point,  certainly  not  an  end. 

The  functions  of  plants  as  society  feels  them  is  our  concern  here. 
Let  us  pre-view  some  of  the  obvious  functions  of  vegetation,  and  some 
not  so  obvious. 

Without  plants  there  could  be  no  people. 

Without  plants  the  whole  earth  would  be  a  desert.  Man  is  a  great 
manufacturer,  and  through  the  misapplication  of  his  power  he  has 
manufactured-  well  over  50,000  square  miles  of  desert  in  the  United 
States.  He  did  it  by  preventing  plants  from  functioning. 

Without  plants  there  would  be  no  humus-laden  topsoil,  no  pro- 
ductivity worth  mentioning. 

Without  the  continuous  service  of  plants,  animals  would  exhaust 
the  oxygen  of  the  air. 

Without  plants  there  would  be  few  reliable  springs,  few  constant 
streams,  few  clear  rivers,  few  long  lived  lakes. 

Without  plants  past  and  present  there  would  be  no  great  indus- 
trial regions  depending  on  freshwater,  no  cities,  no  coal,  no  oil,  no  gas. 

And,  let  us  repeat,  without  plants  there  could  be  no  people,  no  you 
and  I. 

We  have  in  these  statements  considered  plants  at  the  zero  point. ^ 
As  we  move  the  amount  of  vegetation  upward  toward  the  maximum, 
the  related  factors  move  upward  with  it,  until  we  have  the  richest 
possible  natural  environment  —  such  as  the  frontiers  man  found, 
and  such  as  formed  the  basis  of  this  richest  of  nations.  We  may  go 
even  farther,  and  on  certain  areas  exceed  nature — as  by  irrigating 
arid  lands  or  supplying  missing  soil  minerals  in  certain  regions. 

Today,  the  maximum  vegetation  is  only  a  memory  on  vast  acreages 
of  our  country.  The  headaches  of  man  came  thick  and  fast  when  it 
dropped  to  the  fifty  per  cent  mark  or  thereabout. 

A  single  phrase — plant  deficiency — will  help  answer  all  the  fol- 
lowing questions,  each  of  which  indicates  a  flaw  in  the  social  order  of 
in  an. 

1.  What  causes  our  streams  to  be  muddy? 

2.  Why  do  once  permanently  flowing  streams  become  intermit- 
tent streams — with  alternate  floods  and  dry  beds? 

3.  What  makes  people  think  the  climate  is  getting  drier? 

4.  Why  are  we  forced  to  spend,  above  and  beyond  the  natural 
necessity,  hundreds  of  millions  on  flood  control? 

5.  Why  are  new  flood  crest  records  being  set  from  time  to  time  ? 
(I.    Why  do  reservoirs  for  water  supply,  power,  navigation  and 

recreation  fill  up  with  mud  ? 

xii 


7.  Why  must  millions  be  spent  to  keep  our  harbors  from  filling 
with  silt? 

8.  Why  'do  streams  wander  here  and  there,  far  more  than  they 
did  under  virgin  land   conditions,   changing  course,   altering 
field  patterns  and  property  lines  ? 

9.  Why  do  new. industries  often  avoid  many  seemingly  desirable 
locations  ? 

10.  Why  does  the  fertility  of  sloping  land  decrease  several  times  as 
fast  as  mere  cropping  should  cause  ? 

13.  Why  are  nutrient  minerals,  not  long  ago  found  near  the  sur 
face,  now  found  beyond  the  reach  of  roots? 

12.  Why  are  millions  of  acres  of  once  rich  soils  now  gashed,  gullied, 
or  skinned  down  to  a  whiskery  covering  of  weeds? 

13.  Why  is  the  humus  content  of  the  nation's  soils  falling? 

14.  Why  is  the  cost  of  meat  so  high  ? 

15.  Why  do  we  reclaim  arid  lands  at  such  high  cost? 

10.  Why  do  we  have  so  much  trouble  with  weeds,  almost  none  of 
which  the  pioneer  knew? 

17.  Why  do  livestock  on  a  vast  total  of  forage  acres  now  require, 
per  animal,  from  three  to  six  times  the  former  area  for  sup- 
port? 

13.  Why  do  great  stretches  of  former  hardwood  forest  areas  refuse 
to  produce  hardwoods  today? 

^19.  Why  do  we  maintain  national  forests  at  a  cost  which  is  double 
the  value  of  the  harvested  timber? 

20.  Why  is  the  cost  of  lumber  so  high  ? 

21.  Why  does  the  hunter  complain  of  lack  of  game? 

22.  Why  does  the  fisherman  moan? 

23.  Why  are  marine  fish  and  shellfish  scarce  and  high  priced? 

24.  Why  do  large  areas  have  only  half  or  a  fourth  the  number  of 
insects,  especially  bees,  necessary  for  full  crop  pollination? 

25.  Why  are  plant  diseases  so  prevalent  and  costly? 

26.  Why   are   nutritional   deficiencies   prevalent    among   domestic 
animals  and  the  human  clan  ? 

27.  Why  do  we  have  rural  slums  ? 

AS  WE  SHALL  DEMONSTRATE— 

The  answer,  in  whole  or  in  part,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  all  these 
questions  is:  plant  deficiency.  The  deficiency  is,  for  most  of  them,  a 
matter  of  quantity.  Or,  the  quantity  may  be  adequate  for  only  part 
of  the  time,  part  of  the  j'ear  or  period  of  years.  The  deficiency  may 
also  be  one  of  quality ;  that  is,  a  deficiency  in  the  amount  or  number  of 
nutrients  composing  the  plant  parts.  Very  often  the  quantity  of 
plants  cannot  be  increased  without  also  providing  for  better  quality. 
Plant  qualit}'  is  of  greater  importance  than  most  of  us  realize. 

xiii 


There  is  110  need  to  labor  the  point.  These  questions  are  mo- 
mentous, economically,  socially,  personally.  The  opportunity  for 
doing  something  about  them  and  the  responsibility  of  doing  something 
about  them  rest  on  the  people  who  have  any  relation  whatever  to 
plants.  That  is  all  of  us. 

But,  we  must  first  know  precisely  what  each  problem  is,  and,  to  the 
best  of  present  scientific  knowledge,  what  to  do.  This  is  in  part  a  task 
in  education,  and  on  those  teachers  and  teachers-to-be,  who  are  con- 
cerned with  both  the  natural  and  social  sciences,  falls  a  large  share  of 
the  burden  in  saving  a  civilization  from  the  sure  decline  which  must 
follow  resource  destruction.  At  least  the  attempt  to  save  it  must  be 
made.  Otherwise,  wrhy  teach? 

What  benefit  is  it  to  know  a  pistil  from  a  stamen  if  one  day  there 
are  no  pistils  or  stamens? 

When  we  employ  a  man  we  want  to  know  quite  a  lot  about  him : 
his  name,  race,  habits,  family  background.  Those  things  may  influ- 
ence his  fitness  for  the  service  we  want  from  him.  But,  most  im- 
portant, we  want  to  know  what  he  can  do.  Similarly  with  plants. 
Their  structure,  internal  processes,  name,  and  classification  are  perti- 
nent information  for  certain  purposes.  But,  the  great  question  is : 
what  can  they  do  for  us?  And,  how  can  we  get  them  to  do  it? 

We  certainly  do  not  want  to  be  like  the  tradition  bound  Chinese, 
who  (as  that  former  Chief  of  the  U.  S.  Biological  Survey,  J.  N. 
Darling,  put  its)  spent  so  much  time  worshiping  the  family  tree, 
talking  about  the  family  tree,  studying  the  family  tree,  that  they  let 
their  country  go  to  pot  unnoticed. 

If  we  are  going  to  inquire  into  the  nature  of  plants,  then  by  all 
means  let  us  go  all  the  way  and  see  how  they  enter  into  the  great, 
intricately  geared  machine  of  soil,  water,  sunshine,  air,  men,  jobs, 
health,  prosperity  and  happiness. 

TO  SUM  UP— 

The  purposes  of  this  book  are : 

(1)  To  establish  plants  en  masse  as  a  much  neglected  and  exceed- 
ingly important  factor  in  the  welfare  of  man. 

(2)  To  identify  the  social  and  personal  problems  arising  from 
deficiencies  in  the  quantity  and  quality  of  vegetation. 

(3)  To  reach  an  understanding  of  the  complex  maze  of  relation- 
ships found  in  the  landscape,  and  how  they  have  developed. 

(4)  To  set  forth  the  principles  of  landscape  management  or  en- 
vironmental engineering  by  which  man  can  ease  many  of  his 
troubles  and  avoid  others. 

(5)  To  suggest  how  the  younger  generation  may  be  made  aware 
of  the  great  part  vegetation  will  play,  for  good  or  evil,  in  its 
life. 

xiv 


APOLOGY  FOR  CHAPTER  I 


The  first 'chapter,  "A  Global  View/'  is  a  paradox.  It  belongs  at 
the  end  of  the  book.  And  vet,  it  belongs  at  the  beginning.  We  suspect 
that  it  will  Le  disappointing  to  the  reader  in  its  present  position. 
That  is  because  it  cannot  be  understood  very  well  without  the  back- 
ground of  the  chapters  to  follow.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  those 
chapters  contain  a  widely  ranging  array  of  facts  and  ideas.  They  need 
a  unifying  preamble,  which  Chapter  I  attempts  to  provide. 

The  dilemma  cannot  be  solved.  The  essence  of  a  dozen  sciences 
cannot  be  distilled  and  blended  into  a  philosophy  of  unity  in  a  few 
minutes.  Although  it  cannot  be  done,  "A  Global  View"  tries.  The 
only  reasonable  course  is  to  read  it  again  as  a  final  chapter.  Such  a 
second  reading,  backed  and  sustained  by  a  mosiac  of  related  informa- 
tion, will  doubtless  be  more  rewarding. 


xv 


CHAPTER  I 


A  GLOBAL  VIEW 


Before  we  launch  into  the  details  of  man's  successes  and  failures 
in  living  on  the  world  landscape,  let  us  pause  a  moment  and  consider 
what  we  are  getting  into. 

Educational  experts  study  such  things  as  the  learning  process  and 
its  handmaid,  memory.  They  have  done  a  great  deal  of  experiment- 
ing. They  conclude  that  the  best  way  to  begin  absorbing,  under- 
standing, or  memorizing  a  body  of  knowledge  is  first  to  take  an  over- 
view of  the  entire  passage  to  be  learned.  First,  get  a  general  idea  of 
what  it  is  all  about.  Get  an  airplane  view  of  the  field.  Study  a  map 
of  the  whole  territory. 

In  such  a  general  overview,  the  details  are  invisible  or  blurred. 
But,  with  such  a  view  fixed  in  mind,  when  we  later  burrow  into  the 
details  we  shall  know  how  they  fit  into  the  entire  scene.  We  can  see 
the  parts  in  relation  to  the  whole. 

In  the  field  of  natural  sciences,  we  are  only  beginning  to  fit  tke 
parts  together  so  as  to  make  possible  a  look  at  the  whole.  What  we 
see  is  both  discouraging  and  encouraging.  In  too  many  landscapes 
we  find  that  our  past  blind  misshaping,  mishandling  of  parts  and 
components  has  produced  weird,  abnormal  scenes.  These  under- 
nourished, sickly,  unbalanced,  puny,  abnormal  landscapes  are  largely 
inhabited  by  abnormal  people — people  so  uniformly  abnormal  that 
they  think  they  are  normal,  and  believe  that  the  environment  in 
which  they  live  is  normal.  It  is  only  recently  that  these  abnormalities 
have  begun  to  come  into  the  light  of  general  understanding.  Science 
is  slowly  discovering  what  is  normal  for  civilized  man  and  the  modern 
landscape.  The  core  of  that  normality  is  a  robust,  timeless,  cyclical 
flow  of  energy  and  elements. 

This  endless  flow  may  be  likened  to  a  hydro-power  plant  on  a 
stream.  The  stream  supplies  energy  perpetually  through  the  opera- 
tion of  the  climatic  water  cycle.  Water  is  sidetracked  over  the  blades 
of  turbine  or  waterwheel,  then  returns  to  the  stream.  The  energy 
drawn  off  is  replaced  by  nature  from  the  immense  powerhouse  of  the 
sun.  The  used  water  is  vaporized  by  sun-born  heat  and  carried  by 
sun-created  air  currents  and  winds  back  to  the  headwaters  of  the 
stream.  The  compounded  mineral  elements  of  the  water  are  the 
carriers  of  energy.  They  must  be  returned,  not  dispersed  nor  de- 
stroyed, if  the  flow  of  energy  is  to  be  maintained.  Fortunately,  man 
has  been  unable  to  lay  violent  hands  on  this  phase  of  the  water  cycle. 
It  remains  as  an  example  of  normally.  (Fig.  1.) 


278038 


GROUND  WATER  TO  OCEANS 


THE  HYDROLOGIC  CYCLE 


FIG.  1.  The  hydrologic  cycle  chart  merits  careful  study.  There  are  two  points 
in  the  cycle  where  man  alters  the  natural  course:  (1)  Where  the  rain  strikes  the 
earth,  man  has  decreased  the  infiltration  and  increased  the  runoff,  with  attendant 
erosion,  lower  yields,  siltation  of  storage  basins,  increase  of  floods,  etc.  (2)  By 
excessive  pumping1  of  ground  water  for  municipal,  industrial,  and  irrigation  use, 
the  water  table  has  in  many  places  fallen  so  low  as  to  threaten  such  supplies. 


Man,  on  the  whole,  has  never  thought  to  compare  this  simple 
physical  cycle  to  the  complex  cycle  of  life.  The  energy  for  life  is 
carried  by  certain  elements  in  soil,  water  and  air.  Few  men  indeed 
have  given  attention  and  thought  to  the  revolving  of  the  proper 
fraction  of  these  elements  from  the  point  of  human  use  back  to  the 
soil,  so  that  they  maintain  a  perpetual  flow  of  vigorous  plant,  animal, 
and  human  life. 

Not  enough  men  have  given  penetrating  thought  to  preserving 
even  the  soil  storehouse  itself,  a  storehouse  very  easily  destroyed  and 
depleted.  Nor  has  man  in  general  considered  the  intricate,  repetitive 
processes  by  which  the  living  soil  captures,  impounds,  and  transmits 
to  man  the  complex  and  varied  materials  and  energies  which  make 
him  man.  These  processes  are  quite  delicate  in  their  system  of  checks 
and  balances,  their  interdependencies.  Man  has  waded  into  them,  like 
(if  we  may  draAV  a  caricature)  a  drunken  Cro-Magnon  running 
berserk  with  a  bull-dozer  in  a  watch  factory. 

Abnormal  thinking  and  actions  are  rooted  in  greed,  ignorance,  mis- 
information, superstition,  fears,  and  doubtless  other  unfortunate  fac- 
tors. Civilized  man's  usage  of  the  landscape  usually  evolved  in  just 


A  GLOBAL  VIEW  3 

such  a  mental  and  emotional  climate.  The  raw  truth  is  that  the  land- 
scape under  civilized  occupancy  has  seldom  been  allowed  or  encour- 
aged to  function  normally. 

The  channels  which  thoughts  follow  are  shaped  and  directed  very 
largely  by  the  personal  world  we  live  in.  The  restricted  world  most 
of  us  live  in  remains  abnormal,  and  our  thinking  strongly  reflects  this 
fact. 

Cities  are  abnormal  in  many  ways.  The  ugliness  of  most  houses 
and  business  buildings  is  accepted  as  normal  by  90  per  cent  or  more 
of  city  dwellers.  The  constricted,  crowded  streets,  the  lack  of  parks 
and  playgrounds,  the  absence  of  natural  scenery,  the  ignorance  of 
basic  production  problems  and  sources  of  food  and  clothing,  the  arti- 
ficial entertainment,  the  synthetic  stimuli  to  work  and  play,  the  loose 
standards  of  conduct — all  these  are  generally  abnormal  in  cities,  yet 
are  accepted  as  normal  to  city  life. 

Most  American  farms,  forests,  and  rangelands  are  abnormal.  The 
erosion  of  topsoil,  the  straight  furrow  on  curving  lands,  the  easy  sub- 
stitution of  chemical  fertilizers  for  organic  manuring,  the  exhaustion 
of  humus,  the  thin,  scanty  pasture  and  range,  the  annihilation  cutting 
of  forest  and  woodlot,  the  putrid,  muddy  streams,  the  scarcity  of  polli- 
nating insects,  the  meager  populations  of  birds  and  other  wildlife — 
these  things  are  abnormal,  yet  are  accepted  by  a  great  majority  of 
land  owners  and  land  users  as  normal. 

Normal  thinking,  with  a  longtime  background  of  abnormal  envi- 
ronment, is  extremely  difficult.  It  requires  search  for  scientific  knowl- 
edge. It  requires  mental  labor.  It  requires  social  courage.  It  is  not 
popular.  Its  conclusions  will  be  resented  by  many.  The  forces  dis- 
couraging normal  thinking  are  great  and  few  will  overcome  them. 

The  overview  which  follows  is  an  attempt  to  relate  man  to  the 
landscape,  and  to  point  out  that  the  original  landscape,  and  man  him- 
self originally,  were  products  of  normal  forces  within  the  universe.  It 
is  a  condensed  attempt  (as  is  this  entire  book)  to  cut  through  the 
smoke  screens  of  abnormality  and  see  some  of  the  real  modern  prob- 
lems which  confront  us.  That  we  approach  the  task  from  the  view- 
point of  a  particular  science  is  not  essential ;  it  is  merely  a  convenient 
entry  into  the  mazes  of  the  total  landscape. 

The  Organization  Behind  Life.  It  is  instructive  to  stop  and  con- 
sider sketchily,  what  it  takes  to  place  a  modern  mechanical  contriv- 
ance, say  an  automobile,  at  our  disposal.  We  are  at  least  dimly  aware 
of  the  giant  factory  with  its  thousands  of  workers  which  fabricate 
many  of  the  parts  and  put  them  together.  We  may  know  that  many 
of  the  parts  are  made  in  still  other  factories.  The  different  metals  used 
are  dug  out  of  the  earth  all  over  the  world.  These  mining  operations 
are  complex  procedures  involving  men  and  materials.  Refining  and 
processing  them  require  mills,  and  sources  of  power.  Various  modes 
of  transportation  are  involved  in  moving  these  earth  products  to  the 
factories — trucks,  railroads,  steamships.  Many  automobile  parts  are 
grown  on  soils — rubber,  wool  and  cotton,  soybean  plastics — and  again 


4  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

many  men,  animals,  machinery,  fertilizers,  sunshine,  rain,  processing 
plants,  transportation  systems  and  communication  systems  are  used. 
The  whole  universe  contributes  to  the  completion  of  the  automobile; 
and  for  its  operation  an  extensive  industry,  petroleum,  had  to  be 
created ;  and  highway  networks  had  to  be  built. 

It  is  not  too  difficult  to  appreciate  the  tremendous  organization 
and  the  resource  operations  necessary  in  this  instance — because  man 
is  responsible  for  most  of  the  manipulative  work  invloved.  We  know 
what  such  effort  is. 

Living  plants  are  far  more  complex  than  any  machine.  Of  the  role 
of  the  organized  universe,  the  solar  and  earth  factors  which  are 
necessary  to  produce  plants,  most  of  us  are  only  vaguely  aware. 
Chemists  have  found  hundreds  of  chemical  compounds  in  leaves  alone. 
Botanists  can  dissect  plants  and  study  their  parts,  can  bring  the  mi- 
croscope and  test  tube  to  bear  on  the  many  kinds  of  tissues  and  cells. 
A  master  mechanic  may  know  all  about  how  an  automobile  works.  No 
botanist  knows  all  about  how  a  plant  works. 

Fortunately  the  botanist  knows  some  things,  and  a  part  of  what  he 
knows,  everyone  ought  to  know,  because  that  part  relates  intimately 
to  the  quality,  satisfaction,  and  success  of  human  living. 

The  botanist  does  not  progress  very  far  until  he  realizes  (as  does 
the  specialist  in  any  branch  of  science)  that  he  cannot  bottle  himself 
up  in  an  air-tight  compartment  of  knowledge.  If  he  does  completely 
isolate  his  field  of  study,  he  never  finds  the  answers  to  the  great,  intri- 
cate questions  which  man  asks  about  life  and  death. 

The  most  elementary  study  of  a  plant  (or  of  an  animal,  for  that 
matter)  immediately  brings  up  three  questions:  Of  what  is  it  made? 
How  does  it  operate?  What  is  the  source  of  the  energy  by  which  it 
works  ? 

The  bio-chemist  (we  are  already  knocking  on  the  door  of  another 
science)  cooks  up  a  plant  brew  and  runs  it  through  his  test  tubes.  He 
reports  that  some  thirty  of  the  world's  ninety-six  elements  are  to  be 
found  in  a  wide  range  of  plants.  Fourteen  elements,  at  least,  are 
found  in  every  green  plant.  Somewhat  surprised,  he  steps  next  door 
and  asks  the  physicist  to  check  his  findings.  The  physicist  heats  plants 
until  the  ashes  glow.  Viewing  or  photographing  through  a  spectro- 
scope the  light  rays  given  off  by  the  white-hot  mineral  ashes,  he  con- 
firms the  chemist's  report  and  adds  another  30  minerals  to  the  list. 
Each  of  the  sixty  elements  is  identified  by  the  wavelength  of  its  light 
rays. 

So,  plants  are  packets  of  elements,  cunningly  arranged  and  or- 
ganized. But  what  are  elements?  Again  the  physicist  supplies  the 
answer.  An  element  is  composed  of  atoms  which  are  all  alike.  An 
atom  is  an  organized  and  active  arrangement  of  electrons,  protons 
and  neutrons.  Each  of  the  more  than  ninety  elements  has  a  different 
number  and  arrangement  of  electrons,  protons,  neutrons.  And  what 


A  GLOBAL  VIEW  5 

are  electrons?  Negative  charges  of  electricity.  Protons?  Positive 
charges  of  electricity.  Neutrons?  Neutral  charges.  And  what,  the 
botanist  inquires,  is  electricity?  The  physicist  says  it  is  a  form  of 
energy,  force,  power. 

The  plant,  it  appears,  is  an  organized  collection  of  energy.  Some- 
what timidly,  the  botanist  asks  ''What  is  energy?"  The  physicist 
can  only  reply  "I  am  working  on  that,"  which  is  his  way  of  saying, 
"I  don't  know  much  about  it,  except  that  it  can  do  work,  produce 
action." 

The  botanist  and  his  chemist  friend  go  to  work.  They  find  that 
the  plant  gets  its  elements  from  three  sources:  air,  water,  and  soil. 
A  seed  lies  in  the  skin  of  the  earth.  It  lies  in  soil,  and  the  soil  con- 
tains air  and  water.  The  plant  grows.  It  takes  in  elements,  and  from 
them  constructs  itself,  according  to  a  certain,  largely  hereditary,  pat- 
tern. For  something  that  has  no  brain,  the  plant  does  an  amazing 
architectural  job. 

Having  traced  the  plant  down  into  the  very  bowels  of  atoms,  the 
botanist  becomes  curious  about  the  air,  water  and  soil — those  ware- 
houses of  raw  stuff  from  which  plants  are  constructed.  The  water,  he 
knows,  usually  conies  as  rain  or  snow.  In  the  days  of  his  youth  he 
learned  in  geography  class  how  the  intimate  and  wonderfully  con- 
venient relationship  of  sun  and  earth  produces  weather  and  climate, 
how  weather  turns  big  rocks  into  little  rocks,  even  into  dust.  The 
effect  of  sunlight  on  plants  is  knowledge  which  a  human  can  hardly 
escape.  The  astronomer  tells  him  that  these  actions — weather,  soil 
formation,  growth — all  originated  in  the  energy  of  the  sun. 

And  so,  it  becomes  clear  that  the  tremendous  largeness  and  pre- 
cision of  the  solar  system,  as  well  as  the  unimaginable  smallness  and 
precision  of  atoms,  play  their  parts  in  the  intricate  operation  of  pro- 
ducing a  living  plant. 

Life — the  Master  Organizer.  The  solar  system  is  dead.  The  atoms 
of  mineral  elements  are  dead.  With  all  their  clockwork  organization 
they  are  dead.  The  air,  the  waters,  the  rock  dusts,  the  sunshine  are 
dead.  It  is  these  dead  things  which  the  chemist  and  physicist  analyze. 
Yet,  out  of  this  death  has  come  life.  Life  draws  upon  them  all,  these 
simple,  natural  forms,  and  transforms  them  quietly  and  with  ease 
into  such  complex  living  compounds  that  our  greatest  scientists  are 
thus  far  baffled  by  many  of  them.  If  undisturbed,  these  living  or- 
ganisms grow,  reproduce,  and  die,  always  enriching  that  thin  zone, 
enriching  that  one  foot  (so  far  as  we  know)  in  all  the  millions  of 
miles  of  the  solar  system 's  axis  which  supports  life — the  topsoil ! 

This  enrichment  of  soil  is  an  active,  energetic  process.  It  is  a 
cumulative  process.  In  it,  life  overlaps  and  continues,  generation  by 
generation,  working  over  and  over  the  elements  life  uses,  reaching  a 
bit  deeper  into  the  rock  dust  as  each  century  passes,  building  fertility 
slowly.  As  the  fertility  level  rises,  the  life  level  inevitably  rises.  The 
level  of  life  rises  not  only  in  numbers  of  living  things  but  in  com- 


6  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

plexity  of  organization.  It  rises  to  the  ceiling  set  by  the  supply  and 
kinds  of  elements  and  climate  to  be  found  in  each  region.  At  the 
ceiling,  each  region  finally  contains  the  best  kinds  of  life  it  can  sup- 
port. The  final,  human  triumph  is  to  bring  into  a  region  any  missing 
elements  and  thus  raise  the  ceiling,  raise  the  fertility,  raise  the  level 
of  life  there. 

The  sad  story  is  that  man,  the  acme  of  life,  has  generally  failed  to 
do  this  natural,  normal  duty  in  enriching  his  home.  He  has  become 
a  robber  of  the  family  goods  and  a  fouler  of  his  own  nest.  The  en- 
couraging story  is  that  in  still  small  but  constantly  growing  number 
he  has  realized  his  error  and  is  correcting  it.  This  reformation  is  most 
evident  in  the  agricultural  revolution  occuring  now  in  the  Tennessee 
Valley,  in  the  Muskingum  Valley,  in  soil  conservation  districts  across 
the  land. 

The  reformation  in  land  use  is  based  on  a  belated  recognition  of 
the  values  and  lessons  of  natural  organization  on  the  landscape.  Na- 
ture's system  kept  the  books  balanced  reasonably  well.  What  life 
took  from  the  soil,  it  returned.  Water  and  air  were  used  over  and 
over.  They  nourished,  and  seldom  injured,  life.  Each  life  form, 
whether  plant  or  animal,  drew  its  substance  from  the  landscape,  lived, 
and  when  it  died  its  substance  went  back  into  the  landscape  where  it 
would  benefit  life  to  follow. 

Man,  the  Disorganizer.  The  organization  set  up  by  nature,  with- 
out benefit  of  man's  technology,  was  an  intricately  geared  set  of 
cycles.  These  cycles  were  intermeshed,  driven  by  power  from  the  sun, 
and  were  relatively  timeless.  They  could  not  run  down  and  stop.  Man 
has,  figuratively,  straightened  out  the  wheels  of  this  living  machine 
and  built  a  single  track,  one  way  road  to  the  sea,  the  dump,  the  incin- 
erator, and  the  cemetery,  for  the  greater  part  by  way  of  our  cities. 
The  substance  of  the  landscape  is  loosed  from  its  mooring  and  traded 
to  the  cities  for  money  and  fabricated  goods. 

The  chief  product  of  the  landscape,  food,  is  largely  routed  through 
the  gullets  and  alimentary  tubes  of  city  people,  then  through  the 
sewers  and  down  our  reeking  rivers  to  the  sea.  The  return  phase  of 
the  mineral  cycle  does  not  operate  to  any  significant  extent.  The  soil 
is  weakened,  weakened  a  little  more  each  year.  Minerals  are  being 
withdrawn  from  the  soil  bank  faster  than  nature  can  release  new  sup- 
plies from  the  rocks.  Scores  of  years  ago,  Victor  Hugo  warned  that 
the  real  wealth  and  strength  of  France  was  gushing  out  to  sea  through 
the  stone-walled  guts  of  Paris,  its  sewers.  The  United  States  is  a 
younger,  stronger  land,  but  already  our  soils  show  unmistakable  signs 
of  developing  mineral  shortages.  On  some  75  million  acres  the  soil 
itself  is  gone.  If  this  continues  long  enough,  the  last  gasp  of  Ameri- 
can civilization  may  sound  remarkably  like,  may  be  in  fact,  the 
swooshing  gurgle  of  a  voracious  watercloset.  This  ingenious  device 
will  then  sit,  in  its  porcelain  and  functional  beauty,  as  did  its  marble 
prototype  in  Home,  and  wait  a  thousand  years  for  nature  to  build  a 
new  landscape  once  again  to  feed  its  insatiable  maw. 


A  GLOBAL  VIEW 


FIG.  2.  "Water,  instead  of  nurturing:  life,  destroys  it."  This  Maryland  corn 
needs  the  water  which  is  escaping1.  A.  full  yield  cannot  be  secured  without  it. 
Not  only  water  and  crop  growth  are  'being'  lost,  the  runoff  is  heavy  with  topsoil. 
Two  hundred  such  episodes — perhaps  30  corn  crops — and  there  will  he  no  topsoil, 
no  corn,  no  man  on  this  landscape. 


And  if  by  chance  the  watercloset,  cold  and  dry,  does  not  become 
the  symbol  of  America's  decline,  it  will  be  because  the  gully  got 
there  first.  Erosion  is  robbing  us  of  soil  minerals  five  or  six  times  as 
fast  as  the  harvest  of  crops.  Here  again,  man  has  placed  a  heavy 
hand  on  the  balance  scale  of  nature.  Normally,  on  a  mature  land- 
scape, weathering  and  the  acid  juices  of  former  life  eat  down  into 
new  soil  as  fast  as  the  surface  soil  is  lost  or  exhausted.  Man,  by  his 
choice  of  row  crops  for  sloping  land,  by  his  exposure  of  bare  soil  to  the 
power  of  rain  and  wind,  by  his  exhaustion  of  spongy  organic  matter 
through  continuous  year  after  year  cultivation,  by  harvesting  to  the 
last  crop  remnant,  has  destroyed  the  soil  cycle.  He  has,  at  the  same 
time,  by  the  same  acts,  short  circuited  the  water  cycle ;  water,  instead 
of  soaking  in  to  feed  crops,  runs  away  with  the  soil — water,  instead  of 
nurturing  life,  destroys  it.  (Fig.  2.)  All  power  may  be  used  for 
benefit  or  destruction,  according  to  our  management  of  it.  One  of 
the  fundamental  problems  facing  the  world  is  the  proper  use  of 
power.  The  power  of  nuclear  fission  released  by  a  bomb  is  no  more 
dangerous  in  the  long  run  than  the  power  of  falling  raindrops  or 
sweeping  wind.  (Figs.  3,  4.)  Each  can  play  its  part  in  destroying 
civilization,  or  enriching  it.  There  may  be  differences  in  the  speed  at 
which  they  work,  but  the  result  can  be  the  same. 

The  primary  result  of  man's  disruption  of  the  natural  cycles  of 
soil  minerals,  air,  water,  and  organic  matter  is  reduced  vegetative 
production.  (Fig.  5.)  This  brings  shortages  of  food,  clothing,  housing, 
and  chemurgic  products.  The  shortage  of  food  does  not  operate  like 
a  carefully  supervised  and  balanced  reducing  diet;  the  food  from 


FIG.  3.     Atomic  power  released  by  nuclear  fission  in  a  bomb  destroyed  this  city, 
this  laboriously  constructed  landscape.      How  competent  is   mankind  to   control 

this  power? 

APPLICATIONS    OF    POWER 

FIG.  4.     Atomic  power  originating'  in  the  sun  operates  the  earth's  water  cycle; 

it  is  thus  the  basic  force  which,  guided  in  this  case  by  an  incompetent  human 

mind,  destroyed  this  landscape.     Gone  are  the  plantlife,  wildlife,  and  their  values 

to  human  life.     How  competent  is  mankind  to   control  this  power? 


A  GLOBAL  VIEW  9 

poor  land  is  usually  lacking  in  nutrient  quality — it  may  not,  for  in- 
stance, provide  the  proteins  needed  by  the  man  to  produce  antibodies; 
and,  human  health  suffers — resistance  to  disease  decreases. 

Abnormal  men  on  an  abnormal  landscape  inevitably  engage  in 
abnormal  behavior.     Aggressive  individual  fighting  and  aggressive 


FIG-.  5.  Here  man's  mismanagement  of  the  power  residing-  in  falling1  rain  has 
disrupted  every  natural  cycle  on  this  landscape.  The  concentrated  minerals  of 
the  topsoil  are  being-  dispersed;  the  normal  infiltration  of  water  has  been  disas- 
trously reduced.  The  hydrologlc  cycle,  perverted  from  its  normal,  healthy  course, 
grinds  away  the  foundation  of  all  life. 


war  are  abnormal,  regardless  of  their  antiquity.  Normal  behavior  is 
never  wilfully  destructive.  We  could  go  through  a  long  list  of  un- 
desirable and  destructive  behavior  traits,  which  operate  in  abnormal 
situations  such  as  deprivation  of  a  completely  normal  diet,  shortages 
of  other  necessities  to  daily  living,  or  even  lack  of  luxuries  to  which 
one  thinks  he  is  entitled.  Inadequate  supplies  of  earth  products  stimu- 
late fears,  suspicions,  and  aggressive  acts  between  individuals,  groups, 
regions,  and  nations. 

The  chaotic  state  of  the  world  has  become  chronic  over  the  cen- 
turies. It  is  certainly  not  a  modern  phenomenon.  Every  civilization 
has  eventually  exhausted  itself,  either  by  wars  between  nations  or  by 
internal  war  with  nature.  No  one,  no  group  can  win  a  war  against 
nature.  The  disruption  of  natural  cycles,  the  doctrine  of  "take  and 
never  repay,"  is  suicidal  and  never  more  than  temporarily  profitable. 


10  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

There  have  been  and  there  are  islands  of  normality  in  the  world, 
where  men  have  learned  to  live  largely  in  harmony  with  the  land- 
scape. (Fig.  6.)  Such  a  happy  status  always  involves  control  of  the 
human  population  by  one  means  or  another.  (Every  kind  of  life  has 
the  capacity  to  reproduce  at  a  greater  rate  than  the  landscape  can 
support.)  These  tiny  islands  of  sanity  in  landscape  management  are 
probably  in  some  degree  accidental.  Sufficient  scientific  knowledge, 
which  would  permit  a  deliberate  attempt  to  establish  widespread  nor- 
mal relations  between  civilized  man  and  nature,  has  only  recently 
become  available. 

Man,  the  Re-Organizer.  The  natural  cycles  of  life,  energy,  and 
matter  are  a  trinity,  unified  and  inseparable.  They  are  a  product  of 
the  universe.  Nature  exerts  forces  to  maintain  these  cycles  in  opera- 
tion, and  restore  then  to  balance  when  disturbed.  Yet,  these  balances 
are  so  delicate  that  even  a  small  remnant  of  the  former  human  popu- 
lation, if  it  continues  destructive  practices,  can  prevent  the  landscape 
from  recuperating.  We  see  evidence  of  this  on  impoverished  farms, 
pastured  timberlands,  overgrazed  rangelands.  We  see  it  in  once 
thickly  peopled,  now  largely  barren  areas  in  North  China,  Mesopo- 
tamia, North  Africa,  Greece,  Yucatan,  Phoenicia,  Mexico,  South  Afri- 
ca, and  others,  including  the  United  States  of  America.  Naturally, 
we  should  like  to  prevent  such  drastic  procedures.  We  should  like  to 
see  these  impoverished  areas  restored.  We  should  like  to  see  the  down- 
ward trend  stopped  on  still  other  areas. 

Prevention  of  slow  disaster  requires  reorganization  of  man 's  land- 
scape activities.  Where  he  has  been  siphoning  off  energy  and  sub- 
stance from  the  natural  cycles  without  providing  for  a  proper  frac- 
tion of  return,  he  must  provide  such  return.  (Fig.  7.) 

Furthermore,  science  is  discovering  that  the  life  producing  cycles 
can  be  enlarged  and  speeded  by  feeding  into  them  through  the  soil 
(and  sometimes  through  the  leaves  of  plants)  certain  elements  (such 
as  phosphorus  and  calcium,  zinc  and  copper.)  Man  found  these  and 
other  elements  lying  about  in  deposits,  inert  and  seemingly  useless  to 
organic  processes.  The  possibilities  for  human  betterment  which  lie 
in  such  improvements  on  nature  Iiardly  have  been  touched  by  the 
rank  and  file  of  land  users.  Nor  has  there  been  a  sustained  and  in- 
sistent demand  from  consumers  for  rational  management  of  our 
resources.  The  job  is  only  well  started.  The  masses  sense  vaguely 
and  intuitively  that  such  activities  will  benefit  them.  But,  there  is 
no  strong  awareness  of  its  full  importance. 

It  is  certain  that  the  future  security  of  all  peoples  is  linked  with 
material  abundance.  People  in  the  mass  will  never  conduct  them- 
selves on  a  purely  intellectual  and  moral  plane.  Morals,  personal  or 
national,  are  powerfully  influenced  by  the  fullness  or  emptiness  of  the 
gut.  Hundreds  of  millions  of  hungry  people  (and  they  are  hungry 
for  more  than  food)  are  a  constant  force  toward  war.  America  alone 
cannot  feed,  clothe,  and  house  them.  We  can  only  help  them  help 
themselves.  They  can  only  help  themselves  by  enriching  their  own 
landscapes, 


FIG.   6.      On   this   mountainside   in   Lebanon,    man   has   established   normal   rela- 
tionship with  Nature,  under  difficult  terms.     The  laws  of  the  landscape  are  being1 
observed,   and   in   return   for    such   cosmic   citizenship,    this    mountain   has   fed, 
clothed  and  sheltered  the  people  for  3,000  yearn. 

u 


12 


MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 


FIG-.  7.  This  Virginia  landscape  is  slowly  toeing-  brought  toward  a  state  of 
normalcy.  Fart  of  the  change  has  bsen  forced  toy  Nature,  as  when  man  was 
driven,  by  erosion,  from  the  mountain  sides,  and  the  forest  now  creeps  down  to 
reclaim  its  usurped  domain.  Another  part  of  the  change  has  been  made  volun- 
tarily by  man,  as  the  strip  cropping-,  enriching  of  pastures,  etc.,  result  from 

scientific  knowledge. 


A  rich  landscape  not  only  provides  abundance  for  a  maximum 
population,  but  releases  workers  for  industrial  production.  It  pro- 
vides leisure  for  the  individual  and  opportunity  for  self-development. 
A  rich  landscape  provides  surpluses  above  the  bare  necessities;  it 
makes  possible  education,  scientific  research,  art  and  music,  commu- 
nity services  and  improvements.  Social  progress  rests  on  the  land- 
scape. All  things  are  bound  together. 

Man's  power  to  reorganize  and  improve  his  operations  on  the 
landscape  increases  day  by  day.  The  customary  lag  of  10  to  50  years, 
between  laboratory  discovery  of  basic  facts  and  widespread  benefits 
of  their  application,  must  be,  is  being,  shortened.  Education  at  all 
stages  must  be  alert  to  absorb  at  once  the  rich  juices  of  research  bear- 
ing on  the  fundamentals  of  life  and  living.  The  technicalities  of 
gadgets  are  not  important  to  the  average  citizen  or  student.  He 
hardly  has  time  to  learn  the  essentials.  Careful  selection  of  learning 
experiences  is  necessary. 

Every  citizen  of  the  world  has  the  right  to  sense,  to  see,  to  know 
the  complete  unity  of  which  he  is  a  part.  He  has  a  right  to  know  the 
imperfections  of  his  total  environment.  He  has  a  right  to  know  the 
causes  of  these  defects.  He  has  the  duty  to  use  a  portion  of  his  talents 
to  remedy  those  defects.  Otherwise  he  is  a  mouse,  not  a  man. 


CHAPTER  II 
HOW  DO  WE  LIVE  AND  GROW? 


The  Powerhouse  of  Life.  Most  of  the  ancients  were  nature  wor- 
shipers. Very  reasonably,  many  of  them  worshiped  the  sun  as  the 
fountainhead  of  life.  Not  that  it  did  them  any  good — but  they  had  a 
sound  idea,  the  same  one  that  we  examined  back  in  high  school  science 
courses.  From  the  sun  comes  the  power  which  activates  the  life  pro- 
cesses of  plants,  and  indirectly  of  animals.  This  same  powerline  of 
sunlight  activates  the  water  cycle,  bringing  back  again  and  again  the 
moisture  by  which  all  living  cells  function. 

Since  this  sunlight  does  not  reach  us  at  all  times  because  of  night, 
clouds,  fog,  smoke  and  rarer  reasons,  it  is  fortunate  that  nature  pro- 
vides means  of  storing  it.  Thus  life  can  proceed  for  a  time  with  the 
powerline  short-circuited,  much  as  an  auto  can  operate  for  a  time  on 
the  battery,  even  if  the  generator  fails.  Storage  of  sun  power  is  found 
in  water,  deposited  at  high  points.  Such  water,  on  its  way  to  lower 
levels,  releases  sun  power.  Sun  power  also  is  stored  in  plants  in  the 
form  of  carbohydrates,  fats,  and  in  proteins.  It  is  released  by  oxida- 
tion, as  when  it  is  burned  as  firewood,  or  eaten  by  an  animal  and 
transformed  into  muscular  energy.  This  energy  may  reappear,  for 
example,  as  sound  produced  by  vocal  apparatus.  The  screech  of  a 
bob-cat  is  powered  by  sunlight. 

This  sun  power  as  stored  in  plants  may  be  millions  of  years  old. 
When  coal  is  burned  this  archaic  sun  energy  is  liberated  as  heat.  You 
may  perhaps  warm  your  shins  with  the  regurgitated  breakfast  of  a 
dinosaur,  embalmed  in  the  earth  by  an  overburden  of  silt  and  sand, 
changed  by  pressure  and  its  heat  from  carbohydrate  into  hydrocarbon. 

Natural  gas  and  petroleum  are  hydrocarbons,  and  are  stored  sun- 
light. Whether  they  are  derived  from  prehistoric  plants  or  from  the 
bodies  of  animals,  or  both,  is  irrelevant  here.  In  either  case,  since 
animals  are  made  principally  of  plant  substances,  the  sun's  heat  is  the 
thing  which  has  been  preserved  and  which  we  can  use. 

These  three  mineral  forms  of  sun  energy  are  of  course  fixed  in 
amount.  If  any  are  now  being  formed,  the  process  is  so  slow  that  it 
can  have  no  possible  meaning  to  our  present  culture.  There  is  con- 
siderable controversy  as  to  how  long  the  oil  and  gas  of  the  United 
States  will  last.  The  most  pessimistic  estimates  give  liquid  petroleum 
a  life  of  a  decade  or  two.  Then  we  must  use  oil-bearing  surface  sands 
and  shales,  which  must  be  mined  and  distilled.  This  will  probably 
boost  the  cost  and  reduce  consumption.  Natural  gas  can  be  changed 
into  gasoline  and  oil,  but  it  too  is  limited.  Coal  is  more  plentiful,  and 

13 


14  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

gasoline  and  lubricants  can  be  got  from  it  by  hydrogenation.  But 
the  high  grade,  low  priced  portion  of  our  coal  deposits  is  noticeably 
shrinking. 

When  the  hydrocarbons  do  become  scarce  and  expensive,  we  may 
be  forced  to  turn  to  carbohydrates,  forced  to  use  sun  energy  which 
green  plants  can  imprison  from  year  to  year,  crop  by  crop.  (This 
would  present  a  staggering  problem  because  the  world's  soils  today 
are  not  even  feeding,  clothing  or  sheltering  its  population  decently.) 
The  use  of  direct  sunlight,  concentrated  by  some  scientific  marvel  and 
changed  into  a  transportable  form,  offers  future  possibilities.  It  also 
offers  almost  insuperable  practical  difficulties.  Science  will  probably 
be  able  to  use  the  enormous  energies  of  atoms  as  a  source  of  controlled 
power.  This  could  perhaps  give  us  a  higher  standard  of  living.  Water 
power  cannot  supply  more  than  a  fraction  of  our  energy  needs. 

Carbohydrates  in  the  form  of  starch,  sugar,  and  cellulose,  for  the 
powering  of  the  earth 's  animal  population  must  continue  to  come  from 
plants.  Science  to  date  has  not  made  more  than  a  dent  in  the  problem 
of  duplicating  the  process  which  plants  use  in  making  carbohydrates. 
There  is  at  present  no  glimmer  of  hope  that  we  shall  ever  be  able  to 
live  without  plants. 

Fats  are  also  energy  sources,  and  are  basically  carbonaceous.  Sugar 
is  their  foundation.  The  energy  residing  in  plant  and  animal  oils  is 
derived  from  sunlight — sunlight  acting  through  plants  on  raw  ma- 
terials from  atmosphere  and  water.  The  oil  of  the  castor  bean  was 
used  to  lubricate  airplanes  in  the  First  World  War.  No  petroleum 
product  was  then  good  enough.  Today  better  mineral  lubricating  oils 
are  available.  Our  machine  civilization  could  operate  on  plant  oils, 
and  may  be  forced  to  do  so  some  day.  This  will  mean  that  vastly  more 
plants  will  be  needed.  Instead  of  gasoline  we  may  find  it  necessary  to 
use  an  alcohol,  derived  from  carbohydrates,  e.g.,  from  potatoes,  grain, 
wood.  And  again  plants  in  the  mass  will  be  called  for.  These  possi- 
bilities, if  we  may  speak  parenthetically,  offer  a  very  sound  argument 
for  conserving  and  keeping  productive  every  acre  of  soil  in  the  world. 
And  in  order  that  such  a  burden  be  kept  from  our  soils  as  long  as 
possible,  the  life  of  mineral  fuel  and  power  supplies  should  be  pro- 
longed by  every  known  means. 

Green  Food  Factories.  Of  all  the  physiologic  processes  which 
occur,  that  of  photosynthesis  is,  in  a  sense,  most  important.  Without 
it  there  could  be  no  plants,  no  animals,  no  human  race.  The  only  logi- 
cal challenger  to  the  importance  of  this  primary  process  could  be  the 
reverse  action,  respiration  (a  form  of  combustion)  which  takes  place 
in  cells.  By  respiration,  the  sun  energy  concentrated  by  the  green 
plant  into  carbohydrate  is  reconverted  again  into  energy,  to  appear 
finally,  for  one  thing,  as  all  the  works  of  man.  Toward  maintaining 
these  processes  all  other  physiologic  activities  of  plants  are  pointed. 

It  is  not  out  of  place  to  review  here  one  of  the  greatest  mysteries 
confronting  man:  how  green  plants  make  food.  If  and  when  science 
discovers  just  how  chlorophyll  does  this  job,  we  may  know  the  secret 
of  life.  What  we  know  is  this :  In  certain  plant  cells  are  bits  of  matter 


HOW  DO  WE  LIVE  AND  GROW?  15 

called  chloroplasts.  These  contain  the  green  chlorophyll — if  sunlight, 
natural  or  artificial,  reaches  the  cells.  (In  rare  cases  already  existing 
sugars  may  be  substituted  for  direct  sunlight).  Interfere  with  the 
energy  supply  and  the  chlorophyll  decreases  rapidly.  Covered  sprouts 
are  white.  So  are  the  hidden  leaves  of  cabbages,  the  banked  lower 
stems  of  celery,  the  inside  leaves  of  head  lettuce — no  sunlight,  no 
chlorophyll. 

The  chlorophyll  acts  as  a  catalyst,  a  promoter  of  chemical  action. 
It  enables  the  cell  to  take  carbon  dioxide  (C02)  from  the  air,  and 
water  (H20)  from  the  soil,  split  their  molecules,  and  recombine  the 
atoms  of  carbon,  hydrogen  and  oxygen  into  sugar,  (e.g.,  CcH^Oc).1 
Some  oxygen  is  left  over  and  this  is  returned  to  the  air,  fortunately 
for  us  animals.  In  this  process  of  photosynthesis,  the  chlorophyll  is 
not  consumed.  It  continues  to  repeat  the  same  job,  as  the  sugars  are 
carried  away  to  other  parts  of  the  plant  and  new  supplies  of  air  and 
water  are  admitted  to  the  green  manufacturing  cells. 

What  is  the  significance  of  this  operation  ?  According  to  Darling,2 
"Chlorophyll  .  .  .  plus  sunshine  has  laid  down  all  the  topsoil,  all  the 
coal,  all  the  oil,  and  every  organic  living  thing  on  which  mankind  has 
subsisted  and  must  subsist  forever.  .  .  Without  countless  centuries  of 
chlorophyll  and  sunshine  cooperation  we  could  have  no  food,  110  fire, 
no  crops,  no  life,  nothing.  When  we  inherited  this  continent  we  fell 
heir  to  a  hundred-million  years  of  cumulative  transformation  of  raw 
volcanic  rock  to  rich  loam,  grassy  plains,  primeval  forests,  a  myriad 
population  of  fur-bearing  animals  and  waters  teeming  with  fish  and 
other  aquatic  life — all  the  product  of  the  chlorophyll  factory.  Don't 
forget  that  when  this  rich  endowment  is  gone  its  only  replenishment 
must  come  through  that  same  small  bottleneck  of  chlorophyll  plus  sun- 
shine. -  "v~ '.'•€! 

"Can  any  thoughtful  person  say  that  with  80%  of  our  forests  al- 
ready cut  down,  75%  of  our  grasslands  grazed  to  a  stubble,  and  mil- 
lions of  acres  of  underbrush  cleared  from  our  hillsides  that  we  have 
not  constricted  the  bottleneck  instead  of  enlarging  it?"3 

Anyone  with  a  little  practice  can  learn  to  judge  the  power  poten- 
tial of  a  landscape  by  evaluating  the  amount  of  photosynthesis  going 
on  there.  The  more  and  richer  green  you  can  see,  the  more  fuel  is 
being  stored.  It  will  be  used  by  both  plant  and  animal  life,  including 
man.  Of  course,  we  must  be  familiar  with  a  really  fertile  countryside 


iWhat  happens  is  that  six  molecules  of  carbon  dioxide  (6C02)  unite,  through 
the  influence  of  active  chlorophyll,  with  six  molecules  of  water  (6H2O).  In  these 
12  molecules,  there  are  6  carbon  atoms,  12  hydrogen  atoms,  and  18  oxygen  atoms. 
When  the  sugar  is  formed  (C6H15,Ofi),  there  are  12  oxygen  atoms  left  over. 
The  chemical  equation  is  expressed  in  this  manner:  6C02  -)-  6H2O  —  Cr¥H12Ofi 

4-  602. 

2Darling,  J.  N.,  Poverty  or  Conservation,  National  Wildlife  Federation,  Wash- 
ington, D.  C.,  1944,  p.  11. 

3Of  course  it  must  be  realized  that  Mr.  Darling  is  an  artist  (as  well  as  a 
biologist)  whose  powerful  editorial  cartoon  effects  are  found  in  his  writings.  He 
uses  a  broad  pen.  and  makes  free  use  of  artistic  liberties.  We  cannot  tie  him  down 
to  complete  accuracy  of  detail,  but  his  protest  is  basically  sound. 


16  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

in  order  to  judge  the  degree  of  chlorophyll  activity  on  one  less  luxuri- 
ant. Such  judgment,  it  must  be  noted,  is  of  questionable  value  in 
determining  the  nutrient  quality  of  the  landscape. 

Power  Output  of  Growing  Plants.  Plants  not  only  store  energy 
useful  to  lower  animals,  to  man,  and  to  man's  mechanical  engines, 
but  plants  themselves  use  a  part  of  the  incoming  sun  power  to  op- 
erate themselves.  Plants  share  with  animals  certain  functions.  They 
grow  and  reproduce.  These  activities  require  energy,  and  the  active 
cells  draw  on  the  stored  manufactured  fuel  as  needed.  This  is  a  point 
on  which  the  layman  is  often  confused.  He  mistakenly  supposes  that 
plants  and  animals  are  purely  opposite  in  function,  that  plants  make 
fuel,  use  carbon  dioxide  and  release  oxygen;  while  animals  use  fuel 
and  oxygen  and  release  carbon  dioxide. 

It  should  be  emphasized  that  most  plant  cells  function  much  as 
do  animal  cells,  that  plants  play  a  dual  role,  both  storing  energy  and 
using  it.  Fortunately,  like  bees,  they  store  far  more  than  they  use. 

Albrecht4  states  that  a  40  acre  field  of  corn  at  peak  activity  con- 
sumes as  much  fuel  as  a  40  horsepower  engine.  This  represents  the 
power  output  of  all  the  plant  and  animal  cells  which  contribute  to 
the  growth  of  the  crop.  It  includes  the  growing  and  multiplying  cells 
of  the  bacteria,  the  fungi  and  the  animal  population  in  the  soil,  in- 
cluding protozoa,  earthworms,  insects  and  others.  The  figure  is  secured 
by  measuring  the  carbon  dioxide  released  from  the  soil — a  sort  of 
metabolism  test  of  the  earth  working  at  high  speed  with  the  sun  power 
at  full  throttle,  and  supported  by  release  from  the  soil  of  accumulated 
energy  of  the  past. 

The  Building  Blocks  of  Life.  In  speaking  of  carbohydrates  and 
fats,  we  are  dealing  with  materials  compounded  almost  wholly  from 
atmosphere  and  moisture.  They  are  quite  flimsy  in  a  sense  and  change 
back  into  energy  forms  with  little  difficulty.  Let  us  consider  proteins. 
By  adding  nitrogen  and  certain  other  elements  to  sugar,  plants  can 
produce  a  protein.  The  catch  is  that  plants  cannot  use  gaseous  nitro- 
gen as  found  in  the  air.  It  must  be  in  a  different  form,  as  nitrate — 
something  you  can  get  your  hands  on,  something  found  in  soil. 

Nitrogen,  plus  sulphur,  and  a  wide  range  of  other  minerals,  enable 
the  plant  to  make  proteins,  the  materials  of  which  living  cell  parts  are 
constructed.  These  cells  make  up  the  plant  itself.  Obviously,  unless 
the  plant  can  come  into  existence,  it  cannot  store  energy.  The  remark- 
able fact  is  that  plants  construct  their  own  building  blocks,  proteins, 
out  of  not  less  than  23  sub-materials,  23  amino  acids.  These  amino 
acids  are  compounded  in  various  proportions  from  air,  water,  and  a 
minimum  of  10  soil  minerals.  This  construction  job  has  been  called 
biosynthesis,  and  no  specific  machinery  in  the  plant  for  doing  it  has 
been  discovered. 

The  amount  and  number  of  proteins  in  a  plant  depends  then  on 
soil  fertility.  Lime  (calcuim)  is  especially  important  because  of  its 

4 Albrecht,  Wm.  A.,  Why  Do  Farmers  Plow,  American  Potash  Institute,  Inc., 
Washington,  D.  C.,  (no  date),  p.  2. 


HOW  DO  WE  LIVE  AND  GROW?  17 

relation  to  nitrogen  fixation  and  cell  division.  Regardless  of  the 
amount  of  sunlight,  if  the  soil  is  poor  we  will  not  get  much  protein, 
nor  minerals,  nor  vitamins.  Poor  soils  primarily  produce  woody 
plants,  strongly  dependent  on  potassium,  topheavy  with  carbohy- 
drates, and  to  various  degrees  indigestible.  Try  living  on  sawdust. 
It  is  high  in  fuel  value,  but  not  for  you.  Termites  depend  on  certain 
protozoa  in  their  digestive  tracts  to  pre-digest  wood  for  them.  Even 
if  you  could  digest  it,  it  would  probably  not  provide  sufficient  pro- 
teins for  your  body-building  needs.  It  has  had  to  rely  on  air  and 
water  for  its  bulk,  while  soil  has  played  a  very  minor  part. 

Legumes  are  plants  which  indirectly  add  nitrogen  to  the  soil.  This 
is  accomplished  by  certain  bacteria  living  in  nodules  on  the  roots. 
These  bacteria  have  the  ability  to  change  atmospheric  nitrogen  into 
protein-like  nitrate  compounds.  The  presence  of  these  compounds 
insures  for  the  legume  plant  a  supply  of  protein  building  material. 
When  the  plant  dies  a  part  of  the  nitrogen  (in  the  roots)  remains  in 
the  soil.  Crop  residues  above  the  surface  may  add  more  nitrogen  as 
decay  proceeds.  Future  plants  may  use  them.  If  a  grazing  animal 
eats  young,  vigorous,  growing,  leguminous  plants,  it  is  guaranteed  a 
good  supply  of  body  building  protein.  (Older,  senile  plants  lose 
much  of  their  earlier  value.)  However,  legumes,  such  as  clover,  alfal- 
fa, and  soybeans,  must  have  a  generous  supply  of  calcium;  and  so, 
great  areas  of  eastern  United  States  must  have  lime  applied  to  the 
soil  in  order  to  grow  them.  To  put  it  another  way,  most  of  the  orig- 
inally forested  area  needs  lime,  and  probably  other  fertilizers,  particu- 
larly phosphorus,  because  the  woody  vegetation  itself  is  evidence  of 
lower  fundamental  fertility  than  the  grasslands.  This  is  especially 
true  of  coniferous  forests. 

Since  animals  need  from  plants  both  energy  factors  and  growth 
factors,  we  must  insist  on  food  which  supplies  both,  and  in  the  proper 
proportion.  It  is  basic  that  our  state  of  health,  nutritionally  speak- 
ing, depends  heavily  on  the  quality  and  variety  of  the  proteins  we 
consume.  We  shall  have  more  to  say  about  this  later. 

Sparkplugs  of  Life.  It  was  suspected  about  1800  and  proven 
around  1905  that  no  animal  can  live  on  a  diet  consisting  only  of  pure 
protein,  fat,  and  carbohydrate.  In  1885  the  Japanese  removed  beri- 
beri as  a  devitalizer  of  their  navy  by  altering  the  diet  of  sailors.  Spe- 
cifically, they  cut  out  most  of  the  polished  rice,  an  energy  food  de- 
ficient in  vitamin  BI  and  other  vitamins,  replacing  it  with  barley  and 
other  foods. 

In  1926  vitamin  BI  was  isolated,  and  10  years  later  it  was  manu- 
factured synthetically.  Today  the  study  of  vitamins  is  a  science  in 
itself. 

Feeding  vitamins  to  plants  became  a  public  fad  a  few  years  ago, 
and  geraniums  from  coast  to  coast  were  dosed  with  growth  stimu- 
lators (regulators).  As  with  most  such  fads  there  was  a  scientific 
basis  for  it.  The  only  reason,  however,  for  feeding  vitamins  to 
plants  is  that  the  soil  being  used  is  infertile.  Give  the  plant  a  soil 
well  stocked  with  all  the  necessary  minerals  in  available  form,  and 


18  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

plants  will  make  their  own  vitamins.  It  is  much  cheaper  to  let  the 
plant  do  this,  and  to  supply  the  minerals  which  may  be  lacking,  than 
to  spoon-feed  it  with  a  laboratory  product. 

Plants  do  not  make  vitamins  (or  incomplete  vitamins  in  some 
cases)  merely  to  serve  the  needs  of  animal  nutrition.  Plants  create 
them  because  they  are  an  important  factor  in  plant  growth.  The 
fact  that  animals  also  need  them  simply  shows  our  kinship  to  and 
dependence  on  the  vegetable  world.  Vitamins  are  not  directly  photo- 
synthetic  like  sugars;  but  are  biosynthetic,  like  proteins — a  result  of 
mysterious  life  processes  still  not  understood  by  man.  They  are  com- 
plex chemical  compounds  and  their  parts  come  from  air,  water,  and 
soil. 

It  is  obvious  by  now  that  soil  plays  an  important  role  in  plant  pro- 
duction. While  the  sun  is  the  prime  mover  and  keeps  the  ball  rolling, 
we  cannot  have  a  full  quota  of  chlorophyll,  photosynthesis,  and  biosyn- 
thesis unless  the  soil  can  provide  the  proper  mineral  base  to  build  the 
necessary  bodies  of  plants.  Thus,  any  force,  or  land  management 
practice,  which  reduces  either  the  necessary  depth  of  topsoil  or  its 
fertility  results  in  a  waste  of  available  sun  power  and  in  a  poorer 
environment. 

Loss  of  Vitamins:  Persistent  accelerated  erosion,  the  washing  or 
blowing  away  of  the  topsoil  itself,  usually  prevents  a  full  quota  of 
vitamins  and  minerals  from  appearing  in  plants.  Exhausting  the  soil 
by  heavy  cropping,  with  no  provision  for  returning  minerals  to  it, 
will  eventually  result  in  crops  which  are  sick  because  of  deficiencies. 
The  solicitous  care  which  greenhouse  men  give  their  soils  arises  from 
the  fact  that  a  perfect,  richly  colored  plant  cannot  be  produced  from 
an  imperfect  soil.  The  plant  is  a  factory  powered  by  solar  radiations, 
but  it  cannot  be  expected  to  produce  a  high  grade  product  from  in- 
ferior materials. 

Finally,  it  does  an  animal  little  good  for  plants  to  produce  nutriti- 
ous food  if  the  nutrients  are  lost  between  the  field  and  the  gullet. 
This  may  occur  in  canning  or  cooking  by  too  much  heat,  stirring  air 
in,  contact  with  metal,  too  much  water,  exposure  to  air,  using  soda. 
A  recent  study  shows  that  cutting  an  orange  with  a  metal  knife  de- 
stroys by  chemical  reaction  a  significant  fraction  of  the  Vitamin  C. 
We  cannot  dwell  on  these  losses  here,  but  they  are  very  important  in 
the  use  of  plants  for  animal  nutrition.  Vitamins  are  often  fragile  and 
elusive,  and  they  can  be  lost  from  hay  as  easily  as  from  lettuce. 

Vitamin  pills,  by  their  huge  sales,  indicate  an  intuitive  public  feel- 
ing that  modern  foods  fail  properly  to  feed  us.  This  is  in  part  due  to 
processing  the  very  life  out  of  our  crops.  Milling  and  bleaching  wheat 
into  white  flour,  for  instance,  reduces  a  nutritious,  protein-bearing, 
mineral-  and  vitamin-rich  natural  food  to  an  emasculated,  starchy 
product.  A  most  valuable  and  complete  product  of  the  reactions  of 
sun,  plant,  and  soil  is  reduced  markedly  toward  that  of  sunshine  alone. 
For  instance,  when  whole  wheat  is  converted  into  plain  white  flour 
the  protein  goes  down  17% ;  the  riboflavin  drops  72%  ;  thiamine  falls 
90%  ;  niacin  fades  by  80%  ;  iron  decreases  82%  ;  calcium  drops  50%, 


HOW  DO  WE  LIVE  AND  GROW?  19 

Conversely,  slice  for  slice  of  bread,  the  carbohydrate  goes  up  some 


The  advertisers  are  quite  right  in  calling  bread  an  '  '  energy  food,  '  ' 
but  as  handed  to  us  by  nature  it  is  the  "staff  of  life,"  not  just  a 
charge  of  fuel.  To  overcome  this  ingenious  devitalization,  the  millers 
have,  at  the  urging  of  the  medical  profession,  or  because  of  laws  in 
some  20  states,  begun  to  "enrich"  white  flour  by  adding  a  couple  of 
vitamins  and  one  or  two  minerals,  these  to  replace  some  17,  more  or 
less,  which  were  partly  or  largely  removed.  Thus  we  have  the  vicious 
circle  of  one  group  of  industrialists  removing  many  vitamins,  a  few  of 
which  another  group  then  sells  to  us  for  replacement.  This  would 
not  be  too  bad  if  we  could  eventually  get  all  the  nutrients  we  need  by 
this  system  —  but  we  usually  do  not. 

To  Sum  Up.  Thus  far  we  have  perhaps  said  little  that  the  well- 
informed  citizen  does  not  already  know.  Plants  live  and  grow  by  a 
complex  process  which  is  easily  and  commonly  interfered  with  by 
man.  The  fundamental  idea  to  be  once  and  for  all  time  fixed  in  the 
mind  in  this:  With  the  exception  of  certain  minute  plants,  chloro- 
phyll is  the  bottleneck  through  which  all  life  must  pass;  there  can 
be  little  growth  or  biological  activity  of  any  kind  without  it,  no 
plants,  no  animals,  no  human  race.  Managing  the  environment  to 
provide  the  greatest  possible  amount  of  active  chlorophyll  on  every 
acre  of  the  earth  should  be  the  basic  activity  of  civilized  man. 

(See  Appendix  B  for  classroom  suggestions.) 


5Foods — Enriched,  Restored,  Fortified,  Bureau  of  Human  Nutrition  and  Home 
Economics,  II.  S.  Dept.  of  Agriculture,  (Publication  ASI-39),  December,  1945, 
pp.  3-7. 


CHAPTER  III 
DO  PLANTS  HAVE  QUALITY? 


Succulence  vs.  Woodiness.  As  previously  stated,  plants  supplied 
with  adequate  calcium  (lime)  are  richer  in  proteins  than  when  this 
element  is  scarce.  Calcium,  of  course,  can  be  effective  only  if  the  other 
nine  absolutely  necessary  nutrient  soil  minerals  are  present.  Each  of 
these  is  essential  to  life,  and  of  course  if  calcium  is  lacking  in  any 
considerable  degree  the  plant  is  severely  handicapped  in  utilizing  the 
others.  Calcium  is  stressed  because  it  is  the  mineral  most  commonly 
lacking  over  the  humid  half  of  the  country.  Another  critical  mineral 
is  phosphorus.  (Phosphorus  deficiency  is  probably  the  most  common 
mineral  lack  in  animals. )  It  is  essential  to  the  production  of  a  variety 
of  proteins.  Like  calcium,  it  is  depleted  in  many  soils  of  the  eastern 
and  southeastern  states,  as  well  as  locally  in  most  states.  With  a 
shortage  of  calcium  and  phosphorus  the  nitrogen  fixing,  protein-rich 
legumes  cannot  grow  successfully.  Those  plants  which  will  grow,  in 
spite  of  such  shortages,  are  forced  to  depend  more  on  air  and  water. 
The  cells,  heavily  charged  with  carbon,  thicken  their  walls  with  fibrous 
cellulose  and  lignose  (sugars)  and  become  woody.  Such  woody  ma- 
terial is  not  only  less  digestible,  but  is  relatively  poor  in  minerals, 
vitamins,  and  proteins.  Thus,  the  nutrition  of  human  being's,  domes- 
tic animals,  and  wildlife  is  intimately  linked  with  soil  fertility. 

These  soil  conditions  are  determined  primarily  by  climate  and  the 
mineral  composition  of  the  parent  rock.  Freezing  and  thawing,  the 
influence  of  warm  season  length  on  the  amount  and  activity  of  soil 
biota,  winds  and  evaporation  rates,  rainfall  and  leaching — all  these  in- 
fluence soil  formation,  soil  structure,  and  fertility. 

On  the  Great  Plains  the  scanty  rainfall  has  resulted  in  less  weath- 
ering; soluble  minerals  generally  have  not  been  carried  by  leaching 
beyond  the  reach  of  roots.  Vegetation  is  nourishing,  able  to  build 
much  flesh,  and  so  the  buffalo,  antelope,  coyote,  prairie  chicken,  prairie 
dog  and  other  animals  were  present  in  large  numbers.  Later  the 
steer  and  pheasant  were  introduced  to  replace  the  decimated  buffalo 
and  depleted  game  birds.  Wheat  in  some  areas  has  been  grown,  with- 
out fertilization,  continuously  for  30  or  40  years  and  more,  with  little 
drop  in  yield,  testimony  to  the  mineral  wealth  of  the  plains  soil.  Ob- 
viously, however,  it  cannot  take  this  kind  of  beating  indefinitely. 

This  basic  soil  situation  is  reflected  in  the  army  figures  on  rejec- 
tions of  men  for  service  in  World  War  II.  The  plains  states  con- 
tributed a  far  higher  percentage  of  men  called  than  our  southeastern 
states.  In  the  latter  region,  as  one  factor  in  this  situation,  the  doubled 
and  tripled  rainfall  coupled  with  long  hot  summers  have  put  soluble 
soil  minerals  into  solution  and  leached  them  deep,  out  of  reach  of 
plants.  This  means  they  are  out  of  reach  of  bacteria,  insects,  livestock, 
and  man.  The  woodiness  of  the  principal  southern  crops  is  well 
known — pines,  corn,  cotton,  tobacco.  Certainly  it  is  reasonable  to 

20 


DO  PLANTS  HAVE  QUALITY?  21 

suspect  that  these  poorly  nourishing  products  would  have  something 
in  common  with  most  of  the  vegetation  produced  there.  When  it  is 
known  that  the  cotton  belt  is  the  nation's  greatest  consumer  of  ferti- 
lizers, the  basic  status  of  its  soils  is  clear.  When  it  is  further  revealed 
that  soil  scientists  are  bawling  for  a  widespread  increase  in  such  soil 
amendments,  plus  manures,  plus  crop  rotations,  plus  diversified  farm- 
ing, plus  more  permanent  pastures,  we  do  not  wonder  that  the  collec- 
tive rural  manhood  of  the  region  has  tended  to  be  susceptible  to 
diseases,  plagued  by  deficiencies,  and  lacking  in  stamina.  Thus  does 
climate  hover  over  human  destiny.  Wooden  plants  make  wooden 
people. 

If  the  southeast  listens  to  the  soil  scientist — and  it  is — it  may 
succeed  in  creating  soils  good  enough  to  remedy  the  situation.  It  is  a 
fact  that  soil  can  be  improved,  and  in  many  cases  may  be  brought  to  a 
state  of  fertility  superior  to  that  found  by  the  pioneer  settler.  Not 
infrequently  it  happens  that  only  one  or  two  or  three  minerals  are 
short,  and  adding  them  to  a  soil  makes  a  remarkable  difference  in  that 
soil 's  productivity.  It  is  often  like  putting  gasoline  in  an  empty  tank, 
whereupon  the  entire  machine  can  go  into  useful  action.  Sometimes 
a  considerable  variety  of  soil  minerals  are  lacking  or  are  in  such  a 
chemical  state  that  plants  cannot  get  them ;  then  the  problem  is  more 
complex  and  difficult. 

Three  hundred  years  ago  the  early  tobacco  growers  of  the  southern 
Atlantic  Coast  discovered  something.  It  was  that  three  years  of 
tobacco  (a  notorious  soil  depleter)  exhausted  the  soil  so  thoroughly 
that  new  fields  had  to  be  cleared.1  For  this  reason  the  English  planters 
were  constantly  pestering  Charles  II  for  additional  grants  of  land. 
Thirty  thousand  acres  was  considered  a  reasonable  area  for  staying  in 
business.  This  was  virgin  soil.  What  three  hundred  years  of  care- 
less use  have  done  to  it  may  be  imagined.  But,  imagination  is  not 
necessary.  The  facts  are  available. 

If  we  go  on  south  into  the  tropical  jungles,  we  find  still  poorer  red 
clay  soils  and  still  less  nourishing  plants.  Most  people  think  the 
heavy  vegetation  of  the  tropics  indicates  high  basic  fertility.  It  does 
not.  It  indicates  a  superficial  productivity.  The  vegetation  is  mostly 
woody,  and  one  generation  of  it  is  living  on  the  decaying  remains  of 
the  last.  The  soil  is  merely  receiving  nutrients  from  one  plant  and 
handing  them  quickly,  by  swift  decay,  to  another.  A  high  fraction  of 
these  limited  nutrients  is  thus  saved  from  leaching  by  being  con- 
stantly imprisoned  in  organic  matter.  The  animal  and  human  popu- 
lation is  small,  primarily  as  a  result  of  protein  shortage.  Only  in  the 
higher  altitudes  of  the  equatorial  region  do  we  find  any  natively  de- 
veloped civilization,  and  in  climate  these  areas  are  not  tropical  at  all. 
In  the  low  areas,  when  natives  clear  a  space  for  gardening  they  use 
it  two  or  three  years  then  move ;  in  that  short  time  its  fertility  has 
been  exhausted. 


*It  will  be  argued  by  some  that  tobacco  had  to  be  discontinued  because  of 
diseases.  There  is  considerable  evidence  that  plants  growing  in  a  truly  complete 
and  fertile  soil  are  not  subject  to  diseases  on  a  scale  sufficient  to  force -abandon- 
ment of  the  crop.  See  Pay  Dirt  by  J.  I.  Rodale,  The  Devin-Adair  Co.,  New  York, 
p.  165  and  chapter  4. 


22 


MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 


In  contrast  to  woodiness,  the  protein  and  mineral  rich  forage 
plants  are  succulent,  at  least  during  their  youth  or  prime  of  life.  This 
is  not  to  say  that  all  succulent  plants  or  succulent  parts  of  plants  are 
rich  in  proteins  and  minerals.  Species  differ.  Most  young  plants  are 
succulent,  but  in  poor  soil  this  stage  is  often  brief;  the  roots  skim 
the  cream  off  the  meagre  fertility  available  to  them,  and  then  the 
plants  quickly  begin  to  develop  woodiness  or  toughness. 

In  the  succulent  stage  cell  walls  are  thin  and  these  units  are  wrell 
filled  with  water  and  minerals  in  solution,  giving  a  crisp  quality  to  the 


PIG.  8.  Foraging1  hog's,  using1  some  form  of  basic  intelligence  unknown  to  mod- 
ern man,  took  the  grain  from  this  fertilized  sector  of  a  field  in  preference  to 
the  remainder  of  the  40  acres.  (Cliff  Love  farm,  near  Warrensburgr,  Missouri). 


tissues  so  that  they  pop  when  broken  or  chewed.    They  are  easy  to  eat 
and  digest,  in  contrast  with  more  woody  tissues. 

Albrecht2  reports  that  farm  animals  will  find  and  consume  first 
the  vegetation  on  these  parts  of  a  field  which  have  received  fertilizer. 
For  instance,  some  Missouri  hogs  consistently  traveled  back  and  forth 
between  a  limed  and  fertilized  section  of  a  cornfield  and  the  feeding 
troughs,  ignoring  the  intervening  corn  until  the  fertilized  area  was 
exhausted.  (Fig.  8.)  In  another  case  cattle  singled  out  unerringly 
the  barley  in  part  of  a  field  where  a  double  dose  of  fertilizer  had  been 
accidentally  applied.  (Fig.  9.)  Again,  cattle  with  190  acres  of  virgin 
prairie  pasture  to  roam  over  confined  their  early  spring  grazing  to  a 
few  acres  which  had  been  limed  eleven  years  previously,  Albrecht 
ascribes  this  selectivity  to  the  greater  amounts  of  nutrients  in  these 
plants  which  the  animal  detects  by  taste  or  smell.  However,  and  we 
have  not  seen  this  idea  advanced  elsewhere,  it  may  be  due  to  the 


2Albrecht,  Wm.  A.,  "Animals  Kecognize  Good  Soil  Treatment,"  Better  Crops 
With  Plant  Food  Magazine,  Vol.  23  (1939),  pp.  20-21. 


DO  PLANTS  HAVE  QUALITY? 


23 


corollary  condition  of  greater  succulence,  less  laborious  chewing.  We 
will  take  a  tender  steak  anyday  before  a  tough  one.  This  is  something 
the  jaws  can  detect,  while  a  difference  in  mineral  content  may  elude 
our  taste.  In  either  event,  the  animal  instinct  leads  it  to  a  sound 
conclusion.  It  should  be  clear  that  this  selectivity  will  have  a 
notable  effect  on  the  distribution  of  wildlife,  which  is  free  to  roam 
in  search  of  satisfactory  food  supplies,  and  probably  explains  many 
of  the  spotty  concentrations  of  upland  game  found,  and  not  found, 
by  sportsmen  and  students  of  wildlife. 


*srVV>    .        -lit    *<!•»:.' f    ••  -'    .'^.-.    '*.*»>.•*.., 

?^.<.?J^V,Y<&<r%?V  .;.,     £V*V*y?V* 


FIG.  9.     Cattle  grazed  thoroughly  the  outlined  corner  of  this  barley  field  where 
turning-  the  drill  doubled  the  amount  of  fertilizer  dropped. 


Succulence  is  a  trait  of  the  natural  vegetation  of  the  world's 
grasslands.  It  is  a  fairly  sound  guide  to  soil  fertility.  The  prairies 
and  plains  have  produced  such  succulent  plants  for  untold  years. 
When  a  forest  is  cleared  it  usually  will  not  grow  grass  of  prairie 
quality  and  (except  in  certain  limey  areas)  certainly  will  not  grow 
legumes,  unless  fertilized.  The  prairie  soils  east  of  the  Great  Plains 
differ  from  the  plains  in  having  somewhat  less  available  lime  and  more 
phosphorus — less  lime  because  of  greater  rainfall  and  more  leaching. 
The  prairies  have  somewhat  more  available3  phosphorus  than  the  high 


3The  significance  of  the  term  "available,"  should  be  understood.  There  may 
be  a  mineral  in  the  soil,  but  which  plants  cannot  absorb,  because  of  its  chemical 
state.  For  instance,  phosphorus  is  found  in  four  groups  of  compounds,  '(1)  In 
combination  with  calcium  or  magnesium  (common  in  the  prairies  and  plains),  the 
phosphorus  is  usually  used  with  ease  by  plants;  (2)  as  part  of  decaying  organic 
matter  it  appears  to  be  released  to  plants,  though  with  some  slowness;  (3)  in 
combination  with  aluminum  and  iron,  common  in  the  humid  region  soils  east  of 
the  Mississippi,  the  phosphorus  is  usually  given  up  so  slowly  that  plants  suffer 
for  want  of  it;  (4)  in  the  rock  fragment  state,  the  current  release  of  phosphorus 
by  weathering  is  so  slow  as  to  be  of  little  value  to  plant  growth. 


24 


MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 


plains  because  the  greater  rainfall  (more  carbonic  acidity)  slowly 
breaks  down  this  resistant  rock.  In  the  drier  west  the  rock  decay 
takes  place  more  slowly.  To  state  it  another  way :  from  the  foot  of 
the  Rockies,  calcium  (and  this  is  in  general  true  of  magnesium,  potas- 
sium, boron,  iron,  molybdenum,  copper  and  cobalt)  decreases  from 
west  to  east  and  southeast,  as  rainfall  increases.  From  the  same  point, 
available  phosphorous  in  the  soil  increases  for  several  hundred  miles 
eastward  and  then  decreases.  (There  are  many  localized  exceptions 
to  this  general  picture.  The  Great  Plains,  prairies,  and  other  smaller 
areas,  even  small  parts  of  the  southeast,  originally  were  blessed  with 
greater  phosphorus  supplies  in  the  soils  than  other  sections  of  the 
United  States.) 

Calcium  and  phosphorus  are  essential  in  bone  and  tooth  construc- 
tion, as  well  as  in  other  important  tissues.  Thus  when  cattle  begin 
life  on  the  plains  and  are  fattened  and  finished  off  on  the  prairie  corn 
belt  before  going  to  market,  we  get  the  best  possible  product,  well 
charged  with  minerals  and  energy.5  They  are  far  superior  to  most 
cattle  produced  in  the  eastern  and  southern  states,  where,  as  a  rule, 
both  calcium  and  phosphorus  in  the  topsoil  have  been  leached  out  or 
depleted  by  crops  and  erosion  and  are  quite  limited  unless  artificially 
supplied  (Fig.  10). 

Even  a  fat  cow,  like  a  fat  man,  can  be  poorly  nourished,  tormented 
by  hidden  hungers  which  are  never  satisfied. 


FIG.  10.  Cow  on  the  landscape — an  example  of  weird  harmony.  Soil,  vegetation, 
and  animal  are  a  dissonant  triad,  an  affront  to  nature.  This  is  Mississippi — 
plenty  of  rain,  long  growing1  season — it  is  June,  it  is  noon,  but  look  at  that  empty 
udder.  There  is  a  man  over  the  hill.  He  is  in  harmony  with  this  scene,  too. 
Worse  yet,  so  are  his  children. 


DO  PLANTS  HAVE  QUALITY?  25 

We  have  seen  that  plants  do  have  quality  variations,  and  had  them 
prior  to  the  coming  of  the  human  bungler.  Plants  act  as  the  inter- 
mediary between  the  physical  universe  and  man.  Plants  transmit  to 
man  (and  to  all  other  animals),  in  proper  or  improper  proportions, 
those  elements  of  which  he  is  constructed  and  the  energy  by  which 
his  body  and  mind  operate.  Since  the  earth 's  surface  is  not  uniform, 
man  is  not  likely  to  be  uniform.  If  you  have  the  ill  fortune  to  live 
in  an  area  where  the  parent  rock  of  the  existing  soils  was  never  of 
high  fertility  potential  (sandstone  for  example)  where  climate  has 
not  produced  a  good  topsoil,  or  the  sun  is  obscured  during  a  large 
part  of  the  time,  that  is  not  too  bad.  Man  with  his  science  and  his  in- 
tricate and  speedy  transportation  system  should  be  able  to  bring  to 
you  what  you  lack :  fertilizing  materials  for  your  feeble  soils  so  plants 
can  do  a  good  job  of  feeding  you,  food  plants  themselves  from  areas 
where  the  environment  is  good,  sunlamps  to  give  the  ultra-violet  and 
the  vitamin  D,  vitamins  from  laboratories. 

Such  remedies  are  possibilities.  If  we  or  our  children  live  a  hun- 
dred years  or  so,  maybe  it  will  all  be  worked  out  in  fine  shape.  Or, 
maybe  the  United  States  will  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  Rome,  where 
it  was  not  worked  out.  Let's  see  what  needs  to  be  done  in  the  matter 
of  minerals  and  vitamins.  How  do  we  stand? 

Mineral  and  Vitamin  Deficiencies.  As  mentioned  under  the  topic 
Loss  of  Vitamins,  the  acts  of  processing,  preserving,  and  preparing 
food  may  nullify  much  of  nature's  work  in  presenting  us  with  a  crop 
or  animal  rich  in  nutrients.  This  is  somebody's  business — the  press, 
the  home  economics  teacher,  the  health,  hygiene  and  physical  develop- 
ment teachers,  all  the  science  teachers,  all  the  social  science  teachers. 
It  is  also  the  government's  business,  because  it  is  the  business  of  all 
of  us. 

But,  minerals  are  lost  in  other  ways,  too. 

By  simple  arithmetic  and  not  so  simple  chemistry  we  can  deter- 
mine the  amounts  of  minerals  in  the  vegetation  harvested  from  a 
field.  We  can  also  measure  the  soil  loss  in  a  year  by  erosion  on 
that  field,  and  then,  by  chemical  analysis,  determine  the  mineral 
losses.  We  can  compare  the  two  losses,  from  harvest  and  from 
erosion,  and  find,  for  instance,  that  on  one  moderately  steep  corn 
field,  erosion  took  away  21  times  as  much  mineral  nutrients  as  went 
into  the  corn  crop.  For  the  country  as  a  whole  the  ratio  of  minerals 
lost  by  erosion  to  minerals  harvested  is  6  to  1.  Is  there  anything 
amazing  about  the  fact  that  millions  upon  millions  of  acres  of  our 
sloping,  eroding  cropland  are  not  providing  us  with  body  growing, 
health  maintaining  foods?  This  is  somebody's  business,  too. 

Let's  take  three  groups  of  lambs.4  We  feed  one  group  on  forage 
from  an  ordinary,  much-farmed,  untreated  field.  These  lambs  gain 
9  pounds  in  two  months.  The  second  group  gets  forage  from  a  near- 


4Data  from  University  of  Missouri,  College  of  Agriculture,  reported  in  Chemi- 
cil  and  Engineering  News,  American  Chemical  Society,  Vol.  21   (1943)  p.  221. 


...-r«  c,>unni«;  LIBRARY 


26  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

by  field  fertilized  with  phosphate.  These  lambs  gain  14  pounds. 
The  third  field  gets  phosphate  and  lime,  and  the  lambs  gain  19 
pounds.  Each  lamb  in  all  tests  ate  the  same  amount  per  day.  How 
did  the  plants  function  in  these  three  cases?  They  delivered  what 
was  available  to  deliver,  nothing  more. 

Analysis  of  carrots  from  excellent  and  from  poor  soils  revealed 
60  times  as  much  carotene  (raw  material  of  Vitamin  A)  in  the  plants 
from  the  good  soil  as  from  the  poor.5 

Wheat  grown  at  Windemere,  British  Columbia,  analyzed  at  one- 
sixteenth  the  iron  of  wheat  grown  at  Kapiskapsing,  Ontario. 

According  to  the  U.S.D.A.  Marketing  Service,  wheat  in  western 
Kansas  averages  60  per  cent  more  protein,  with  its  accompanying 
minerals  and  vitamins,  than  wheat  in  eastern  Kansas.  We  have  not 
a  comparative  figure  for,  say,  Alabama,  but  it  must  be  startling. 

Some  folk  imagine  that  a  plant  is  like  a  person,  when  as  long  as 
there  is  food  in  the  cupboard  he  is  well  fed,  and  when  the  food 
gives  out,  he  starves  fast.  Not  so  with  the  plant.  Roots  in  contact 
with  poor  soil  cannot  by  any  effort  overcome  the  low  concentration 
of  nutrients.  They  are  like  the  American  in  a  Japanese  prison 
camp ;  no  matter  how  hard  he  worked  the  food  was  inadequate.  It 
simply  was  not  made  available  fast  enough. 

How  does  nature  handle  soil  mineral  deficiencies?  Plants  can 
stand  some  variation  in  nutrient  supply.  The  higher  the  plant  is 
bred  for  its  usefulness  to  man  the  less  its  tolerance  for  mineral 
variations  and  lacks.  Thus,  red  clover  can  grow  on  a  mineral  diet 
which  would  not  sustain  alfalfa,  and  other  grasses  can  thrive  where 
red  clover  cannot.  Down  near  the  end  of  the  scale  we  find,  for 
instance,  coniferous  trees,  and  mosses. 

When,  for  any  reason,  the  fertility  of  a  soil  decreases,  a  lower 
grade,  more  carbonaceous  plant  association  moves  in.  The  effect  of 
this  change  on  wildlife  population  and  species  present  can  be  easily 
appreciated.  They  will  be  forced  to  change  also,  and  for  the  worse. 
The  high  grade  animals  (we  mean  those  most  used  by  man)  will 
slowly  but  surely  disappear. 

Man,  however,  is  not  content  with  any  such  program.  As  long 
as  possible  he  continues  trying  to  force  the  sickening  land  to  pro- 
duce the  more  profitable  vegetation.  Normally,  when  even  one 
essential  mineral  falls  to  the  point  where  the  more  desirable  plant 
is  no  longer  healthy,  nature  would  move  in  with  a  species  better 
adapted  to  the  situation.  (Fig.  11.)  Man  tries  to  prevent  this  by 
continuing  to  plant  as  before  and  keeping  the  competitor  away 
with  his  hoe.  For  a  time  he  may  succeed  in  producing  a  crippled 
crop  which  may  look  near  enough  normal  to  get  by  the  purchaser. 


r'Heiser,  Victor,  You're  the  Doctor,  W.  W.  Norton  and  Co.,  New  York,  1939, 
Chapter  6. 


FIG-.  11.  These  three  specimens  of  sweet  clover  show  the  influence  of  two  mineral 
deficiencies,  phosphorus  and  potassium.  All  three  received  ample  lime,  but  lime 
(calcium)  alone  is  not  enough.  The  two  specimens  on  the  left  are  sick  with 
root  rot;  they  were  easily  pulled  from  the  ground  by  hand.  The  healthy  roots 
on  the  right  could  not  be  pulled  from  the  earth. 


27 


28  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

If  this  product  is  processed  in  any  way  the  ultimate  consumer  may 
have  no  inkling  as  to  its  true  quality.  Eventually  this  sort  of 
forcing  is  no  longer  possible.  Something  has  to  happen.  Either  a 
lower  grade  species  must  be  accepted,  or  the  soil  must  be  improved. 
If  the  soil  is  not  improved,  plant  quality  may  eventually  regress  to 
the  point  of  starving  practically  all  animal  life  off  the  land.  Man 
must  leave  long  before  the  field  mice  do. 

Hunger  Signs  in  Plants.  The  lack  of  certain  minerals  and  vita- 
mins produce  deficiencies  in  humans;  it  also  affects  other  animals 
likewise;  and,  as  might  be  expected,  plants  are  subject  to  mineral 
deficiencies  too. 

Many  of  these  plants  deficiencies  may  be  observed  easily.6  Their 
diagnosis  may  require  tissue  testing  in  some  cases  but  the  informed 
eye  can  see  that  something  is  wrong.  Different  species  of  plants  often 
(but  do  not  necessarily)  exhibit  the  same  symptoms  for  the  same 
disease. 

To  the  untrained  eye  tobacco  plants  may  look  pretty  good.  The 
color  may  be  a  deep  rich  green.  However  a  critical  look  will  bring  the 
suspicion  that  a  plant  may  be  too  dark  a  green,  with  the  upper  leaves 
abnormally  erect.  To  the  knowing  eye  this  means  a  shortage  of 
phosphorus.  If  the  terminal  bud  at  the  top  of  the  stalk  is  dead  or 
dying,  boron  is  lacking.  If  calcium  shortage  develops,  the  new  leaves 
become  deformed,  scalloped,  with  irregular  edges. 

Magnesium  deficiency  puts  the  chlorophyll  out  of  action,  since  it 
is  part  of  chlorophyll.  Nitrogen  is  also  a  chlorophyll  part.  As  might 
be  expected,  lack  of  either  results  in  loss  of  greenness — a  yellowing. 

Lack  of  potassium  or  zinc  gives  a  really  evil,  blotched,  diseased 
appearance  to  the  leaves. 

It  is  not  our  purpose  to  make  a  plant  pathologist  of  anyone,  so 
with  a  few  more  illustrations  from  the  garden  plants  we  shall  move  on. 
Generally  speaking  most  cases  of  uniform  yellow  or  light  green  color- 
ing, coupled  with  stunted  growth,  will  indicate  nitrogen  lack. 

Onion  bulbs  may  vary  from  a  lemon  color  to  a  rich,  bright  coppery 
shade  according  to  sulphur  content,  yet  all  be  reasonably  well  de- 
veloped physically. 

If  snap-beans  produce  stunted  plants  and  no  beans  or  pods  to 
speak  of,  there  may  be  boron  trouble. 

In  a  root  crop  such  as  turnips,  beets  or  radishes,  boron  lack  will 
appear  as  dark  spots  on  and  in  the  root,  ranging  up  to  severe  condi- 
tions called  brown  heart  or  hollow  heart. 

Pale  yellow  carrots  are  copper  starved. 


6The  following  statements  are  derived  from  Hunger  Signs  in  Crops,  published 
by  The  American  Society  of  Agronomy  and  The  National  Fertilizer  Association, 
Washington,  D.  C.,  (no  date). 


29 

Vegetables  short  of  phosphorus  usually  develop  a  reddish  purple 
color  on  the  undersides  of  leaves. 

Potassium  shorted  leaves  become  grayish,  with  edges  brownish  and 
wrinkled. 

Slow  growth  is  a  symptom  common  to  most  deficiencies.  Drought 
can  duplicate  this,  of  course,  since  water  is  necessary  for  making 
nutrients  available  to  the  roots,  and,  in  cases  of  stunting  due  to 
weather  conditions,  the  nutrient  quality  may  not  be  impaired. 

Obviously,  these  and  scores  of  unmentioned  similar  conditions  vary 
from  the  borderline,  almost  undetectable  cases,  to  the  one-foot-in-the- 
grave  stage.  The  subject  is  introduced  here  merely  to  confirm  the 
point  that  human  health  rests  on  plant  health — that,  as  edible  food, 
plants  do  have  intrinsic  quality  ranging  from  excellent  to  no-account 
—and  that  in  many  instances,  plant  health  depends  on  soil. 

The  Way  of  the  Flesh.  There  is  no  disputing  the  fact  that  in- 
heritance puts  a  ceiling  over  our  development.  It  is  generally  con- 
ceded, however,  that  very  few  of  us  ever  reach  that  ceiling.  The  en- 
vironment interposes  too  many  obstacles,  too  many  distractions.  Yet 
the  environment  in  a  civilized  community  is  to  a  great  extent  our  own 
product.  Certainly  our  ability  to  alter  it  is  considerable.  Equally 
certain  is  the  fact  that  we  will  not  alter  it  for  the  better  unless  a 
powerful  reason  is  presented- — because  there  is  a  lot  of  work  and  ex- 
pense involved. 

If  there  is  anything  on  earth  more  desirable  than  good  health,  it 
has  been  well  concealed.  Yet,  it  is  probable  that  there  are  fewer 
people  with  100  per  cent  good  health  then  there  are  people  with 
money  wealth.  If  the  connection  between  good  soil,  good  plants  and 
good  health  can  be  proven,  then  the  environmental  changes  necessary 
to  secure  it  should  be  forthcoming.  The  effort  would  probably  be 
made.  Let 's  see  if  the  relationship  can  be  further  proved  by  example. 
(Fig.  12.) 

Hidden  Hungers  in  Animals.  Borst7  mentions  the  not  unusual 
fact  that  cattle  have  been  observed  chewing  on  bones,  suggesting  a 
hunger  for  phosphorus  and  calcium.  The  dog  and  his  bone  are  com- 
monplace. Livestock  swallow  wood,  bits  of  iron,  hair  and  other  foreign 
substances;  these  acts  have  in  many  cases  been  stopped  by  providing 
minerals  found  to  be  lacking  in  the  diet.  The  wide  use  of  salt  blocks 
of  various  compositions  in  livestock  feeding  is  well  known.  (Many 
wild  animals  find  and  use  salt  licks.)  Cattle  can  be  routed  over  the 
entire  range  available  by  moving  the  salts  about  at  a  distance  from 
the  water  supply,  thus  insuring  more  even  grazing.  Carnivorus  ani- 
mals, dogs  and  cats  for  instance,  may  be  seen  at  times  seating  various 
plants,  and  the  question  arises  whether  they  are  seeking,  in  many  in- 
stances, not  merely  an  emetic  but  to  satisfy  some  instinctive  demand 
for  additional  mineral  nutrients. 


7Borst,  Dr.  Harold,  Supervisor,  Northwest  Appalachian  Soils  and  Water  Ex- 
periment Station,  Zanesville,  Ohio,  Personal  communication. 


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30 


DO  PLANTS  HAVE  QUALITY?  31 

Albrecht  notes  that  ' '  Acetonemia  in  pregnant  milk  cows,  milk 
fever  after  calving,  pregnancy  diseases  in  sheep,  contagious  abortion 
in  cattle,  rickets  in  young  animals,  and  numerous  other  ailments  still 
baffling  as  to  physiological  explanation  do  not  occur  in  June  when  the 
animals  have  had  opportunity  to  get  from  young  grass  the  more  con- 
centrated forms  and  larger  amounts  of  what  we  call  soil  fertility. '  '8 

Dr.  Weston  Price,  formerly  of  the  American  Dental  Association's 
Research  Commission,  has  observed  that  when  primitive  women  aban- 
don the  natural  foods  on  which  they  were  reared  and  adopt  a  "civil- 
ized" diet  they  begin  to  have  trouble  in  childbirth,  a  difficulty  almost 
unheard  of  before.  Following  the  change  to  white  flour,  sugars,  and 
canned  goods  by  the  mothers,  many  babies  die  early,  or  appear  with 
deformities,  defective  eyes  and  ears,  become  susceptible  to  rheumatism, 
arthritis  and  tuberculosis.  The  results  are  even  worse  than  among 
the  whites,  who  perhaps  have  evolved  some  degree  of  adjustment. 

The  impact  of  modern  foods  on  the  teeth  is  most  remarkable. 
Primitive  Indians,  Eskimos,  Australian  Aborigines,  Gaelics,  Melane- 
sians,  Polynesians,  Africans,  Moors,  Peruvians,  when  examined  in 
their  isolated  native  habitats  reveal  average  dental  decay  of  less  than 
three  teeth  per  hundred.  Those  of  these  people  who  had  come  in 
contact  with  civilization  showed  decay  of  20,  40,  and  even  60  teeth 
per  hundred.  Sometimes  parents  would  move  into  a  "civilized" 
town,  bringing  children  with  perfect  teeth.  Then,  children  born  later 
would  develop  narrow  dental  arches,  misplaced,  overlapping,  protrud- 
ing and  rotten  teeth.  The  photographs  of  such  family  groups  are 
startling.  These  later  siblings  do  not  even  appear  to  belong  to  the 
family ;  such  are  the  facial  bone  alterations. 

These  facial  alterations  also  may  induce  a  compression  of  the 
lower  brain,  interfering  with  the  pituitary  gland  and  bringing  on 
physiological  and  even  mental  disturbances.  Price  reports  a  case 
(after  Ordahl)  in  which  a  sixteen  year  old  idiot  was  restored  to  nor- 
mal by  widening  the  upper  jaw  by  means  of  orthodontal  bracing. 
This  relieved  pressure  on  the  pituitary,  with  remarkable  results. 

Applying  his  studies  to  American  children,  Price  surveyed  typical 
communities  and  found  from  25  to  75  per  cent  showing  signs  of  this 
same  facial  alteration — changes  unaccountable  by  heredity,  intermar- 
riage, or  any  reason  except  a  deficiency  of  bone-forming  minerals 
and  vitamins.  Teachers  are  quite  familiar  with  the  considerable  per- 
centage of  pupils  who  are  not  bright  or  healthy,  and  show  it — show 
it  by  the  dull  eye,  the  sagging  jaw,  the  poor  complexion,  the  bad  pos- 
ture, the  inattentive  mind,  the  lack  of  coordination,  etc.,  etc.  Per- 
sonality problems  and  the  need  for  mental  hygiene  result.  It  is  doubt- 
ful that  their  cure  can  be  effected  by  psychiatry. 

For  the  sceptics,  Price  suggests  a  close  observation  of  family  groups, 
particularly  where  three  generations  are  available.  Look  for  narrow- 


8Albrecht,  Wm.  A.,  "Soil  Fertility  and  the  Human  Species,"  Chemical  and 
Engineering  News,  Feb.  25,  1943,  Vol.  21.  pp.  225-6. 


32  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

ing  jaws,  smaller  dental  arches,  crowded  teeth  in  the  youngsters  as 
contrasted  with  the  grandparents.  Your  own  judgment  will  tell  you 
where  such  people  are  most  likely  to  be  found. 

Our  sketchy  excerpts  from  Price  do  not  do  him  justice  and  his 
volume  should  be  consulted  for  a  fuller  presentation.  One  of  his 
conclusions  is:  "The  vitamin  and  protein  content  of  plants  has  been 
shown  to  be  directly  related  to  availability  of  soil  minerals  and  other 
nutrients.  A  program  that  does  not  include  maintaining  this  balance 
between  population  and  soil  productivity  must  inevitably  lead  to  dis- 
astrous degeneration."  "The  most  serious  problem  confronting  t^c 
con: ing  generation  is  that  nearly  insurmountable  handicap  of  deple- 
tion of  the  quality  of  foods  because  of  depletion  of  minerals  in  the 
soil."9 

Nutritional  studies  of  livestock  have  served  as  outposts  in  this  new 
science.  Next  in  amount  of  attention  received  have  been  the  humans. 
Third  come  plants,  and  at  the  bottom  of  the  list  wildlife.  The  increase 
in  fur  farming  has  lately  focused  attention  on  the  feeding  problem, 
because  right  feeding  means  a  good  pelt,  and  cash  to  jingle.  To  see 
how  far  astray  man  can  go  in  feeding,  note  this :  Autopsies  on  ranch 
reared  and  on  wild  silver  foxes  revealed  54  times  as  much  vitamin  A 
in  the  wild  animals.  Considering  the  role  of  Vitamin  A  in  night 
vision,  what  chance  would  the  man-fed  fox  have  of  catching  a  field 
mouse  at  night?  Similarly,  if  the  land  were  reduced  in  fertility  to 
the  point  where  it  failed  to  provide  plants  with  pro-vitamin  A  (caro- 
tene) how  could  the  fox  population  maintain  itself  when  most  of  its 
hunting  must  be  done  at  night  when  the  prey  is  up  and  about — that 
is,  such  prey  as  could  exist  on  sick  land. 

Fecundity  is  a  matter  of  vital  concern  to  all  producers  of  animals. 
The  certain  conception  and  delivery  of  healthy  young  by  the  female 
is  a  prerequisite  for  successful  management  of  both  domestic  and  wild 
animals.  Dr.  Ralph  Bogart  gives  a  considered  estimate  that  40  per 
cent  of  Missouri  pigs  are  never  weaned.  They  die.  Yet  there  are 
instances  where  effort  toward  securing  feeds  from  fertile  soil  has  cut 
this  loss  to  25  per  cent.  Sound  and  vigorous  offspring  cannot  be 
produced  by  food  consisting  of  sunlight,  air  and  water  alone.  Price's 
observations  in  the  human  field  corroborate  this. 

Albrecht  has  demonstrated  that  the  male  rabbit  may  become  sterile 
\vhen  fed  forage  from  a  depleted  soil ;  that  the  addition  of  phosphate 
to  the  soil  improved  the  procreative  performance ;  and  that  addition  of 
both  limestone  and  phosphate  resulted  in  hay  which  tended  to  insure  a 
virile  and  reliable  buck.  The  doubtful  males  were  markedly  rejuve- 
nated by  three  weeks  feeding  on  the  latter,  nutritious  hay.  (Fig.  13.) 

Sportsmen  who  lament  the  scarcity  of  cottontail  and  other  game 
may  take  the  hint  and  pull  mightily  for  soil  conservation  and  fer- 


9Price,  Weston,  Nutrition  and  Physical  Degeneration,  published  by  the  author 
(4th  printing,  enlarged),  Redlands,  Calif.,  1945,  p.  392  and  p.  417. 


NO  TREATMENT  f  SOIL  TREATMENT 


FIG-.  13.  These  rabbits  were  uniform  in  size  when  small.  They  were  fed  les- 
pedeza  hay  from  five  sections  of  Missouri.  The  hay  came  from  paired  fields — 
one  fertilized,  one  not  fertilized.  The  difference  in  animal  growth  from  the 
Elclon,  Clarksville,  and  Iiintonia  soils  is  startlingly  apparent.  There  are  also 
differences  in  the  other  two  cases  which  the  scales,  close  examination,  and  dis- 
section reveal. 


33 


34  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

tilizing  programs.  It  is  only  thus  that  millions  of  acres  of  hunting 
territory  can  ever  again  produce  the  abundance  and  quality  of  game 
which  old  timers  love  to  hunt  again  in  memory.  The  terrain  of  those 
memories  had  not  then  been  exhausted  by  erosion,  and  by  poor  crop 
and  soil  management. 

"We  have  discussed  the  production  of  proteins  and  vitamins  suffi- 
ciently to  establish  a  principle  of  nutrition,  which  can  be  applied  to 
any  animal — human,  domestic  or  wild :  The  life,  growth  and  repro- 
ductive potential  of  plants  and  animals  is  largely  dependent  on  com- 
plete soil  fertility. 


CHAPTER  IV 
ARE  THERE  ENOUGH  PLANTS? 


The  Age  of  Meagerness.  The  era  of  scarcity  was  a  long  and 
arduous  one  for  all  primitive  peoples,  and  particularly  for  those  out- 
side the  tropic  zone.  Even  when  prehistoric  man  graduated  from 
hunting,  fishing  and  the  gathering  of  wild  plants  to  the  more  reliable 
herding  and  crop  growing  he  still  was  severely  restricted  by  lack  of 
effective  tools  and  by  the  depredations  of  wild  animals.  All  life  was 
pecarious. 

With  the  development  of  irrigation  civilizations  along  the  Nile 
and  in  the  twin  valleys  of  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates,  the  common  man 
benefitted  little  from  the  comparative  plenty  of  these  garden  spots  of 
the  world.  Within  sight  of  the  magnificent  structures  celebrated  in 
history  stood  the  mud  huts  of  the  producer.  Like  a  thread,  running 
through  the  warp  of  human  society  is  the  story  of  power  and  wealth 
drained  from  the  many  into  the  hands  of  a  few.  Slavery  for  the 
conquered  and  high  taxes  for  the  native  kept  the  rank  and  file  on  a 
near  level  with  the  beasts  of  the  fields.  Through  those  later  bright 
spots  of  human  achievement,  Palestine,  Greece,  and  Rome,  the  shadows 
of  poverty,  unemployment,  disease,  and  hunger  are  ever  visible. 

A  thousand  years  of  the  Dark  Ages,  with  its  feudal  system,  re- 
peated the  pattern  of  relative  plenty  for  a  few  and  degradation  for 
the  many.  The  production  of  food  was  an  ever  present  battle  with 
need,  and  if  the  few  ate  well,  the  many  were  lean. 

Yet,  such  improvement  in  food  supply  as  had  been  achieved  was 
based  on  the  discovery  by  some  primitive  cave  dweller  that  seeds  pro- 
duced plants,  that  human  effort  could  multiply  the  number  which 
Avould  grow  and  mature. 

During  the  medieval  period,  machinery  had  its  elemental  birth, 
though  power  was  still  largely  a  matter  of  muscle,  mostly  man,  partly 
beast. 

The  Age  of  Plenty.  The  beginning  of  the  era  of  plenty  (in 
Western  Civilization)  may  be  dated  roughly  from  the  period  of  ex- 
ploration, starting  with  Columbus'  discovery  of  the  new  world,  an 
area  rich  with  the  stored  natural  energy  and  materials  of  millions  of 
years.  Almost  at  once  the  exporting  of  American  resources  to  Eu- 
rope began.  First  it  was  gold,  but  soon  it  was  lumber,  and  potash 
from  burned  forest  monarchs,  fish,  hams,  wheat,  corn,  furs — all  the 
seemingly  inexhaustible  products  of  the  newly  found  storehouse. 

In  payment  for  these  goods,  Europe  sent  back  money,  the  capital 
which  spurred  the  further  exploration  and  exploitation  of  America. 

35 


36  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

The  profit  motive  did  the  rest.  Every  man  knew  that  a  ready  market 
awaited  whatever  of  human  use  he  could  gouge  from  the  earth  and 
get  to  market.  Europe,  well  populated,  had  money,  (much  of  it 
extorted  from  Central  and  South  American  Indians)  and  a  head  start 
in  the  Industrial  Revolution  so  that  manufactured  goods  were  avail- 
able to  trade  for  American  food,  cotton,  wool,  metals  and  other  raw 
materials. 

This  country  belatedly  but  with  great  vigor  launched  into  an 
industrial  program  of  its  own.  The  poor  farm  lands  of  New  England 
poured  workers  into  the  factory  towns  which  sprang  up  at  every 
water  power  site.  To  feed  these  workers,  new.  and  better  croplands 
were  sought  and  occupied  as  fast  as  the  Indians  could  be  driven  out 
and  bought  out.  America  began  to  pour  forth  its  wealth  from  mine, 
and  forest,  and  field. 

Through  it  all  the  personal  profit  motive  drove  men  to  prodigious 
effort  to  get  resources,  to  get  them  first,  to  get  them  fastest,  to  get  the 
best  and  discard  the  rest.  Rugged  individualism  reached  its  peak.  It 
was  a  procedure  not  far  removed  from  the  law  of  the  jungle. 

In  the  South,  cotton  plantations  with  their  slave  labor  duplicated 
the  setup  of  Rome  at  its  height — and  the  result  was  the  same.  Free- 
men on  the  farms  could  not  compete  successfully.  Most  of  the  slaves 
had  no  interest  in  the  land,  nor  in  learning  how  to  use  it  properly. 
The  effort  to  teach  and  force  them  to  work  properly  was  discouraging. 
The  inefficiency  of  slave  labor  is  well  known.  It  carries  on  a  sustained 
campaign  of  impassive  resistance  and  insidious  sabotage.  All  these 
factors  favored  a  simple  agriculture.  One  cash  crop,  endlessly  re- 
peated, ruined  the  soil.  Erosion  came.  Washington,  Jefferson,  Patrick 
Henry  and  many  other  men  of  perception  and  vision  protested  the 
land  use  system  which  was  replacing  rich  fields  with  gullied  wasteland. 
But,  the  economic  pattern  required  exploitation  if  profit  was  to  be 
made.  When  prices  are  determined  by  a  cream-skimming  system  of 
supplying  the  market,  the  conservative  farmer,  hunter,  or  miner  is  at 
a  disadvantage. 

Planning  for  sustained  production  often  requires  a  measure  of 
restraint  on  present  profits  for  the  sake  of  future  stability.  The 
pioneer  farmer  could  get  new  land  so  cheaply  that  it  did  not  pay 
promptly  in  cash  to  take  care  of  what  he  had.  Forests  were  so  exten- 
sive that  any  consideration  of  a  future  shortage  seemed  stupid.  The 
problem  of  the  early  settler  east  of  the  plains  was,  as  he  saw  it,  to 
get  rid  of  forest,  not  sustain  it. 

In  the  meantime,  in  this  rosy  dream  of  an  inexhaustible  America, 
no  one  considered  the  egg  and  the  sperm  of  the  human  race.  In  a 
country  of  largely  good  and  virgin  soils,  capable  for  a  time  at  least 
of  producing  proteinaceous,  vitamin-rich  foods,  the  growth  in  popu- 
lation was  phenomenal.  A  constant  stream  of  immigrants  plus  high 
human  fertility  brought  mounting  census  figures.  And  always  there 
was  more  and  more  land  to  feed  the  horde.  Science  and  invention 
multiplied  the  productivity  of  man.  Surpluses  were  gobbled  up  by 
hungry  old  world  peoples.  Then  the  human  wave  rolled  against  the 


ARE  THERE  ENOUGH  PLANTS?         37 

Pacific  boundary  and  flowed  back  upon  itself.  The  country  had  filled 
up.  Yet  still,  the  sperm  and  egg  were  at  work,  ever  increasing  the 
demand  for  food,  for  houses,  barns,  fences,  clothing,  and  all  other 
products  of  the  land. 

The  Age  of  Adjustment.  About  1910,  the  lack  of  timber  became 
alarming.  Most  of  the  good  and  easily  logged  forests  had  been  cut 
over.  In  the  east  and  south,  soils  had  been  beaten  and  driven  until 
they  lay  down  to  rest,  like  a  starved  horse.  And  like  a  starved  horse, 
they  could  not,  of  their  own  effort,  immediately  get  up  to  go  again. 
No  longer  did  everyone  have  all  the  good  food  and  all  the  wood  he 
needed.  The  government  began  reserving  forest  lands  against  buyers, 
against  exploitation.  With  the  World  War  came  the  plowing  of  the 
plains  for  wheat  production.  High  prices,  two  to  three  dollars  per 
bushel,  caused  this  raping  of  the  finest  natural  legume  grassland  on 
earth.  Here  again,  nature  struck  back  against  man's  violation  of  her 
laws  and  rights.  The  great  Dust  Bowl,  flanked  to  north  and  south  by 
smaller  satellite  dust  bowls,  was  nature's  reply. 

According  to  general  surveys  by  the  government,  over  one  billion 
acres  of  our  land  has  been  damaged  by  erosion.1  This  is  more  than  one 
half  of  the  United  States.  A  hundred  million  acres  of  cropland,  more 
or  less,  has  been  ruined  for  tilled  crop  production.  This  is  about  one- 
fifth  of  our  normal  cropland  area.  Counting  the  areas  ruined  by 
erosion  resulting  from  fires  on  forest  lands  and  overgrazing  on  range- 
lands,  the  destroyed  area  mounts  to  282,000,000  acres.  These  figures 
mean  little  until  they  are  compared  with  some  area  you  know.  The 
state  of  Ohio  has  about  27  million  acres.  Thus,  land  equal  to  ten  such 
states  has  been  reduced,  virtually  to  a  biological  desert.  This  is  diffi- 
cult for  many  people  to  believe.  But,  if  they  travel  a  moderate  amount 
and  look  for  evidence,  they  will  readily  accept  the  estimates  of  the 
U.S.  Department  of  Agriculture.  (Fig.  14.) 

The  existence  of  such  total  areas  of  burned,  overgrazed,  blown, 
and  washed  out  land  has  led  to  questioning  the  common  sense  of 
the  human  activities  which  have  produced  such  devastation.  Ob- 
viously, a  readjustment  is  called  for  in  our  relation  as  a  society  to 
the  thin  and  delicate  earth  crust  which  enables  us  to  exist.  It  is  a 
simple  question  of  life  or  death. 

Since  high  grade  vegetation  is  the  resource  which  has,  for  the 
most  part,  disappeared  on  these  problem  areas,  the  obvious  conclu- 
sion is  that  it  should  be  restored.  This  is  not  an  easy  task.  The 
destructive  forces  unleashed  by  man  not  only  have  destroyed  the 
vegetation;  they  have  damaged  the  mechanisms  which  produce  use- 
ful vegetation.  It  takes  nature  milleniums  to  construct  the  sensi- 
tively balanced  complex  of  sun,  soil,  water,  weather,  plants  and 
animals  which  climax  in  a  high  order  of  verdure.  (Fig.  15.)  The 
wrecking  of  these  climaxes  has  set  such  areas  back  centuries,  in 
many  cases  thousands  of  years.  (Fig.  16.)  The  question  facing  us 


Bennett,  H.  H.,  Soil  Conservation,  McGraw-Hill,  New  York,  1939,  p.  60, 


38 


ARE  THERE  ENOUGH  PLANTS? 


39 


FIG-.  15.  This  rich  soil 
began  as  nothing-  but 
limestone  rock,  sterile 
and  lifeless.  As  the  stone 
weathered  into  calcium 
dust,  it  was  flooded  from 
time  to  time  and  deposits 
of  mineral-rich  silts  wer  •> 
added.  The  roots  of 
plants,  and  earthworms, 
mixed  the  minerals,  add- 
ed organic  matter,  and 
in  a  few  thousands  of 
years  this  soil  was  built. 
There  are  7  inches  of 
dark  topsoil,  5  inches  of 
lighter  topsoil,  and  13 
inches  of  subsoil.  Its 
product  here  is  lush,  liv- 
ing grass — and  "all  flesh 
is  grass." 


is :  can  science  short-cut  the  leisurely  processes  of  nature  in  repair- 
ing the  damage?   There  is  evidence  to  support  a  positive  answer. 

Do  We  Need  More  Food?  In  preceeding  paragraphs  it  has  been 
shown  that  half  of  the  nation's  land  is  inadequately  clothed  with 
vegetation,  that  one  seventh  of  it  has  been  stripped  literally  naked, 
by  man.  As  a  result,  or  as  a  parallel  occurence,  erosion  is  rampant. 


FIG-.  16.  A  Texas  case  of  embezzlement — "secret  misappropriation,"  according 
to  Webster.  Here,  the  sly  stealing  of  topsoil  by  sheet  erosion  is  finally  dis- 
closed. But,  it  la  too  late.  The  wealth  is  gone;  there  is  not  one  songbird  or 
gamebird  to  control  insects.  The  gentle  slope  was  no  safeguard  for  this  soil. 
Scientific  protection  would  have  been  simple,  easy,  profitable. 


40  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

More  plants  are  needed,  in  the  restoration  process.     This  is  sufficient 
reason  for  more  plants. 

There  is  another  reason.  Numerous  surveys  have  been  made  of 
living  standards  in  this  country.  Dr.  Thomas  Parran,  Chief  of  the 
U.  S.  Public  Health  Service  has  said,  "  Studies  of  family  diets  by  the 
Department  of  Agriculture,  in  all  income  groups  of  the  nation,  show 
that  one-third  of  our  people  are  getting  food  inadequate  to  maintain 
good  health.  .  ."  The  Yearbook  of  Agriculture,  1939,  (p.  42)  says, 
"Those  who  cannot  now  afford  even  an  economical  fair  diet  are 
largely  among  those  with  incomes  of  less  than  $750  a  year.  These 
income  classes  include  32  per  cent  of  all  the  families  and  single 
individuals  in  the  country."  During  the  war-induced  and  post-war 
prosperity,  many  ate  better — temporarily,  no  doubt. 

Without  going  into  a  long  series  of  quotations,  may  we  summarize 
the  government's  findings?  If  these  submerged  millions  were  to  con- 
sume a  low-cost  good  diet,  our  production  would  need  to  be  increased 
thus:  milk,  10  per  cent;  butter,  10  per  cent;  tomatoes  and  citrus,  10 
per  cent ;  leafy,  green  and  yellow  vegetables,  80  per  cent.  This  would 
require  an  additional  8  to  10  million  acres  of  cropland.  If  a  really 
good  "expensive"  diet  were  available  to  all  of  us,  an  additional  30 
to  40  million  acres  would  be  needed.  (There  is  a  possibility  that  these 
increases  could  be  met  by  increased  yields  from  present  acreages.) 
The  surpluses  which  plagued  farmers,  before  the  war,  would  disap- 
pear like  frost  in  the  sun. 

In  other  words,  as  a  nation,  we  need  more  (and  better)  plants  to 
eat — directly,  or  in  the  form  of  animal  products. 

During  World  War  II  we  produced  more  food  than  ever  before,2 
and  the  people  had  money  to  buy  it.  Because  we  exported  a  small  per 
cent3  to  our  allies,  and  later  to  enemy  countries  also,  we  experienced 
shortages  at  home — proof  that  our  soils  in  their  present  condition  are 
not  capable  of  supporting  even  a  slightly  larger  population  on  a  good 
diet  level.  We  cannot  be  complacent. 


Wood  Products.     Of  all  the  influences  which  trees  exert  on  our 
national  and  individual  lives,  we  are  at  the  moment  considering  them  x 


2In  1944,  the  U.  S.  produced  20%  more  agricultural  products  than  in  1940 
(U.S.D.A.,  Bureau  of  Agricultural  Economics).  This  increase,  to  a  great  extent, 
offset  (a)  the  loss  of  imports  due  to  the  war,  (b)  increased  consumption,  over 
civilian  rate,  of  food  and  fibre  by  the  men  and  women  of  the  armed  forces,  (c) 
Lend-Lease  and  Eelief  exports. 

3The  average  for  1942-43-44-45  was  roughly  8%  export  of  our  total  agricul- 
tural production,  for  Lend-Lease  and  United  Nations  Eelief  and  Eehabilitation 
Administration  uses.  For  several  years  before  the  war,  the  excess  of  our  agricul- 
tural exports  over  imports  of  the  same  types  of  goods  ranged  around  2%;  in  1928 
the  excess  was  about  20%.  The  drop  from  20%  to  2%  was  gradual.  No  small 
factor  in  the  decline  of  normal  agricultural  exports  has  been  our  growth  in 
population.  Cropland  acreage  has  changed  very  little.  Population  is  catching  up 
vrith  food  supply. 


ARE  THERE  ENOUGH  PLANTS?  41 

simply  as  wood,  not  as  functioning  biological  units.  The  common- 
place act  of  purchasing  a  few  boards  is  today  (and  was  before  the 
war)  a  major  operation  on  the  pocketbook.  The  purchase  of  a  frame 
house  is  and  was  beyond  the  financial  ability  of  a  large  per  cent  of 
citizens,  or  it  becomes  a  life  time  struggle.  To  the  pioneer  east  of 
the  Mississippi  it  was  not  so.  Setting  up  a  home  was  a  minor  incon- 
venience. After  reserving  what  timber  he  needed  for  furniture,  sheds, 
tool  handles,  fences,  and  fuel,  he  still  had  mountains  of  wood  to  burn 
— and  he  did  burn  it,  to  get  rid  of  it,  burnt  it  in  huge  piles  that 
roared  for  days. 

Today  a  quick  inventory  of  our  daily  uses  of  wood  is  revealing. 
Take  a  look.  And  if  you  will  calculate  the  cost  of  common  wood 
products  by  the  pound,  you  will  be  amazed.  Wheat  can  be  bought 
for  (let's  say)  three  cents  per  pound.  Hardwood,  or  even  good  soft- 
wood, will  cost  two,  three,  or  four  times  as  much.  This  should  not  be 
true  of  a  crop  that  once  grew  naturally  and  easily  over  nearly  half 
of  the  country. 

Half  of  our  timber  harvest  becomes  lumber ;  one-fourth  is  used 
for  fuel.  The  remainder  becomes  paper,  railway  ties,  poles,  posts, 
boxes,  barrels,  veneers,  furniture,  and  thousands  of  other  articles 
necessary  to  our  way  of  life. 

Forest  Destruction.  The  cutting  of  forests  has  been  caused  by  two 
primary  forces :  the  need  for  wood,  and  the  need  for  farmland.  Prior 
to  the  industrial  development  most  cutting  was  for  land  clearing. 
Then,  in  a  hundred  years  (1800-1900),  it  gradually  shifted  to  lumber- 
ing operations  for  wood  itself. 

Going  back  in  history  to  early  civilizations,  we  find  in  Mesopotamia 
today  about  one-sixth  of  the  population  which  flourished  in  the  eastern 
end  of  the  Fertile  Crescent  4000  years  ago.4  The  degrading  of  the 
country  is  attributed  to  invasions  by  over-populated,  nomadic,  desert 
tribes  which  broke  up,  time  after  time,  the  agricultural  system  which 
fed  the  settled  agrarian  people.  This  system  was  based  on  irrigation 
of  the  flood  plains  of  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates  rivers.  The  canals  filled 
rapidly  with  silt,  requiring  a  great  force  of  slave  labor  to  keep  them 
cleaned  out.  The  silt  came  from  the  uplands,  and  from  the  headwaters 
in  Assyria  where  overgrazing  and  forest  cutting  exposed  the  soil  to 
erosion.  Trees  have  always  been  scarce  in  that  part  of  the  world,  but 
no  provision  or  thought  was  ever  given  (until  recently)  to  a  sustained 
yield  forestry  plan. 

Later,  in  Palestine,  Kings  David  and  Solomon  made  a  deal  with 
King  Hiram,  of  Tyre  in  Phoenicia  to  the  north,  whereby  thousands  of 
the  Cedars  of  Lebanon  became  Solomon's  temple  and  palace.  The 
Phoenicians  also  sold  or  traded  lumber  to  the  Egyptians,  who  had 
little  wood.  As  a  result,  the  mountains  of  Phoenicia  and  Syria  were 
denuded.  Those  four-legged  locusts,  the  goats,  searching  for  every 


4jjowdermilk,  W.  C.,  Conquest  of  the  Land,  U,  S,  Department  of  Agriculture, 
Washington,  D.  C.,  p.  10, 


42  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

green  thing,  prevented  revegetation.  The  soil  went  into  the  Persian 
Gulf  and  the  Mediterranean.  Today  a  more  desolate  area  than  the 
Holy  Lands  would  be  hard  to  find.  "Milk  and  honey"  gave  way  to 
erosion  and  hardship. 

North  China  reveals  the  same  story.  An  increasing  population 
forced  the  farm  front  higher  and  higher  into  the  hills,  the  forests  were 
cut  off,  erosion  began,  silt  choked  the  channel  of  the  great  Yellow 
river  on  its  way  to  the  Yellow  sea  (appropriate  names) — floods,  death, 
crop  destruction  and  famine  followed.  The  stolid  Chinese  came  to 
accept  this  as  the  natural  order  of  life. 

The  bare,  rocky  hills  of  Greece  today  could  not  possibly  support 
such  a  civilization  as  developed  there  during  the  millenium  before 
Christ. 

It  took  Italy  a  thousand  years  to  recover  from  the  land  misman- 
agement which  accompanied  the  decline  of  the  Roman  Empire.  Of 
all  lands,  hilly  forest  when  converted  to  agriculture  is  most  difficult 
to  manage  for  permanent  food  production,  which  is  not  its  primary 
natural  use.  (Fig.  17.)  The  mountains  and  hills  of  the  Italian  penin- 
sula were  once  forest  lands.  When,  as  cleared  farms,  they  fell  into 
the  hands  of  rich  Romans  (absentee  owners  with  no  understanding 
of  land)  and  became  slave  or  serf  operated  estates,  Rome  was  doomed. 
The  love  of  the  freeman  for  his  land  was  gone  from  the  hills;  and 
when  it  went  the  soil  started  to  go.  By  476,  when  Rome  was  finished, 
there  were  comparatively  few  people  left  on  the  impoverished  farms. 

Today  there  is  not  a  forest  along  the  Mediterranean  coast  any- 
where. Many  Italians  bake  bread  by  using  straw  for  fuel.  What 
small  forests  exist  back  in  the  hills  are  managed  with  the  care  we  give 
our  city  parks.  Each  tree  is  cut  under  strict  supervision,  and  close 
to  the  ground.  The  citizen  lucky  enough  to  be  given  the  privilege 
of  cutting  one,  carries  home  every  twig  and  leaf  for  his  oven.  Italy 
has  practically  no  coal  or  petroleum  of  her  own  and  fuel  is  a  pressing 
and  distressing  problem. 

Elsewhere  in  Europe  today  forests  receive  the  most  careful  con- 
sideration. As  to  land  destruction  following  forest  clearing,  this  has 
not  been  serious  in  north  and  west  Europe  because  of  the  gentle 
rains,  moderate  slopes,  and  the  slowly  developed,  well  adjusted  agri- 
culture. 

In  the  United  States  we  find  a  situation  which  is  alarming  except 
to  the  uninformed,  the  selfish,  or  the  stupid  citizen.  The  forests  were 
an  important  cog  in  the  development  of  the  country.  The  term 
"development"  as  applied  to  resources  by  most  commercial  and  in- 
dustrial interests  has  been,  and  in  too  many  instances  still  is,  ana- 
lagous  to  your  "development"  of  a  Thanksgiving  dinner  sitting  be- 
fore you  on  the  table. 

The  U.  S.  Forest  Service  states  that  we  are  cutting,  burning,  or 
otherwise  losing  trees  approximately  twice  as  fast  as  the  forests  are  re- 
placing these  losses, 


m 


PIG.  17.  The  challeiig-e  of  forested  hill  lands  to  man  has  occurred  throughout 
the  world.  In  many  places  man  has  won,  and  the  hills  serve  him.  In  more 
places  the  tormented  hills  have  beaten  man  down,  starved  him,  impoverished 
him,  and  both  hills  and  man  are  in  a  sorry  state.  Here,  in  Minnesota,  man  fairly 
well  has  adjusted  himself  and  his  uses  of  land  to  the  climate  and  topography — 
result:  sustained  production. 


43 


44  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

C.  H.  Guise  says  that  of  the  large,  most  valuable  trees  we  cut  at 
five  times  the  rate  of  growth  and  that  the  virgin  forest  will  last  only 
30  to  40  years  at  the  present  rate.  He  adds  the  thought  that  as  this 
high  grade  lumber  becomes  scarcer,  the  price  will  go  up,  the  market 
will  shrink,  and  the  tree  supply  will  last  longer.  This  is  another  way 
of  saying  that  most  of  us  will  have  to  do  without  some  of  the  lumber 
products  we  need.  Guise  further  warns  that  when  the  virgin  forest 
is  gone  there  will  be  a  tedious  period  of  waiting  before  the  second 
growth  forests  will  be  able  to  supply  the  market  at  all  well.5 

From  the  simple  standpoint  of  wood  supply,  without  considering 
all  the  other  functions  of  forests  and  woodlots  in  the  scheme  of 
nature,  it  is  obvious  that  we  do  not  have,  and  will  not  have  for  a 
long  time,  enough  trees.  There  are  about  100,000,000  acres  of  wood- 
land which  have  been  cut  over  or  burned  over  that  are  not  restock- 
ing themselves  at  all.  Professional  foresters  say  that  woodland 
under  good  management  will  produce  from  two  to  six  times  as  much 
good  timber  as  unmanaged  areas.  This  raises  the  question  of  for- 
estry science  and  what  it  can  do  about  the  situation. 

Role  of  the  Forester.  Four  hundred  years  ago  Europe  began  to 
see  the  need  of  planning  for  wood  supply.  At  that  time  cities  held 
only  a  minor  fraction  of  the  total  population,  yet  the  widely  forested 
areas  of  the  continent  had  slowly  given  way  to  farms  and  to  fuel 
needs,  to  a  point  where  practical  intelligence  was  brought  face  to 
face  with  a  demand  for  sustained  wood  supply.  The  leisurely  develop- 
ment of  Western  Civilization  in  Europe  was  geared  to  nature  in  a 
way  that  we  in  the  United  States  have  never  experienced,  and  for 
which  we  are  only  now  beginning  to  feel  a  need.  We  have  been  so  pre- 
occupied with  profits  that  the  scientific  road  to  a  production  and  con- 
sumption balanced  against  a  sustainable  raw  material  supply  has  been 
ignored.  We  are  now  forced  to  choose  between  a  continuance  of 
exploitation  and  the  scientific  road  to  a  stable  and  possibly  a  rising 
living  standard.  If  exploitation  continues,  the  standard  of  living 
must  inevitably  go  into  a  decline,  such  as  the  shortages  during  and 
following  World  War  II  previewed  for  us. 

The  science  of  forestry  as  developed  in  Europe  made  that  area 
self-sustaining  in  timber  at  least  up  until  World  War  II.  Just  before 
the  turn  of  the  century  a  pioneer  American  forester,  Gifford  Pinchot, 
found  it  necessary  to  go  to  Europe  to  gain  a  training  foundation  in 
forest  science.  He  became  the  first  official  U.  S.  Forester.  Since 
that  recent  date  we  have  been  busy  adapting  continental  technics  to 
our  problems  and  evolving  our  own  methods.  At  the  moment  a  war 
is  on  between  short-term  economics  and  long-term  science  as  to  the 
fate  of  American  forests  and  woodlots.  Private  owners  are  lined 
up  against  public  owners.  Independent  scientists  and  economists 
must  conciliate  the  dispute  on  the  basis  of  what  is  best  for  our  so- 
ciety as  a  whole.  An  educated  public  must  enforce  the  decision. 


5Gustafson,  et  al,  Conservation  in  the  United  States,  Comstock  Publishing  Co., 
Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  1940,  p.  185. 


ARE  THERE  ENOUGH  PLANTS?          45 

The  small  fraction  of  timber  owners  who  have  yielded  to  sci- 
entific principles  have  found  that  long  term  science  and  long  term 
economics  work  in  perfect  harmony.  The  final  result  is  greater  bene- 
fit to  both  the  owner  and  the  public.  The  goal  of  the  operator  is 
shifted  from  selfish  desire  for  large,  quick  profits  to  smaller,  sus- 
tained profits  coupled  with  social  goals  of  permanent  employment, 
community  welfare,  and  continuing  satisfaction  of  the  nation's  tim- 
ber demands.  This  is  citizenship  in  action. 

It  is  the  business  of  the  forester  to  discover  and  apply  the 
natural  laws  which  make  possible  greater  production  on  a  given 
wooded  area,  greater  utilization  of  the  parts  of  each  tree,  greater 
long  term  benefits  to  both  producer  and  consumer.  It  is  the  con- 
sensus of  foresters  that  our  present  forest  acreage  can  ~be  managed 
so  as  to  produce  annually,  forever,  20  billion  board  feet  of  timber, 
which  would  be  ample  for  present  normal  needs.6  It  is  not  now  so 
managed.  If  demand  rises,  and  it  almost  surely  will,  more  forest  acre- 
age will  be  needed  or  more  intensive  management  must  then  be  de- 
vised and  applied. 

Our  forests  cannot  under  present  practices  continue  to  supply  our 
needs.  The  U.  S.  Forest  Service  estimates  that  we  were  (before 
World  War  II,  which  aggravated  the  situation)  adding  850,000  acres 
annually  of  devastated  forest  land  to  the  vast  area  already  wrecked. 
Furthermore,  only  5  per  cent  of  cut  over  land  receives  any  attention 
leading  toward  a  satisfactory  second  growth.7  The  forester,  as  an 
agricultural  scientist,  must  have  a  position  of  greater  influence  in 
private  forestry  if  the  nation  is  to  avoid  a  very  unpleasant  situation. 

Ill  CHEMURGY  AND  ITS  DEMANDS 

What  is  Chemurgy?  Chemurgy  is  a  new  word,  coined  to  denote 
a  branch  of  chemistry  at  work,  processing  surplus  crops  into  indus- 
trial goods.  From  soy  beans  may  be  made  a  plastic  which  is  moulded 
into  hundreds  of  objects  formerly  made  of  metal.  From  soy  may 
be  made  glue,  paper  sizing,  fireproof  paint,  gaskets  and  cloth. 
Chemurgists  are  working  on  a  plastic  made  from  alfalfa  protein. 
DuPont  uses  coal  in  making  nylon,  but  says  farm  crops  can  be  used 
instead.  Synthetic  rubber  from  alcohol  levies  a  draft  on  soil  grown 
carbohydrates,  Avhich  are  fermented  to  produce  the  required  alcohol. 
From  milk  casein  is  being  made  paint,  glue,  sizing,  imitation  ivory 
and  good  cloth  much  like  wool.  For  years  England  has  used  a  motor 
fuel  which  is  30  per  cent  alcohol. 

"The  deep  south  has  long  suffered  from  lack  of  industries, 
overproduced  cotton  and  severe  erosion.  Dr.  Charles  Herty, 
a  chemist,  found  a  way  to  use  weedy,  five-to-fifteen-year-old 
slash  pine  in  making  both  kraft  and  newsprint.  Papermen  had 
said  southern  pine  was  too  yellow,  too  gummy.  At  one  blow 


«Ibid.  p.  228. 

.  pp.  224-25. 


46  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

Dr.  Herty  brought  industry  to  the  South,  switched  land  from 
soil-depleting  cotton  to  soil-conserving  forests,  and  saved  the 
remaining  world  supply  of  spruce  for  more  enduring  uses. 

"Chemurgist  W.  H.  Mason  looked  at  sawdust,  stumps, 
chips  and  other  wood  waste.  Grinding,  steam  blasting,  and 
hot  pressing  produced  a  hard,  strong  sheet  bound  together  by 
lignin.  Another  market  for  fast  growing  saplings  was  found. 
Trees  are  becoming  a  crop.  Trees  give  us  paper,  cellophane, 
rayon,  photo-film,  gun  powder,  oils,  resin,  plastics,  glue, 
varnish,  germicides,  alcohol  and  lactic  acid.  Forests  become 
more  important  every  year."8 

Only  a  few  of  the  synthetics  and  direct  industrial  products  which 
come  from  crops  have  been  mentioned.  Alcohol  made  from  corn  and 
wood  goes  into  scores  of  subsequent  industrial  uses.  Research  in 
the  field  goes  on  constantly.  Organized  chemurgic  activity  was 
born  of  the  agricultural  depression  of  the  1930's,  in  an  effort  to 
find  uses  for  surplus  farm  crops.  The  idea  was  to  put  urban  unem- 
ployed people  to  work  processing  the  unsaleable  farm  products. 
Thus  purchasing  power  would  be  increased,  relief  rolls  reduced,  sur- 
pluses disposed  of.  The  results  were  so  promising  and  the  chemur- 
gic goods  so  useful  that  progress  has  been  cumulative. 

An  inquiry  to  the  National  Farm  Chemurgic  Council,  Columbus, 
Ohio,  brought  these  statements:  It  is  very  difficult  to  get  data  on 
the  amounts  of  organic  products  going  into  chemurgic  uses.  The 
farmer  does  not  know  what  proportion  of  his  crops  end  up  in  such 
factories.  A  careful  survey  of  hundreds  of  manufacturers  would  be 
required  to  secure  a  close  approximation.  The  best  estimate  the 
Council  can  arrive  at  is  that  40  million  U.  S.  acres  are  devoted  to 
growing  the  raw  materials  of  chemurgy.  The  demand  for  such  ma- 
terials is  so  great  and  research  so  successful  that  by  1955  an  addi- 
tional 50  million  acres  will  be  required  to  satisfy  the  U.  S.  market. 

Asked  where  the  50  million  acres  were  to  be  found,  the  Council's 
secretary  replied,  "all  over  the  world."  And  what  about  the  rest 
of  the  world?  The  Council  has  associates  in  25  countries,  through 
which  an  exchange  of  research  goes  on. 

It  is  obvious  that  as  the  chemurgic  movement  grows,  all  over  the 
industrial  world,  the  levy  against  the  soil  and  its  vegetation  will 
increase  markedly.  Plants  and  more  plants  will  be  needed.  If  cer- 
tain exhaustible  minerals,  ores  particularly,  become  scarce,  and 
some  are  already,  the  demand  for  organic  substitutes  for  metals  will 
whip  chemurgy  along  still  faster. 

Q.E.D.  The  individual's  responsibility  as  a  free  citizen  does  not 
nermit  him  to  be  wholly  concerned  with  his  own  little  private  world. 
He  may  be  happy,  and  doing  a  useful  work  in  his  immediate  com- 


8Carter,  Vernon,  Chemurgy  and  Conservation,  Personal  Growth  Leaflet  No.  76, 
National  Education  Association,  Washington,  D.  C.,  pp.  12-13. 


ARE  THERE  ENOUGH  PLANTS?          47 

munity.  He  may  be  making  a  specialized  contribution  to  society  as  a 
whole.  That  is  not  enough.  Neither  intelligence,  democracy,  nor  edu- 
cation will  admit  that  it  is  enough.  The  citizen  has  an  obligation  to 
sustain,  for  himself  and  for  the  coming  generations,  the  society  which 
gives  him  the  opportunity  to  be  happy  and  useful.  If  the  society  can 
]>e  improved,  he  is  obliged  to  improve  it.  He  must  attend  to  all  its 
problems,  or  the  problems  will  attend  to  him. 

A  society  is  sustained  by  the  natural  resources  which  underlie  it. 
Vegetation  is  the  basic  organic  resource.  Through  it  all  life  is 
channeled.  There  is  not  enough  vegetation,  particularly  of  the  more 
useful  kinds.  What  there  is  does  not  average  high  in  quality.  The 
result  is  a  diseased  society.  The  democratic  citizen  is  obligated  to  use 
his  influence  and  a  portion  of  his  energy  in  attaining  improvement  of 
the  situation. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  EVOLUTION  OF  PLANTS 

I— THE  NATURE  OF  PLANTS 

What  is  a  plant?  Thus  far,  the  plants  we  have  mentioned  (trees, 
farm  crops,  garden  vegetables)  are  obviously  plants.  For  general 
purposes  in  denning  a  plant  we  might  adapt  the  pattern  of  the 
primary  teacher  whose  young  pupils  were  amazed  when  he  called  a 
spider  an  animal.  They  were  in  the  habit  of  thinking  of  an  animal  as 
something  with  four  legs  and  hair.  "Is  a  spider  a  plant?"  the  teacher 
inquired.  "No."  "It  it  a  mineral?"  "No."  "Then  what  else  could 
it  be  but  an  animal?" 

Plant-Animal  Differences.  It  is  not  important  here  whether  slime- 
mold  is  plant  or  animal.  The  scientists  are  free  to  continue  their 
arguments.  The  Euglena,  which  takes  in  food  much  as  an  animal  does, 
but  also  contains  chlorophyll  and  makes  some  of  its  own  food,  is  ad- 
mitted to  be  both  plant  and  animal.  Actually,  it  is  difficult  to  define  a 
plant.  Not  all  of  them  contain  chlorophyll  and  make  sugar  from  air 
and  water;  yeasts,  Indian  Pipe,  golden  dodder,  and  mushrooms  do 
not,  to  mention  a  few.  Not  all  plants  have  leaves,  nor  stems,  nor  even 
roots.  Not  all  plants  are  anchored  to  the  earth, 
they  have,  in  general,  less  mobility  than  animals.  The  confusion 

We  can  say  that  plants  are  more  carbohydrates  than  protein,  and 
down  in  the  lower  orders  gives  strong  suggestion  that  plants  and 
animals  may  have  a  common  ancestry.  When  we  get  out  of  the  micro- 
scopic jungle  there  is  less  doubt  as  to  whether  an  animal  is  an  animal, 
or  a  plant  a  plant. 

What  is  life?  Plants,  we  say,  are  organic;  they  are  alive.  Just 
what  life  is,  again  is  difficult  to  define.  It  apparently  is  closely  linked 
with  chlorophyll,  and  this  is  another  reason  for  thinking  that  animal 
life  may  be  derived  from  plant  life  which  logically  had  to  come  first. 
As  to  the  original  spark  which  started  life  off,  we  end  up  with  what 
Dr.  H.  A.  Morgan  calls  the  "creative  concept,"1  which  he  and  most 
people  attribute  to  God,  others  to  "Nature." 

This  "creative  concept"  was  brought  to  bear  on  the  electrical, 
gaseous  void  which  was  to  become  the  elements  and  the  universe.  The 
heavenly  bodies  took  form  and  developed  into  the  marvelous  organiza- 
tion which  we  slowly  have  been  discovering  through  science.  The 


JMorgan,   H.    A.,   From    a   chart   published   by   Tennessee   Valley    Authority, 
Knoxville,  Tenn.,  (no  date). 

48 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  PLANTS  49 

elements  of  the  earth  entered  three  storehouses,  air,  water  and  land. 
Energy  was  stored  in  and  released  by  the  sun,  being  transferred  to 
the  earth  by  means  of  light  as  well  as  other  rays  which  are  invisible. 
The  "creative  concept"  instituted  life  and  chlorophyll,  and  the 
primordial  home  of  life  functions,  protoplasm.  From  this  beginning 
all  forms  of  life  have  developed,  carried  on  and  on  by  reproduction. 
These  life  forms  draw  on  the  storehouses  of  air,  water  and  land  for 
physical  materials  which,  when  no  longer  needed  by  the  organism, 
decompose  and  return  to  the  three  storehouses.  For  energy,  these  life 
forms  draw  on  light,  transforming  it  into  heat,  sound,  chemical,  elec- 
trical and  mechanical  (muscular)  energy  as  needed. 

Life  plus  elements  plus  flowing  energy  expresses  itself  not  only  in 
reproduction  but  in  growth,  movement,  sensitivity,  and  metabolism. 
Of  these  five  characteristics,  metabolism  is  most  constant.  Every 
moment  of  the  cell's  active  existence  is  marked  by  the  chemical 
changes  which  assure  it  food  and  the  removal  of  wastes. 

Green  and  Non-Green  Plants.  Chlorophyll  bearing  plants  have  a 
unique  function  which  no  true  animal  shares,  the  manufacture  of 
food.  Plants  which  do  not  make  food,  but  live  on  other  life  forms  as 
parasites,  are  like  animals  as  far  as  food  source  is  concerned.  Some 
fungi  depend  on  dead  organic  matter  as  a  food  source ;  these  sapro- 
phytes perform  a  very  useful  work  in  assisting  the  return  of  such 
dead  organic  materials  to  the  three  storehouses  of  air,  water  and 
land,  where  they  again  become  easily  available  to  new  life.  The 
importance  of  this  cycle  in  man's  welfare  cannot  be  overvalued. 

Certain  bacterial  plants,  though  lacking  chlorophyll,  appear  to 
utilize  chemical  energy  from  compounds  of  iron,  sulphur,  and  nitro- 
gen, and  to  make  simple  foods.2  This  phenomenon  only  adds  to  the 
confusion  as  to  what  is  plant,  what  is  animal,  and  what  is  life.  Of 
this  we  are  certain :  there  is  an  intimate  connection  between  life,  the 
sun,  and  the  earth.  It  is  the  details  of  that  intimacy  which  concern 
us  most  in  living  in  today's  world. 

II  EVOLUTION  FROM  ONE  CELL 

In  trying  to  understand  life  today  and  in  trying  to  achieve  some- 
thing we  do  not  have,  a  satisfactory  adjustment  among  the  many 
forms  of  life,  it  should  be  helpful  to  review  briefly  the  development 
of  the  plant  world  as  science  interprets  it. 

Natural  Selection.  Once  the  geologist  discovered  that  forces  both 
great  and  small  are  operating  day  by  day,  changing  the  face  and  body 
of  the  earth,  it  did  not  take  him  long  to  surmise  that  these  forces  had 
been  at  work  for  quite  some  time.  After  gaming  fairly  accurate  data 
on  the  speed  of  "uranium-lead"  formation  in  rocks,  he  began  count- 
ing backward  and  came  up  with  some  startling  figures  as  to  the  age  of 
rock  formations  exposed  by  river  cutting,  mountain  uplift,  or  drilling. 


2Sears,  P.  B.,  Life  and  Environment,  Columbia  University,  Teachers  College, 
Bureau  of   Publications,  New   York,   1939,  pp.   108-9. 


50  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

Imbedded  in  some  of  these  rocks  he  found  signs  of  once  living  plants 
and  animals. 

These  fossils  gave  rise  to  the  science  of  paleontology,  which  in  turn 
has  shed  much  light  on  the  evolution  of  life  forms.  The  paleontologist 
found  that  as  the  landscape  changed  in  pre-historic  times,  life  changed 
too.  Not  only  that,  but  life  itself  effected  changes  in  the  landscape, 
particularly  in  the  soils.  It  was,  and  is,  a  reciprocal,  interacting  re- 
lationship. Also  significant  in  bringing  about  changes  were  climatic 
shifts  (notably  the  coming  and  going  of  the  several  ice  sheets),  the 
uplift  of  mountain  ranges  which  changed  wind  effects  and  precipita- 
tion patterns,  and  the  shifting  relationships  of  land  and  water  masses 
which  altered  weather  factors.  (The  Great  Lakes,  for  instance,  so 
affect  climate  that  many  fruits  grow  as  well  to  the  southeast  of  those 
waters  as  they  do  in  southern  Tennessee. ) 

As  a  result  of  such  changes  we  find  semi-arid  land  now  covering 
coal  which  could  only  have  been  produced  in  a  swamp,  oyster  shells  in 
Wyoming,  sand  of  ancient  seashores  in  the  Appalachian  Plateau, 
limestone  formed  from  sea  animals  in  the  present  prairie  states. 

All  through  the  record  of  the  rocks,  life  was  either  adjusted  by 
means  of  hybridization  or  mutations  to  the  changes  in  environment, 
migrated  and  found  another  suitable  environment,  or  became  extinct. 
There  are  enough  examples  of  such  adaptation  to  prove  that  life  in 
many  instances  was  adjusted  to  altering  conditions. 

One  explanation  of  how  it  did  this  was  exploded  in  the  face  of  a 
"fundamentalist"  world  by  Darwin.  His  observations,  which  anyone 
can  verify,  were  that  no  two  organisms,  of  the  same  species,  or  even 
sub-species,  are  exactly  alike.  These  variations  range  from  almost  un- 
detectable  differences  up  to  marked  deviations  from  the  normal.  Later 
studies  by  other  botanists  uncovered  rather  rare  but  unmistakable 
cases  of  radical  variations  —  variations  so  extreme  that  they  were 
called  mutations,  or  sports. 

Darwin's  work  (Wallace  was  on  the  same  trail  at  the  same  time3) 
led  him  to  conclude  that  in  a  changing  environment,  certain  of  the 
ordinary,  chance  variations  would  be  better  able  than  others  to  survive 
such  changes  in  habitat.  Some  of  these  survivors  would  reproduce  the 
new  characteristics  and  so  establish  new  species.  This  interpretation 
became  known  as  the  theory  of  evolution  by  natural  selection. 

The  later  studies  of  mutations,  pioneered  by  DeVries,  bolstered  the 
theories  of  Darwin  and  Wallace.  It  was  found  that  remarkable  varia- 
tions and  mutations  could  be  caused  by  unusual  temperatures,  in- 
juries, certain  chemicals,  X-rays  and  other  irradations  (which  in 
nature  might  arise  from  radio-active  minerals,  cosmic  rays,  or  ultra- 
violet and  infra-red  rays).  It  should  be  noted  that  many,  even  most  of 
these  changes  in  offspring  have  no  relation  to  survival.  They  occur 
constantly;  and  if  environment  changes,  there  may  accidentally  ap- 


3Norden  Skold,  Erik,  History  of  Biology,  Alfred  Knopf,   New  York,   1928. 
Part  III,  pp.  485-88. 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  PLANTS  51 

pear  a  variety  or  mutation  which  can  meet  the  habitat  on  its  new 
terms. 

Since  the  fossil  record  shows  a  progressive  reversion  to  simplicity 
in  life  forms  as  we  travel  back  through  the  ages,  it  is  logical  to  arrive 
finally  at  the  single  cell  as  the  original  home  of  life.  Similarly,  pro- 
jecting life  forward,  we  would  expect  increasing  complexity  in  the 
future.  This  complexity  may  perhaps  be  of  a  social  rather  than  an 
individual  nature.  As  the  total  environment  becomes  more  highly 
developed,  life  tends  to  keep  pace.  If  environment  regresses,  life, 
too,  MUST  regress.  There  are  countless  examples  of  such  regression. 
Look  at  any  wornout  farm. 

In  natural  selection  the  unfit  are  weeded  out  by  competition  or 
by  the  development  of  an  unfavorable  environment.  In  human  so- 
ciety, science  and  brotherly  love  have  enabled  many  of  the  physi- 
cally unfit  to  survive;  the  competition  is  now  partly  economic  and 
social,  and  the  unfit  in  these  fields  go  to  the  bottom  of  the  heap. 
Even  this  selectivity  is  being  partially  overcome  by  education  and 
by  labor  organization.  The  individual  is  being  protected  more  and 
more  against  social  and  economic  discomforts,  and  great  groups  of 
people  are  competing  against  each  other  for  favored  situations.  Yet, 
with  all  his  contention,  individually  and  in  groups,  man  tends  to 
ignore  the  great  determiner  of  his  well-being,  the  maintainence  of 
a  healthy,  well-balanced  natural  theatre  of  operations,  the  landscape. 

That  accidental  mutations  and  variations  in  the  plant  and  ani- 
mal world  have  not  been  unusual  is  attested  by  the  300,000  kinds  of 
plants  and  1,000,000  kinds  of  animals  (mostly  insects)  existing  to- 
day. Add  to  these  the  known  extinct  species  and  the  unknown 
myriads  which  have  passed  from  the  scene  without  leaving  a  yet 
discovered  trace.  "While  there  is  plenty  of  argument  as  to  the  rela- 
tion of  mutations  to  survival  and  as  to  what  effect  environment  has 
in  bringing  them  about,  it  is  fairly  certain  that  numberless  new 
varieties  of  life  have  perished  because  they  needed  a  better  environ- 
ment than  was  available.  But  as  soils,  for  instance,  improved,  varie- 
ties of  plants  sooner  or  later  occurred  which  took  advantage  of 
them.  In  time  these  became  new  species.  On  the  earth  as  a  whole 
there  are  today  probably  conditions  of  topography,  soil,  and  climate 
which  could  support  most  of  the  forms  of  life  which  have  ever 
occurred.  In  smaller  areas,  conditions  have  changed  so  radically 
from  time  to  time  that  many  species  were  wiped  out,  particularly  if 
their  means  of  dispersal,  of  migrating  into  suitable  territory,  was 
blocked  by  topography  (a  mountain  range  for  instance),  or  if  the 
migration  was  too  slow  to  escape  the  change.  We  have  not  the 
space,  nor  at  the  moment  any  good  reason,  to  explore  this  subject. 
If  interest  warrants,  a  modern  text  on  botanical  evolution  may  be 
consulted. 

What  is  more  important  today  than  extinction  is  the  fluctuation 
of  quantity  and  quality  in  a  valuable  and  useful  species  according 
to  the  way  man  manages  or  mis-manages  the  environment.  It  is 
quite  true,  however,  that  valuable  species  may  for  all  practical  pur- 


52  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

poses  become  at  least  temporarily  extinct  on  limited  areas  where 
man's  inept  hand  has  been  at  work.  For  instance,  erosion  induced 
by  man  has  so  sorely  affected  millions  of  acres  of  lands  that  they 
will  not  support  domestic  crops  at  all;  and  in  many  places  where 
hardwood  forests  formerly  grew  in  grandeur,  only  lichens,  mosses, 
weeds,  wild  blackberries,  etc.,  are  found  today.  Once-rich  grass- 
lands have  given  way  to  weeds  and  scrub,  or  have  been  turned  into 
deserts  of  bedrock,  subsoil,  or  sand  dunes. 

Sea  and  Land  Forms  of  Life.  While  it  is  possible  that  life  may 
have  originated  on  land,  evidence  favors  the  seas  as  its  birthplace,  cer- 
tainly as  its  early  home.  Water  under  natural  conditions  offers  a 
more  stable  environment  and  forces  less  adjustment  on  its  inhabitants. 
Water  temperature  changes  with  weather  at  about  one-fourth  the  rate 
at  which  land  heats  or  cools.  The  dispersion  of  mineral  salts  (washed 
from  the  land)  in  water  is  more  uniform  than  the  occurrence  of  good 
topsoil.  Sunlight  penetrates  to  a  greater  depth  and  with  a  uniform 
gradation  of  intensity.  The  seas  reached  a  condition  early  in  geologic 
time  which  would  support  life,  and  have  not  changed  greatly  since. 
Thus  life  tends  to  remain  at  a  comparatively  low  level  of  organization, 
though  expressed  in  a  great  variety  of  forms.  The  species  which  have 
developed  have  found  their  places  according  to  light,  pressure,  tem- 
perature, oxygen,  carbon  dioxide,  and  food  supply  variations.  (These 
are  ecological  factors  which  largely  determine  the  biotic  complex.) 

Fundamentally,  life  in  water  is  not  different  from  life  on  land. 
Chlorophyll  and  photosynthesis  are  its  basis.  Mineral,  vitamin,  and 
protein  requirements  of  life  demand  the  presence  of  soil  elements  in 
the  water.  Plants  do  not  necessarily  need  roots,  only  a  method  of 
absorbing  water  and  minerals.  Aquatic  plants  must  have  carbon 
dioxide  the  same  as  their  land  cousins,  and  aquatic  animals  must  have 
oxygen.  These  gases  are  not  only  released  by  plants  and  animals 
themselves,  but  the  overturning  action  of  waves  is  constantly  trapping 
air.  Cool  water  absorbs  oxygen  from  air,  while  warm  water  loses  it. 
Largely  for  this  reason,  our  greatest  fisheries  are  found  in  the  cooler 
waters  of  the  earth. 

The  upper  layer  of  water,  both  salt  and  fresh,  receives  the  greatest 
force  of  sun  energy  and  thus  sustains  and  activates  the  greatest 
amount  of  chlorophyll,  which  may  be  in  broad-leaved  floating  or 
anchored  plants,  or  in  microscopic  green  forms  such  as  certain  of  the 
algae.  On  microscopic  plants  feed  microscopic  animals;  the  combina- 
tion of  these  two  is  called  plankton  and  is  the  watery  range  on  which 
larger  aquatic  animal  forms  graze.  Commercially  and  recreationally 
valuable  fish,  mollusca,  crustaceans,  and  sponges  are  thus  dependent 
en  plants  and  sunlight.  Whatever  the  food  needs  of  these  animals, 
however  complex  the  food  chain,  the  terminal  link  with  the  earth  is 
plants. 

In  passing,  we  should  mention  that  man  cuts  his  own  throat  by 
interfering  with  the  fundamental  factors.  His  erosional  debris  mud- 
dies the  waters,  shutting  off  the  sunlight.  His  industrial,  mining,  and 
municipal  wastes  either  poison  aquatic  life  directly  3  make  the  waters 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  PLANTS  53 

chemically  uninhabitable,  or  reduce  the  oxygen  by  an  excess  of  decay- 
producing  microbes.  Remedying  such  blunders  is  a  problem  for  sci- 
entists, educators,  economists,  and  statesmen.  It  is  just  as  much  a 
problem  for  each  individual  citizen.  The  success,  or  lack  of  it,  in 
reaching  a  solution  is  a  good  guage  of  civilization. 

Terrestrial  plants  seem  to  have  evolved  along  the  seacoasts  where 
tides  come  and  go.  Certain  variant  or  mutant  plants  found  them- 
selves able  to  live  through  the  low  tide  periods.  Through  the  leisurely 
eons  of  geologic  time,  mutation  after  mutation  slowly  produced  sea 
weeds  which  could  extract  minerals  from  a  thicker  mixture  of  soil 
and  water,  endure  the  greater  and  more  rapid  temperature  fluctua- 
tions of  land  and  air,  and  conserve  moisture  between  wet  periods.  The 
change  was  not  too  great  because  the  evolution  probably  took  place  in 
soupy,  muddy  areas  under  high  atmospheric  humidity.  Nevertheless, 
land  plants  found  a  much  greater  complexity  and  variability  of  envi- 
ronment and  higher  order  mutations  had  greater  opportunity  to 
survive. 

Ill  KINDS  OF  PLANTS 

The  plant  kingdom  may  be  divided  into  four  great  groups.  The 
plants  of  each  group  have  some  factors  in  common,  yet  embrace  a 
wide  variety  of  species  and  sub-species.  For  the  benefit  of  those  who 
are  not  familiar  with  these  or  to  refresh  a  dim  memory  we  will  define 
them  briefly.  The  four  groups,  or  phyla,  are  (1)  thallus  plants,  (2) 
mosses,  (3)  ferns,  and  (4)  seed  producing  plants. 

Thallophytes.  The  Thallus,  or  soft  bodied,  plants  are  historically 
the  oldest  and  simplest.  They  may  have  one  cell,  or  more,  such  as 
bacteria,  algae,  fungi.  By  their  simplicity  of  structure  and  by  adap- 
tation, many  of  them  can  live  in  a  wide  range  of  environments.  Their 
original  home  is  the  sea  and  there  many  of  them  are  found  today, 
cither  as  part  of  the  plankton  pasture,  on  lighted  bottoms,  on  other 
plants,  on  animals  or  on  decaying  matter.  Some  thallophytes  have 
made  the  grade  on  land,  enduring  periodic  dryness  that  would  kill 
more  highly  developed  plants.  Most  of  the  group  are  parasites  on 
living  forms,  or  saprophytes  on  dead  ones.  They  are  agencies  of 
disease  and  decay,  both  of  tremendous  importance  to  man.  We  can- 
not ignore  these  unspecialized  plants  without  roots,  stems  or  leaves. 
They  are  part  of  the  challenge  in  managing  the  total  environment  to 
sustain  a  permanent  civilization. 

Bacteria  and  fungi  which  produce  disease  in  man,  other  animals, 
and  plants,  and  which  ruin  valuable  organic  property  such  as  food, 
clothing,  and  leather  goods,  must  be  controlled. 

Bacteria  and  fungi  which  return  humus  to  soil,  break  down  min- 
eral nutrients  for  plant  use,  manufacture  nitrates,  promote  a  granu- 
lar soil,  and  render  other  services,  must  be  encouraged.  Many  pres- 
ent day  practices  on  the  land,  such  as  the  failure  to  add  organic 
matter,  and  the  type  of  mismanagement  which  produces  erosion, 
discourage  these  valuable  life  forms. 


54  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

Green  algae  contain  chlorophyll,  and  are  useful  as  fish  food,  as 
human  food  in  their  large  forms,  as  laboratory  culture  media  (agar), 
and  as  household  cleaners  (diatom  fossils).  Certain  fungi  attach 
themselves  to  algae  and  the  combinations  are  found  on  trees,  rocks 
and  raw  soils  as  grayish-green  lichens.  These  lichens  are  important 
agents  in  breaking  down  rocks  into  soil  by  penetration  of  the  rock 
surfaces  and  by  the  acids  they  produce  which  dissolve  alkaline  rocks 
or  alkaline  cement  in  others. 

Thallophytes  reproduce  by  the  primitive  means  of  spores,  tough 
coated  cells  which  may  float  in  water  or  on  the  wind  until,  perhaps, 
suitable  conditions  of  food,  moisture  and  temperature  are  found. 
Food  preservation  and  disease  prevention  are  practical  measures  to 
deal  with  some  of  them.  On  the  other  hand,  to  be  productive  of 
aquatic  life,  a  pond,  lake,  or  stream  must  have  them,  and  their 
number  depends  in  part  on  the  mineral  supply  or  fertility  of  the 
water,  which  in  turn  depends  on  the  quality,  range,  and  availabilty 
of  minerals  in  the  soil  of  the  drainage  area. 

Bryophytes.  The  moss  plants  and  liverworts  have  a  somewhat 
obscure  economic  importance.  They  do  play  a  part  in  developing  the 
environment  for  higher  plants  and  for  animals.  They  assist  in  soil 
formation,  and  the  sphagnum  mosses  form  deposits  of  peat  in  old 
lakes.  These  tufted,  low  growing  plants  are  soft  bodied,  have  a  primi- 
tive sort  of  leafy  branches,  but  no  true  roots.  They  grow  best  in 
damp  places,  some  in  water,  but  others  can  withstand  drying.  Re- 
production is  by  spores  (which  assures  wide  distribution)  and  by 
vegetative  propagation  (which  means  they  grow  and  grow,  mostly 
sideways,  as  far  as  suitable  habitat  extends). 

Insignificant  as  we  may  consider  these  plants,  they  have  rela- 
tionships with  other  plants  and  with  animals  which  elude  the  casual 
eye.  They  are  a  step  in  the  evolutionary  development  of  the  land- 
scape to  a  point  where  it  is  valuable  to  man. 

Pteridophytes.  Ferns  and  fern-like  plants,  such  as  club  mosses 
and  horsetails,  are  similar  to  those  of  the  carboniferous  age  when  coal 
measures  were  laid  down.  The  cold  and  dryness  of  Permian  glaciation 
some  240,000,000  years  ago  wiped  out  most  of  them.  These  plants  were 
more  highly  organized  than  the  thallus  and  moss  plants.  They  ha<3 
stems,  leaves,  roots  and  a  vascular  system  enabling  the  circulation  of 
nutrients  and  water.  They  were  well  adapted  to  warm  humid  swamps 
and  grew  to  tremendous  size;  but,  they  were  vulnerable  to  extreme 
cold  through  unprotected  leaf  tips  (where  growth  takes  place)  and 
exposed  reproductive  organs.  However,  through  mutations,  some 
have  been  able  to  survive  in  cold  and  dry  regions.  The  ferns  are 
the  most  highly  developed  of  the  non-seed-bearing  plants,  and  evi- 
dence exists  that  some  of  the  advanced  tree  ferns  did  produce  seed. 
All  of  the  tree  ferns  associated  with  coal  formation  are  extinct,  al- 
though there  are  a  few  modern  tropical  ferns  which  are  of  tree  size. 

Here  again,  the  importance  of  ferns  living  today  lies  not  in  direct 
economic  value  but  the  part  they  play  in  vegetating  the  earth  where 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  PLANTS  55 

favorable  conditions  prevail,  their  role  in  soil  development,  and  in 
moisture  conservation. 

Spermatophytes.  Seed  bearing  plants  are  the  final  step  (thus  far) 
in  the  evolution  of  vegetation.  The  earliest  to  make  any  real  progress 
were  low  growing  evergreens,  which  bore  naked  seed  and  depended 
on  the  wind  to  carry  clouds  of  fertilizing  pollen  as  a  prodigal  and 
somewhat  inefficient  but  nevertheless  effective  means  of  reproduction. 
These  conifers  were  hardy  specimens  and  could  survive  in  cold,  dry 
climate  and  on  infertile  soil.  They  were  rugged — and  still  are. 

More  recent,  more  specialized,  and  more  dependent  on  a  highly 
developed  and  congenial  environment  are  the  flowering  plants.  Re- 
production is  most  efficient,  a  relation  having  been  established  in  many 
cases  with  insects  which  do  a  precise  job  of  pollination,  and  in  return 
secure  nectar  and  excess  pollen.  The  insect  also  assures  itself  (un- 
knowingly, no  doubt),  of  a  new  supply  of  food  next  year  by  aiding 
new  plants  in  getting  started.  There  are  exceptions;  some  flowering 
plants  have  switched  from  insect  to  wind  pollination,  ragweed  for 
instance,  and  it  will  be  agreeable  to  many  people  if  this  one  changes 
to  some  other  less  extravagant  system. 

The  growing  and  reproductive  parts  of  the  flowering,  seed  plants 
are,  as  a  rule,  well  protected.  Through  the  winter  the  new  plant  life 
is  packed  into  tough,  waterproof  buds,  which  in  many  species  open 
only  when  daylight  of  a  certain  number  of  hours  occurs.  Others  are 
indeterminate,  and  bloom  when  physically  developed.  In  either  case 
the  male  cell  is  protected  in  a  pollen  grain  and  the  egg  is  deep  within 
the  flower. 

The  flowering  plants  are  plastic  and  adaptable  as  a  whole.  They 
are  the  most  delicately  organized,  yet  so  much  more  efficient  than 
other  plants  that,  like  man,  they  have  covered  the  earth.  These 
royalty  could  not  exist  without  the  lower  forms  which  help  prepare 
the  soil  minerals,  help  maintain  the  water  supply,  and  dispose  of  the 
debris  left  when  life  departs.  Each  form  of  life  is  a  wheel  in  the 
mechanism  of  nature  and  its  function  is  essential  to  a  smoothly 
working  machine.  A  great  deal  of  man's  tinkering  with  this  ma- 
chine makes  us  think  of  the  ten-year-old  who  "adjusted"  his  mother's 
wristwatch  with  an  icepick. 

Environmental  Requirements.  The  patterns  on  the  landscape  as- 
sumed by  our  300,000  kinds  of  plants  are  determined  to  a  large  extent 
by  the  nature  of  the  plants  themselves.  In  some  cases  the  accident  of 
geographic  barriers,  such  as  mountains  and  oceans,  may  have  its  influ- 
ence. Not  all  the  plants  which  will  grow  on  a  piece  of  ground  will  be 
found  there,  even  in  nature  undisturbed. 

Having  evolved  in  a  specific  environment,  plants  may  be  expected 
to  have  some  limitations  as  regards  soil  fertility,  soil  acidity  or  alka- 
linity, light  intensity  and  duration,  growing  season,  temperature 
range,  ranfall,  humidity,  drainage,  and  associate  plants  and  animals. 


56 


MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 


That  they  do  have  such  limitations  is  common  knowledge.  Just  how 
the  plant  will  react  when  one  of  the  above  factors  changes,  or  the 
plant  is  placed  in  a  different  setting,  is  difficult  to  determine,  except 
by  trying  it.  Some  plants  are  finicky,  others  flexible.  Furthermore, 
changing  one  of  the  environmental  factors  may  result  in  changes  in 
others.  Altering  soil  acidity  by  adding  lime  may  increase  the  fertility 
for  some  plants;  it  may  make  the  soil  more  granular  and  absorbent, 
thus  actually  increasing  the  effectiveness  of  rainfall,  and  altering  the 
"little  climate"  in  which  the  plant  lives. 

Environment  is  so  closely  related  to  life  that  a  knowledge  of  its 
development  is  needed  to  understand  the  world  today. 


FIG-.  18.  A  road  cut  exposes  the  earth's  rock  mantle.  The  thin  layer  of  top- 
soil  'is  seen,  lying*  on  several  feet  of  subsoil  which  shades  into  the  parent  rock. 
In  your  mind,  roll  the  rngr  of  topsoil  off  the  landscape,  notch  the  subsoil  with 
rullies — and  you  have  elemental  badlands,  barren  of  all  but  the  simplest  forms 

of  life. 


1 


. 


-yfrmg 

*m.+? 


*'  "icaf  ift^HK'i  • 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  EVOLUTION  OF  ENVIRONMENT 


Breaking  up  the  totality  of  life  and  environment  into  fragments 
has  disadvantages.  Yet  such  fragmentation  is  necessary  if  proper 
attention  is  to  be  given  to  the  individual  factors  in  the  complex.  The 
burden  of  holding  the  total  picture  in  mind  is  placed  upon  the  reader. 
We  shall  keep  that  burden  as  light  as  possible,  but  in  doing  so  a 
certain  amount  of  repetition  of  phrases  and  terms  cannot  be  avoided. 
Thus,  in  discussing  briefly  the  evolution  of  environment  we  cannot 
avoid  bringing  in  the  role  of  plants  and  animals  because  they  are  a 
part  of  it  and  contribute  to  it.  The  only  exception  to  this  is  the 
period  before  life  appeared  on  earth. 

The  Home  of  Life.  The  mineral  earth  is  the  foundation  of  envi- 
ronment; but  no  more  so  than  water  and  air.  Of  the  earth  itself, 
the  rock  mantle  or  crust,  a  variable  layer  ranging  from  nothing  up 
to  hundreds  of  feet  of  thickness,  is  the  most  important.  Of  this 
crust,  the  first  few  inches  of  the  surface  (the  topsoil)  have  come  to 
be  the  dispensing  agent  for  the  mineral  salts  essential  to  life  (Fig. 
18).  The  study  of  these  phases  of  earth  science  is  of  course  the  field 
of  the  geologist.  Yet  he  cannot  explain  his  field  without  calling  on 
other  scientists — the  astronomer,  for  instance. 

The  astronomer  reports1  that  the  distance  of  the  earth  from  the 
sun  provides  a  temperature  whose  degree  and  range  permit  life  as 
we  know  it.  Too  little  distance  would  mean  more  heat  and  the 
vaporization  of  all  water.  Too  much  distance  would  bring  perma- 
nent ice.  In  either  of  these  conditions  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  of 
either  plant  or  animal  bodies,  since  they  are  composed  largely  of 
liquid  water.  The  size  of  the  earth  is  also  favorable  for  life.  The 
atmosphere  is  conveniently  adjusted  by  gravitation,  providing  a 
density  and  pressure  in  which  the  carbon-oxygen  and  other  gas 
exchanges  can  take  place  in  organisms.  A  smaller  planet  has  not 
the  gravity  to  hold  such  an  atmosphere.  If  man  ever  colonizes  the 
moon,  let  us  say  for  the  purpose  of  mining  uranium  or  other  min- 
erals which  he  had  exhausted  on  earth,  he  will  be  forced  to  take 
v/ith  him  or  there  manufacture  a  suitable  atmosphere.  A  planet 
larger  than  the  earth  has  atmosphere  of  such  great  density  as  to 
block  insolation  (absorption  of  sun  heat  at  the  planet's  surface). 

The  astronomical  conditions  involving  the  earth  are  responsible 


iHenderson,  Lawrence  J.,   The  Fitness  of  the  Environment,  Macmillan   Co., 
New  York,  1913. 

57 


58  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

for  the  climate,  for  water  behavior,  and  consequently  for  a  large 
part  of  rock  disintegration  into  soils. 

The  behavior  of  water  warrants  a  call  on  the  hydrologist,  who 
adds  an  explanation  of  how  drainage  patterns  are  formed,  the  me- 
chanics of  natural  and  man-induced  erosion,  the  movement  and 
deposition  of  soil  materials  by  water,  and  the  work  of  streams. 

The  meteorologist  assists  in  telling  of  the  role  of  weather  and 
climate  in  shaping  the  constantly  changing  topography  of  the  earth, 
their  influence  on  soils,  plants,  and  animals. 

The  physicist  details  the  laws  which  govern  natural  forces  such 
as  the  transporting  and  eroding  power  of  running  water,  the  kinetic 
or  dynamic  energy  of  falling  water,  whether  it  be  a  raindrop  knock- 
ing a  few  soil  particles  downhill  or  Niagara  whirling  great  turbines. 
He  explains  how  contraction  and  expansion  by  cold  and  heat,  and 
the  swelling  of  water  as  it  changes  to  ice,  break  down  bedrock, 
cliffs,  boulders  and  smaller  fragments  into  raw  soils;  how  friction 
and  abrasion  of  moving  materials,  whether  a  glacier  or  a  rock 
particle  rolling  down  a  stream  bed,  are  agencies  in  sand,  silt  and 
clay  formation. 

The  chemist  helps  in  gaining  knowledge  of  earth  minerals  in 
solution  going  to  the  sea  or  leaching  down  toward  ground  water 
levels  in  the  earth.  He  speaks  of  water  combining  with  carbon 
dioxide  from  the  air  and  forming  carbonic  acid  which  in  turn  aids 
in  dissolving  alkaline  minerals  in  the  rocks  or  rock  particles.  He 
delves  into  the  chemical  composition  and  changes  in  rocks  and 
minerals. 

The  geologist  also  has  accumulated  information  concerning  vari- 
ous upheavals  and  subsidences,  in  which  the  mountain  areas  of 
today  were  many  times  under  sea  or  fresh  water.  Earthquakes  have 
modified  the  earth's  surface,  as  have  volcanoes  and  hot  springs. 

All  these  sciences  and  more  are  necessary  to  explain  in  detail 
the  preparation  by  natural  forces  of  a  land  environment  suitable  to 
the  simple  life  forms  which  followed.  (The  grievous  error  in  our 
educational  system  has  been  the  segmentation  of  such  knowledge  so 
that  a  very  few  people  have  been  enabled  to  see  the  total  environ- 
ment and  grasp  the  problems  involved.  A  new  and  promising  trend 
in  education  is  leading  toward  a  break-down  of  departmental  bar- 
riers in  secondary  schools  and  colleges,  to  the  end  that  the  student 
may  get  some  idea  of  the  unity  of  knowledge  in  its  applications  to 
problems  of  living.) 

Life  Improves  Its  Home.  The  seas  and  the  land  had  developed 
into  a  complex  physical  and  chemical  entity  before  life  appeared,  al- 
though it  is  possible  they  occurred  coincidentally.2  It  was  a  mineral 
and  climatic  environment  of  considerable  variety,  especially  on  land. 
Some  evidence  indicates  that  life  is  of  electrical  origin.  (Nuclear 
physicists  have  demonstrated  that  in  atomic  fission,  the  disintegration 
of  the  atom  transforms  matter  into  pure  energy).  The  traditional 
belief  is  that  spirit  was  and  is  involved  in  the  creation  of  life.  Regard- 


THE  EVOLUTION  OP  ENVIRONMENT  59 

less  of  origin,  as  soon  as  life  arrived  on  earth  it  immediately  began 
to  alter  its  home,  even  as  a  house  that  is  lived  in  reflects  the  charac- 
teristics of  the  residents.  In  general  the  lower  orders  of  living1 
things  tended  to  improve  their  habitat  (from  man's  point  of  view) 
in  the  sea  and  on  land.  At  least  they  changed  it  in  such  a  way  that 
other  life  forms  could  exist. 

The  primitive  plants  which  attached  themselves  to  rocks  or  rock 
materials  began  to  exert  both  physical  and  chemical  forces  on  the 
earth,  changing  it.  The  green  plants  stored  sun  energy  and  on 
dying  added  it  to  the  emerging  soil.  This  started  the  accumulation 
of  energy  in  the  land  which  eventually  became  the  reservoir  of 
power  and  fertility  serving  the  human  race.  The  presence  of  green 
plants  both  living  and  dead  made  possible  the  existence  of  fungi, 
which  further  modified,  complicated,  and  improved  the  physical  and 
chemical  properties  of  this  very  thin  earth  layer. 

When  rooted  plants  appeared  they  penetrated  the  soil  accumula- 
tions (and  even  porous,  cracked  or  cleft  rocks)  loosening,  irrigating 
and  aerating.  The  roots  of  dead  plants  remained  at  various  depths, 
adding  their  elements  and  energy  to  the  soil  mantle.  As  the  roots 
decayed  and  shrank  in  size  the  channels  they  occupied  were  invaded 
by  acidified  water.  This  water  had  become  acid  by  combining  with 
the  carbon  dioxide  of  the  air  and  that  produced  by  plant  (and  later 
by  animal)  cells.  This  acid  solution,  as  noted  previously,  served  as  a 
soil  manufacturing  agent.  Rooted  plants  also  collected  minerals 
from  the  earth  and  carried  them  upward,  depositing  them,  when 
death  came,  on  or  near  the  surface,  thus  building  fertile  topsoil. 
(Opposed  to  this  was  leaching,  in  which  water  carried  soluble  min- 
erals deeper.  Which  effect  was  greater  depended  on  the  amount  of 
rainfall,  temperature,  and  the  porosity  of  the  soil.) 

Green  plants  released  surplus  oxygen,  altering  the  atmosphere. 
Pood  and  oxygen  being  available,  animal  life  appeared,  living  on 
and  in  the  soil,  or  in  the  waters  where  soil  elements  had  accumulated 
through  land  drainage.  These  animals  formed  and  released  carbon 
dioxide  into  the  air  (or  water),  which  was  used  by  still  greater  plant 
populations.  During  the  entire  process  here  described  the  environ- 
ment was  being  enriched  in  such  a  fashion  that  more  and  more  or- 
ganisms could  live  in  it.  This  cumulative  effect  went  on  and  on. 
Organic  matter  which  had  wrested  minerals  from  the  soil  and  put 
them  into  first  class  condition  for  use  by  life,  returned  them  to  the 
soil  on  dying,  where  they  were  quickly  and  easily  used  by  new  gen- 
erations. The  hard  work  was  done:  The  process  had  become  not 
only  physical  and  chemical,  but  biological  as  well.  Rich  topsoil  was 
fabricated  by  life  and  death. 

By  this  time,  a  mature  soil,  instead  of  being  plain  "dirt,"  or  a 
simple  mixture  of  chemical  elements  in  the  form  of  physical  granules 
or  aggregates  (clumps),  had  become  an  extremely  complex,  dynamic 


2Soils  and  Man,  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture,  Washington,  D.  C.,  1938,  p. 
887. 


60 


MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 


FIG*.  19.     In  any  good  community  the  living1  and  the  dead  are  one.     The  living1 
are  enriched  by  the  contributions  of  the  dead.    The  more  good  dead  have  preceded 
the  living1,  the  better  life  is,  the  better  the   community  is — any  kind  of   com- 
munity, plants,  or  worms,  or  men. 

organization,  crammed  with  life,  energy,  proteins,  vitamins  and  raw 
minerals,  all  interacting,  producing  and  maintaining  a  high  order 
environment  usable  by  the  organisms  involved.  (Fig.  19). 

Living  macroscopic  (visible  to  the  naked  eye)  plants  and  animals 
are  usually  host  to  micro-organisms.  But  it  is  when  plants  die  and 
help  form  that  part  of  the  soil  known  as  humus,  that  the  micro- 
organisms have  a  field  day  and  multiply  by  the  billions  in  each  hand- 
ful of  soil  when  moisture  and  temperature  are  favorable.  "So 
enormous  is  the  total  that  protein  .  .  .  determined  in  the  usual  soil 
analysis,  is  largely  composed  of  microbic  remains."3  It  is  such  or- 
ganisms as  bacteria,  actinomycetes  (mold-like),  fungi,  mycorrhiza 
(certain  molds)  protozoa  (one-celled  animals)  and  myxomycetes 
(slime  molds)  which  are  largely  responsible  for  high  grade  soils. 
Micro-organisms  are  fundamental  in  the  creation  of  a  basic  environ- 
ment which  will  support  the  higher  plants  and  animals,  including 
ourselves  and  our  civilization.  Where  these  primitive  life  forms 
with  their  slime  and  their  stinking  gases  are  absent,  also  absent  will 
be  the  cathedrals,  the  universities,  and  country  clubs  of  man. 

In  nature  the  activity  of  microbial  organisms  is  balanced  in  some 
degree  against  the  fertility  needs  of  the  larger,  green  plants. 


8Jbt<Z.,  p.  942. 


61 

Weather  conditions  which  favor  the  growth  of  large  green  plants 
also  favor  the  multiplication  and  work  of  the  microbes.  When  man 
cultivates  soil  he  admits  oxygen  which  stimulates  microbial  activity, 
like  opening  the  draft  011  a  furnace.  At  the  same  time,  the  changes 
in  soil  conditions  resulting  from  cultivation  destroy  some  of  the 
microbe  species,  and  a  new  association  is  established.  By  over-culti- 
vation, fertility  often  is  made  available  from  the  humus  faster  than 
it  can  be  used  by  crops ;  so  that  the  excess  may  be  lost  by  leaching 
or,  in  the  case  of  nitrates,  may  escape  into  the  air.  Thus  even  these 
microscopic  life  forms  become  an  object  of  management  by  man. 
If  we  insist  on  having  a  social  order  such  as  we  have  developed, 
minute  and  painstaking  attention  to  every  detail  is  imperative  if  we 
are  to  maintain  that  culture  permanently.  The  only  other  road  leads 
back  to  a  primitive  environment.  As  a  general  rule  in  nature,  until 
an  undisturbed  maximum  is  reached,  life  improves  its  home.  Man,  as 
a  part  of  nature,  should  logically  follow  this  cue. 

Life  Changes  Forms.  As  developed  briefly  in  the  preceding  chap- 
ter, a  changing  environment  made  possible  the  survival  of  many  varia- 
tions and  mutations,  and  their  establishment  as  new  species.  These 
new  species  occupied  the  various  environments  as  they  became  avail- 
able. Usually,  when  a  new  species  appears  in  a  plant  community  it 
affects  the  vegetation  already  present.  It  may  be  more  efficient  in  ex- 
tracting water  or  minerals  from  the  earth  and  thus  starve  out  nearby 
species.  It  may  grow  tall  and  provide  enough  shade  to  kill  shorter 
plants  or  prevent  their  reproduction. 

Plants  (and  animals)  do  alter  the  environment,  often  preparing  it 
for  more  highly  organized  life  forms.  The  latter  may  then  make  it 
impossible  for  their  beneficent  predecessors  to  live  there. 

Life  is  Interrelated :  The  various  plants  and  animals  are  not  only 
adjusted  to  the  conditions  of  the  mineral  and  climatic  environment, 
they  are  equally  dependent  on  a  friendly  community  of  other  species 
of  plants  and  animals. 

Life  is  marked  by  both  variety  and  organization.  The  individual 
is  organized,  no  matter  how  simple  or  complex  its  structure.  Animal 
species  are  organized,  as  to  range,  feeding  areas  and  habits,  reproduc- 
tive mechanics,  etc.,  some  remarkably  so,  as  the  bees  and  the  ants. 

Equally  remarkable  relationships  exist  among  plants.  Communi- 
ties of  various  species,  like  people,  may  be  compatible  or  may  not.  If 
not,  one  or  more  has  to  go. 

The  plants  in  an  association  have  many  needs  in  common,  which 
enable  all  to  live  in  the  same  general  environment.  Yet,  many  species 
of  the  group  vary  in  their  needs,  and  these  differentiated  needs  may 
be  met  by  other  species  in  the  association.  Oak  and  hickory  trees,  in 
one  association,  provide  shade  for  those  of  the  ferns,  mosses,  and  other 
plants  which  are  intolerant  of  light.  The  forest  floor  holds  the 
abundant  moisture  needed  by  many  low  growing  plants,  and  provides 
the  organic  matter  required  by  the  numerous  fungi.  The  young  trees, 
growing  slowly  in  the  subdued  light  of  the  understory,  offer  no 


62  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

serious  competition  to  their  lordly  parent  trees,  yet  they  stand  ready 
to  take  over  the  sun  energy  when  the  forest  patriarchs  crash  to  earth 
or  die  and  cast  little  shade. 

This  same  plant  community  meets  the  needs  of  many  animals  such 
as  worms,  insects,  spiders,  birds,  squirrels,  raccoon,  deer.  Many  of 
these  animals  in  turn  render  services  to  the  plant  community,  such  as 
soil  improvement,  pollination,  seed  dispersal,  and  control  of  injurious 
life  forms.  The  plant  community,  by  regulating  the  action  of  water 
in  and  on  the  soil  may  maintain  permanent  springs  and  streams, 
which  are  valuable  to  both  land  and  aquatic  life. 

By  this  overly  simplified  example  we  see  that  at  any  point  in 
time,  the  evolving  environment  is  a  complex  maze  of  relationships. 

Life  Moves  Toward  Climax.  Though  those  biologists  who  are  me- 
chanistic will  dispute  the  idea,  many  philosophers  will  maintain  that 
life  is  driven  toward  a  climax  or  peak  of  development.  It  is  driven 
by  the  intrinsic  forces  and  reactions  of  natural  phenomena.  The 
jouney  has  has  its  sprint  and  delays,  its  detours,  its  rough  going.  And 
once  the  climax  is  reached  there  is  no  assurance  that  it  can  be  main- 
tained. Sooner  or  later  some  natural  force,  such  as  landslide,  erup- 
tion, erosion,  or  climatic  change,  may  upset  the  equilibrium  and  the 
area  must  again  start  its  laborious  journey  upward  from  whatever 
point  the  disturbance  dictates. 

Briefly,  the  development  of  a  climax  is  this:  As  a  primitive  asso- 
ciation of  plants  and  animals  live  in  a  specific  area  or  habitat,  the 
habitat  is  changed.  Soil  structure  and  composition  change ;  moisture 
conditions  change;  sunlight  patterns  are  altered.  In  general  the 
environment  is  in  time  so  altered  that  other  associations  are  enabled 
to  invade  the  area,  in  a  defined  sequence.  Finally,  if  no  overwhelming 
natural  force  intervenes,  a  climax  balance  is  established,  in  which  the 
species  present  make  the  most  efficient  use  of  the  habitat,  of  minerals 
water,  air  and  sunlight.  Soil  formation  equals  or  exceeds  natural 
erosion.  A  maximum  is  reached  in  every  department  of  life  and  en- 
vironment. A  relatively  few  species  of  plants  and  animals  dominate 
the  area.  They  determine,  by  the  nature  of  their  activities,  which 
ether  species  can  survive  there.  (Fig.  20.) 

Barring  a  cataclysm,  the  climax  is  (probably)  perfect  and  perma- 
nent. There  is  much  cooperation  and  mutual  protection  between  the 
associated  species,  but  ruthless  competition  among  individuals  of  a 
species. 

Life  Tends  to  Overpopulate.  Potential  reproduction  in  a  climax 
is  more  than  enough  to  insure  maximum  biological  activity  in  the 
area.  A  reserve  army  of  seeds  and  spores  is  ready  to  recover  quickly 
any  portion  of  the  habitat  which  may  be  damaged  superficially,  as  by 
insects,  flood,  or  lightning  fire.  Yet,  excessive  reproduction  is  con- 
trolled by  natural  forces,  (Fig.  21)  starvation  and  disease  being  most 
common,  along  with  eating  of  seeds  and  plants  by  animals,  and  mortal 
combat  between  animals. 


FIG-.  20.  This  virgin  forest,  dominated  by  hemlock  and  beech,  is  the  climax 
of  soil  and  vegetative  evolution  for  this  Pennsylvania  area.  The  cycles  of 
water,  soil,  and  air  elements  are  meshed  with  the  various  life  cycles  of  both 
plants  and  animals.  All  these  cycles  are  driven  by  sun  power.  There  is  an 
annual  surplus  production  which  man  can  draw  off  without  damaging  the  valu- 
able climax  conditions. 


PI9-.  21.  Victim  of  chest- 
nut blight.  The  fungus, 
which  has  killed  ntarly 
all  American  chestnut 
trees,  attacks  the  cam- 
bium, the  living  tissues 
under  the  bark.  The  fun- 
gus reaches  a  high  pop- 
ulation in  the  tree,  ends 
by  completely  destroying1 
its  own  food  supply;  it 
dies  along  with  the  tree. 
The  million  farmers  who 
have  fled  from  farms 
which  they  destroyed 
should  appreciate  the 
plight  of  this  fungus. 


64  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

While  nature  provides  for  potential  overpopulation,  she  also  pro- 
vides restraint  to  prevent  it.  In  Western  culture,  man  has  tried  birth 
control,  not  on  a  general,  organized  basis  however,  and  not  on  a  scale 
sufficient  to  prevent  war,  (which  is  in  itself  another  control).  Ger- 
many, according  to  documented  reports,  tried  wholesale  civilian 
murder  to  reduce  population  and  provide  more  "living  room"  for 
Aryan  Germans.  In  India  and  China  the  common  controls  are  starva- 
tion and  disease,  while  Japan  has  malnutrition,  hara-kiri,  earthquakes, 
and  war.  Population  controls  must  operate,  sooner  or  later,  because  of 
nature's  prodigality  in  seed  production. 

Man  is  Part  of  Environment.  Man  has  managed  to  insert  himself 
into  every  plant  and  animal  association  on  earth  which  appeared  to 
offer  any  opportunity  for  benefit.  In  some  cases,  as  in  equatorial  and 
arctic  regions,  we  suspect  that  not  benefit,  but  escape  from  intolerable 
or  dangerous  social  conditions,  led  to  the  migration  into  such  areas. 

Up  to  the  point  when  man  ceased  to  be  savage  he  was  simply 
another  animal  in  the  association,  perhaps  dominating  a  habitat, 
but  subject  to  purely  natural  and  adequate,  if  ruthless,  population 
controls.  His  contribution  to  the  environment  was,  roughly  speak- 
ing, equal  to  his  demands  upon  it.  Developing  some  minor  handi- 
crafts and  arts,  we  say  he  moved  up  a  notch  and  became  a  barbarian. 
In  this  stage  he  did  no  great  damage  to  his  habitat,  not  having  the 
tools  with  which  to  do  it ;  but  upon  becoming  civilized,  man  adopted 
the  assumption  that  he  was  no  longer  a  child  of  nature  but  its  sworn 
enemy.  In  the  role  of  conquerer  man  proceeded  with  ever  increas- 
ing efficiency  to  wreck  nearly  every  climax  natural  community  that 
was  sufficiently  comfortable  for  occupation. 

Man  thus  became  the  cataclysm  which  destroyed  the  perfection 
and  balance  of  climaxes.  (Figs.  22,  23.)  It  is  not  the  particular 
species  of  the  climax  which  we  mourn,  although  they  are  in  general 
the  most  prized  of  the  wildlife  forms.  Rather,  it  is  the  conditions 
within  the  environment,  which  made  possible  the  survival  of  climax 
species,  that  are  most  valuable.  These  conditions,  where  they  con- 
sist of  good  soils  with  high  fertility  and  well  developed  water  con- 
trol factors,  are  the  most  essential  assets  which  man  can  hold.  With- 
out them  no  opulent  and  highly  developed  social  order  can  exist. 

The  destruction  of  these  assets  was  not  undertaken  in  malice,  but 
in  ignorance.  Man  was  driven  by  forces  within  himself  and  his  cul- 
ture. These  forces  ran  from  hunger  and  cold  through  economic 
pressure  to  egotism,  from  simple  human  needs  to  vainglorious  dis- 
play of  wealth. 

The  Constructive  View.  It  is  perhaps  a  paradox  that  in  much  of 
his  production  and  construction  man  has  been  tearing  down.  It  is  as 
if  he  wrecked  a  mansion,  intending  to  build  more  useful  structures 
with  the  salvaged  materials,  but  too  often  ended  up  with  nothing  but 
an  outhouse.  The  evidence  of  science  indicates  that,  regardless  of 
man's  other  attributes,  he  is  biologically  an  animal,  though  a  human 
animal7  and  must  realize  that  in  his  relations  to  nature  he  must,  if  he 


FIG.  22.     The  climax  conditions  are  rapidly  going'  from  this  Idaho  forest  area. 

Fire  has  destroyed  the  biotic  complex.     The  water  cycle  is   out  of  control,  is 

tearing1  the   remaining1  natural   machinery   to   pieces.      Only   heroic   measures — 

reseeding  of  grasses   or  hand  planting1  of  trees — could  save  this  area. 


FIG-.  23.  The  end  of  a  Texas  climax.  It  is  May,  but  where  are  the  leaves  of 
the  shrubs,  the  lush  and  succulent  grasses,  the  fat  steers?  This  is  overgrazing 
carried  to  its  bitter  conclusion.  Not  satisfied  with  a  normal  surplus  which  the 
climax  provides,  man  has  enforced  demands  which  broke  the  productive  cycles, 
The  result;  is  a  desert  With  25  inches  of  rain  per  year, 


66  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

is  to  survive,  conduct  himself  as  an  organism  of  nature,  as  a  biological 
unit  which  must  keep  to  its  proper  place  in  the  natural  community. 
One  glaring  fault  has  been  a  failure  to  recognize  the  absolutely  essen- 
tial role  of  the  lower  life  forms  in  preparing  and  maintaining  an 
environment  productive  enough  to  support  a  satisfactory  social  order. 
It  is  a  combination  of  ignorance  and  egotism  which  has  led  us  to  as- 
sume that  lower  organisms  are  insignificant.  Man's  superior  intellect 
is  fully  able  to  comprehend  these  facts  and  should  permit  him  to 
control  his  powers. 

An  example  of  such  self-control  is  found  in  the  agriculture  of 
Western  Europe.  There  the  drizzling  rains  of  low  eroding  power, 
coupled  with  originally  mediocre  forest  soils  which  forced  man  to 
build  fertility  since  the  Middle  Ages,  combined  to  establish  a  perma- 
nent agriculture.  An  accident,  yes,  but  it  enabled  Europe  to  build  a 
thousand  year  old  civilization. 

But,  wherever  the  West  European  farmer  migrated  he  seldom 
found  such  an  environment.  When  he  applied  his  ancient  system 
here  he  got  destruction  because  it  did  not  take  note  of  vicious  thunder- 
storm rains,  steeper  slopes,  the  new  (to  him)  soil  exposing  row  crops 
like  corn,  cotton,  tobacco,  and  the  credibility  of  different  soils.  He 
also  encountered  other  situations  whose  dangers  were  unknown  to 
him  or  which  he  ignored,  such  as  insufficient  manuring  and  composting 
on  larger  farms,  the  availability  of  plenty  of  good  and  cheap  land, 
unusual  profits  for  a  time  from  continuous  cropping,  and  later,  faster 
and  more  extensive  plowing  with  the  moldboard  plow  and  the  use  of 
other  more  efficient  implements  for  pulverizing  and  exposing  the 
soil.  The  result  has  been  that  in  a  very  short  time,  as  civilizations 
go,  we  have  in  the  United  States  done  an  almost  incalculable  damage 
to  the  basic  landscape  resources.  We  have,  for  instance,  destroyed 
more  good  land  than  the  Japanese  ever  had.  (Fig.  24.) 

A  constructive  principle  has  been  ignored,  and  it  is :  When  man 
disrupts  the  natural  climax  association  (e.g.,  by  removing  the  forest 
or  the  sod)  he  must  substitute  a  system  of  agriculture  which  repro- 
duces or  improves  the  forces  and  reactions  of  the  original  biologic 
community.  Only  thus  can  the  underlying  values  of  soil  fertility 
and  water  supply  be  maintained.  Which  is  to  say  that  only  thus  can 
we  continue  to  support  our  population  in  the  manner  to  which  it  has 
become  accustomed.  And  if  that  population  increases  (as  it  is),  then 
it  becomes  essential  not  only  to  preserve  what  nature  so  laboriously 
built,  but  to  improve  it.  The  West  Europeans  did  it.  We  must  do 
it — and  the  time  has  come  when  we  must  start. 


FIG-.  24.  California  pastnreland  destroyed  by 
overgrazing  and  bad  management  of  herds. 
Cattle  trails  started  these  gullies.  Man,  as  a 
steward  of  natural  resources,  is  morallly  obli- 
gated to  study  the  reaction  of  his  land,  the 
nature  and  habits  of  his  animals,  and  to  devise 
a  system  of  management  for  safe,  sustained 
uses. 


67 


CHAPTER  VII 

RELATIONS  BETWEEN  PLANTS  AND 
ENVIRONMENT 


The  science  which  studies  the  relationships  among  plants,  and  their 
relationships  with  any  part  or  the  whole  of  environment,  is  called 
ecology.  Literally,  ecology  means  the  study  of  homes.  The  physio- 
logic processes  of  plants,  their  structure,  and  their  reactions  to  con- 
trolled ecologic  factors  may  be  and  must  be  studied  in  the  laboratory; 
but,  how  the  plant  functions  in,  influences,  and  reacts  to  its  natural 
environment  can  be  determined  only  in  the  field.  (Thus,  our  whole 
educational  system  as  it  stands  is  poorly  adapted  to  the  study  of  this 
extremely  important  science). 

Associations  and  Communities.  In  the  field  the  first  observation  of 
relationships  is  likely  to  be  the  fact  that  plants  occur  in  communities 
or  groups.  It  is  rare  to  find  a  single  plant  at  any  great  distance 
from  other  plants.  Where  the  soil,  moisture  and  sunlight  will  support 
one  plant,  it  will  nearly  always  support  more  than  one.  A  colony  of 
the  same  kind  of  plants  exhibits  relationships  between  individuals, 
between  individuals  and  the  environment,  and  between  the  group  and 
the  environment.  There  is  competition  for  minerals,  water  and  sun- 
light. Those  individuals  which,  because  of  an  earlier  start  or  greater 
inherent  vigor,  grow  taller  and  secure  more  sunlight,  or  establish  a 
larger  root  system  and  secure  more  water  and  nutrients  from  the  soil, 
will  stunt,  deform,  and  perhaps  even  starve  out  others. 

This  competition  within  the  colony  arises  from  the  similar  require- 
ments of  the  individuals  and  the  definitely  limited  supply  of  one  or 
more  of  the  factors  necessary  to  life.1  The  grower  of  plants  soon 
learns  the  importance  of  proper  spacing,  if  healthy  and  valuable  indi- 
viduals are  to  be  secured.  The  forester  knows  the  value  of  thinning 
crowded  stands  of  trees  in  order  to  promote  the  growth  of  the  best 
timber.  As  far  as  nature  is  concerned  the  tendency  is  to  produce  the 
maximum  of  vegetation  of  whatever  kinds  can  establish  themselves  in 
a  particular  environment,  but  man's  demands  for  useful  species 
requires  management.  The  total  photosynthesis  going  on  in  an  area 
must  be  maintained  at  a  maximum,  but  it  should  be  channelled 
through  the  useful  species.  Even  so,  man  must  remember  that  many 
species  not  directly  useful  are  necessary  to  the  maintainence  of  the 
environment. 

The  more  commonly  seen  communities  of  plants,  which  consist 
of  many  species,  present  another  competitive  situation,  that  of 


1Clements,  F.  D.,  Plant  Succession  and  Indicators,  The  H.  W.  Wilson   Com- 
pany, New  York,  1928,  pp.  72-73. 


RELATIONS  BETWEEN  PLANTS  AND  ENVIRONMENT    69 

species  with  species.  The  destruction  of  weeds  in  crop  fields  by 
means  of  cultivation,  chemicals,  or  flame,  is  required  to  control  such 
competition.  The  forester  deals  with  "weed  trees,"  which  use 
nutrients  and  sunlight  without  providing  man  with  timber  of  much 
value.  Forest  management  suggests  their  removal,  if  better  trees 
can  use  the  environment. 

In  such  a  community  it  will  also  be  observed  that  some  species 
get  along  quite  amiably  with  others,  even  to  the  point  of  inter- 
dependence. This  is  due  to  a  difference  or  partial  difference  in 
requirements.  The  relation  between  legume  plants  and  nitrogen- 
fixing  bacterial  plants  has  been  mentioned.  The  lichen  represents  a 
close  partnership  between  algae  and  fungi.  Species  may  live  in 
intermixture  because  their  roots  or  their  crowns  are  on  different 
levels.  Some  species  can  live  in  the  shade  of  taller  plants,  which 
may  live  in  the  shade  of  still  taller  plants  which  may  need  full  sun- 
light. 

The  term  association  means  those  species  which,  through  successive 
stages  of  environmental  development  ending  in  a  relative  state  of 
balance,  have  come  to  dominate  the  community,  temporarily  or  perma- 
nently. Thus  the  beech-maple  forest  actually  consists  of  scores  of 
plant  species  all  dominated  by  the  beech-maple  association. 

Ecological  Factors.  Frequent  mention  has  been  made  of  various 
factors  involved  in  the  life  processes  of  plants — such  as  soil,  water, 
atmosphere,  sunlight  and  temperature.  It  has  been  noted  that  these 
are  altered,  so  far  as  plants  are  concerned,  as  the  environment  de- 
velops, that  these  alterations  permit  the  invasion  of  the  habitat  by 
other  species,  and  often  result  in  the  disappearance  of  once  established 
kinds.  Insofar  as  these  factors  affect  the  structure  and  composition  of 
communities  they  are  ecological. 

The  ecological  factors  named  are  all  functions  of  climate,  in  the 
final  analysis.  Temperature,  sunlight,  and  precipitation  need  no  ex- 
planation. Atmosphere  is  put  in  motion  by  heat  from  the  sun,  and 
thus  distributes  water,  heat  and  cold.  Unsaturated  atmosphere  picks 
up  moisture,  thus  influencing  soil  humidity.  Soil  itself  is  a  product 
of  climate  working  directly  on  minerals  or  indirectly  through  the 
biologic  forces  of  life  and  death.  The  water  holding  capacity  of  soil 
is  thus  a  function  of  and  product  of  climatic  action.  There  is  a  lesser 
dependence  on  the  nature  or  composition  of  the  parent  rock  in  deter- 
mining what  grows  in  a  specific  area.  "Vegetation  .  .  .  most  quickly 
and  strikingly  expresses  the  character  of  the  climate."2 

In  regard  to  a  given  species  of  plant  in  a  given  habitat,  any  one 
of  these  factors  might  be  critical.  The  morning  glory  is  killed  early 
in  autumn  by  frost.  Orange  groves  are  often  killed  by  one  severe 
freeze.  Lack  of  water  in  general  keeps  forest  out  of  the  plains,  and 
Buffalo  grass  out  of  the  desert.  The  need  for  much  water  keeps 


2Sears,  P.  B.,  This  Is  Our  World.    University  of  Oklahoma  Press,  Norman, 
Okla.,  1937,  p.  180. 


70  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

willows  confined  to  wet  places.  Few  herbs  can  survive  the  dense  and 
year  round  shade  of  coniferous  forests,  and  most  coniferous  seedlings 
cannot  survive  without  shade.  Corn  cannot  survive  the  hot,  dry 
winds  which  are  taken  in  stride  by  the  cactus. 

The  decision  between  survival  and  death  may  hinge  on  very  slight 
change  in  a  habitat  factor,  when  it  nears  the  limit  of  tolerance.  Being 
shaded  one  hour  more  per  day  than  a  fortunate  neighbor  may  mean 
that  one  red  oak  sapling  will  die  in  its  youth  and  its  neighbor  live. 
On  the  other  hand  young  beeches  must  have  deep  shade,  and  an  hour 
too  many  of  direct  sunlight  per  day  will  kill  the  exposed  seedling. 

The  evidence  indicates  that  differences  in  plant  growth  and  ability 
to  survive  in  a  habitat  are  rarely  due  to  the  influence  of  only  one 
ecological  factor,  but  rather  to  a  complex  influence.  This  can  be 
readily  understood.  Shade,  for  instance,  reduces  temperature  of 
air,  leaf,  and  soil ;  it  reduces,  also,  evaporation  from  soil  and  transpi- 
ration from  leaf;  in  effect,  shade  is  equivalent  to  greater  rainfall,  in 
that  soil  moisture  is  increased  or  conserved. 

Leaves  in  shade  tend  to  grow  larger  because  of  a  need  to  intercept 
more  light  for  growth  and  survival.  Shade  leaves  on  a  tree  may  have 
a  very  different  size  and  shape  from  those  in  the  sun  drenched  top. 
Plants  whose  leaves  are  valuable,  such  as  tobacco,  lettuce,  kale,  chard, 
etc.,  may,  in  some  respects,  yield  better  crops  if  a  certain  amount  of 
shade  is  provided.  On  the  other  hand,  reducing  the  sunlight  may 
reduce  the  nutritional  quality  of  some  plants;  tomatoes,  for  example, 
produce  vitamin  C  in  proportion  to  sunlight.  Forest  nurseries  use 
slatted  frames  placed  on  supports  to  provide  the  partial  shade  neces- 
sary for  the  production  of  healthy  seedling  trees.  Gradually,  the 
light  is  increased  by  periodic  removal  of  the  shades  until  the  two  to 
four  year  old  transplants  are  adjusted  to  full  sunlight  and  ready  for 
planting  on  even  bare  eroded  hillsides  and  gullies. 

Micro -climates.  There  is  confusion  in  store  for  the  student  who 
goes  out  to  observe  communities  of  plants.  He  has  been  told,  let  us 
say,  that  a  certain  hilly,  humid  area  comprising  several  counties,  is, 
or  originally  was,  an  oak-hickory  forest.  He  has  learned  at  second- 
hand that  oaks  and  hickories  require  a  well  drained  soil  and  30  to  50 
inches  of  rain  per  year.  He  knows  that  wet  soils  in  that  general 
climate  will  probably  have  an  Elm-Willow-Sycamore  association  on 
them,  that  somewhat  less  wet  soils  should  have  Beech-Maple,  and  that 
the  driest,  best  drained  areas  will  be  dominated  by  Red  Oak-Black 
Oak.  So  he  goes  out,  and  along  the  streams,  sure  enough,  he  finds 
elms,  willows  and  sycamores.  But  up  on  a  dry,  bare  hillside  there  are 
also  sycamore  seedlings,  saplings,  or  trees.  The  student  scratches  his 
head  and  wonders.  Later  he  learns  that  the  ecologists  have  about  de- 
cided that  plenty  of  light  is  more  essential  to  the  sycamore  than  lots 
of  water.  It  needs  both,  but  light  seems  to  be  the  critical  factor. 

The  student  moves  on  to  a  gentle  slope,  and  there  are  the  maples, 
or  the  beeches,  or  both.  Here  and  there  he  sees  oaks,  or  hickories,  or 
both.  Up  on  the  hillsides  are  White  oaks,  and  on  the  wind  dried,  sun 
dried  hilltops  are  Red  and  Black  oaks.  Then  he  discovers,  well  up  on 


RELATIONS  BETWEEN  PLANTS  AND  ENVIRONMENT    71 

the  hill,  a  colony  of  maples  where  apparently  they  have  no  business 
being.  All  around  is  well  drained  sandy  soil  perfectly  fitted  to  the 
White  oaks  he  sees.  Where  is  the  greater  water  supply  maples  are 
supposed  to  need  ?  He  digs  in  the  soil,  and  there  is  the  moisture.  The 
geologist  explains  that  ground  water  seepage  is  occurring  along  a 
strata  of  impervious  shale  which  out-crops  at  that  point. 

The  observer  has  found  a  micro-climate ;  in  this  instance  a  topo- 
graphic peculiarity  has  exerted  its  influence.  WThen  an  old  forest 
monarch  falls,  a  small  clearing  results,  with  greater  sunlight,  higher 
temperature,  more  evaporation,  more  air  movement.  This  micro- 
climate soon  develops  a  small  plant  world  of  its  own.  It  is  more 
herbaceous  than  the  shaded  forest  floor.  It  is  controlled  by  the  envi- 
ronment of  the  moment,  yes,  but  at  once  starts  a  course  leading  into 
the  climax  conditions.  In  the  meantime  it  will  support  herb  eating 
animals  in  greater  numbers  than  will  the  forest  climax.  Game  man- 
agers sometimes  make  clearings  in  woodland,  make  micro-climates  for 
a  special  purpose — more  game.  In  the  future  we  will  likely  see  more 
of  this. 

There  are  scores  of  these  micro-climates  on  a  single  farm.  The 
north  side  of  a  tree  usually  provides  one,  and  there  certain  life  forms 
may  live  that  could  not  exist  a  foot  away  on  the  south  side  of  that 
trunk. 

Geography  of  Plants.  It  might  be  expected  that  wherever  on  earth 
similar  climates  were  found,  there  also  would  be  the  same  plants  and 
communities.  Such  is  not  the  case.  What  we  find  is  very  similar  ap- 
pearing vegetation,  but  the  species,  in  general,  differ.  What  is  alike, 
is  the  structure  of  the  plants,3  and  their  behavior.  Sandy  deserts  the 
world  over  exhibit  practically  the  same  characteristics.  So  do  all  the 
deciduous  forests,  the  coniferous  forests,  the  prairies,  the  plains,  the 
scrub  areas. 

We  have  noted  that  west  European  farmers  on  coming  to  America 
did  not  know  how  to  manage  the  landscape.  The  Spaniards  who 
moved  into  the  southern  California  coastal  region  established  them- 
selves very  well,  because  this  area  has  a  Mediterranean  climate  and 
vegetation  types.  The  transfer  of  culture  was  easy.  Protestant  Ger- 
mans from  the  Rhine  Palatinate,  who  have  gained  fame  for  their 
conservation  farming  in  and  around  Lancaster  county,  Pennsylvania, 
ever  since  colonial  days,  represent  an  unusual  type  of  European  farm- 
er. Victims  of  religious  persecution,  they  had  moved  about  Europe  in 
search  of  tolerance.  Weary  of  wandering,  they  came  to  America  and 
with  great  relief  settled  down,  happy  to  have  permanent  homes  once 
more.  Many  of  them  were  familiar  with  the  Alpine  storms,  torrents 
and  erosion.  They  were  acquainted  with  Rhine  valley  terraces,  and 
so,  they  had  an  unusual  background  for  dealing  with  American  crops, 
climate,  and  agricultural  problems.  However,  even  they  were  not 
wholly  successful  in  controlling  erosion  on  their  rolling  southeastern 
Pennsylvania  farms. 


72  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

The  geographical  range  of  plants  is  almost  entirely  determined 
by  climate.  Climate  is  a  complex  which  pays  no  attention  to  politi- 
cal boundaries,  nor  even  to  latitude  and  longitude  in  many  cases. 
The  tropical  Mexican  coastal  plain  is  only  a  hop,  skip,  and  high 
jump  from  the  temperate  inland  high  plateau.  Within  the  bound- 
aries of  a  farm,  climate  and  topography  usually  have  directed  the 
construction  of  numerous  environments.  One  section  of  the  farm 
may  be  fit  only  for  forest,  another  for  meadow,  another  for  tilled 
crops.  Unless  consideration  is  given  the  fitness  of  the  domestic  plant 
for  the  environment,  neither  plant  nor  environment  may  be  able  to 
sustain  itself.  Corn  will  grow  on  a  fertile  hillside,  but  it  is  only  a 
matter  of  ten  or  twenty  corn  crops  until  there  is  no  topsoil  left,  and 
no  corn.  (Fig.  25.) 

The  Genesis  of  Succession.4  Succession  has  been  treated  in  a 
symbolic  or  general  way  in  Chapter  6.  Succession  is  a  development 
of  life  and  habitat  toward  a  climax  formation.  Succession  occurs 
on  every  part  of  the  earth's  surface  where  life  is  possible  and  where 
a  climax  does  not  exist  at  the  moment.  It  occurs  on  land  and  in  the 
waters.  The  end  result  of  succession  is  not  only  a  climax,  but  it  ap- 
proaches as  near  as  possible  a  median  (mesophytic)  condition;  that 
is,  a  middle  status  between  extremes,  of  moisture  particularly,  and 
temperature.  Succession  starting  in  a  lake  eventually  results  in 
filling  up  the  lake  with  silt  and  acquatic  vegetable  matter;  followed 
by  an  invasion  by  land  herbs,  and  finally  by  shrubs  and  trees.  Start- 
ing on  relatively  dry,  rocky  areas,  the  succession  may  end  in  forest, 
for  instance,  where  much  more  iroisture  is  retained  than  originally. 
Water  is  held  in  the  leaf  litter,  and  the  now  granular  and  humus 
laden  soil. 

Of  course,  the  climax  formation  is  determined  by  the  overall 
climate:  forest  in  the  humid  areas,  savannah  (trees  and  high  grass) 
in  less  humid  or  transitional  areas,  grasslands  in  the  subhumid  cli- 
mate, short  grass  or  scrub  in  the  semi-arid,  and  desert  vegetation  in 
the  arid  regions. 

What  causes  succession  to  get  underway?  In  the  beginning  of 
the  earth,  all  places  were  barren,  land  and  waters  alike,  and  the 
whole  evolutionary  process  got  underway.  Today,  succession  occurs 
wherever  barrenness  is  produced,  or  any  degree  of  barrenness  short 
of  the  climax  of  the  area.  The  causes  of  barrenness  may  be  due  to 
man's  culture  or  to  natural  forces. 

Topographic  Causes.  The  fragmented  surface  of  the  earth  is 
movable.  The  removal  of  earth  material  from  one  place  must  result 
in  its  deposition  somewhere  else.  Both  actions,  except  when  very 
slow,  result  in  damage  to  vegetation.  Removal  of  soil  by  wind, 
water,  ice,  or  gravity  is  called  erosion. 

The  results  of  water  erosion  are  bare  or  partially  bare  gullies, 
ravines,  drains,  arroyos,  flood  plains,  stream  islands,  banks,  shores, 


4Weaver  and  Clements,  Plant  Ecology,  McGraw-Hill  Book  Company,  1938,  2nd 
edition,  passim, 


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FIG.  25.     Classifying  land,  according-  to  what  it  can  and  cannot  do,  is  a  job  for 
experts.      Anyone,    however,    can    detect    blatant    misuse    after    studying-    this 

marked  landscape, 


74  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

balds,  galls,  slopes,  bad  lands,  buttes,  scours  and  bars. 

The  invasion  of  such  bare  areas  by  pioneer  plants  depends  in 
considerable  part  on  the  type  of  surface,  its  stability  for  a  period  of 
time,  the  water  supply,  degree  of  slope,  and  insolation.  Steep  slopes 
in  Palestine  eroded  down  to  bare  rock  are  very  discouraging  to  life, 
as  are  broken  cliff  faces  in  the  Cascades,  and  the  rocky  bottoms  of 
gullies. 

Wind  erosion  creates  dunes,  sand  hills,  and  blowouts.  The  fine 
material  is  lifted  and  carried  away.  The  once  good  loam  of  the 
dust  bowls  has  lost  its  light  humus,  fine  clay,  and  much  of  the 
mineral-rich  silt  by  this  process.  Of  the  original  topsoil  only  sand 
remains  over  large  areas ;  and  it  may  be  on  the  move,  slowly. 

Ice  denudes  narrow  strips  along  streams  and  lakes,  along  glacial 
beds  and  margins,  and  leaves  bareness  where  the  ice  has  retreated. 

Gravity  causes  slipping  and  slumping  of  wet  clay  slopes,  hill 
crests,  stream  banks,  shores.  Land  and  snow  slides  denude  the 
areas  involved,  cliffs  break  off,  exposing  bare  surfaces. 

Deposits  of  barren  material  result  from  all  the  above  erosional 
actions,  also  from  volcanic  and  ground  water  actions.  Surface 
waters  deposit  flood  plains,  deltas,  sand  bars,  reefs,  alluvial  cones 
and  fans,  beaches,  spits,  and  channel  deposits.  Ground  water,  rising 
as  springs  and  geysers,  deposits  lime,  silica,  or  salts.  Wind  blown 
soil  deposits  are  called  loess  (if  fine),  or  dunes  (if  sand),  or  volcanic 
dust.  Glaciers  in  the  past  have  laid  down  deposits  over  vast  areas, 
the  materials  ranging  from  great  rocks  to  the  finest  rock  flour  or 
clay.  Gravity  produces  the  talus  slopes  below  crumbling  cliffs.  Vol- 
canoes emit  cinders,  rocks,  lava,  dust,  ash,  mud,  sinter.  Volcanic 
lava  deposits  are  very  resistant  to  environmental  evolution.  Earth- 
quakes, and  the  possible  (but  rare)  rapid  uplift  or  subsidence,  may 
cause  bare  areas. 

In  all  these  cases,  a  succession  of  life  forms  usually  begins  at 
once. 

Climatic  Causes.  Destruction  of  existing  vegetation  may  result 
from  drought,  wind,  hail,  snow,  frost,  lightning,  or  evaporation. 
Drought  is  most  destructive  in  areas  where  water  is  a  critical  factor, 
as  on  the  Great  Plains.  Repeated  hailstorms  have  forced  abandon- 
ment of  certain  plains  areas.  Elsewhere  great  damage  is  often  done 
by  hail  to  crops,  meadows,  broadleaf  forest  and  scrub.  Snow  damage 
is  serious  only  in  polar  and  alpine  regions.  Elsewhere  it  may  benefit 
vegetation  by  protecting  it  from  freezing  and  by  serving  as  a  water 
supply.  Lighting  as  a  cause  of  fire  is  an  important  factor  in  national 
forests.  In  unprotected  or  heavily  populated  forest  regions,  fires 
started  by  people  make  lightning  a  lesser  evil,  comparatively  speaking. 

Evaporation,  perhaps  speeded  by  wind,  may  dry  up  ponds  which 
have  an  unreliable  water  supply  source.  The  pond  life  dies.  A  land 
succession  begins,  only  to  die  in  turn  if  the  water  returns.  Flooding 
of  depressions  and  lowlands  may  persist  long  enough  to  destroy  the 


RELATIONS  BETWEEN  PLANTS  AND  ENVIRONMENT    75 

vegetation  temporarily.    Succession  may  follow  the  disappearance  of 
the  water. 

Biotic  Causes.  Under  some  conditions  plants  destroy  themselves 
and  their  specialized  habitat,  as  when  they  create  conditions  favoring 
the  invasion  of  their  home  by  other  species.  Animals,  particularly 
man,  do  much  damage,  often  exiling  themselves  from  an  area  or 
region  by  destroying  their  own  food  supply.  Ants  create  bare  spots, 
but  their  contribution  to  soil  formation  makes  the  damage  picayune. 
Insect  plagues  can  and  do  destroy  all  annual  vegetation  and  its  seed 
from  areas  of  various  sizes,  so  that  invasion  is  necessary  to  replace 
these  annuals.  The  persistent  roots  and  underground  stems  of  peren- 
nials may  survive.  Plant-eating  animals  confined  by  man  or  by  natural 
boundaries  to  a  limited  space  will,  if  crowded,  denude  the  landscape. 
Elk,  snowbound  in  small  valleys,  may  do  this.  Hogs  will  make  a 
desert  of  a  small,  fenced  lot  in  short  order.  Prairie-dog  towns  may 
present  extensive  bare  areas  to  view.  Beavers  build  dams  and  flood 
small  areas,  destroying  the  land  vegetation  by  submersion,  and  creat- 
ing a  pond  temporarily  barren,  barren  at  least  in  comparison  to  the 
rich  variety  of  life  it  may  later  contain. 

Man's  principal  denuding  activities  are  clearing  (whether  by  ax 
in  the  forest  or  plow  on  the  plains)  and  burning  (whether  deliberate 
or  accidental).  Lumbering,  even  the  clear  cutting  so  opposed  by  sci- 
entific foresters,  need  not  destroy  the  climax,  unless  followed  by  fire, 
overgrazing,  or  erosion.  If  the  operation  is  conducted  with  considera- 
tion for  the  seedlings  and  saplings,  the  climax  is  retained. 

Succession  does  not  occur  unless  the  climax  species  are  destroyed 
and  the  environment  set  back  one  or  more  phases.  Some  ecologists 
insist  that  true  succession  begins  only  with  complete  denudation  of  an 
area,  and  the  entrance  of  pioneer  plants  from  surrounding  areas.  A 
severe  forest  fire  followed  by  erosion  usually  causes  this.  A  light 
ground  fire  usually  does  not.  Even  the  spectacular  crown  fire  does 
not  necessarily  do  it  in  all  instances,  unless  joined  by  equally  severe 
ground  fire.  The  rapid  rise  of  heat  from  a  crown  fire  may  leave  the 
soil  level  comparatively  cool. 

The  preparation  of  a  farm  field  for  seeding  usually  involves  the 
complete  destruction  of  all  original  vegetation.  Certain  fumes  and 
gases  from  smelters,  factories,  coke  ovens,  or  smouldering  coal  mine 
gob  piles  may  result  in  killing  or  maiming  all  vegetation  within  radii 
up  to  several  miles.  Strip  mining  creates  not  only  bare  areas,  but 
turns  over  the  soil  to  great  depths  and  leaves  a  rugged  terrain.  Dredg- 
ing and  draining  create  barrens.  Canals  and  ditches,  constructed 
ponds  and  lakes,  create  aquatic  barrens. 

This  Changing  World.  Bare  areas  as  listed  in  this  chapter,  are 
constantly  being  created  on  the  world  landscape.  Wherever  climate 
is  favorable,  migration  or  invasion  begins  at  once.  The  outdoor  air 
is  never  without  many  forms  of  life  —  spores,  bacteria,  and  seeds. 
These  are  carried  by  wind.  They  are  carried,  too,  by  water,  birds, 
mammals,  man.  Some  plant  species  have  migrated  across  oceans  and 


76 


continents,  down  thousand  mile  river  valleys  or  along  mountain 
ranges.  But,  most  invaders  of  a  bare  area  come  from  nearby.  Migra- 
tion is  limited  by  mobility,  type  of  carrier  agent  available,  distance, 
and  topography.  Not  only  are  spores  and  seeds  distributed,  but  in 
other  cases  the  fruit,  offshoots,  or  the  entire  plant  may  be  transported. 

Having  invaded  the  area,  the  plant  must  succeed  in  growing  and 
reproducing  if  it  is  to  exert  any  influence.  If  it  does,  the  next  step  is 
increasing  its  population,  and  exerting  its  influences,  i.e.,  modifying 
the  environment.  Greater  population  also  gives  rise  to  competition 
and  the  establishing,  by  the  most  efficient  species  and  individuals,  of 
dominance  over  the  community.  As  the  environment  is  modified 
(improved,  usually)  other  invaders  come,  succeed,  establish  dominance. 
This  continues  through  a  series  of  phases,  determined  by  the  soil, 
climate,  and  available  invaders,  until  a  climax  is  reached.  At  this 
point  the  dominant  species  do  not  improve  or  change  the  environment 
further,  no  other  species  can  take  over  control  of  the  habitat,  and 
relative  stabilization  is  achieved.  This  situation  remains  until  and  if 
one  or  more  forces  cause  a  return  to  complete  or  relative  bareness. 

Secondary  Succession.  Secondary  succession  is  what  follows  the 
original  succession  when  its  climax  is  destroyed.  A  common  sequence 
of  events  in  the  dissected  Appalachian  Plateau  and  elsewhere  will 
illustrate  what  occurs  when  forest  is  converted  to  cropland.  After 
the  forest  is  cleared  the  first  few  farm  crops  are  phenomenal.  HOW- 


FIG-.  26.  The  hill  is  being-  rapidly  reduced  in  fertility  as  topsoil  is  washed  off. 
The  up  and  down  corn  rows  accelerate  the  vicious  process.  The  bottom  is,  in  a 
sense,  being1  enriched  at  the  expense  of  the  hill;  but,  the  excess  water  runoff 
from  the  hill  drowns  the  bottomland  crops  in  spots  where  it  collects.  The  hill 
will  soon  be  retired  to  low  grade  pasture.  If  overgrazed,  abandonment  will 
follow,  and  then  secondary  succession  will  begin. 


RELATIONS  BETWEEN  PLANTS  AND  ENVIRONMENT    77 

ever,  fertility  drops  rapidly  as  the  organic  matter  is  oxidized  and 
leached  by  exposure  to  climate,  and  as  erosion  gets  underway.  After 
a  period  of  cropping,  yields  drop  so  far  that  the  land  is  retired  to 
permanent  pasture.  (Fig.  26.)  The  period  of  cropping  may  range 
from  five  or  ten  years  of  continuous  row  crops,  up  to  fifty  or  seventy- 
five  years  of  rotated  crops. 

The  usual  procedure  in  pasturing  these  lands  is  to  attempt  the 
impossible,  that  is  to  make  as  much  money  from  animals  as  was  once 
provided  by  small  grains  or  row  crops.  In  short,  these  pastures  arc 
overgrazed.  Erosion  continues.  The  grass  cover  becomes  thinner. 
Bare  land  meets  the  eye  in  many  places.  (Fig.  27.)  Nature,  abhorring 
nakedness,  starts  to  reclothe  the  now  abandoned  land. 

Here  and  there  on  the  raw  soil,  filamentous  mosses  appear,  along 
with  some  micro-algae,  and  crustlike  lichens.  (Fig.  28.)  These  primi- 
tive forms  partially  stop  the  erosion  and  begin  to  rebuild  fertility. 
They  increase  the  chance  that  invading  seeds  will  find  a  foothold, 
instead  of  being  washed  off,  blown  off,  or  killed  by  dryness  if  they 
sprout. 

What  kind  of  seeds  can  meet  the  grade  ?  In  spite  of  the  humid  cli- 
mate, the  high  rate  of  runoff  coupled  with  the  lack  of  absorbent  top- 
soil  have  changed  the  soil  climate  to  one  of  semi-aridity.  In  short, 
the  soil  climate  of  this  onetime  Central  Hardwood  Forest  has  become 
the  soil  climate  of  the  Great  Plains.  And  so  it  is  not  surprising  that 
a  plains-like  grass  invades  —  poverty  grass.  (Fig.  29.)  But,  unlike 
grasses  of  the  plains,  poverty  grass  has  about  as  much  nutritional 
value  as  excelsior.  It  has  all  it  can  do  to  keep  itself  alive,  and  while  it 
may  be  somewhat  succulent  for  a  brief  period  in  the  spring,  it  pro- 
vides very  little  food  for  steer,  lamb,  rabbit  or  field  mouse.  These 
animals  relish  poverty  grass  approximately  in  the  degree  you  would 
relish  eating  a  damp  broom.  Along  with  this  grass,  another  much 
like  it  in  character  usually  appears — broomsedge.  (Fig.  30.) 

After  poverty  grass  has  contributed  its  bit  to  preventing  further 
erosion,  has  wrested  some  minerals  from  their  lockers  in  the  poor 
soil,  and  has  added  some  humus  to  the  land,  the  succession  proceeds. 
Running  briars  move  in,  particularly  dewberry.  Dewberry  is  a  low- 
growing,  hardy  plant.  It  produces  fruit  which  is  of  some  value  to 
animals  such  as  rabbits,  birds  and  others.  By  its  shading  effect  it 
begins  the  ousting  of  the  poverty  grass  and  other  shorter  plants  which 
need  full  sunlight.  (Fig.  31.) 

Following  dewberry,  its  taller  cousin,  blackberry  comes  into  the 
field.  More  wildlife  is  supported  and  protected.  More  humus  accu- 
mulates. Less  erosion  occurs.  More  shade  is  thrown.  (Fig.  32.) 

Next  come  low-grade  trees,  such  as  sassafras,  sumac,  and  wild 
crabapple.  (Figs.  33,  34,  35.)  More  roots  grasp  the  soil.  More  ani- 
mals can  live  on  the  new  seeds  and  fruits.  Man  is  still  excluded,  how- 
ever. There  is,  as  yet,  little  of  use  to  him.  As  the  trees  grow,  the 
crabappple  outgrows  the  sumac.  Sumac  is  a  no-account  weed  of  a 
tree,  weak  and  pithy.  Birds  may  eat  its  seeds,  and  the  outdoorsmen, 


^^fe^-^«:?»k  *    V   '    'jffii^^WH^^-'  "•  '^V' 

i$jjjf?££  t>  ~ ' .  ~v-  t-i&y^,/^^ ?  :  '.J6- v  *  r.  • 


PIG.  27.     Barren  area  in  old  field,  product  of 
severe  erosion. 


PIG.  30.     Broomsedgre  clump  coming-  into  local 
dominance. 


EVIDENCE     OP    SXJCCESSIO 


PIG.  28.     Lichens  on  pedestals  of  soil,  resist- 
ing further  erosion. 


FIG.    31.      Dewberry    overcoming    competition 
of   poverty   grass    and   weeds. 


PIG.    29.      Moss    (lower    center),    soon    to    be 
choked  out  by  adjacent  poverty  grass. 


PIG    32.      Blackberry   rising   above   and   domi- 
nating dowberry  and  other  community  plants. 


FIG.  33.     Sassafras,  clog-wood,  and  wild  crab- 
apple  competing-  for  dominance. 


FIG-.   34. 


Wild   crabapple  is  common  on  less 
eroded  parts  of  field. 


FIG.  36.      Green  ash   shooting*  up   from  rough 
sod  to  take   over  sunlight  and  soil. 


PIGS.  27-37 

An  old  field  usually  presents  many  micro-cli- 
mates, many  micro-landscapes,  many  stag-es 
of  succession.  Present  also  are  many  varieties 
of  animal  habitat  and  many  orders  of  animals 
according-  to  the  variations  in  the  landscape. 


FIG.  35.    Sumac  taking-  advantage  of  soil  im- 
provement by  preceding  life. 


FIG.  37.     Oak  overcoming  competition  of  many 
lower  species  where  soil  is  good. 


80  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

wet,  cold,  hungry  and  perhaps  lost,  can  start  a  fire  with  the  peeled 
branches  of  sumac.  There  is  not  much  loss  when  the  crabapple  shades 
out  this  link  in  the  succession. 

By  now  perhaps  twenty,  perhaps  fifty  or  seventy-five  years  have 
passed  since  the  last  scrawny  cow  grazed  the  field.  The  period  de- 
pends on  many  factors.  After  the  wild  crab  comes  the  ash,  the  first 
good  harwood  invader,  and  after  another  fifty  years  or  so  the  ash  has 
shaded  out  the  crabapple.  (Fig.  36.)  Then  other  hardwoods  appear, 
according  to  ecological  conditions — the  oaks,  hickories,  maples, 
beeches,  walnuts — creeping  clowly  because  their  seed  dispersal  is  re- 
stricted in  distance.  (Fig.  37.) 

And  so,  maybe,  with  luck  in  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  the  climax 
forest  may  be  well  on  its  way  back.  Without  luck,  who  knows?;  it 
may  take  a  thousand  years. 

Animal  Succession.  Little  has  been  said  about  animals,  but  it  is 
obvious  that,  as  environment  goes  through  its  developmental  phases, 
food,  shelter  and  moisture  conditions  favorable  to  various  animals 
are  changing.  Usually,  successive  animal  associations  proceed  along 
with  plant  successions,  ending  in  a  climax  co-terminal  with  the  plant 
and  environmental  climaxes.  Animals  react  on  the  environment  in 
various  ways  and  contribute  to  its  development.  Earthworms  exert 
a  tremendous  influence  on  soil,  when  conditions  favor  their  existence. 
Ants,  field  mice,  shrews,  moles,  groundhogs,  gophers,  chipmunks  and 
other  burrowing  animals  aid  in  soil  formation  by  mixing,  aerating, 
irrigating  and  fertilizing  it.  Springtails,  snails,  centipedes,  milli- 
pedes, beetles,  spiders,  ants,  mites,  termites,  bumblebees,  etc.,  are  pres- 
ent in  surface  litter  and  soil  in  the  magnitude  of  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands up  to  millions  per  acre.  Field  mice,  shrews  and  moles,  with 
their  mazes  of  subsurface  runways,  are  usually  present  to  the  extent 
of  dozens  up  to  a  hundred  or  more  per  acre.  Microscopic  animals 
must  be  thought  of  in  billions. 

Birds  and  game  mammals  are  present  in  smaller  numbers,  but 
their  reaction  may  be  very  significant  in  developing  or  maintaining 
the  bio-climax.  There  will  probably  be,  on  an  acre  of  average  fer- 
tility and  suitable  vegetation,  one  pair  of  birds,  with  young.  There 
may  be  ten  pairs  of  small  mammals  with  ten  young  per  pair.  Of  other 
mammals,  there  might  be  as  many  as  four  or  five  vegetarian  rabbits 
per  acre,  one  browsing  deer  to  seven  acres,  one  meat  eating  fox  to  the 
square  mile.  Of  game  birds,  quail  may  average  one,  probably  less, 
per  acre ;  pheasants  may  average  one  or  two  per  acre,  with  concentra- 
tions on  good  feeding  or  watering  areas  up  to  200  per  acre  at  certain 
times,  such  as  in  severe  winter  weather  or  drought. 

The  truth  is  that  dealing  with  life  and  environment  solely  from 
the  viewpoint  of  plants  is  an  artificial  distinction;  and,  while  useful 
for  simplification  of  the  study  area,  cannot  be  a  wholly  true  picture  of 
what  is  encountered  in  the  field.  The  serious  student  of  life  is  intellec- 
tually obligated  to  investigate  animal  ecology,  or  the  combined  fields 
of  plant  and  animal  ecology  called  bio-ecology. 


KELATIONS  BETWEEN  PLANTS  AND  ENVIRONMENT    81 

Recapitulation.  It  should  be  noted  that  the  pioneer-to-climax 
succession  is  very  similar  to  the  evolutionary  development  of  the 
earth 's  life  forms  to  their  present  condition.  While  the  over-all  evolu- 
tion must  be  reckoned  in  terms  of  millions  of  years,  the  recapitulation 
of  the  process  may  occur  on  a  bare  area  today  in  a  matter  of  centuries 
or  even  less  time.  The  reason  is  that  all  the  plant  species  involved 
are  already  in  existence  and  stand  by,  ready  to  invade  when  condi- 
tions permit. 

Both  the  above  developments  are  reflected  in  a  general  way  by 
the  life  cycle  of  the  individual  plant.  Starting  with  a  single  fertile 
cell,  it  proceeds  to  establish  an  increasing  intimacy  with  the  environ- 
ment, and  to  become  progressively  more  complex  in  organization  as 
it  develops  from  an  embryo  to  a  mature  structure.  It  reacts  to  the 
habitat  and  the  habitat  reacts  to  it.  In  a  stabilized  environment,  the 
plant  (or  animal)  or  its  successors  can  live  indefinitely  in  its  habitat, 
because  it  will  return  to  the  soil,  to  the  water,  and  to  the  air  every- 
thing it  takes  from  those  storehouses,  to  be  used  again  by  its  off- 
spring. 

Indicators  of  Environment.5  Since  plants  are  products  of  the 
environment,  they  tell  a  story  by  their  mere  presence.  The  dominant 
species  are  most  reliable  as  indicators  of  living  conditions,  past  and 
present.  Once  scientists  have,  by  detailed  study  of  the  ecological 
factors  associated  with  a  dominant  species,  established  the  habitat 
pattern,  we  can  then  know,  whenever  we  see  that  species  or  associa- 
tion, what  the  pattern  is.  Much  such  work  has  been  done.  Much 
remains  to  be  done.  Ecology  is  a  young  science. 

A  few  examples:  Reeds  indicate  a  water  table  near  the  surface. 
Mesquite  roots  go  down  for  water  as  much  as  50  feet.  Beech-Maple 
forest  land  is  more  productive  as  farms  than  Oak-Pine.  Long-leaf 
pine  uplands  will  yield  profitable  corn  crops  for  no  more  than  three 
years  without  fertilizer ;  mixed  Short-leaf  and  Long-leaf  pine  areas, 
five  to  seven  years  of  corn;  Short-leaf— Long-leaf — Oak-Hickory 
land,  up  to  12  years;  Oak — Short-leaf,  12  to  15  years  of  corn  with- 
out fertilizing.6  Short-grass  sod  growing  where  it  doesn't  naturally 
belong,  on  the  western  belt  of  the  tall  grass  prairies,  indicates  over- 
grazing— the  climate  will  support  mixed  prairie  grasses  which  in- 
clude much  taller  ones  (wheat  grass,  for  instance)  than  the  short 
grasses.  Wild  wheat  grass  itself  indicates  land  fit  for  domestic 
wheat  crops.  Sage-brush  indicates  deep,  porous,  non-salty,  farmable 
soil.  Quaking  aspen  (a  low-grade  hardwood)  dominating  northern 
softwood  forest  areas  indicates  past  fires.  Broomsedge  and  briars 
indicate  that  a  former  hardwood  forest  site  must  be  replanted  to 
pines  if  a  forest  is  wanted,  since  the  original  fertility  is  greatly  re- 
duced. 

It  can  be  seen  that  a  knowledge  of  plant  indicators,  or  even 
knowing  that  such  information  exists  and  can  be  secured,  is  valuable 


5Ibid.,  Chap.  17,  passim. 

6Hilgard,  E.  W.,  Soils,  Macmillan,  New  York,  1911,  p.  315. 


82 


MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 


in  any  situation  involving  questions  of  land  use  and  land  improve- 
ment. 

The  relationships  between  plants  and  environment  are  not  only 
important  to  the  individual  land  owner  or  user,  but  must  be  con- 
sidered carefully  in  formulating  state  and  national  policies  in  regard 
to  agriculture,  forestry,  irrigation,  regional  and  district  develop- 
ment plans  such  as  the  Tennessee  Valley  Authority  and  the  Ohio 
Conservaricy  [flood  control]  Districts,  soil  conservation  districts, 
range  management,  drainage,  and  wildlife  management. 

The  acceptance  of  laissez-faire,  hit  or  miss  policies  of  land  use 
is  on  its  way  out.  The  increasingly  complex  social  order  of  the 
United  States  today  cannot  permit  guesswork  in  the  management  of 
such  vital  factors  as  food  supply,  organic  industrial  raw  materials, 
and  lumber. 


716.  38.  Artificial  rain- 
drops striking1  bare  soil. 
The  greater  part  of  the 
shattered  drops  splash 
within  an  18  inch  hemi- 
sphere, but  some  splash 
as  far  as  three  feet. 
The  board  at  lower  left 
gruides  water  and  soil 
into  a  sunken  container 
for  measurement. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
LIFE  AND  THE  NATURAL  LAWS 


Physical  sciences  are  based  on  the  discoveries  of  natural  laws  and 
on  the  interrelationships  involved  in  their  operation.  In  the  proving 
of  any  new  theory  or  hypothesis,  all  that  is  known  or  is  subsequently 
learned  must  fit  it  without  contradiction.  Otherwise,  the  hypothesis 
must  be  overhauled.  The  physical  and  chemical  laws  have  been  of 
great  aid  in  explaining  the  processes  of  individual  plants  and  animals. 
The  biologists  have  sought  laws  governing  organic  community  be- 
havior, but  the  intricacy  of  relationships  has  made  the  task  difficult. 
It  often  happens  that  we  discover  a  law  by  disobeying  it  and  reaping 
the  consequences.  If  a  farmer  discovers  both  his  income  and  capital 
being  destroyed  by  erosion,  the  experience  may  be  painful  enough  to 
cause  him  to  wonder  what  natural  law  is  operating  against  him,  and 
why.  If  the  sportsman  finds  a  lack  of  fish  or  game  where  it  was  for- 
merly plentiful,  he  may  be  tempted  to  support  the  scientists  who  can 
discover  the  natural  laws  governing  these  populations. 

The  Ruthless  Justice  of  Nature.  An  outstanding  quality  of  a 
natural  law  is  its  impartiality.  Unlike  the  administration  of  any 
man-stated  social  law,  nature  provides  for  no  mercy.  Nor  is  there  any 
anger  involved,  nor  revenge.  As  far  as  Nature  is  concerned,  neither 
is  there  reward  or  punishment — only  cause  and  effect.  It  is  a  well 
known  physical  principle  that  for  every  action  there  is  an  equal  reac- 
tion. Less  well  known  is  the  fact  that  the  principle  applies  to  biologi- 
cal forces. 

It  is  fortunate  that  reactions  potentially  injurious  in  both  the 
physical  and  biological  world  can  often  be  managed  so  as  to  channel 
them  into  harmless  or  even  constructive  roles.  The  autoloading  shot- 
gun, for  example,  is  constructed  in  such  a  fashion  that  most  of  the 
recoil  or  reaction  from  the  powder  explosion  is  diffused  through  the 
shooter's  shoulder  and  body  (and  partly  into  the  earth)  ;  but,  in 
addition,  a  fraction  of  the  reaction  serves  to  operate  a  mechanism 
which  ejects  the  used  shell  and  reloads  the  gun. 

When  a  draindrop  strikes  the  earth  its  kinetic  energy  is  released. 
This  energy  came 'from  the  sun  and  was  acquired  when  heat  evapo- 
rated the  water,  when  heat  expanded  the  air  and  permitted  it  to 
absorb  water  vapor,  when  heat  energy  caused  a  rising  air  current  to 
carry  the  vapor  aloft.  The  reaction  of  the  raindrop  at  the  moment 
of  impact  may  be  expended  in  one  sharp,  destructive  blow  if  it  strikes 
solidly  on  bare  soil,  (Fig.  38)  much  as  the  shot  or  bullet  leaving  the 
gun  barrel  strikes  a  target.  This  is  the  point  where  most  people  fail 
utterly  to  comprehend  the  natural  force  involved  in  rainfall.  In  a 
climate  of  40  inches  of  rain  per  year,  something  like  4500  tons  of 
water  fall  on  each  acre  (an  area  not  much  over  200  feet  square)  each 

83 


84  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

year.  Except  in  the  case  of  drizzles  or  snow,  this  enormous  weight 
drops  from  the  skies  with  a  velocity  which  gives  it  tremendous  strik- 
ing power.  Knowing  these  facts  it  is  perfectly  clear  that  rain  of  even 
average  intensity  cannot  fall  without  marked  effect.  An  intense  rain- 
storm may  in  one  day  skin  off  a  half  inch  of  soil  from  bare  land — 
soil  which  was  from  100  to  500  years  in  the  making.  The  reaction 
may  take  at  least  two  forms : 

(1)  Loam  soil  is  granular  in  structure.    This  permits  the  circula- 
tion of  air,  the  infiltration  of  water,  and  promotes  moisture  adsorp- 
tion as  a  thin  film  on  the  soil  particle  surfaces.     These  three  factors 
are  highly  beneficial  to  plants.    The  impact  of  a  raindrop  breaks  up 
the  soil  crumbs  or  aggregates  on  the  surface.     The  finer  materials 
then  clog  the  soil  pores,  reducing  aeration  and  infiltration.    The 
total  reaction  is  significant  injury  to  the  productive  capacity  of  the 
land.  (Figs.  39,  40,  41.) 

(2)  The  second  direct  result  of  drop  impact  on  bare  soil  occurs 
on  sloping  land  only.    (There  is  very  little  land  which  does  not  slope.) 
The   raindrop   fragments  the  granules   and   also   dislodges   already 
existing  fine  particles.     These  particles  adhere  to  the  water  of  the 
shattered  raindrop,  or  go  into  solution  with  it,  and  are  carried  by  its 
splash  in  all  directions.     Gravity  operates,  causing  more  of  the  ma- 
terials (water  and  soil)  to  fall  downhill  than  uphill.     Thus,  without 
even  taking  into  account  the  erosion  due  to  running  surface  water,  it 
is  obvious  that  the  soil  will  be  gradually  knocked  downhill  by  billions 
of  drop  impacts.    (Fig.  42.)    The  farmer  eventually  will  be  knocked 
off  the  land,  economically  speaking,  and  much  life  directly  useful  to 
man  on  such  areas  will  be  diminished  toward  zero. 

Is  this  unexpected?  Is  not  the  raindrop  chained  to  its  reaction? 
Is  the  soil  not  obedient  to  natural  law  in  reacting  as  it  does? 

Is  there  an  alternative  which  corresponds  to  the  shooter's  end  of 
the  autoloading  gun,  where  natural  reactions  can  be  turned  to  man's 
benefit?  There  is.  Furthermore,  natural  processes  provide  it.  Vege- 
tation diffuses  the  raindrop  reaction  and  prevents  destructive  effects. 
It  does  this  most  efficiently  when  the  climax  vegetation  is  reached. 
The  raindrop  never  or  seldom  strikes  bare  soil;  the  resilient  canopy 
and  the  ground  litter  prevent  it.  (Fig.  43.) 

When  man  disrupts  natural  organization  he  must  be  prepared 
to  take  the  consequences.  Or,  he  must,  through  intellect  and  science, 
provide  cushions  against  the  impacts  of  natural  forces. 

The  Tensions  of  Unbalance.  Life  succession  on  its  way  toward  a 
climax  formation  might  be  compared  with  a  flexible,  internally  active 
sphere  powered  by  the  sun,  rolling  uphill.  As  it  rolls,  the  sphere 
bulges,  now  here,  now  there,  but  always  recovers  its  internal  equili 
brium.  Let  us  imagine  that  as  it  rolls,  it  becomes  more  highly  or- 
ganized internally.  Finally  it  comes  to  rest  at  the  top  of  the  hill,  but 
still  it  teeters  occasionally,  and  bulges  with  an  internal  disturbance  at 
times ;  but,  in  the  main  it  is  relatively  secure  in  its  high  position,  and 
its  internal  troubles  are  not  serious. 


LIFE  AND  THE  NATURAL  LAWS 


85 


39.     Three  soil  samples  with  coins  placed  on  surface.     The  setup  is  similar 
to  a  well  prepared  seedbed. 


FIG-.  40.     After  75  minutes  of  artificial  rain,  the  splash  erosion  is  clearly  evi- 
dent.    The  white  board  behind  the  pots  is  six  inches  away.     On  sloping1  land, 
the  splashed  soil  would  fall  into  the  surface  flow  of  water  and  be  carried  down- 
hill. _  The  coins  illustrate  the  protective  nature  of  mulch. 


FIG.  41.     Soil  samples  covered  by  a  field  mulch  and  subjected  to  rainfall  show 
very  little  soil  movement  from  drop  impact.     Applied  or  not  applied  on  a  nation- 
wide scale,  this  simple  fact  may  determine  whether  or  not  a  country  can  retain 
a   satisfactory  standard  of  living-. 


— ..-&^fc\-Tfe~V 

^^;g&fy*g**l 

*c*        "tf^tf  ~    tf  •  * 

•••  •'*•••  '"^ir •»•*/.. 
*  <^-> 


PIG.  42.  The  result  of  raindrop  splash  erosion.  (The  rod  is  painted  in  one 
inch  sections.)  Where  the  soil  is  protected  by  stone  or  root  or  vegetation, 
erosion  is  foiled.  Here,  surface  flow  had  little  effect  on  the  soil  in  place:  it  did 
not  wash  away  the  pedestals.  The  churning-  and  digging-  by  the  raindrops 
impact  did  the  damag-e.  Surface  flow  merely  carried  away  what  the  drops 

loosened. 


ffi. 


LIFE  AND  THE  NATURAL  LAWS  87 

If  some  abrupt  force  is  directed  against  the  sphere  (the  natural 
community  organization),  it  may  be  ruptured,  or  thrown  back  down 
the  hill,  or  both.  These  dire  effects  are  the  result  of  destroying  the 
state  of  balance,  external,  internal,  or  both. 

It  is  not  easy  to  draw  up  an  analogy  illustrating  balance  and  un- 
balance in  nature.  Let  us  try  again.  Nature  is  not  balanced  like  a 
scale  sitting  undisturbed  in  a  bankrupt  store.  It  is  more  like  a  double 
platform  balance  scale  which  has  been  turned  over  to  a  dozen  five 
year  old  children  for  their  amusement.  The  scale  will  do  its  best  to 
stay  balanced,  but  what  chance  will  it  have,  with  someone  forever 
stepping  up  and  with  a  finger  tapping  one  side  or  the  other  ?  At  the 
same  time  this  is  going  on,  a  master  mechanic  is  at  work  on  the  scale, 
trying  to  improve  it,  making  it  more  complex,  more  useful  to  man. 
When  and  if  he  succeeds,  the  disturbers  are  still  at  play.  (To  com- 
plete the  picture  let  us  introduce  an  adult  human  lunatic  who  comes 
in  the  midst  of  the  procedure  and  starts  kicking  the  scale  around.) 

The  old  truth  that  "nature  abhors  a  vacuum"  can  be  altered  to 
"nature  abhors  unbalance,"  and  while  the  total  landscape  is  hardly 
ever  in  exact  balance,  it  is  usually  somewhere  near  it,  and  always  sub- 
ject to  forces  operating  toward  balance.  There  are  tensions  set  up 
by  the  ever  recurring  unbalances.  From  the  viewpoint  of  power, 
energy  is  expended  by  the  community  of  plants  and  animals  in  re- 
gaining lost  balance.  This  energy  of  repair  cannot  be  converted  by 
man  to  his  service  without  prolonging  the  unbalance.  If  nature  covers 
a  poor  field  with  weeds,  the  result  is  to  reduce  erosion  and  replace 
humus.  If  man  burns  these  weeds  he  delays  the  restorative  process. 

From  a  practical  angle,  man  will  gain  in  the  long  run  by  putting 
additional  energy  into  the  unbalanced  condition,  with  the  purpose 
of  improving  it.  He  can,  if  science  is  able  to  guide  him  in  the  pro- 
cedure, accomplish  two  ends :  the  unbalance  may  be  brought  nearer  to 
equilibrium,  and  the  climax  conditions  may  be  approached.  This 
additional  energy  might,  for  instance,  consist  of  laying  out  a  system  of 
strip  cropping,  or  planting  trees,  or  fertilizing,  or  growing  and  plow- 
ing down  a  green  manure  crop,  or  constructing  a  compost  heap  and 
later  applying  it  to  the  land. 

Propagation  of  Damage.  Physicists  perform  a  demonstration  in 
which  several  solid  balls  are  hung,  by  threads,  in  contact  in  a  straight 
line.  An  end  ball  is  swung  against  one  end  of  the  line  and  the  ball 
on  the  other  end  hops  out  into  space.  Only  the  end  balls  move.  The 
force  is  transmitted  through  the  intervening  balls  with  little  loss  of 
effect. 

When  damage  is  done  to  a  climax  of  life  and  environment  much 
the  same  thing  happens. 


FIG.  43.  An  epic  of  survival.  This  oak,  pulsing-  with  life,  stands  on  its  island 
of  normality  in  a  sea  of  California  abnormality.  Its  roots  and  its  self-created 
protective  mulch  have  held  the  soil  which  supports  it.  The  surrounding-  waste- 
land was  once  pasture.  Overgrazed,  the  protective  canopy  of  stems,  leaves,  and 
mulch  was  destroyed  by  bad  management.  The  weakened  fingers  of  life  let  go 
their  hold.  The  hills  poured  a  terrible  flood  of  water  and  earth  onto  the  farms 

and  towns  below. 


88  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

A  severe  forest  fire  creates  an  unbalance,  to  put  it  mildly.  One 
distant  result  may  be  that  ten  years  later  a  truck  falls  through  a 
bridge  30  miles  away — because  the  tax  income  for  proper  maintenance 
of  the  bridge  went  with  the  forest  land  value. 

Let  us  follow  the  trail  of  the  unbalance  more  closely.  After  the 
fire,  the  soil  is  exposed  because  the  leaf  litter  and  a  large  part  of  the 
topsoil  humus  have  been  burned  and  nitrogen  returned  to  the  air. 
When  rain  comes  the  ashes  on  the  land  become  a  paste  which  seals  the 
surface.  This  results  in  a  high  per  cent  of  runoff,  which,  here  and 
there  in  depressions,  concentrates  large  quantities  of  flowing  surface 
water.  This  inevitably  starts  gully  cutting,  and  is  the  forerunner  of 
floods.  As  the  ashes  are  gradually  dissolved  and  washed  off  by  subse- 
quent rains,  both  sheet  and  gully  erosion  proceed  more  rapidly.  In 
the  meantime  the  strongly  alkaline  ashes  render  small  streams  unfit 
for  aquatic  plant  and  animal  life;  fish  are  either  killed  outright  or 
driven  out  of  the  area.  (During  intense  forest  fire,  fish  have  actually 
been  boiled  alive.) 

Fish  may  not  return  for  several  years,  because  silt  will  continue 
to  pollute  and  cloud  the  water,  interfering  seriously  with  aquatic 
plant  growth  by  reducing  photosynthesis.  The  destruction  of  vegeta- 
tion along  the  stream  eliminates  shade  and  the  water  temperature  may 
rise.  (It  may,  for  example,  pass  that  critical  72  degrees  which  trout 
cannot  endure.)  Gone  too  are  the  insects,  both  adult  and  larval,  which 
once  dropped  from  the  shore  vegetation  to  help  feed  the  fish  below. 

The  destruction  of  organic  matter  by  heat  oxidation  on  and  in  the 
soil,  and  erosion  and  compaction  by  rain  of  the  soil  itself,  mean  that 
its  fertility  and  its  ability  to  absorb  water  have  been  markedly  de- 
creased. The  soil's  ability  to  sustain  life  has  been  diminished  in  pro- 
portion to  the  amount  of  damage  done  before  the  complex  process  of 
destruction  is  stopped.  In  relation  to  time,  this  destruction  is  very 
significant  to  humans,  since  it  is  estimated  by  soil  scientists  that  from 
200  to  1,000  years  is  required  by  nature  to  produce  an  inch  of  topsoil. 

With  the  soil  go  the  organisms,  the  small  and  microscopic  plants 
and  animals  which  are  essential  to  maintaining  a  fertile  topsoil.  The 
reduced  shade  increases  soil  temperature  and  speeds  up  oxidation  of 
any  remaining  humus.  The  larger  forms  of  animal  life  are  driven  out 
of  the  burned  area;  some  of  them  doubtless  were  killed  by  the  fire. 
They  cannot  come  back  immediately  because  their  food  and  shelter  are 
gone. 

By  such  a  fire  and  its  erosional  aftermath  the  entire  climax  com- 
munity has  been  destroyed  (See  Fig.  21.)  The  area  has  been  rendered 
bare  and  succession  will  set  in  with  the  invasion  of  such  pioneer  plants 
and  animals  as  can  exist  in  the  denuded  area.  For  a  considerable 
period,  the  amount  of  photosynthesis  will  be  small.  When  enough 
herbaceous  material  is  present,  animals  such  as  rabbits  and  field  mice 
will  come  into  the  territory.  They  will  eat  many  of  the  seedling  trees 
and  shrubs,  and  seeds  which  are  blown  in.  Hawks,  foxes,  and  owls 
will  come  to  feed  on  the  rodents.  The  long  and  arduous  trail  back 
to  climax  begins. 


LIFE  AND  THE  NATURAL  LAWS  89 

Man  suffers — directly  in  the  vicinity,  indirectly  in  all  the  coun- 
try. Jobs  have  vanished,  recreational  opportunities  are  gone,  ugliness 
has  replaced  beauty.  The  nation  is  deprived  of  the  raw  materials 
and  the  finished  goods  which  might  have  been.  Timber  is  scarcer  and 
prices  go  higher.  The  nation's  standard  of  living  has  been  set  down 
a  notch, 

Surface  Symptoms  of  Unbalance.  A  forest  fire  announces  its 
presence  at  once.  Its  activity  is  rapid  and  the  result  visible  in  hours, 
days,  or  weeks.  There  are  other  forces  which  bring  about  unbalance 
in  a  slow  and  subtle  manner.  The  climax  environment  may  be  un- 
dermined and  eased  out  so  slowly  that  the  resident  people  do  not 
realize  what  is  taking  place.  Science,  and  even  unlearned  close  ob- 
servers, have  cataloged  many  symptoms  of  such  community  disease. 

Muddy  water  means  erosion.  Erosion  means  a  deterioration  of  the 
landscape,  if  it  was  ever  well  developed  vegetatively.  Deterioration 
of  the  landscape  means  loss  of  fertility  and  inveitable  deterioration 
of  the  social  order,  with  accompanying  ills  in  economics,  public  serv- 
ices, health,  living  standards. 

Broomsedge  means  lack  of  essential  minerals,  particularly  phos- 
phorus, which  means  lower  yields,  poorer  stock,  less  income,  and  all 
the  endless  chain  of  causes  and  effects  which  follow. 

Drying  up  of  formerly  copious  springs  might  possibly  mean  a  drier 
climate ;  the  rainfall  record  will  check  this.  Nearly  always  it  indicates 
that  the  climax  conditions  are  gone.  The  soil  and  vegetation  are  no 
longer  holding  the  rainfall  long  enough  for  adequate  infiltration  to 
take  place. 

Complaints  of  hunters  about  lack  of  game  may  well  mean  in  some 
cases  that  fertility  is  going,  that  food  and  shelter  have  fallen  off. 

Gradual  increase  in  the  area  of  pasture  or  range  necessary  to  sup- 
port a  grazing  animal  is  a  reliable  sign  of  landscape  regression. 

The  increasing  frequency  and  height  of  floods  indicates  that  climax 
conditions  are  being  lost  over  large  watershed  areas. 

Decreasing  catches  of  freshwater  and  marine  fish  and  shellfish  may 
mean  overfishing,  or  more  reasonably  may  mean  that  the  productivity 
of  the  environment  is  being  injured.  It  may  mean  both. 

The  recurring  need  for  dredging  of  harbors  means  that  soil  is 
coming  off  the  farms  to  fill  such  harbors  with  silt.  Climax  conditions 
do  not  provide  for  any  such  loss.  Apparently  the  climax  has  vanished 
on  the  harbor 's  watershed. 

These  and  other  symptoms  reveal  inner  disorders  which  need  im- 
mediate diagnosis  and  treatment,  or  else — 

Adjustment  Inadequate.  Slow  as  the  deterioration  of  the  land- 
scape may  be  from  a  human  viewpoint,  it  is  a  screaming  dive  to  the 
plants  involved.  Even  man,  the  most  adjustable  of  all  life  forms, 
cannot  continue  to  live  and  support  himself  on  many  areas  where 


<J»    «.*,« 
^»  f~rv- 

"  ;    -'  ^ 


•    ':  . 


FIG.  44.  This  is  the  end  result  of  breaking  natural  laws  on  the  landscape.  The 
gully  will  soon  claim  the  house,  then  the  road  beyond.  But,  what  good  is  a 
house  or  a  road  when  the  people  have  been  exiled  from  the  farm — sentenced  by 
the  court  of  natural  justice.  And,  for  how  many  generations  will  the  children 
suffer  for  the  incompetence  of  the  father? 


once  he  was  prosperous  and  well  fed.  Organisms  are  flexible  only 
in  a  relative  sense  and  within  the  critical  limits  of  the  fluctuating 
ecological  factors,  of  sunlight,  temperature,  moisture,  etc. 

The  tedious  and  unnoticed  decline  of  a  community,  whether  we 
think  of  a  plant,  a  lower  animal,  a  human,  or  a  total  community  in- 
volving the  complexity  of  an  entire  earth  segment  —  such  a  decline 
is  an  ecological  disaster  of  the  first  order.  (Fig.  44.) 

The  encouraging  fact  is  that,  while  Nature  is  relentless  in  her 
justice  for  those  who  break  the  law,  for  those  who  unleash  destructive 
forces,  Nature  is  also  invariably  just  to  those  who  have  the  wit  to 
operate  within  the  law. 

It  is  not  always  easy  for  the  uninformed  to  tell  whether  he  is 
working  with  Nature  or  against  her.  It  is  a  common  practice  in  vari- 
ous parts  of  this  country  and  others  to  burn  over  annually  either  open 
field  or  woodland  pastures.  The  general  opinion  among  herdsmen  is 
that  the  young,  green  vegetation  which  springs  up  after  the  burn  is 
much  better  than  the  tough,  unappetizing  plants  which  were  burned. 
At  least  it  offers  improved  grazing  for  a  few  weeks.  The  question  is 
whether  this  is  good  or  bad.  What  will  the  verdict  of  nature  be? 

90 


91 


From  what  we  know  of  the  slow  development  of  environment  (par- 
ticularly soil  fertility  which  represents  energy  stored  from  the  ex- 
penditures of  many  generations  of  plants  and  animals  and  from  the 
long  weathering  effects  of  climatic  forces)  we  should  suspect  that  the 
rapid  release  of  the  environment's  energy  by  combustion  wrould  repre- 
sent a  loss  to  the  landowner  out  of  proportion  to  the  gain. 

There  are  perhaps  cases  in  which  practical  gain  may  exceed  practi- 
cal loss,  as  when  the  burning  of  western  scrub  (shrubs  or  stunted  trees 
which  are  of  little  value  for  grazing,  or  anything  else)  will  permit 
grasses  to  grow,  and  provide  some  return  to  the  human  race.  Even 
this  is  a  highly  questionable  procedure  unless  carefully  controlled, 
and  usually  succeeds  only  if  the  area  is  seeded  to  grass  by  man. 

Careful  studies  on  plots  in  Kansas,  over  a  six  year  period,  show 
unburned  pasture  producing  45  per  cent  greater  yield  than  from 
autumn-burned  dry  plots.1  The  same  scientists  mention  studies  show- 
ing that  burning  of  bluegrass  pasture  is  harmful,  and  that  burning 
of  chaparral,  mesquite,  and  in  some  cases  sagebrush,  soon  resulted  in 
increasing  the  scrub  at  the  expense  of  the  grasses.  There  are  cases  in 
which  dominance  is  shared  by  scrub  and  grasses;  there,  one  may  be 
eliminated,  leaving  the  field  to  the  other — for  a  time  at  least. 

The  burning  of  woodland  pasture  each  year  usually  dooms  the 
trees.  Reproduction  is  prevented  by  killing  or  injuring  the  seedlings 
so  that  they  fall  prey  to  insects  or  fungus  attack.  Injury  to  the  mature 
trees  shortens  their  life  and  reduces  their  value. 

Where  the  cultural  pattern  of  man  touches  the  basic  requirements 
of  life,  that  pattern  must  constantly  be  re-evaluated  in  the  light  of 
new  knowledge.  Time  and  again  man's  culture  has  threatened  and 
destroyed  its  own  foundation.  The  great  demands  which  the  present 
huge  world  population  makes  on  the  environment  permits  of  no 
further  errors  if  civilization  is  to  continue  its  progress.  The  rise 
and  fall  of  past  cultures  offers  fair  warning  that  Nature  reacts  with 
certainty  to  errors  in  landscape  management. 


iWeaver  and  Clements,  Plant  Ecology,  McGraw-Hill,  New  York,  1938,  p.  29. 


PIG-.  45.      "The  grandeur  that  was  Rome."      Here  a  portion  of  Timgad,   Roman 

city  in  North  Africa    ( Algeria),  has  been  cleaned  up  by  the   French.      Observe 

the    perfect    harmony    between    city    and    landscape — both    wrecked. 


SSMHifc^: 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  PROBLEM  OF  MAINTAINING  THE 

CLIMAX 


In  previous  chapters  we  have  seen  how  maladjustments  arise  in 
natural  communities  due  to  the  fluctuations  of  climate,  the  behavior 
of  lower  animal  populations,  or  the  occasional  violence  of  internal 
earth  forces.  We  have  seen  how  these  unbalances  immediately  set  in 
motion  the  natural  reactions  which,  in  leisurely  but  sure  fashion, 
restore  the  balance  and  usually  the  climax.  Such  maladjustments  are 
not  in  themselves  problems. 

A  problem  can  exist  only  in  the  consciousness  of  an  intellect 
capable  of  perceiving  abstract  relationships — which  is  an  obstuse  way 
of  saying  that  if  we  don't  know  there  is  a  problem,  there  isn't  one. 

Is  There  a  Problem?  To  make  certain  that  there  is  a  point  to  this 
discussion,  and  to  supplement  casual  observation,  let  us  list  on  a 
national  scale  some  of  the  ecological  disasters  which  have  befallen 
us.  These  disasters,  be  it  noted,  are  man-induced  and  man-aggravated. 
They  first  should  be  man-repaired ;  and  in  the  future,  man-prevented. 
This  requires  research  into,  and  understanding  of,  natural  law  on  the 
landscape,  followed  as  quickly  as  possible  by  application  of  such 
knowledge.  Already,  we  know  much  more  than  we  apply.  Securing 
such  application  is  a  problem  in  education  and  statesmanship. 


FIG.  46.  Water  hauling'  is  a  symptom  of  a  diseased  landscape.  The  drying1  up  of 
spring's,  and  wells,  and  streams  rarely  occurs  where  adequate  vegetation  covers 
the  land.  Such  water-lack  usually  indicates  too  much  runoff,  not  enough  soak-in. 


MAINTAINING  THE  CLIMAX  93 

Erosion:  There  are  roughly  2,000,000,000  acres  in  the  United 
States.  Of  these,  282,000,000  have  been  ruined  or  severely  damaged 
by  erosion.  Moderately  damaged  are  775,000,000  acres.  Neither  of 
these  figures  includes  mountains,  mesas,  or  badlands.  Of  our  most 
valuable  acres,  the  croplands,  nearly  one-half  (200,000,000)  have  lost 
at  least  half  their  topsoil  by  erosion.1  For  comparison,  erosion  has 
cut  the  living  skin  off  lands  which  total  more  than  10  times  the  size 
of  Ohio. 

Floods:  We  have  always  had  floods,  but  records  show  increasing 
frequency  and  height.  The  river  gage  at  Memphis  over  a  47  year 
period  (1890-1937)  has  shown  a  gradual  rise  of  15  feet  in  flood  crests.2 
The  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  these  15  feet  have  cost  is  less  im- 
portant than  the  human  suffering.  The  causes  of  flood  increase  are 
losses  of  sod,  forest,  and  topsoil  with  their  water  holding  capacity.3 
Floods  and  erosion  are  intimately  related.  Our  annual  flood  bill 
averages  around  $250,000,000. 

Water  Table:  The  underground  water  table  of  Ohio  has  been 
falling  an  average  of  one  foot  per  year  for  some  25  years  or  more, 
according  to  the  Ohio  Geological  Survey.  Many  industries  depending 
on  well  water  are  alarmed.  New  factories  of  many  types  requiring 
abundant  water  cannot  come  into  some  areas  because  of  the  water 
table  situation.  Farm  springs  and  wells  fail  in  every  dry  period 
in  many  parts  of  the  country.  Many  streams  and  farm  ponds  dry  up 
periodically,  forcing  water  hauling,  (Fig.  46)  adding  to  the  cost  of 
livestock  production  and  reducing  its  quality.  The  same  thing  is 
happening  in  most  eastern  states,  in  the  plains  region,  in  California's 
Central  Valley.  In  the  west,  artesian  wells  have  rather  generally 
ceased  to  flow  and,  motor  driven  pumps  have  been  installed  by  the 
thousands;  they  draw  down  and  are  exhausting  some  of  the  great 
artesian  basins  fed  by  mountain  waters.4  The  supply  is  fed  in  by  cli- 
mate and  is  limited,  but  man  tends  to  recognize  no  limit  until  forced 
to  do  so  by  threatened  bankruptcy.  Denuding  the  watershed  by  forest 
destruction  and  overgrazing  encourages  surface  runoff  and  floods, 
and  reduces  even  the  natural  recharging  rate  of  underground  water. 

Drainage:  Extensive  swamp  and  marsh  drainage  has  destroyed 
biologic  values  such  as  aquatic  and  terrestrial  wildlife,  stopped  ground 
water  recharging  in  some  cases  and  stream  flow  in  others.  The  pur- 
pose of  such  drainage  usually  has  been  to  Drovide  farm  land,  but  in 
a  large  per  cent  of  cases  only  alkali  or  acid  deserts  have  resulted. 
Two-thirds  of  the  80,000  drained  acres  of  Wisconsin's  Great  Swamp 
turned  out  to  be  unprofitable  for  farming.  Similar  results  have 


1U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture,  Soils  and  Men,  Yearbook,  1938,  p.  593. 

2Eenner,  G.  T.,  Conservation  of  National  Resources,  John  Wiley  and  Sons,  Inc., 
New  York,  1942,  p.  91. 

3Wales  and  Lathrop,  Conservation  of  Natural  Resources,  Laurel  Book  Co.,  Chi- 
cago, 1944,  p.  226. 

4Chase,  Stuart,  Rich  Land,  Poor  Land,  McGra-y-Hill,  New  York,  1936,  pp. 
140-142. 


94 


MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 


MODESTO  NEEDS  SEWERS 
-IT'S  UP  TO  YOU 


TAKE  THE  STINK  &NB  FILTH 
OUT  OF  THE  RIVER 


VOTE  ji VOTE  YES     VOTEm VOTE  YES 

DECEMBER    1O  ;  DECEMBER    10 


Would  you  eat  ffsh  caught  here?    Would  you 

*wlm  her*?   Would  you  enjoy  boating  her«? 

IT'S  A  PICTURE  of  OUR  RIVER  TODAY! 

The  State  o!  California  was  "MM  Jail  Talking"  whop  Uwy 
told  ta  thai  we  mail  STOP  uunq  tht  rfv«r  far  *  S«wet. 

Adequate  S«we«  to  S«v«  Our  Horn**  ml  Oar  Owrtertes, . 

Adequate  Water  wd  Adequate  Fire  righting  Equipment  we  » 

Important  to  «  «.  *»  Food  W»  Eat  «  fe  Air  We  Breathe. 


Ugly  to  took  at,  Foul  to  Smelt, 

Breeder  of  Disease 
-IT'S  OUR  RIVER  TODAY! 

Tttn  State  *t  C*lilomU  wa»  "Hot  tut  T.lkioo    W»»B  th»t 
H>M  u»  thai  w*  muu  STOP  attas  Ow  rfv«  f of  a  S«w«r, 

Adequate  Sewer»  to  Serve  Our  Homes  mi  Our  Cmnerlet, 
Adequate  W*tM-  iBd  Adequate  Fire  Fighting  Equipment  arc  »* 
.  Important  t»  us  «  tfce  Food  We  EM  «  *»  Ak  We  Bt cathe. 


FIG.  47.     The  problem  facing-  Modesto,  California,  Is  one  which  hundreds  of  other 

communities  must   also  solve.     The  home   of  our  civilization,   western   Europe, 

long1  ago  cleaned  up  its  streams.     America  is  less  civilized  in  this  respect. 


occurred  in  Minnesota  and  Florida,5  and  on  a  smaller  scale  in  hun- 
dreds of  minor  areas.     The  damage  is  difficult  to  assess  in  dollars. 


p.  144. 


FIG.  48.    This  sign,  along-  the  Des  Flaines  river  northwest  of  Chicago,  has  an  air 
of  permanence  which  reflects  the  entrenched  position  of  pollution  on  the  American 

landscape. 


MAINTAINING  THE  CLIMAX 


95 


The  speculators  grow  rich ;  the  buyers  pay  and  lose.  The  public  must 
foot  the  bill  of  restoring  such  areas  to  their  natural  state  because  we 
need  them  badly  for  water  control  and  wildlife. 

Pollution:  The  pollution  of  inland  and  coastal  waters  by  com- 
mercial and  industrial  wrastes,  sewage,  and  silt  has  destroyed  aquatic 
life  of  commercial,  recreational,  and  sanitary  value  to  the  amount  of 
about  $250,000.000  per  year.6  This  loss,  if  applied  to  purifying  our 


FIG.  49.  Michigan,  and  every 
other  state,  has  its  pollution 
problems.  Sewage  is  strongly 
suspected  in  the  spread  of 
"polio,"  though  positive  proof 
is  yet  lacking. 


NSAf  E  m  SUMMING 
**?£«  POLLUTED  BY 

SEIAGE 
pen.  m  HEALTH 


waters,  would  accomplish  the  task  in  some  15  years.  The  danger  to 
health  is  no  small  one.  Thousands  of  eye,  ear,  nose  and  throat  cases 
«very  year  are  traced  to  swimming  in  polluted  water.  (Figs.  47,  48, 
49.)  Physicians  uniformly  note  an  increase  of  such  cases  with  the  first 
warm  days  of  spring,  when  the  magnetism  of  the  "ole  swimmin'  hole" 
is  strong.  Coshocton,  Ohio,  a  small  city,  in  the  spring  of  1936  suffered 
2,000  cases  of  gastro-enteritis  because  the  Tuscarawas  river  over- 
flowed and  its  pollution  entered  the  city  water  supply.  Typhoid  is 
an  everpresent  danger  in  populated  areas  of  flood.  Twenty  million 
city  people  in  this  country  drink  untreated  water,7  and  endure 
periodic  epidemics  of  amoebic  dysentery  and  other  diseases. 


6Renner,  G.  T.,  op.  cit.,  p.  91. 
7Chase,  Stuart,  op.  cit.,  p.  140, 


96 


MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 


FIG.  50.  Pollution  of  the  most  vicious  variety.  In  this  collection  of  dead  fish, 
many  species  are  represented,  carp  being'  most  common.  When  the  durable  carp 
dies,  the  pollution  is  indeed  severe.  Most  pollution  has  no  such  obvious  result 
as  this.  Usually  the  better  fish  move  out  if  they  can,  or  die  young1,  or  are  un- 
able to  reproduce.  The  water  quietly,  slowly  becomes  barren  of  valuable  species. 


Toxic  chemicals  introduced  into  streams  or  bodies  of  water  kill  or 
discourage  aquatic  plant  life,  which  is  the  basis  of  aquatic  animal  life, 
which  is  of  great  value  to  man.  (Fig.  50.) 

Siltation:  Many  water  power  reservoirs,  stock  ponds,  water  con- 
servation pools,  navigation  pools,  and  natural  or  artificial  lakes  of 
recreational  value  have  been  and  are  being  rapidly  filled  with  silt. 
This  is  caused  primarily  by  denudation  and  erosion  of  the  water- 
sheds, which  in  turn  is  caused  by  ignorance  or  carelessness  in  the 
biologic  management  of  the  land.  The  U.  S.  Department  of  Agricul- 
ture has  made  a  study  of  20  power  reserviors  along  the  south  Appala- 
chian fall  line  which  have  filled  completely  with  silt  in  an  average  of 
30  years  each,  some  in  as  little  as  20  years.  (Fig.  51.)  The  cause  was 
determined  to  be  erroneous  land  use  with  its  resulting  erosion. 
O'Shaugnessy  reservior  on  the  Scioto  River  above  Columbus,  Ohio, 
was  reported  in  the  same  study  to  have  a  use  expectancy  of  145  years, 
due  to  its  less  hilly  and  less  eroding  watershed.8  Even  this  situation 
is  far  from  satisfactory  to  Columbus  since  the  capacity  of  this  water 
supply  reservior  is  shrinking  while  the  city  is  growing.  This  situation 


8U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture,  Siltation  of  Reservoirs,  1940,  pp.  139-140. 


MAINTAINING  THE  CLIMAX 


97 


has  forced  the  planning  of  an  additional  reservior,   recently  com- 
pleted at  a  cost  of  millions. 

Forest  Destruction:  One-third  of  U.  S.  forest  land  has  been  con- 
verted to  farms.  Not  more  than  half  the  original  forests  now  carry 
any  commercial  timber,  even  of  low  quality.  Not  more  than  one-third 
are  producing  trees  large  enough  to  be  called  saw-logs.0  The  1944  re- 
port of  the  Chief  of  the  U.  S.  Forest  Service  estimated  that  cuttm* 
forest  fires,  and  disease  were,  in  that  year,  destroying  trees  twice  as 
fast  as  they  were  growing,  and  that  saw  timber  was  goino-  out  five 
times  as  fast.  (Fig.  52) 

Overgrazing:  Of  our  728,000,000  acres  of  rangeland,  37  percent 
js  severely  depleted ;  16  percent  is  nearly  devastated  by  overgrazing.10 


OBascd  on  U.  S.  Forest  Services  figures,  which  themselves  are  approximations. 
10Keuner,  G.  T.,  op.  cit.,  p.  124. 


the 


'  r*  ^iV1^11  2-°  years  the  Ma-yfair  Mills  power  reservoir  at  Spartans- 

C;:  was  *lled.  Y^h  mud'     This  is  not  Particularly  hilly  country,  yet  the 
nvt£™Ta-«rS*hed  have  C01ltritou*ed  a  lakeful  of  soil.     The  soil  was  lost! 
investment   in    dam,    reservoir,    and   powerhouse    was   lost;   jobs    were   lost 
recreational  values  were  lost.     What  was  gained?    One  mudhole 


m 


FIG-.  52.  Clear  cutting1  is  often  followed  by  erosion.  There  is  no  natural 
reseeding-  here,  because  no  seed  trees  were  left  for  that  purpose.  Hundreds  of 
thousands  of  such  non-reproducing'  forest  land  acres  are  added  to  the  National 

debit  each  year. 


It  is  highly  probable  that  well  over  50  percent  of  the  possible  photo- 
sj^nthesis  has  ceased  on  such  lands,  and  is  greatly  reduced  on  three- 
fourths  of  the  range.  Even  where  photosynthesis  approaches  that  of 
the  virgin  climax,  it  is,  on  many  ranges,  today  being  channeled  through 
species  inferior  for  livestock  feeding.  The  same  statements  generally 
hold  true  for  the  nation's  farm  pastures  and  meadows,  considered  as 
a  whole.  (Fig.  53) 

Wildlife  Decline:  The  wildlife  of  this  country  has  been  subject  to 
increasing  pressure  ever  since  the  first  settlement  was  founded.  Con- 
sidering the  figures  and  statements  given  above,  there  can  be  no  ques- 
tion that  on  such  injured  lands  and  in  such  polluted  waters  the  wild 
animal  population  cannpt  approach  what  it  once  was.  Commercial 
hunters  in  the  past  have  made  phenomenal  kills  of  game.  It  would 
be  very  rare  for  a  hunter  today  to  encounter  a  situation  where  such 
kills  would  be  possible,  even  if  the  law  allowed  it.  The  hauls  of  com- 
mercial fishermen  have  been  fairly  well  tabulated  for  many  decades. 
Many  preferred  fish  such  as  the  Atlantic  salmon,  the  shad,  the  lake 
herring,  have  almost  disappeared  from  the  nets.  There  are  several 
reasons,  the  most  basic  being  the  destruction  of  plant  food  and  shelter. 

Some  Principles  of  Conservation.  Maintaining  the  conditions  of 
climax  on  damaged  areas  must,  of  course,  await  restoration  of  climax 
conditions.  Assuming  that  we  can  restore  them  in  time,  and  even  sur- 
pass Nature  in  some  instances,  by  the  application  of  money,  effort, 
and  scientific  knowledge,  how  can  these  desirable  conditions  then  be 
maintained  ?  There  are  five  principles  which  must  be  applied. 

98 


MAINTAINING  THE  CLIMAX 


99 


(1)  Whenever  possible,  the  loosing  of  violent  natural  forces  must 
be  prevented. 

(2)  Reserves  of  nutrients,  moisture  and  shelter  must  be  main- 
tained.  Reserves  of  breeding  stock  are  essential. 

(3)  If  individual  quality  is  desired,  population  must  be  adjusted 
to  resources. 

(4)  Living  standard  must  be  adjusted  to  resource  income. 

(5)  In  altering  land  use  from  its  natural  state,  a  substitute  clu 
max  must  be  used. 

Let  us  consider  these  five  principles : 

Avoid  Violent  Reactions.  If  the  total  energy  of  a  reaction  can  be 
diffused  through  a  greater  mass  of  matter  or  over  a  longer  period  of 
time,  its  violence  is  reduced ;  if  the  cause  of  the  reaction  is  eliminated, 
there  will,  of  course,  be  no  reaction. 

The  violence  of  a  reaction  is  relative.  From  the  viewpoint  of  hu- 
man culture,  even  the  span  of  a  man's  life  is  questionable  as  the  unit 
of  time  to  be  used  as  a  category.  Any  destructive  reaction  on  the  land- 


FIG.  53.  Insult  added  to  Iowa  injury.  Among  civilized  people  it  is  considered 
poor  form,  to  stomp  on  an  opponent  when  he  is  down.  This  field  is  getting  no 
mercy.  The  original  prairie  grasses  here  were  several  feet  tall,  making  erosion 
impossible.  The  virgin,  black  soil  was  among  the  world's  best.  Wildlife  was 

plentiful.     Today  .... 


100  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

scape  which  is  swift  enough  to  be  noticeable  in  a  human  generation 
must  be  classed  as  very  violent. 

Violent  reactions  have  been  and  are  even  now  being  brought  about 
6y: 

(1)  Burning  of  forests,  savannahs,  grasslands  and  scrub 

(2)  Careless  lumbering  operations  which  destroy  young  growth 
(«nd  fail  to  provide  for  reseeding 

(3)  Over-grazing  of  rangelands  and  farm  pastures 

(4)  Cultivating  steep  hillsides  or  long  slopes 

(5)  Continuous  planting  of  the  same  crop  year  after  year 

(6)  Failure  to  return  humus  to  the  soil 

(7)  Over-hunting  and  over-fishing 

(8)  Unnecessary  destruction  of  food  and  shelter  for  wildlife 

(9)  Planned  and  sustained  attacks  on  certain  predatory  animals, 
such  as  hawks,  owls,  foxes,  pumas. 

(10)  Concentrating  toxins  in  air  and  water  sufficient  to  reduce  life 
processes 

(11)  Interposing  light-reducing  obstacles  between   the   sun   and 
chlorophyll 

(12)  Withdrawing  ground  water  faster  than  it  can  be  replaced 

(13)  Drainage  of  sub-marginal  lands 

(14)  Strip-mining 

(15)  Destroying  sod  on  dry  and  windy  areas 

(16)  Drawing  on  fertility  faster  than  it  is  restored  . 

The  reaction  of  one  or  more  of  the  above  activities  on  the  landscape 
is  in  reality  a  complex  of  reactions.  The  complex  involves  two  or 
more  reactions :  on  soil,  water,  light,  temperature,  air.  The  reactions 
on  soil,  for  example,  may  be  classified  as  they  relate  to,  or  alter:  (a) 
the  soil  formation  process,  (b)  soil  structure,  (c)  soil  texture,  (d) 
soil  water,  (e)  soil  solutions,  (f )  soil  gases.  There  are  physical,  chem- 
ical and  biologic  reactions  involved  (one  or  more)  in  all  the  changes 
mentioned.  This  highly  intricate  web  of  relationships  has  its  weak 
spots,  and  these  offer  opportunity  for  setting  off  a  chain  of  reactions, 
each  of  which  may  be  minor,  but  which  pile  up  a  cumulative  power 
and  violence  sufficient  to  boot  man  off  the  landscape. 

Reserves  Must  Be  Maintained.  Climate  is  the  long  term  charac- 
teristics of  weather.  The  weather  averages  commonly  quoted  are  use- 
less in  providing  a  true  picture  of  climate.  We  must  know  the  daily, 
monthly,  annual  and  cyclical  (if  any)  ranges  of  climatic  factors  in 
order  to  understand  the  nature  of  such  forces  as  they  react  on  the 
environment.  (We  will  pass  over  the  grand  scale  climatic  shifts 
which  must  be  spoken  of  in  terms  of  geologic  time,  such  as  those  ac- 
companying continental  ice  sheets.)  Much  study  has  been  given  to 
finding  some  basis  for  forecasting  climatic  variations  over  a  period  of 
years.  The  sunspot  theory  is  current,  and  seems  to  offer  some  corre- 
lation. Eleven  years  appears  to  be  the  time  unit  of  cycles  in  both 
climatic  and  sunspot  activity.  There  also  seem  to  be  super-cycles, 


MAINTAINING  THE  CLIMAX  101 

which  are  poorly  understood  and  which  render  short  cycle  forecasting 
unreliable.  One  thing  we  are  sure  of ;  the  available  records  and  human 
memory  confirm  it:  notable  fluctuations  do  occur. 

A  case  in  point  is  the  Great  Plains.  The  drought  of  the  1930 's 
drove  over  160,000  suffering,  bankrupt  people  out  of  the  dustbowls. 
In  the  1940 's  many  farmers  in  these  same  areas  harvested  bumper 
crops.  The  rains  came  again.  The  question  is:  are  the  short-term 
benefits  an  equitable  payment  for  the  human  misery,  the  economic  dis- 
tress, and  the  land  damage  of  the  dustbowls? 

Under  the  natural  climax  vegetation  of  the  plains,  blowing  is  ef- 
fectively controlled  in  large  degree  (but  not  entirely  on  the  western 
edge).  Nature  provides  means  of  maintaining  reserves  of  moisture- 
holding  humus,  soil-holding  roots,  wind-retarding  stems  and  leaves. 
These  reserves  enable  the  natural  vegetation  of  the  plains  to  survive 
the  inevitable  and  recurring  droughts. 

In  nature,  fertility  loss  has  never  been  a  problem  to  a  going  com- 
munity. Plants  on  the  whole  never  exhaust  their  environment  if 
spared  the  ministrations  of  man.  They  maintain  reserves  against  all 
but  cataclysmic  changes.  Even  fire  must  be  severe  and  probably  wind 
driven  to  destroy  completely  a  forest  climax.  Prairie  fires  seldom 
if  ever  wipe  out  the  climax.  Moisture  reserves  not  only  aid  in  pro- 
tecting perennial  roots,  but  some  deep  moisture  may  remain  after  the 
fire,  to  speed  their  recovery.  These  statements  do  not  detract  from 
the  damage  done  by  fire,  especially  from  man's  viewpoint,  but  do  em- 
phasize that  destruction  of  a  climax  involves  a  very  real  violence.  Sel- 
dom, under  natural  conditions,  do  floods  or  insect  plagues  succeed 
in  doing  more  than  minor  damage  as  far  as  the  climax  is  concerned. 

Man,  in  his  management  of  the  land  and  its  life  must  be  conserva- 
tive. Reserves  against  the  unfavorable  extremes  of  climate  are  re- 
quired for  a  relatively  stable  and  secure  existence.  Venture  and 
chance-taking  are  not  ruled  out  unless  losing  the  gamble  with  nature 
will  result  in  long  term  damage  out  of  proportion  to  the  possible  win- 
nings. The  odds  must  be  considered — and  not  from  the  individual's 
standpoint,  but  from  that  of  society.  The  plains  farmer  who  can  salt 
away  $50,000  in  three  or  four  favorable  years  can  retire,  but  if  be- 
fore he  quits,  he  ruins  a  thousand  acres  of  land  for  decades  to  come 
he  has  committed  a  crime  against  nature  and  his  fellowmen. 

The  principle  of  reserves  applies  to  many  facets  of  landscape  man- 
agement. It  is  a  principle  well  known  to  businessmen,  industrialists, 
and  investors.  Safety  demands  conservative  use  of  funds,  the  main- 
tenance of  reserves  for  emergencies.  The  management  of  biologic  in- 
vestments requires  equal  conservatism.  For  instance,  some  animals 
must  have  reserves  of  number,  as  in  the  case  of  the  bobwhite  quail. 

In  areas  where  severe  weather  strikes  for  even  a  few  days,  quail 
may  die  off  by  whole  coveys.  The  quail  is  a  gregarious  bird.  Its  life 
pattern  includes  the  covey  for  a  good  reason.  In  severe  weather  the 
covey  packs  itself  into  a  tight  circle.  The  conservation  of  body  heat 
by  this  tactic  often  means  survival.  If  the  group  is  too  small,  for  any 


102  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

reason  (including  overshooting  of  a  covey),  the  circle  of  mutual  pro- 
tection against  cold  is  too  loose  to  be  effective.  Thus,  the  hunter  must 
govern  his  take  from  each  covey,  if  he  wishes  to  hunt  another  year. 
To  reduce  a  covey  below  ten  birds  may  wipe  out  the  reserve  social 
strength  needed  in  emergencies. 

The  extinction  of  species  such  as  the  passenger  pigeon,  and  the 
heath  hen  shows  what  can  happen.  Long  before  these  birds  disap- 
peared from  the  earth,  heroic  efforts  were  made  to  save  them.  But, 
the  damage  had  been  done.  Their  biologic  recuperative  power  fell 
too  low.  Their  protective  reserve  included  number,  and  the  necessary 
number  finally  did  not  exist.  At  that  point  nothing  could  save  the 
remainder.  The  trumpeter  swan  has  been  hanging  on  just  above  this 
point  for  several  years. 

Animals  whose  nature  is  non-gregarious  do  not  depend  as  much 
upon  reserves  of  number.  Of  course,  they  need  reserves  of  food  and 
shelter,  as  do  all  animals.  In  no  case  can  a  population,  whether  plant 
or  animal,  be  maintained  without  a  certain  seed  stock  or  breeding 
stock.  The  intelligent  management  of  this  factor  is  complicated  by  the 
cyclic  rise  and  fall  in  population,  particularly  of  wild  animals.  The 
muskrat  cycle  may  find  only  one-tenth  as  many  animals  at  the  low 
point  as  at  the  high.  Obviously,  the  exertion  of  additional  pressures, 
from  human  sources,  at  the  cyclic  low  is  dangerous  to  the  species. 
The  regulation  of  duck  hunting  in  recent  years  has  been  a  matter  of 
skating  as  near  thin  ice  as  possible.  No  one  knows  exactly  where  the 
danger  point  is.  The  only  way  of  learning  would  result  in  extinction 
of  a  species,  perhaps  several  species.  We  cannot  afford  to  find  out. 
To  be  safe,  we  must  maintain  ample  reserves  of  every  known  factor 
related  to  survival. 

Population  and  Resources.  We  cannot  support  ten  cattle  on  an 
acre  of  meadow  for  more  than  a  few  weeks  at  most.  Following  the 
initial  stage  of  plenty  comes  persistent  hunger  and  the  consumption 
of  the  less  palatable  and  ordinarily  untouched  plants.  Then  mal- 
nourishment  proceeds  as  the  animal  body  consumes  itself  by  utilizing 
the  sugars  stored  as  starch,  in  fat,  and  in  protein.  Starvation  ends  in 
death. 

Note  that  overpopulation  in  the  animal  world  leads  to  exhaustion 
of  the  plant  world.  When  all  or  part  of  the  animals  have  died,  the 
plant  population  will  return  in  proportion  to  the  easement  of  pressure. 
Again  food  is  available,  and  if  there  is  any  reproductive  power  left 
in  the  animals  their  population  will  also  rise  again. 

Every  breeder  of  animals,  or  plants,  knows  that  if  quality  is  to 
be  maintained,  food  and  water  must  be  ample.  To  supply  them,  man- 
agement is  essential.  Competition  for  them  must  be  restricted. 

In  nature,  competition  generally  favors  the  survival  of  the  fittest, 
The  factors  which  eliminate  the  less  fortunate  are  disease,  accident, 
starvation,  sterility,  combat. 

In  addition  to  these,  man  has  available  several  voluntary  controls, 


MAINTAINING  THE  CLIMAX  103 

such  as  contraception,  abortion,  infanticide,  execution,  suicide,  mur- 
der, sterilization,  continence,  and  war. 

War  results,  in  many  cases  at  least,  from  a  failure  to  exercise  the 
other  controls  effectively.  This  mass  combat  reduces  the  population 
to  the  point  where  competition  is  eased  for  a  time.  It  must  be  recog- 
nized that  food  is  not  the  only  resource  for  which  man  will  fight,  but 
a  good  case  can  be  made  for  the  statement  that  overpopulation  is  the 
primary  cause  of  war.  We  find  ourselves  constantly  dealing  with 
relativities.  What  is  overpopulation  in  Germany  is  not  necessarily 
overpopulation  in  an  equal  area  of  India.  It  is  the  unsatisfied  demand 
for  resources  which  determines  the  point  where  overpopulation  occurs. 

The  point  at  which  the  available  resources  cease  fully  to  satisfy 
the  biologic  and  cultural  demands  of  the  population  is  the  point  at 
which  population  should  be  stabilized — if  destructive  competition 
is  to  be  avoided,  and  if  the  accepted  quality  of  the  individual  is  to 
be  maintained. 

The  plant  world  sets  an  absolute  ceiling  on  animal  population  at 
any  given  time.  Under  a  condition  in  which  modern  man,  with  his 
technical  means  for  altering  the  landscape,  keeps  pushing  against 
the  food  ceiling,  the  conditions  of  climax  cannot  be  maintained.  India 
is  a  good  example.  The  mechanization  of  agriculture  and  improved 
transportation,  introduced  by  the  British,  increased  food  production 
and  distribution ;  and,  in  an  automatic  population  response,  millions 
of  additional  Indian  mouths  appeared.  They  lived  long  enough  to 
eat  up  the  increase.  The  average  individual  is  little  or  no  better  fed 
than  before  the  British  came,  but  the  land  is  being  destroyed  by 
erosion  and  over-grazing  faster  than  ever,  due  to  the  greater  drain  on 
fertility  to  feed  the  additional  millions. 

Living  Standard  and  Resources.  The  living  standard  may  be  de- 
fined as  the  amount  of  goods  and  services  which  the  individual  can 
secure  from  his  environment.  The  average  for  a  country  may  be 
found  by  dividing  the  total  goods  and  services  available  by  the  popu- 
lation. There  are  only  two  ways  of  raising  the  average.  Produce 
more  per  person,  or  reduce  the  population  without  reducing  produc- 
tion. We  cannot  avoid  the  word  "produces,"  because  the  supply 
must  be  kept  coming. 

Primitive  man  existed  on  a  low  standard  of  living  because  his  tech- 
nology was  primitive.  He  could  take  from  the  environment  only  that 
which  his  hands  and  simple  tools  could  adapt  to  his  use.  Iceland  to- 
day is  a  democracy  in  a  poorhouse.  The  people  are  intelligent;  tech- 
nology is  available  to  them ;  but  the  environment  offers  little  to  which 
technology  can  be  applied. 

Here  are  the  two  ceilings  to  standard  of  living:  (1)  the  level  of 
applied  science,  (2)  the  supply  of  resources.  In  the  United  States 
we  have  a  high  level  of  both.  Furthermore  we  have  a  people  who 
want  an  ever  increasing  standard.  We  have  an  extraordinary  desire 
for  it,  nurtured  by  past  experience,  advertising,  education,  and  many 
forms  of  publicity  which  keeps  constantly  before  us  the  alluring  pos- 


104  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

sibilities  of  research  and  invention.     Commerce  and  industry  do  their 
best  not  to  disappoint. 

There  is  a  serious  question,  however.  How  long  can  this  high  level 
be  sustained? 

In  the  case  of  vegetation  there  appears  to  be  a  definite  ceiling  on 
the  per  acre  yield  which  land  can  sustain  over  a  long  period  of  time. 
It  is  set  by  the  nature  of  plants  and  by  the  practical  difficulties  of 
returning  fertility  to  the  soil.  Periodically,  science  gives  agriculture, 
forestry,  etc.,  a  shot  in  the  arm  which  should  raise  the  ceiling.  But, 
in  practice,  these  advances  usually  serve  only  to  offset  previous  de- 
clines. 

The  history  of  past  cultures  has  in  many  cases  been  this :  There 
was  a  rise  in  living  standard,  which  was  sustained  for  a  time,  even 
a  few  centuries  perhaps,  followed  by  a  disastrous  fall.  This  is  the 
exploitative  cycle.  It  has  been  reproduced  on  a  small  time  scale  in 
hundreds  of  American  communities.  Ghost  towns  are  its  evidence, 
and  abandoned  logging  camps,  abandoned  farms,  abandoned  factories. 

Sustained  yield  is  the  only  principle  on  which  a  permanent  social 
order  can  be  built.  The  level  of  organic  consumption  may  be  re- 
vised slightly  up  or  down  from  time  to  time,  up  if  scientific  advances 
permit,  down  if  deterioration  of  climax  conditions  appears. 

Altering  the  Landscape.  Man  is  the  dominant  life  form  of  the 
earth ;  no  other  can  compete  with  him  in  a  short-term  pitched  battle. 
His  tools,  chemicals,  weapons,  and  intellect  make  him  supreme.  Yet, 
the  total  environment  can  out-endure  him,  out-survive  him  in  a  con- 
test. At  the  end  of  such  a  contest  man  will  be  gone ;  but,  environment, 
scarred  and  wrecked,  will  remain  to  lick  its  wounds  and  recover. 
When  and  if  man  returns  he  should  be  wiser,  more  friendly,  more 
cooperative.  Environment  is  man's  master,  but  can  be  made  his 
partner. 

When  man  approaches  the  landscape  with  the  intent  of  altering 
it,  he  should  keep  a  principle  in  mind : 

The  maintenance  of  maximum  plant  productivity  requires  that 
changing  the  climax  vegetation  must  not  debase  the  fundamental 
reactions  of  the  environment. 

To  ignore  this  dry  statement  is  to  deny  the  cumulative  evolution- 
ary progress  of  millions  of  years.  To  ignore  it  is  to  assume  that 
Nature,  or  God,  as  you  please,  has  been  wasting  time  since  the  earth's 
beginning.  To  ignore  it  is  to  say  that  there  is  no  relationship  between 
the  earth  and  life. 

How  can  such  reactions  as  soil  formation,  maintenance  of  fertility, 
prevention  of  erosion,  and  good  soil  structure  be  retained?  Let  us 
state  a  few  principles. 

1 — If  the  climax  preserved  a  year  round  vegetative   or  humus 

cover  on  the  soil,  man's  cropping  system  must  do  likewise. 
2 — If  nature  returns  humus  into  the  soil,  man  must  return  humus. 


MAINTAINING  THE  CLIMAX  105 

3 — If  the  climax  vegetation  holds  rain  where  it  falls,  man's  land 

use  system  should  hold  it  in  like  degree. 
4 — If  nature  provides  sub-surface  and  surface  tillage  by  animals 

(such  as  earthworms)  man  should  employ  similar  methods. 
5 — If,  by  adding  certain  minerals  to  the  soil,  desirable  reactions 

are  secured,  they  should  be  added. 
6 — If  certain  plants  bring  the  desired  reactions  more  efficiently 

than  others,  they  should  be  chosen. 

One  critic,  reading  the  above  statements  carelessly  but  with  a  bel- 
ligerent eye  remarked:  "As  a  corollary,  you  should  also  say  that  if 
nature  causes  floods,  man  should  make  floods;  and  if  nature  kills 
plants  by  early  frost,  man  should  grow  plants  killed  by  early  frost. ' ' 
To  which  we  reply  that  in  nature  floods  have  created  level  and  fertile 
plains,  which  from  time  immemorial  have  best  fed  the  human  race. 
Therefore  man  might  well  handle  all  cultivated  land  in  a  way  to  gain 
the  benefits  of  levelness  and  recurrent  mineral  and  human  additions. 
This  he  can  do  by  such  artifices  as  contour  cultivation  of  sloping  lands 
and  by  the  periodic  application  of  fertility  agents.  As  for  growing 
frost  susceptible  plants,  nature  also  grows  frost  resistant  plants  and 
if  some  of  these  serve  man  better,  then  they  are  the  ones  to  use.  If 
mutations  or  hybrids  can  be  found  or  produced  which  offer  man  any 
advantages  then  the  search  should  go  on  in  laboratory  and  field  and 
experimental  plot. 

One  point  of  our  argument  is  that  man  need  not  burn  the  forest 
to  get  roast  'possum  just  because  nature  does  it  that  way.  Because 
he  has  some  sense,  man  has  found  the  principles  involved  in  applying 
heat  to  flesh  for  the  purpose  of  achieving  a  tasty  dish.  There  is  no 
question  but  that  in  this  instance  he  has  improved  on  nature;  yet  has 
he  done  anything  basically  that  nature  did  not  do?  He  has  simply 
controlled  the  situation  for  his  benefit. 

Nature  (including  man)  does  some  things  which  by  human  stand- 
ards of  short  term  judgment  would  be  called  stupid — lightning-caused 
forest  fires  for  instance.  On  the  other  hand,  nature  does  more — many 
more — things  which  would  be  judged  excellent,  from  streamlining  a 
fish  to  mulching  a  forest  or  prairie  floor.  Man  should  apply  his  keen- 
est and  most  cautious  scientific  judgment  as  to  what  should  be  copied, 
what  should  be  altered,  what  should  be  avoided.  In  the  main,  when 
we  consider  the  management  of  lands  and  waters,  nature  is  the  ex- 
perienced teacher  from  whom  we  have  much  to  learn. 

There  is  a  great  variety  in  the  landscape  patterns  of  the  world. 
Many  of  them  are  fine  examples  of  what  man  does  not  want  on  his 
farmland — badlands  and  deserts,  for  example.  And  when  we  ob- 
serve that  man's  activities  are  turning  farmlands  into  badlands,  we 
shudder.  On  the  other  hand,  some  landscapes  are  (or  have  been) 
superior  as  to  their  excellence  in  supporting  humanity.  They  are 
examples  which  nature  has  set.  Certainly  we  shall  applaud  the  type 
of  management  which  will  sustain  them  forever  as  such.  Moreover, 
science  can  study  and  analyze  these  superior  lands,  and  how  they  got 
that  way.  Science  can  strive  to  understand  the  complex  of  their 


106  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

superiority.  Then,  in  scientific  triumph,  may  it  not  be  possible  in 
many  areas  to  take  naturally  second  rate  land  and  manipulate  it  and 
augment  it  and  change  it  into  superior  land.  Much  progress  has  been 
made  in  achieving  this  goal  of  a  new  and  better  climax  complex.  And 
when  it  has  been  reached  beyond  doubt,  cheers  will  be  in  order. 

What  About  Animals?  The  animal  population  of  a  region  (from 
the  microscopic  to  the  mammouth)  not  only  is  interwoven  into  the 
life  web,  but  is  of  great  significance  to  man  in  ways  economic,  recrea- 
tional, and  aesthetic.  The  larger  animal  forms  are  the  subject  of 
much  legal  attention.  If  laws  and  regulations  affecting  wildlife  are 
written  with  the  scientist's  counsel  and  approval  they  should  become 
progressively  more  effective. 

No  law,  however,  can  change  the  fact  that  as  man  alters  the  pat- 
tern of  plant  communities,  by  farming  or  lumbering  for  instance,  the 
pattern  of  animal  life  must  also  change.  Cattle  have  been  substituted 
for  deer  in  the  woodlot  and  for  bison  on  the  plains.  Where  once  the 
raccoon  rambled  through  the  woods,  rabbits  now  run  along  the  fence- 
rows.  Where  once  the  woodcock  darted  among  the  trees,  the  quail 
roars  up  from  the  meadow.  Where  once  the  prairie  chicken  or  the 
now  extinct  heath  hen  nested,  the  imported  pheasant  has  taken  over. 
Man  has  killed  off  to  a  large  degree  the  puma,  wolf,  coyote  and  lynx ; 
and,  as  hunter,  has  taken  over  their  predatory  activities  on  wildlife. 
Such  predation  is  in  accord  with  the  natural  organization  of  the  land- 
scape. 

The  conclusion  of  wildlife  researchers  is  that  the  population  of 
animals  is  directly  proportionate  to  food,  cover  and  water ;  and  that 
the  size  and  quality  of  the  animals  is  directly  related  to  soil  fertility. 
Climax  conditions  are  necessary  to  the  maximum  of  animal  popu- 
lation and  quality.  An  eroded  field,  infertile,  unable  to  hold  rain- 
fall, populated  with  woody  plants  of  little  nutritional  value,  cannot 
possibly  support  an  abundance  of  animal  life,  whether  it  be  insects, 
birds,  or  man. 

The  Goal  of  Management.  The  maintenance  or  creation  of  the 
values  and  conditions  associated  with  the  richer  climax  formations 
— that  is  the  goal  of  environmental  engineering.  Through  it  the 
maximum  energy  flow  of  life  can  be  made  available  to  man  and  his 
social  order.  Through  such  engineering  is  conserved  the  constant 
and  adequate  supplies  of  proteins,  fats,  minerals,  and  vitamins 
without  which  carbohydrate  energy  is  worthless. 

Environmental  engineering  can  maintain  that  essential  state  of 
balance  in  which  the  demands  of  plants  and  animals  seldom  exceed 
and  certainly  never  exhaust  the  supply  of  air,  water,  and  soil  fer- 
tility. 

By  such  engineering  the  energy  and  substance  of  the  environ- 
ment can  be  made  more  effective  and  efficient  in  the  service  of  man 
than  the  natural  climax  itself.  This  may  be  done  by  channeling  the 
energy  and  substance  through  species  selected  by  man  as  most  use- 
ful to  him.  It  is  entirely  possible  to  create  today,  on  many  areas, 
fertility  surpassing  that  set  up  by  nature, 


107 

But,  What  Has  Happened?  Environment  engineering,  or  more 
simply,  conservation,  in  the  United  States,  has  been  recognized  by 
thinking  and  social-minded  people  as  a  necessity  ever  since  colonial 
days.  No  general  attempt  was  made  to  apply  it  until  recent  years. 
The  impression  in  the  public  mind  that  American  resources  were 
inexhaustible,  coupled  with  "rugged  individualism"  and  the  "get 
rich  quick"  motive,  led  to  ignoring  conservative  management  of 
resources. 

The  climaxes  of  forest,  prairie  and  plain  were  destroyed.  The 
process  is  graphically  and  tersely  described  as  "ax,  plow,  cow, 
desert."  The  twin  processes  of  erosion  and  vegetative  deterioration 
go  hand  in  hand,  each  encouraging  and  stimulating  the  other.  Un- 
less man  reverses  the  process,  the  destruction  will,  (and  has)  set  the 
affected  areas  back  decades,  and  in  many  cases  hundreds  of  years. 

Regardless  of  degree  of  damage,  problems  result.  The  task  of 
restoring  the  vast  total  of  injured  areas  to  something  near  the 
virgin  level  of  productivity,  or  above  it,  is  a  primary  problem  of  the 
United  States  and  many  other  countries.  There  are  special  prob- 
lems related  to  the  total  problem,  and  how  they  may  be  solved  is 
another  field  of  study.  Our  attempt  thus  far  has  been  to  see  the 
need  for  solving  them,  to  state  principles  for  sustaining  the  climax 
when  it  is  restored  or  created,  to  suggest  how  at  least  further  de- 
terioration of  the  landscape  may  be  prevented  and  how  its  restora- 
tion must  be  approached. 


"When  you  hear  words  that  are  distasteful  to 
your  mind,  you  must  inquire  whether  they  are  not 
right."  — CONFUCIUS 


APPENDIX  A 
EDUCATIONAL  IMPLICATIONS 

The  conclusions,  established  on  a  scientific  basis,  which  have  been 
presented  in  this  study  have  a  fundamental  significance  to  the  human 
race  which  cannot  be  ignored  in  any  system  of  general  education.  We 
have  not  invited  science  to  the  discussion  just  for  its  curiosity  value. 
Science  taught  as  a  conversation  piece  has  little  place  in  public  educa- 
tion. Physical  science  taught  merely  to  provide  an  understanding  of 
the  gadgets  of  civilization  is  superficial.  Biologic  science  taught  as  a 
system  of  physiologic  mechanics  and  classification  is  abortive — it  falls 
into  the  same  category  as  foreign  language  courses  which  ostensibly 
are  taught  to  provide  an  understanding  of  the  culture  of  a  particu- 
lar people,  but  which  usually  are  concluded  at  about  the  point  where 
understanding  begins  to  be  possible.  Such  blind  alley  tactics  are 
rapidly  being  discredited  by  educational  philosophers. 

Science  has  come  into  this  discussion  because  it  provides  facts 
upon  which  can  be  based  a  broad  total  view  and  understanding  of 
man  in  his  relationships  to  the  universal  environment.  A  complete 
individual  knowledge  of  the  many  sciences  we  have  invoked  is  neither 
possible  nor  necessary  to  our  purpose.  Furthermore,  the  same  or 
equally  significant  conclusions  will  be  reached  regardless  of  which 
basic  science  serves  as  a  door  for  entering  the  study  of  man  and  his 
environment.  You  say  they  are  not  reached.  That  is  because  the 
common  approach  to  a  particular  science  is  to  study  that  science  for 
itself  alone,  not  to  use  it  as  a  highway  to  citizenship. 

Why  is  public  school  science  thus  closed  off  from  its  great  possi- 
bilities in  general  education?  Why  does  it  exhibit  every  symptom  of 
the  narrow,  specialized  view?  Our  search  for  the  answer  leads  us  by 
either  of  two  roads,  the  teacher  or  the  textbook,  directly  into  the 
college.  The  teacher  and  the  text  are  college  products.  If  the  colleges 
are  not  giving  us  the  tools  with  which  to  construct  an  adequate  gen- 
eral education  in  the  public  schools,  why  not  ? 

Better  Teacher  Training?  The  average  college  of  education  shows 
teachers  how  to  teach.  It  does  not,  in  too  many  cases,  tell  them  what 
1o  teach.  The  prospective  teacher  is  sent  over  to  a  subject  matter 
specialist  in  some  other  department,  usually  to  the  college  of  arts  and 
sciences,  to  learn  something  to  teach.  There  the  student  who  aspires 
to  teach  a  certain  subject  is  shot  full  of  it  by  an  expert.  What  is 
the  nature  of  this  expert?  He  holds  a  doctor's  degree  or  is  doing  his 
best  to  get  one.  He  got  his  training  from  doctors,  or  instructors  work- 
ing to  become  doctors.  This  is  the  kernel  of  the  situation.  How  do 
these  professors  get  to  be  experts.  They  do  research.  They  specialize 

108 


APPENDIX  A  109 

The  specialist  is  dominated  by  his  speciality.  All  his  serious  think- 
ing is  colored  by  it.  His  teaching  is  geared  to  it.  It  is  only  with 
Christian  effort  that  he  can  bring  himself  to  admit  that  other  subject 
fields  are  important.  He  becomes  suffused  with  innumerable  details 
of  knowledge,  each  of  which  is  important  to  him.  As  he  learns  more 
and  more  about  his  subject,  his  students  become  relatively  more  igno- 
rant, and  he  strives  harder  and  harder  to  impart  his  vast  store  of 
knowledge  to  them.  One  of  the  greatest  pleasures  of  his  life  is  to 
find  students  who  can  lap  up  his  subject  matter  and  yell  for  more. 
These  he  takes  to  his  bosom  and  proceeds  to  make  research  specialists 
of  them. 

Eventually,  if  the  specialist,  and  perhaps  his  graduate  assistants, 
are  any  good,  they  make  a  contribution  to  the  world's  knowledge.  The 
professor  writes  a  book  and  is  acclaimed.  His  proteges  follow  in  his 
footsteps.  Thus  is  learning  advanced. 

As  far  as  the  subject  department  is  concerned,  the  unwritten  law 
is  "sort  'em  out."  The  search  is  for  the  potential  researcher.  Where 
does  this  leave  our  prospective  public  school  teacher,  the  fellow  who  is 
there  to  distill  the  essence  from  the  subject  as  it  relates  to  general  edu- 
cation, to  modern  human  problems  ?  The  answer  is  that  he  seldom  gets 
what  he  needs ;  and,  if  he  sticks,  he  is  inoculated  with  specialization ; 
if  he  shows  promise,  he  is  urged  to  stay  out  of  public  school  teaching 
and  turn  to  reseach. 

It  is  a  simple  statement  of  almost  universal  procedure,  observable 
by  anyone,  and  psychologically  predictable,  that  teachers  teach  what 
they  were  taught,  as  they  were  taught  it.  It  may  be  argued  that 
methods  courses  modify  this  procedure.  They  do  in  detail.  But  the 
specialist  in  methods  of  teaching  a  certain  subject  is  himself  a  prod- 
uct of  the  same  system.  Modification  will  apply  to  grade  levels  and 
content  selection  for  them,  but  the  specialist's  approach  to  subject 
matter  remains. 

The  textbooks  used  in  public  schools  have,  in  the  past,  been  pro- 
duced by  college  specialists;  and  even  if  a  public  school  teacher  is 
the  author,  he  is  a  specialist's  product. 

What  is  to  be  done?  No  one  in  his  right  mind  would  suggest  that 
specialization  should  be  discontinued  in  favor  of  general  education 
only.  Nor  would  anyone  who  knows  the  present  situation  in  the  pub- 
lic schools  agree  that  it  is  good.  The  present  liberal  arts  curriculum 
of  the  colleges  is  bad  for  prospective  school  teachers.  When  it  is 
shifted  down  into  the  high  schools  it  is  bad  for  them,  and  its  bad- 
ness leaks  into  the  junior  high  schools,  and  even  into  the  intermediate 
grades.  ( 

It  is  the  business  of  the  mature  democratic  citizen  (are  there  not 
such  in  the  colleges  themselves?)  to  cry  out  against  a  system  which 
is  not  producing  well-rounded  young  citizens  who  can  see  the  world  as 
an  organic  whole  and  have  a  fair  conception  of  the  principles  by  which 
its  problems  must  be  solved.  He  must  protest  an  education  which 
sends  students  running  out  this  lane  and  then  that  lane  in  the  forest 


110  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

of  knowledge,  coming  back  to  start  again  on  new  side  trips,  never 
able  to  see  very  far  in  any  direction,  getting  biased,  restricted  notions 
of  the  functions  of  the  whole,  finally,  in  a  few  cases,  to  settle  on  one 
trail  with  the  purpose  of  exploring  it  a  little  further  than  anyone  else 
ever  has,  and,  not  unlikely,  to  become  lost  to  the  world  in  the  process. 
Why  have  these  students  not  a  map  of  the  whole  forest  so  that  they 
can  keep  themselves  oriented?  Why  have  they  not  been  given  an  air- 
plane view  of  the  whole  before  plunging  into  its  mazes?  Could  they 
not  follow  the  trails  with  greater  assurance,  and  with  understanding 
of  what  was  then  seen  at  close  range  and  in  detail! 

The  Genesis  of  a  Trend.  To  whom  shall  the  protest  be  directed? 
Naturally,  to  the  source  of  the  trouble,  the  institutions  for  teacher 
training.  Must  they  farm  out  their  embryonic  teachers  to  another 
college,  to  be  ruined  for  public  school  teaching — without  even  an 
apology  ?  The  question  seems  to  be :  Can  a  basic  course  in  the  liberal 
arts  college  serve  both  the  potential  researcher  and  the  potential  pub- 
lic school  teacher?  The  answer  may  be  yes.  It  may  be  possible  that 
such  a  course,  revamped  for  the  teacher,  would  also  be  better  for  the 
budding  specialist.  It  could  give  the  latter  one  last  look  at  the  world 
before  plunging  into  his  lonesome  trail.  Whether  such  would  be  the 
result  or  not,  it  is  time  for  the  college  of  education  to  climb  up  out 
of  the  basement  of  the  university  and  exercise  more  control  over  the 
training  of  its  product,  particularly  over  training  for  the  secondary 
level. 

The  material  here  presented  purports  to  be,  in  a  condensed  form, 
the  type  of  course  content  which  public  school  teachers  need  in  the 
biological  field.  It  is  submitted  also  that,  for  a  liberal  arts  student 
taking  an  elementary  course  in  biological  science  to  broaden  his  gen- 
eral learning,  this  type  of  information  would  serve  the  purpose  better 
than  a  course  designed  strictly  as  a  prerequisite  to  advanced  work. 

Such  broad  courses  are  coming  into  increasing  demand,  partly 
because  of  the  conservation  education  movement,  which  is  rapidly 
gaining  momentum.  Various  attempts  are  being  made  to  integrate 
basic  sciences  and  social  studies  in  order  to  provide  teachers  with  a 
foundation  for  teaching  conservation.  The  Ohio  Conservation  Labora- 
tory is  an  outstanding  example  and  prototype.  There,  the  concept 
is  to  give  in  one  course  a  basic  survey  of  plant  ecology,  animal  ecology, 
geology  and  soils,  nature  study,  economics,  and  sociology,  ?.s  they 
relate  to  conservation  of  natural  and  human  resources.  Obviously,  this 
is  a  big  order.  Each  field  is  represented  by  its  specialist.  Frequent 
staff  meetings  are  held  in  an  effort  to  integrate  the  subject  fields.  The 
spirit  is  willing,  and  a  slow  evolutionary  progress  is  being  made,  but 
the  compartmentalizing  specter  of  specialization  hangs  over  the  effort, 
together  with  a  mild  confusion  as  to  just  how  to  relate  the  subjects  to 
conservation,  plus  the  irritating  uncertainty  as  to  what  the  teacher 
needs  and  how  he  is  to  use  it.  Add  the  time  limit  of  six  weeks,  and  even 
though  all  the  teacher's  time  is  available,  it  is  little  wonder  that  com- 
plete success  is  not  easily  achieved. 

Additional  research  efforts  are  needed,  and  the  type  of  course  here 


APPENDIX  A  111 

presented,  plus  appropriate  field  work,  is  suggested  as  worthy  of  com- 
parative study. 

Inservice  Training.  Teachers  now  in  the  public  schools  are  faced 
with  the  responsibility  of  giving  adequate  coverage  to  conservation. 
That  they  thereby  become  automatically  capable  of  doing  so  is  of 
course  absurd.  Before  any  intelligent  effort  can  be  made  toward 
providing  experiences  and  understandings  useful  to  pupils,  the  teacher 
must  acquire  the  basic  information  and  understandings  himself. 

The  Ohio  Conservation  Education  Workshop,  1945,  recommended 
that :  ,^, 

"Administrators  organize  a  series  of  faculty  and  committee 
meetings  dealing  with  the  problems  of  conservation  education, 
that  experts  in  the  conservation  of  soil,  water,  forests,  wildlife, 
and  minerals  be  invited  to  speak,  that  members  report  on  perti- 
nent articles  in  periodicals  and  on  investigations  of  local  con- 
servation needs,  that  field  trips,  films  and  recordings  be  used."1 

Another  recommendation  was : 

"That  school  administrators  provide  leadership  and  facilities 
for  gaining  first  hand  experiences  in  and  understandings  of  the 
interrelationships  of  natural  resources,  and  their  significance. ' n 

The  first  recommendation,  if  adopted  and  put  into  action  without 
the  most  careful  planning  by  someone  freely  conversant  with  the 
conservation  field,  is  a  perfect  opportunity  to  end  up  with  a  highly 
disorganized  study  of  a  highly  organized  environment.  It  would  seem 
that  study,  by  everyone  concerned,  of  material  such  as  that  herein 
assembled  would  prevent  much  confusion  in  the  teachers'  mind.  The 
second  recommendation  implies  that  administrators  should  have  at 
least  an  elemental  knowledge  of  the  field  into  which  they  are  to  lead 
their  staffs. 

Mastery  of  the  fundamentals  of  plant  conservation  must  precede 
and  is  prerequisite  to  an  understanding  of  the  special  problems,  which 
the  student  and  the  public  hear  most  about.  These  problems  will 
require  additional  study,  but  what  is  read  and  heard  about  them  will 
then  be  understandable  and  even  subject  to  criticism.  Judgment  is 
out  of  the  question  without  the  fundamental  knowledge.  The  teacher 
should  not  lay  himself  open  to  being  used  as  an  unwitting  propa- 
gandist, as  will  surely  happen  on  occasion  if  he  is  unprepared  to 
recognize  biased  statements.  Conservation  of  natural  resources  is  a 
matter  of  great  public  concern.  Private  interests  fight  progress 
which  affects  them  adversely,  actually  or  supposedly,  and  they  have 
the  funds  and  organizations  to  propagandize  their  views. 

For  example :  Sportsmen  have  for  years  and  years  demanded  that 
states  operate  fish  hatcheries  and  periodically  place  millions  of  young 
fish  in  the  streams.  The  sportsmen's  reasoning  ran  like  this: 


1From  the  author's  notes. 


MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

"Here  is  a  stream.  There  are  some  fish  in  it.  Fish  can  live  in 
it.  There  is  plenty  of  water.  I  fish  another  stream  of  the  same 
size.  It  has  three  times  as  many  fish.  This  stream  is  fished  out. 
The  state  ought  to  stock  it  every  year." 

He  might  be  right,  of  course,  but  when  stocking  for  a  year  or  two 
brought  no  improvement,  did  he  question  his  assumption?  Usually 
not.  Streams  have  been  stocked  for  twenty  years  in  a  row,  with  no 
improvement.  Why  did  they  keep  it  up  ?  Ignorance. 

Any  consideration  of  the  environment  of  the  fish,  in  the  light  of 
basic  knowledge,  would  bring  an  immediate  inquiry  into  food  supply, 
oxygen  and  carbon  dioxide  supply,  toxins  and  silt  effects,  etc.  Even 
without  such  studies  of  the  environment,  we  would  suspect  that  the 
stream,  if  long  established,  had  reached  a  state  of  equilibrium,  was 
supporting  all  the  life  possible  under  present  conditions,  that  the 
population  could  not  be  increased  without  improving  the  environment, 
that  the  reproductive  capacity  of  fish  would  quickly  restore  any  de- 
crease due  to  fishing,  that  restocking  was  unnecessary  and  a  waste  of 
money. 

In  this  special  problem,  all  the  new  information  the  teacher  needs 
is  a  few  facts  about  the  reproductive  powers  of  fish.  These  he  may 
have  already. 

The  same  pattern  will  be  followed  in  understanding  such  prob- 
lems as  erosion  control,  reforestation,  fertility  restoration,  flood  con- 
trol, drainage,  reclamation,  irrigation,  water  table  and  spring  flow 
restoration,  insect  control,  plant  diseases,  weed  control,  upland  game 
management,  pollution,  stream  bank  improvement,  spoil  bank  man- 
agement, waterfowl  resoration,  songbird  activities,  etc.,  etc. 

Finally,  and  most  important,  having  this  fundamental  knowledge 
and  understanding,  the  teacher  will  be  better  prepared  to  guide  pupils 
through  experiences  which  will  result  in  better  citizenship.  This 
citizenship  will  arise  from  the  realization  that  man  has  the  responsi- 
bility of  maintaining  his  total  natural  environment  in  a  state  of 
balance  at  its  highest  peak  of  development,  that  only  then  can  man,  as 
a  species,  hope  to  continue  his  cultural  progress  or  even  retain  what 
he  has. 


APPENDIX  B 
CLASSROOM  ACTIVITIES 

Suggestions  to  Teachers.  In  thousands  of  classrooms  throughout 
this  country  there  are  growing  plants.  It  is  a  rare  school  building 
which  is  not  surrounded  by  plants.  How  many  pupils  graduate  from 
these  buildings  with  any  real  knowledge  of  the  part  plants  play  in 
their  lives?  One  of  the  fundamental  aims  of  pedagogy  is  that  young 
children  must  be  taught  their  relationship  to  the  immediate  total 
environment.  Nothing  else  sinks  in.  Nothing  else  concerns  them  in 
timately.  Nothing  else  is  effective  in  building  desirable  habits  of 
thinking  and  acting.  First  hand  experience  is  the  watchword  for  the 
primary  grades. 

At  higher  levels  the  use  of  symbols  and  vicarious  experience,  audio 
and  visual,  allows  the  expansion  of  horizons.  Yet,  in  the  intermediate 
grades  the  study  of  geography  is  a  very  inefficient  process,  as  any  high 
sr.hool  geography  teacher  can  testify.  The  amount  of  retention  is 
pitiful.  In  spite  of  well  illustrated  texts,  the  jump  into  the  unknown 
is  too  sudden,  too  complete.  Another  principle  of  teaching  is  that  the 
transition  from  the  known  to  the  unknown  must  be  gradual  and 
closely  related.  How  can  a  pupil  be  expected  to  understand  a  distant 
culture  when  he  is  almost  totally  ignorant  of  his  own  environment? 

Plants  offer  a  simple  and  convenient  entree  into  knowledge  of  the 
natural  sciences  and  their  relation  to  people.  From  this  base  of 
vegetation  we  can  reach  out  or  expand  in  a  great  many  directions.  It 
is  with  reluctance  that  we  refrain  from  chopping  into  grade  levels  the 
suggestions  to  teachers  and  other  leaders  who  may  have  contact  with 
the  younger  generation.  Instead  we  will,  for  the  moment,  leave  it  to 
the  instructor  to  convey  the  information  according  to  the  level  of  his 
charges. 

Nothing  so  vitalizes  learning  as  direct  observation  of  the  real 
thing.  Elementary  and  secondary  education  are  often  cursed  by  a 
preoccupation  with  symbols  and  abstractions.  These  intangible  entities 
are  for  the  well  developed  and  experienced  mind.  Recall  which  subjects 
produce  failures  in  wholesale  lots  when  stuffed  down  the  unready  men- 
tal esophagi  of  the  student  body !  Are  they  not  the  most  abstract 
portions  of  the  curriculum  ?  The  great  virtue  of  elementary  science  is 
that  it  lends  itself  to  direct  observation.  The  great  virtue  of  conserva- 
tion as  a  vehicle  for  teaching  such  science  is  that  the  conservation 
viewpoint  makes  science  significant,  to  the  individual  and  the  commu- 
nity. This  significance  arises  from  the  fact  that  conservation  deals 
with  current  problems  which  have  social  repercussions,  and  which  will 
yield  to  scientific  treatment. 

The  most  direct  application  of  the  information  and  ideas  here 
presented  naturally  falls  on  biology  and  botany  classes.  The  materials 
may  just  as  logically  be  placed  in  general  science  or  science  survey 
courses.  They  have  a  valid  claim  on  geographic  studies,  and  certainly 
on  vocational  agriculture.  Portions,  at  least,  deserve  inclusion  in 

113 


114  MAN  ON  THFJ  LANDSCAPE 

health,  hygiene,  physiology,  and  nutrition  classes.  Chemistry  teachers 
are  invited  to  utilize  the  parts  touching  on  photosynthesis  and  plant 
and  soil  reactions.  Social  science  classes  can  draw  on  other  excerpts 
for  light  on  institutional  and  civic  problems.  In  short,  any  disserta- 
tion on  life  and  habitat  must  bear  on  a  great  variety  of  academic 
fields,  and  we  think  these  fields  are  obligated  to  relate  themselves 
intimately  to  life  and  habitat. 

The  suggestions  which  follow  are  subject  to  selection  according  to 
the  needs  of  individual  teachers  and  classes.  If  the  entire  book  were 
incorporated  into  a  course,  then  a  majority  of  the  activities  might  well 
be  undertaken,  subject  to  modification  according  to  the  local  setting. 
In  any  event,  the  type  of  teacher  who  has  taken  the  trouble  to  reach 
this  point,  will  be  the  type  whose  initiative  and  judgment  will  assure 
a  sensible  and  reasonable  use  of  the  classroom  suggestions. 

CHAPTER  II 

/ 

Pertinent  Activities.  We  are  open  to  the  danger  of  considering 
demonstrations,  experiments,  construction  activities  and  field  trips  as 
too  time  consuming.  They  interfere  with  the  torrent  of  words.  Let 
it  be  noted  that  the  saying,  "a  picture  is  worth  a  thousand  words," 
has  ample  scientific  support,  and  real  experiences  are  even  better. 

(1)  The  obvious  demonstration  of  energy  storage  in  plants  is  to 
burn  some,   and  let  students  warm  their  hands  by   last  summer's 
sunshine. 

(2)  Sprout  two  seeds.    Grow  one  in  the  dark  and  the  other  in  the 
sunlight.    After  a  few  weeks,  dry  and  burn  both.    Which  one  stored 
sun  energy  ?  Which  one  would  feed  a  rabbit,  a  man  ? 

(3)  Consider  the  ashes.    Why  did  they  not  burn?  Are  they  min- 
erals 1   Could  another  plant  use  them  ? 

(4)  If  you  are  a  master  teacher  try  this.    Mix  the  ashes  in  a  small 
bottle  of  water.    Suspend  another  similar  sprout  with  its  roots  in  the 
solution.     Suspend  another  like  sprout  in  distilled  water.     Which 
grows  best? 

(5)  This  is  recommended  for  the  "teacher  in  a  thousand."    Get 
three  same-sexed,  same-weight,  young  white  rats.    Feed  one  on  carbo- 
hydrate alone  (corn  syrup  or  sugar  syrup)  and  water.    The  second 
gets  carbohydrate  (syrup),  and  protein  (boiled  egg  white,  or  soybean 
meal)  and  water.    Number  three  gets  carbohydrate  and  protein,  plus 
minerals  and  vitamins  (milk  and  a  variety  of  vegetables).     Weigh 
the  rats  every  week  or  two  for  six  weeks.    Take  a  good  look  at  the 
graphs  of  these  weights — and  at  the  rats.     The  student  will  never 
forget  the  conclusions  which  will  gouge  tracks  in  his  brain  (as  con- 
trasted to  the  faint  and  erasible  traces  left  by  words  alone). 

(6)  We  do  not  expect  anyone  to  do  this.   It  is  too  much  trouble. 
But,  on  the  chance  that  there  might  be  a  teacher  per  state  who  will,  it 
is  included.  Find  the  poorest  land  in  the  area,  where  the  vegetation  is 


APPENDIX  B  115 

scanty  and  no  account.  Collect  a  variety  of  such  green  stuff  as  is 
there.  Collect  a  similar  amount  from  the  most  productive  soil  in  the 
community.  Feed  these  foods,  in  equal  weights,  fresh  or  quick  dried, 
along  with  water,  to  a  couple  of  rabbits  or  guinea  pigs  for  six  weeks. 
Does  the  quality  of  soil  have  anything  to  do  with  nutrition  ? 

Very  likely,  the  plant  species  from  the  two  soils  will  be  different. 
This,  of  course,  introduces  another  variable  factor  into  the  experi- 
ment, so  that  the  conclusion  must  consider  the  fact  that  some  species 
may  not  be  basically  as  nutritious  as  others,  even  on  good  soil.  How- 
ever, it  is  a  general  fact  that  poor  soils  cannot  produce  highly  nutri- 
tious plants. 

CHAPTER  III 

(1)  Succulence  may  be  demonstrated  by  comparing  the  chewing 
qualities  of  celery,  which  is  fibrous  but  still  succulent,  with  a. tree 
twig,  which,  though  also  fibrous,  is  never  succulent.    Even  the  wilted 
or  dried  celery  can  be  bitten  through  without  difficulty.   Try  chewing 
good  hay,  and  straw.   The  relative  values  as  feed  should  be  apparent. 
Microscopic  examination  of  the  two  types  of  cells  will  reveal  the  great 
difference  in  cell  wall  thickness. 

(2)  Spread  a  bucketful  of  alfalfa  hay  and  a  similar  amount  of 
straw  in  a  dry,  warm  place.    After  a  few  days,  when  thoroughly  dry, 
weigh  generous,  equal  amounts  of  each.     Burn  each  separately  and 
completely  on  a  piece  of  sheet  metal.     The  material  itself  may  be 
ignited,  but  intense  heat  should  also  be  applied  beneath  the  metal. 
Scrape  off  and  weigh  the  mineral  ashes  on  a  delicate  laboratory  scale 
(borrowed  perhaps  from  the  physics  department.) 

Try  this  with  celery  and  wood,  particularly  wood  grown  on  eroded 
land. 

Which  material  had  the  greatest  mineral  content?  What  was  the 
percent  by  weight  of  the  soil's  contribution  as  compared  with  the 
contribution  of  air  and  water? 

(3)  Take  a  field  trip.     Go  to  a  wornout  eroded  field.     Compaic 
roughly  the  percentages  of  succulent  and  of  woody  plants.     Observe 
cattle  grazing  in  a  pasture.  What  sort  of  plants  do  they  ignore  ?   Take 
a  close  look  at  a  good  hayfield.     Ask  the  land-user  what  makes  it 
good.     What  is  the  percent  of  woody  plants  there?     Compare  the 
animals  on  the  good  and  poor  land  as  to  appearance  and  muscular 
development. 

(4)  In  plants,  reproduction  requires  that  the  seeds  have  a  supply 
of  starch,  fat,  proteins,  vitamins  and  minerals  to  assure  continuing 
life.    If  you  had  to  live  on  woody  plants,  what  parts  would  you  eat? 
Do  squirrels,  deer,  birds  know  that?    Is  this  why  we  restrict  our 
eating  of  corn,  wheat,  rye,  rice,  etc.,  to  the  seeds?   Try  burning  equal 
dry  weights  of  wheat  grains  and  wheat  straw.    Where  are  the  most 
minerals  found?   Try  the  chewing  test  also. 


116  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

(5)  Collect  plant  specimens  which  appear  to  suffer  from  mineral 
deficiencies.  Borrow  Hunger  Signs  in  Crops  from  your  local  or  state 
library.  It  has  excellent  color  plates.  Try  your  hand  at  diagnosis. 

; 

CHAPTER  IV 

(1)  Why  not  assemble  a  history  of  the  vegetative   changes  in 
your  county  ?  What  has  happened  to  the  original  native  plants  ?   How 
much  of  the  virgin  forest  or  grassland  remains?  When  was  the  period 
of  its  greatest  destruction  or  injury  ?  What  were  the  purposes  of  that 
destruction?    Was  it  carried  to  a  point  which  causes  regret  today? 
Why?    (Get  in  touch  with  your  county  agricultural  agent.     He  can 
help  with  these  and  following  questions.) 

(2)  Why  not  make  an  inventory  of  the  present  vegetative  re- 
sources of  your  county?     How  much  of  its  area  is  covered  by  forest 
or  native  grasses.    How  much  is  covered  the  year  round  by  introduced 
grasses  and  other  plants?    How  much  is  covered  only  seasonally  by 
cultivated  or  row  crops?    How  much  of  your  county  is  affected  by 
erosion?    How  do  the  yields  from  eroded  land  compare  with  yields 
from  non-eroded  land? 

(3)  Does  the  land  in  your  county  have  enough  plants?    On  the 
best  farms  and  on  the  poorest,  how  many  acres  are  required  to  support 
a  cow,  sheep,  or  hog?  Can  you  find  bare  areas,  large  or  small,  in  fields 
where  plants  should  be  uniformly  distributed?    Is  there  any  relation 
between  lack  of  plants,  erosion,  and  living  standard  of  the  land  user? 
How  much  land  in  your  county   (or  on  a  certain  farm)   should  be 
planted  to  trees  or  otherwise  reforested? 

(4)  An   interesting   display   may   be   constructed   by   arranging 
specimens  of  the  raw  materials  of  chemurgy  and  their  industrial  prod- 
ucts.   A  sheaf  of  soybeans  may  be  mounted  on  a  panel  together  with 
plastic  knobs  and  other  gadgets,  small  bottles  of  paint,  glue,  sizing  and 
other  soy  products.    Write  to  the  National  Farm  Chemurgic  Council, 
North  High  Street,  Columbus,  Ohio,  for  more  information. 

CHAPTER  V 

Educational  Suggestions.  Discussion  without  observation  being 
largely  sterile,  what  can  be  seen  that  will  aid  in  understanding  this 
material  ? 

(1)  An    examination    of    fossil    plants    and    animals    is    highly 
desirable,  preferably  but  not  necessarily  in  the  field.     These  are  com- 
mon in  limestone  and  may  be  found  in  coal  and  shale.    A  check  should 
be  made  with  someone  familiar  with  the  geology  of  the  local  region 
to  determine  the  approximate  age  of  the  fossils.   The  implication  for 
the  pupil  is  that  the  earth  has  been  a  long  time  in  developing  an 
environment  fit  for  man,  and  that  he  should  be  wary  of  destroying  it. 

(2)  A  body  or  stream  of  water  should  be  examined  carefully  to 
observe  the  variety  of  life  present,    Plants  will  be  found  which  grow 


APPENDIX  B  117 

in  all  sorts  of  conditions,  from  cattails  in  quiet  pools  to  algae  on  rocks 
in  the  swiftest  water.  Each  has  its  problems,  in  a  sense,  of  living  suc- 
cessfully there,  but  cannot  manage  the  environment  as  man  can. 

(3)  The  four  plants  groups  or  phyla  should  be  observed,  if  possi- 
ble, in  one  place.  An  exposed  rock  or  cliff  may  provide  the  whole 
picture  of  algae,  lichen,  moss,  fern,  shrub  or  tree,  and  grass.  The  soil 
conditions  will  vary  from  raw  rock  to  several  inches  of  topsoil.  The 
way  the  various  stages  of  plant  succession  alter  the  living  conditions 
may  be  easily  seen  by  close  examination  and  a  little  digging  with  the 
fingers  or  a  stick.  The  accumulation  of  humus,  disintegrated  rock, 
and  airborne  dust  not  only  have  built  soil  but  also  a  capacity  for 
holding  water. 

CHAPTER  VI 

(1)  If  topsoil  is  "the   dispensing  agent  for  the   mineral  salts 
essential  to  life,"  and  if  "topsoil  was  fabricated  by  life  and  death," 
we  would  suspect  a  close  relation  between  the  depth  of  topsoil  and  the 
quality  and  amount  of  vegetation,  dead  and  alive.     While  a  spade, 
mattock,  or  soil  auger  may  be  frightening  implements  to  the  unitiated, 
there  will  be  someone  about  with  the  lion's  heart  undoubtedly  neces- 
sary to  tote  and  wield  one  of  them.   Explore  the  source  of  the  dollar's 
worth  of  minerals  you  are  made  of.   Dig  down  in  the  soil  to  the  rocky 
parent  material,  the  C  horizon  of  the  soil  profile.    Expose  the  topsoil 
layer  or  A  horizon,  and  the  subsoil  B  horizon.     The  labor  will  be 
negligible  along  a  creek  bank  or  road  cut.     You  may  find  a  steam- 
shovelled  excavation  ready  for  your  inspection. 

But,  you  have  your  weapon,  so  dig  on  the  hilltop;  dig  on  slopes 
of  various  degrees ;  dig  in  the  bottomland.  Dig  in  the  woods ;  dig  in 
the  grasslands.  Dig  where  the  vegetation  is  succulent  and  heavy,  and 
where  it  is  tough  and  scanty.  Dig  in  virgin  soil  and  in  old,  mistreated 
cropland. 

When  you  dig,  note  the  depth  and  color  of  the  topsoil.  Note  the 
amount  of  raw  humus,  the  size  of  soil  granules.  Compare  the  amount 
of  roots  in  the  topsoil  with  the  amount  of  the  subsoil.  Smell  the  top- 
soil;  smell  the  subsoil;  where  is  life  and  death?  Then,  always  judge 
the  correlation  between  the  condition  of  the  topsoil  and  the  vegetation 
growing  on  it. 

What  is  the  minimum  depth  of  topsoil  which  supports  a  good 
vegetative  cover  ?  How  many  inches  of  topsoil  would  you  spread  on  a 
lawn,  built  of  earth  materials  from  a  basement  excavation,  to  insure 
a  good  turf?  Can  commercial  fertilizer  (N  P  K— nitrogen,  phosphor- 
ous, potash)  take  the  place  of  humus  laden  topsoil?  Why? 

If  your  county  has  a  Soil  Conservation  District,  the  conserva- 
tionist from  the  U.S.  Department  of  Agriculture  assigned  thereto  can 
be  of  great  help  in  learning  about  local  soils.  Look  him  up. 

(2)  What  has  water  done  in  shaping  your  environment  ?    Do  you 
live  on  the  flat  limestone  floor  of  an  ancient  shallow  sea,  on  the  sandy 


118  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

shore  of  a  prehistoric  ocean,  on  stratified  silt  washed  off  old  moun- 
tains, on  glacial  drift  bulldozed  down  from  the  north  by  mile-thick 
ice?  From  a  high  point  in  your  locality,  view  the  drainage  pattern 
developed  by  thousands  (more  likely  millions)  of  years  of  climate.  If 
you  live  in  a  region  of  deciduous  trees,  be  sure  to  do  much  of  your 
observing  when  Nature  has  her  makeup  off,  when  every  wrinkle,  sag, 
or  bulge  is  starkly  revealed.  It  is  probable  that  a  major  part  of  the 
relief  you  see  was  fashioned  before  plants  exerted  any  great  influence 
in  stabilizing  the  soil.  Would  you  recommend  that  the  hydraulic 
power  so  obviously  employed  in  rearranging  the  earth's  surface  be 
again  released,  now  that  man  occupies  the  landscape?  If  you  so 
recommend,  then  the  next  step  is  to  get  rid  of  the  vegetation,  and  the 
power  of  climate  will  be  unhindered.  If  you  do  not  so  recommend, 
what  course  would  you  advise  concerning  vegetation? 

(3)  The  physicist  reports  that  the  transporting  ability  of  running 
water  varies  as  the  sixth  power  of  the  velocity,  that  is,  T  -  V6.     If 
water  is  moving  down  a  more  or  less  bare  slope  at  a  velocity  or  rate  of 
1  inch  per  second,  then  Tr=lxlxlxlxlxl,  or  T  =  1.    Let  us 
assume  that  at  this  rate  some  soil  will  be  moved. 

If  the  water  were  moving  twice  as  fast,  2  inches  per  second,  what 
would  its  transporting  ability  be  ?  How  many  times  as  much  soil  could 
it  move? 

Suppose,  after  a  cloudburst,  the  water  were  flowing  at  100  inches 
per  second  (less  than  6  miles  per  hour).  What  would  its  transporting 
power  be,  compared  to  the  first  case?  Does  this  figure  explain  the 
dissection  or  cutting  up  of  the  Piedmont,  Appalachian,  Colorado, 
Ozark  and  other  plateaus?  Water  alone  could  hardly  have  cut  the 
Grand  Canyon.  What  does  the  river  use  for  abrasive  tools?  Would 
the  same  principles  apply  to  small  gullies  in  a  field?  What  methods 
can  you  suggest  to  prevent  both  rapid  runoff  and  abrasive  cutting  ? 

(4)  If  there  is  opportunity,  observe  abandoned  fields  and  note  the 
species  which  occupy  them.  Are  any  species  invading  the  area  ?  What 
evidence  can  you  find  that  conditions  of  soil  organic  matter,  soil  mois- 
ture, soil  temperature,   and  light  are   changing?     As  the  invaders 
increase,  what  changes  will  they  bring  about  ? 

CHAPTER  VII 

(1)  On  a  field  trip,  observe  how  plants  grow  in  colonies.    Note 
parent  trees  and  families  of  youngsters.     See  how  the  forms  of  some 
tree  crowns  are  misshappen  because  of  shading  by  taller  neighbors. 
Find  thickets  of  fiercely  competing  saplings.    Estimate  the  amount  of 
thinning  which  would  be  beneficial.     Select  crooked,  low-grade,  sun- 
hogging  "weed"  or  "wolf"  trees  which  you  would  remove.     Have 
they  any  value  as  wildlife  food  or  den  trees  ?    Do  they  provide  needed 
shade  for  livestock?   Would  these  questions  modify  your  decision? 

(2)  On  a  field  trip,  observe  the  four-storied  forest:  herbs,  shrubs, 
saplings,  and  mature  trees.  Note  the  vines,  mosses,  ferns,  fungi.  Where 
is  the  greater  fraction  (on  a  weight  basis)  of  animal  life  located.   Do 
not  overlook  the  insects.     Where  do  woody  plants  concentrate  their 


APPENDIX  B  119 

nutrients — what  parts  do  the  higher-order  animate  seek?  Dig  with 
fingers  in  the  litter  of  the  woodland  floor,  searching  for  the  runways 
of  rodents.  What  is  there  for  these  animals  to  eat?  Which  trees 
produce  abundant  seed — the  shaded  or  unshaded? 

(3)  On  a  field  trip,  determine  the  dominant  species  of  several 
areas — those  plants  greatest  in  number  and  size.  Explain  the  presence 
of  different  associations  in  terms  of  ecological  factors.     How  much 
tolerance  toward  variations  in  these  factors  do  you  observe ;  e.g.,  how 
far  from  water  are  willows  found;  how  far  from  dry  ridges  do  you 
find  black  oaks?    (Set  up  such  questions  based  on  your  region.) 

(4)  Locate  a  variety  of  micro-climates,  where  life  forms  reflect 
the  variation  in  light,  moisture,  wind,  temperature,  soil  type.     Com- 
pare the  depth  of  leaf  litter  on  the  windward  and  lee  sides  of  a  wooded 
hilltop.    Observe  the  edge  of  a  forest  or  woodlot ;  what  differences  are 
caused  by  the  change  from  shade  to  light ;  where  are  the  greatest  con- 
centrations of  seedlings  found  ?    Can  you  reach  any  conclusions  about 
' '  edge ' '  in  relation  to  wildlife  ?   Compare  the  height  from  the  ground 
of  leaf  bearing  branches  on  trees  in  the  open  with  trees  in  a  dense 
stand;  (How  would  this  affect  browsing  animals?)    Take  temperatures 
in  summer  and  in  winter  at  these  same  locations. 

(5)  Tour  a  farm,  ranch,  or  plantation.    What  areas  or  fields  are 
best  suited  to  trees,  to  grass,  to  row  crops?   Why?   Is  the  land  user 
making  any  mistakes?     Is  there  any  erosion,  any  unvegetated  drain- 
age ways,  any  grazing  in  woodland?     Ask  a  soil  conservationist  to 
accompany  you  and  discuss  proper  land  use  according  to  the  capabili- 
ties of  various  areas. 

(6)  Locate  a  pond  or  lake  where  dry  land  slopes  gently  into 
marsh,  then  into  shallow  water.     Note  the  changes  in  plant  and 
animal  species  as  you  move  from  one  extreme  to  the  other  (dry  to 
wet).    Is  the  water  area  changing  to  land  area? 

(7)  Find  relatively  bare  areas.    Determine  their  cause.    Note  the 
primitive  and  low  grade  species  present.   Find  wornout  or  abandoned 
fields.   Note  the  species  there.   What  species  do  conservationists  plant 
on  areas  in  process  of  reclamation?     Are  they  the  climax  species? 
Why?    Inquire  as  to  the  probable  succession  of  species. 

(8)  List  the  plant  indicators  in  your  community,  and  what  they 
indicate.   This  requires  some  effort  and  time,  but  is  worth  while  since 
it  will  help  in  removing  one  of  the  curses  of  American  education : 
ignorance  of  the  local  environment.    The  best  source  of  information 
should  be  the  botany  department  of  your  state  university.    Other 
sources  may  be  the  county  extension  agent,  district  forester,  game  and 
fish  management  agents,  soil  conservationist,  or  nearest  agricultural 
experiment  station. 

CHAPTER  VIII 


(1)  To  demonstrate  raindrop  impact,  set  a  jar  lid,  or  saucer,  of 
soil  in  the  center  of  a  large  sheet  (two  or  three  feet  square)  of  paper 
or  cardboard.  Release  a  few  drops  of  water  from  a  height  of  several 


120  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

feet  so  that  they  strike  the  soil.    Examine  the  paper.    Do  the  shattered 
drops  carry  soil  with  them  ?   How  far  does  the  splash  extend  ? 

(2)  Repeat,  placing  both  soil  and  a  new  paper  at  a  sharp  angle 
with  the  floor,  simulating  a  sloping  field.    Smooth  over  the  soil  before 
releasing  the  water  this  second  time.     Do  not  permit  every  drop  to 
strike  the  same  spot  or  a  hole  will  be  dug;  this  is  not  what  happens 
during  a  rain,   although  such   digging  demonstrates  the   hydraulic 
power  of  a  stream  of  water.     (Do  not  expect  much  more  than  half  the 
splash  to  fall  downhill.     The  difference  is  small,  but  remember  the 
cumulative  effect  of  years  of  rainfall  in  this  work).     Examine  the 
paper  for  evidence  of  total  average  soil  movement.   Is  it  downhill  ? 

How  do  you  account  for  the  fact  that  streams,  draining  what 
appear  to  be  level  farmlands,  run  muddy  after  rains  ? 

How  do  you  account  for  the  fact  that  many  gently  rounded  hill- 
tops of  old,  dissected  plateaus  (such  as  the  Piedmont,  Ozark,  and 
Appalachian)  are  severely  and  more  or  less  uniformly  eroded,  while 
the  surrounding  steep  hillsides  are  perhaps  not?  As  a  hint,  what  use 
is  made  of  the  two  types  of  terrain?  (Are  there  trees  on  the  steep 
slopes?)  Might  the  same  thing  happen  on  rolling  prairie  or  plain? 

(3)  Place  a  section  of  sod  covered  soil  in  the  container  and  try 
the  experiment  a  third  time.    Do  the  shattered  drops  carry  soil  ?  Does 
the  splash  extend  as  far  as  in  the  case  of  bare  soil  ? 

(4)  Now,  although  the  average  teacher  is  already  fed  up  with  the 
inconvenience  of  setting  up  such  demonstrations,  let  us,  for  the  bene- 
fit of  the  exceptional  teacher,  go  on.    In  order  to  show  clearly  the  very 
important  function  of  surface  litter  in  preserving  a  good  soil,  we  shall 
need  two  similar  shallow  boxes  or  biscuit  pans,  a  sprinkling  can  or  a 
tin  can  with  a  dozen  nail  holes  punched  in  the  bottom,  and  enough 
good  loam  soil  to  completely  fill  the  boxes.    This  good  loam  must  have 
a  granular  structure.     Needed  also  is  enough  straw,  grass  clippings, 
hay,  leaves  or  other  mulching  material  to  cover  one  box  so  that  rain- 
drops will  not  strike  bare  soil.    Do  not  cover  it  yet. 

To  proceed,  drop  the  artificial  rain  on  the  box  of  bare  soil.  Try, 
say,  one  half  inch  of  rain,  evenly  distributed  (this  can  be  calculated 
from  the  area  of  the  box  and  the  fact  that  there  are  231  cu.  in.  per 
gallon  of  water).  Observe  carefully  any  changes  which  occur  in  the 
surface  soil  structure.  Are  the  granules  or  aggregates  broken  down? 
Does  the  soil  surface  seal?  Compare  with  the  dry  box.  Does  the 
water  infiltrate  rapidly — at  first — later? 

Now  cover  the  second  box  with  a  surface  mulch.  Drop  the  water. 
Does  it  infiltrate  better  ?  When  the  rain  is  over,  carefully  remove  the 
litter  without  disturbing  the  soil.  Compare  the  two  surfaces.  On 
sloping  land,  which  condition  would  discourage  erosion  ?  Which  con- 
dition would  admit  air  to  the  soil  most  freely  and  continuously? 
Which  would  require  the  most  cultivation  ?  Why  ?  What  would  you 
recommend  in  regard  to  the  practice  of  removing  all  possible  crop 
remains  from  fields?  What  would  you  recommend  .in  regard  to  burn- 
ing off  weeds  from  the  fields  and  leaf  litter  from  woodlots?  What 


APPENDIX  B  121 

now  is  your  reaction  to  the  idea  that  the  ordinary  moldboard  plow 
(which  buries  surface  litter  and  exposes  bare  soil)  may  be  an  instru- 
ment of  land  destruction?  Can  you  suggest  a  different  way  of  pre- 
paring a  seed  bed? 

CHAPTER  IX 

(1)  The  task  here  suggested  cannot  be  entered  into  lightly.  It 
cannot  be  completed  in  a  few  hours.  Even  if  it  requires  a  year  or 
two  of  intermittent  effort,  it  will  be  worthwhile.  That  gaping  hole 
in  education,  particularly  urban  education  (i.e.,  ignorance  of  local 
geography,  local  biology,  local  history,  local  economics,  etc.)  will  be 
partly  filled.  It  is  a  disheartening  fact  that  the  average  student  prob- 
ably knows  more  about  Iceland,  Holland  and  Siam  that  he  does  about 
his  own  county  and  state. 

Let  us  then  take  the  local  county  as  a  unit  of  study  and  learn 
something  about  it.  While  it  is  well  to  know  the  good  things  about 
your  county,  it  is  more  important  to  know  what  is  wrong  with  it.  And 
so,  having  made  a  start  through  the  activities  of  Chapter  3,  why  not 
complete  an  inventory  of  the  ecological  disasters  which  have  befallen 
your  community.  Using  the  virgin  conditions  found  by  your  recent 
ancestors  as  a  basis  of  comparison,  what  has  happened  in  regard  to : 

(a)  Erosion  and  soil  productivity 

(1)  extent  of  areas  injured  by  erosion 

(2)  degrees  of  injury  by  erosion 

(3)  decline  in  fertility  and  yields 

(4)  effect  on  wildlife 

(5)  effects  on  land  users 

(6)  effects  on  business,  and  public  services  such  as  schools  and 
roads 

(b)  Floods 

(1)  record  of  frequency  for  past  40  years 

(2)  record  of  heights  for  past  40  years 

(3)  record  of  damages  for  past  40  years 

(4)  causes  of  changes  in  1,  2,  and  3 

(c)  Water  Table 

(1)  reliability  and  amount  of  spring  flow  in  various  areas 

(2)  changes  in  necessary  depth  of  wells 

(3)  regularity  of  stream  flow  throughout  year 

(4)  relation  of  1,  2,  and  3  to  soil  erosion 

(5)  increasing  uses  of  ground  water  for  industry,  civic  sup- 
ply, air  conditioning,  and  irrigation    (these  may  affect 
ground  water  levels) 

(d)  Drainage 

(1)  successes  and  failures  of  drainage  projects 

(2)  effects  on  wildlife 

(3)  economic  consequences 


122  MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 

(e)  Pollution 

(1)  types  found 

(a)  chemical 

(b)  physical 

(c)  biological 

(d)  thermal  (discharge  of  hot  water  by  factories) 

(2)  sources 

(a)  industrial  and  commercial 

(b)  domestic 

(c)  agricultural 

(3)  where  found 

(a)  streams 

(b)  lakes  and  reservoirs 

(c)  springs  and  wells 

(4)  effects 

(a)  on  health  (human  and  livestock) 

(b)  on  fish  and  other  wildlife 

(c)  on  recreational  opportunities 

(d)  on  industries,  cities 

(e)  on  jobs 

(f)  Siltation 

(1)  extent  in 

(a)  reservoirs,  lakes,  ponds 

(b)  harbors 

(c)  streams 

(2)  causes 

(3)  costs  and  damages  to 

(a)  power  production 

(b)  navigation 

(c)  irrigation 

(d)  aquatic  plant  and  animal  life 

(e)  recreation 

(g)  Forest  Destruction 

(1)  area  converted  to  cropland  and  pasture 

(2)  area  needing  reforestation 

(3)  area  needing  fire  protection 

(4)  number  and  extent  of  fires  reported  last  year 

(5)  effects  of  1  and  4  on  wildlife 

(a)  species  depleted 

(b)  species  encouraged 

(6)  economic  results  of  all  the  above 

(h)   Overgrazing 

(1)  evidence  and  extent 

(a)   changes  in  carrying  capacity  of  grass  lands 

(2)  economic  effects  of  overgrazing 

(i)  Wildlife  Decline 

(1)  species  originally  present 

(2)  causes  of  declines 

(a)  changes  in  food,  water,  cover 


APPENDIX  B  123 

(b)  changes  in  effects  of  predators 

(c)  increase  of  hunting  pressure 
(3)   present  status  of  common  species 

(a)  abundant 

(b)  scarce 

(c)  endangered 

(j)   Strip  or  Open  Cut  Mining 

(1)  extent  of  denudation 

(2)  extent  of  revegetation 

(3)  effects  on  wildlife 

(4)  economic  factors — for  and  against 

(2)  Which  of  the  16  "violent  reactions"  listed  in  chapter  8  are 
affecting  your  county?   Record  specific  evidence. 

(3)  What  remedial  measures  are  underway  in  regard  to  Activi- 
ties 1  and  2  ?  This  is  a  question  of  much  importance,  not  to  be  avoided 
in  any  study  of  this  nature.    It  is  an  essential  followup  of  Activity  1, 
but  may  be  done  simultaneously  with  each  section.     From  the  as- 
sembled information  a  judgment  may  be  made  of  conservation  prog- 
ress and  what  remains  to  be  done.   It  will  form  a  basis  for  community 
planning,  and  such  planning  should  be  indulged  in  by  students. 

(4)  What  is  the  trend  of  rural  population  in  your  county  over  the 
past  40  years,  more  or  less?     A  steady  decline  from  a  high  point 
may  reveal  serious  damage  to  the  climax  conditions  of  the  landscape, 
forcing  man  off  the  landscape.    There  may,  of  course,  be  other  factors 
bearing  on  population  decline. 

(5)  We  would  hardly  expect  rural  people  to  be  unable  to  sup- 
port themselves.     The  land  is  commonly  supposed  to  be  the  escape 
hatch  from  economic  depressions.    But,  if  your  county  is  one  where 
erosion  is  serious,  look  up  the  records  of  direct  relief  for  the  open 
country  folks  during  the  depression  of  the  thirties ;  if  the  records  are 
not  easily  available,  inquire  of  older  people  who  may  know. 

(6)  If  there  has  been  a  school  dental  survey  in  your  state,  it  will 
be  informative  and  convincing  to  compare  a  map  showing  the  average 
occurrence  of  defective  rural  teeth  in  various  counties  with  an  erosion 
map  of  the  state.    City  teeth  may  not  reflect  poor  local  soils  because 
of  the  large  percent  of  foods  shipped  in. 


INDEX 
Chapters  I-IX 


Abnormalities,  2,  3,  9 

Abundance,   10,   12 

Actinomycetes,  60 

Africa,  10 

Agriculture,  6,  82 

Air,  2,  5,  16,  17,  49,  62,  59,  75 

Albrecht,   Dr.   Wm.   A.,   22 

Alcohol,  14,  45 

Alfalfa,  17,  26 

Algae,  52,  54 

America,  10,  36,  71 

Amino  acids,  16 

Animals,  14,  16,  26,  48,  51,  60,  62,  75, 
77,  88,  101,  102,  105,  106;  aquatic; 
52;  and  land,  66,  80;  energy  of, 
17;  food  choices,  22;  fur  bearers, 
15 ;  game,  89 ;  populations,  80, 
103 ;  sterility  in,  32 ;  succession, 
80 

Appalachian    Plateau 
succession  in,  76-80 

Ash,  79,  80 

Associations 

plant,  61,  64,  66,  68,  69,  70,  80 
animal,  64,  80 

Assyria,  41 

Astronomical  conditions,  57 

Astronomy,  5 

Atmosphere,  57,  59,  69 

Atom,  4,  5;  bomb,  7 

Bacteria,    16,   49,   53,   60,   69,   75;    and 

legumes,  17 
Balances,   2,   37,  44,   84;    of  nature,   7, 

10,  87,  92 
Barrenness,   72-5 
Beavers,  75 
Beri-beri,  17 
Behavior,  9 
Beech,    70,   80 
Biochemist,   4 
Bio  ecology,  80 
Biosynthesis,   16,  18 
Birds,  75,  77 

game,  20 
Birth  control,  64 
Bison,  106 

Blackberry,  52,  77,  78 
Bones,  24,  30,  31 
Bomb,  atomic,  8 
Baron,  24,  28 
Botany,  4,  5 
Bread,  19 

Broomsedge,   77,   78,   81,  89 
Bryophytes,  54 

Burning,  fields,  90,  91 ;   scrub,  91 
Buffalo,  20,  106 


Calcium,  10,  16,  20 

Carbohydrate,  14,  17,  48 

Carbon  dioxide,  15 

Carboniferous  age,  54 

Carrots,  26,  28 

Cascades,  74 

Cattle,  22,  24 

Cells,  15,  16,  20,  22,  81 

Cellulose,  14 

Chemurgy,  7,  45-6 

China,  65;   North,  10 

Chlorophyll,  14,  15,  16,  18,  28,  48,  49, 
52,  54 

Civilization,  6,  7,  9,  19,  35,  53,  94,  99 

Clay,  74 

Climate,  5,  6,  50,  51,  58,  69,  72,  77; 
change,  89 ;  cycles,  100 ;  forecast- 
ing, 101 ;  and  ground  water,  93 ; 
injury  to  plants,  74;  Mediterra- 
nean, 71 ;  micro-,  70,  71 

Climax,  71,  72,  76,  80,  84,  87,  88,  89, 
98,  106;  conditions,  64,  87;  de- 
struction of,  64,  illus.,  65;  75,  101, 
107 ;  development,  62 ;  influence  of 
man  on,  64;  maintenance,  92-107; 
substitute,  66,  99;  and  wildlife, 
106 

Clover,  17,  26,  27 

Coal,   13,   14,  54 

Cobalt,  24 

Community,  66,  68,  69,  70,  92;  decline 
of,  90 

Competition,  62,  68,  69,  102 

Compost,   87 

Conservation,  107;   principles,  98-107 

Copper,  10,  24 

Corn,  72 

Cotton,  21,  36,  45 

Conifers,  55 

Cow,  nutrition,  24 

Coyote,  20,  106 

Crabapple,  wild,  77,  78,  79,  80 

Creative  concept,  48-9 

Crop,  15,  52;  minerals,  25;  row,  7; 
southern,  20;  residues,  17;  woody, 
20 

Cropland,  25,  36 

Crust,  earth,  57 

Cultivation,   7,   61 

Cultural  pattern,  91 ;  decline  of,  91 

Cycle,  6;  animal  population,  102;  ele- 
ments, 1 ;  energy,  1,  10 ;  enlarged, 
10;  exploitative,  104;  hydrologic, 
illus.,  1;  life,  2;  natural,  7,  9,  10; 
water,  1,  7,  13 

Damage,  87 
Dark  Ages,  35 
Darling,  J.  N.,  15 


125 


126 


MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 


Darwin,  50 

Death,  69,  70 

Decay,  53 

Deer,  106 

Deficiencies,  vitamin,  18 

Dept.  of  Agric.,  U.  S.,  37 

Deposition,    72 

Desert,  52,  69,  71,  72 

De  Vries,  50 

Dewberry,  77,  78 

Diet,  7,  9,  17;   and  beri-beri,  17;   and 

bones,  31,  32;  changes  needed,  40; 

family,  U.  S.,  40;  and  teeth,  31,  32 
Disease,  53,  54 ;  and  pollution,  95 
Dogwood,  79 
Drainage,  93,  95 
Drought,  74 
Ducks,  102 
Dust  Bowl,  37 

Earthquake,  58,  74 

Earthworm,  16,  80,  105 

Ecological 
disasters,  92 ; 
factors,  69,  70,  81,  90 

Ecologists,   75 

Ecology,  68,  69;  climate  and,  69;  ani- 
mal, 80 

Economics,   and  erosion,   89 

Education,  12,  44,  58,  68,  92 

Egyptians,  41 

Electricity,  5 

Electrons,  4,  5 

Elements,  1,  2,  4,  5,  6,  10,  48 

Elk,  75 

Energy,  1,  2,  5,  10,  15,  49,  52,  84,  87, 
106 ;  atomic,  14 ;  fats,  14 ;  kinetic, 
83 ;  stored  13,  14,  16,  91 

Environment,  1,  3,  50,  51,  53,  54,  58, 
72,  75,  76,  89,  91;  abnormal,  1; 
changes  affect  plants,  56,  71;  evo- 
lution of,  57-67,  80;  improvement 
of,  12,  104-6;  indicators,  81;  and 
man,  64,  71,  104;  management  of, 
19;  and  man,  64,  71,  104;  sta- 
bilized, 81,  101 

Erosion,  3,  7,  36,  52,  53,  77,  83,  87,  88, 
89,  103,  107;  and  animals,  106; 
and  civilization,  41,  42;  extent,  37, 
93;  map  of,  U.  S.,  38;  prevention, 
85 ;  process,  84 ;  sheet,  illus.,  39 ; 
types,  74;  water,  illus.,  7;  8,  9,  72, 
85 ;  86,  99 ;  wind,  74 

Englena,  48 

Euphrates,  35,  41 

Europe,  35,  36,  42,  71;  agriculture,  66; 
forestry,  44 

Evaporation,  74 

Evolution,  72,  81 

of  environment,  57-67;  of  landscape, 
54;  of  plants,  48-56 

Exploitation,  35,  36,  44 

Extinction,  51,  52,  102 


Farm,  3,   72,   75 

conservation  on,  71;  impoverished,  10 

Fats,  14 

Fecundity,   and   soil,   32 

Ferns,  54-5,  61 

Fertility,  6,  18,  66,  81,  101,  106;  and 
proteins,  16;  rebuilt,  77;  of  water, 
54 

Fertilizer,  3,  4,  87 

effect    on    animals,    22;     effect    on 
clover,  27 

Fire,  15,  62,  74,  75,  90,  101 
effect  on  soil,  88 ;   ground,  75 

Fish,  15,  52,  83,  88,  89,  105 ;  and  pollu- 
tion, illus.,  96 

Flood,  62,  74,  87,  101 

cost,  93 ;   increases,  89,  93 

Flour,  18 

Food,  6,  7,  14,  15,  39,  82,  88,  98 
exports,  40;   preparation,  25;  preser- 
vation,  54;    processing   losses,    18; 
and  teeth,  31 ;  U.  S.  needs,  40 

Forests,   3,  12,   13,   23,   36,  37,  42,   52, 
61,  63,  69,  70,  72,  81,  107 
Assyrian,    41;     coniferous,    17;    cut 
over,   44;    destruction,   40,   42,   43, 
45,   75,   96,   illus.,   98;    of   Europe. 
42 ;    exploitation,    44 ;    fire   results, 
illus.,  65,  75,  88,  89;  management. 
44,   45;    production,   45;    products. 
41,  45 ;  virgin,  illus.,  63 

Forester,  44,  45 

Forestry,  44,  45,  82 

Forest  Service,  U.  S.,  42 

Fossils,  50,  51 

Fox,  88;  nutrition  of,  32 

Freemen,   36 

Fuel,  mineral,  14 

Fungi,  16,  53,  54,  59,  60 

Fur  farming,  32 

Game,  83,  89,  98 

Gas,  natural,  13 

Gasoline,   13,   14 

Geologist,  58 

Germans,   Pennsylvania,    71 

Germany,  64,  103 

Glaciers,  50,  54,  74 

Goats,  41 

Grass,  26,  81,  91,  99 

nutrional  value,  77 ;  poverty,  77 
Grasslands,  15,  23,  52,  67 
Grazing,  22,  90,  91 
Gravity,  erosion,  74 
Great  Lakes,  50 
Great  Plains,   24 

drought,    74,    101;    Dust   Bowl,    37; 

health  on,  20;  plowing  of,  37;  soil 

of,  20 

Greece,  10,  35,  42 
Growth,  49;  stimulators,  17 
Gully,  7,  36,  66,   74,  88;   illustrations: 

Frontispiece,  8,  67,  86,  89,  91,  98. 

99 


INDEX 


127 


Habitat,  62,  69,  70,  76,  81 

Hawks,  88 

Headwaters,  1 

Health,  9,  20,  29,  31,  32 

Heat,   58 

Herty,  Dr.  Charles,  45,  46 

Hickory,  70,  80 

Hill  land,  illus.,  43 

Hogs,  75 

Hotsprings,  58 

Housing,  7 

Humans,   14 ;   health,   29 ;   and  soil,   29 

Humus,  3,  53,  60,  61,  74,  77,  101,  104 

Hunger,   10;   hidden,   29 

Hunting,  and  soil,  33-4 

Hybrids  50 

Hydrocarbon,  13,  14 

Hydrogen,  15 

Hydrologist,  58 

lee,  74 

Iceland,   103 

Ice   sheets,   50 

India,  64,  103 

Indicators,    81 

Industrial  Kevolution,  36 

Insects,  3,  16,  17,  62,  101;  pollinating, 

55 

Insolation,  57 
Invasion,  plant,  75,  76 
Interrelations,  61,  62,  63,  82 
Iron,  24 
Irrigation,  35,  82 

Japan,   64 

Lake,  54,  72 

Lake  herring,  98 

Land,  52,  58;  for  chemurgy,  46; 
classes,  illus.,  73 ;  forms,  73,  74 ; 
and  life  forms,  52;  practices  on, 
53;  sloping,  7;  use,  82,  101 

Landscape,  1,  2,  3,  6,  10,  12,  51,  54; 
abnormal,  1 ;  changing,  50,  72-5, 
104-6;  damage  to,  66,  89;  interre- 
lations on,  61 ;  laws,  11 ;  of 
Lebanon,  11 ;  management  of,  10, 
66,  91,  102,  104-6,  107;  mooring, 
6;  regression,  89;  Virginia,  11; 
world,  75,  105 

Leaching,  20,  61 ;  in  tropics,  21 

Learning  process,   1,   12 

Leaves,  4,  48,   70 

Lebanon,  landscape  illus.,  11 

Legumes,    17,   23 

Lichens,  52,  54,  78 

Life,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7,  9,  48-9,  51,  69,  87; 
animal,  2 ;  aquatic,  54 ;  changes 
environment,  58-61 ;  changes  form, 
61;  home  of,  57-8;  importance  of 
lower  forms,  66 ;  interrelationships, 
61 ;  overpopulation,  63  ;  plant,  2 ; 
sea  and  land  forms,  52-3 ;  seeks 
climax,  62;  and  soil  minerals,  59 


Light,   49,   61 

Lightning,  74 

Lignin,   46 

Lime,  16,  27;    on  plains  and  prairies, 

23,  24 

Liverworts,  54 

Living  Standard,  40,  44,  89,  99,  103 
Loam,  15,  74;  structure  84 
Loess,  74 
Lumbering,   75 
Lynx,  106 

Magnesium,  24,  28 

Man,  4,  104;  disorganizer,  6;  and  en- 
vironment, 64 ;  prehistoric,  35 ; 
problems,  92 

Management,  goals  of,  106;  landscape, 
91;  of  microbes,  61;  of  resources, 
10 

Maple,  70,  71,  80 

Mason,  W.  H.,  46 

Manure,   3,   87 

Mesophytic,  72 

Mesopotamia,  10,  41 

Metabolism,  49 

Meteorologist,  58 

Mexico,  10,  72 

Migration,    51,    75,    76 

Milk   casein,   45 

Minerals,  4,  52,  56,  57,  58,  105;  de- 
ficiencies, 25,  28;  and  health,  31, 
32;  loss  of,  7,  25;  shortages,  6; 
soil,  16,  17,  21,  55,  59;  in  water, 
54 

Moisture,  70,  72;   reserves  of,  101 

Molybdenum,  24 

Morals,  10 

Morgan,  Dr.  H.  A.,  48 

Moss,  52,  54,  61,  77,  78 

Mountains,  11,  58 

Mutation,  50,  51,  53,  54 

Mulch,    85,    87 

Mycorrhiza,   60 

Myxomycetes,  60 

National   Farm   Chemurgic  Council,   46 
Nature  9;  improvement  on,  10;  lessons 

from,  104-6 
Natural   forces,    84 
Natural  law,  83,  90,  106 
Natural  resources,  1,  67 
Natural  sciences,  1,  67 
Natural  selection,  49,  51 
Neutrons,  4,  5 
Nile,  35 

Nitrates,  16,  53,  61 
Nitrogen,   20,   28;    fixation,   16 
Normality,   1,   2,   3,   10,   12 
North   China,  42 
Nuclear  fission,  7 
Nutrients,  9,  53,  54 
Nutrition,    20;    bad,    effect    on    bones, 

30;  of  lambs,  25,  26;  of  pigs,  32; 

and  poverty  grass,  77 ;  in  South,  31 


128 


MAN  ON  THE  LANDSCAPE 


Oak,   70,   71,  79,  80 

Oils,  plant  and  animal,  14 

(see  petroleum) 
Organic  matter,  7,  61,  88;  materials  of, 

49;    processes,   10;    in  tropics,21 
Organisms,  49,  59,  60,  66,  88,  90 
Organization,  3,  4,  5,  6 
Overgrazing,  10,  87,  97-8,  103 
Overpopulation,  62,  102-3 
Overview,  1,  3 
Owl,  88 

Oxidation,  13,  88 
Oxygen,  15,  52,  59,  61 

Paleontology,  50 

Palestine,  35,  41,  42,  74 

Parasites,  53 

Parran,  Dr.  Thomas,  40 

Passenger  pigeon,  102 

Pasture,  3,  10,  12,  67;   burned,  90,  91 

Pennsylvania    Germans,    71 

People,  abnormal,  1,  9 

Petroleum,    13 

Pheasant,  20,  106 

Phoenicia,   10,  41 

Phosphorus,  10,  20,  23,  24,  27,  89; 
available,  23;  lack  of,  29 

Photosynthesis,  14,  15,  52,  68,  88 

Phyla,  53-5 

Physicist,  58,  87 

Pinchot,  Gifford,  44 

Plains,  15,  23,  24,  69,  71,  107 

Plankton,  52,  53 

Plants,  4,  14,  59,  60,  68;  aquatic,  88; 
associations,  68;  and  climate,  74; 
climax,  62 ;  dead,  59 ;  destruction 
of,  72-5,  107;  elements  of,  4;  en- 
vironmental needs,  55-6,  72 ;  evolu- 
tion of,  48-56;  flowering,  55; 
forage,  22 ;  fossil,  50 ;  geography 
of,  70-2 ;  green,  14,  49 ;  interrela- 
tions, 61;  kinds  of,  53-6;  more 
needed,  40;  nature  of,  48-9;  nutri- 
tion of,  26,  28,  29 ;  pioneer,  74,  75 ; 
power  stored  in,  13,  59 ;  quality  of, 
25,  28,  29;  saprophytes,  49,  53; 
succession,  72-80 ;  succulence,  20, 
22,  23;  woody,  20,  22 

Plastics,  45,  46 

Pollination,  55 

Pollution,  52,  53,  88,  94-6,  98 

Pond,  54,  93 

Population,  10,  12,  36,  76,  99;  controls, 
62-4,  102-3;  potential,  62;  provid- 
ing for,  14,  66;  and  resources,  102- 
3 ;  in  tropics,  21 

Potassium,    17,    27,    28,    29 

Power,  5.  6,  7 ;  atomic,  14,  illus.,  8 ; 
output  of  plants,  16 ;  raindrops,  82- 
6;  sun,  12,  18;  water,  1 

Prairie,  23,  71,  99,  107 

Prairie  chicken,  20,  IOC 

Prairie  dog,  20,  74 

Predation,  106 


Price,  Dr.  Weston,  31,  32 

Problems,   landscape,   107 

Processes,  organic,  10 

Production,  3 

Profit   motive,   36,   107 

Proteins,   16,   17,   20,  48,  52;   and  soil, 

17,  60 

Proton,  4,  5 
Protoplasm,  49 
Protozoa,  16,  17,  60 
Pteridophytes,   54 
Puma,   106 

Quail,    101-2,    106 

Babbit,  77,  106;  bones,  30;  growth, 
and  soil,  32;  sterility  and  soil,  33 

Eaccoon,   106 

Rain,  4,  5,  9,  105 

Raindrops,  7,  58,  83 ;  effect  on  soil,  84, 
illus.,  85-6;  splash,  illus.,  82. 

Rainfall,  70;  per  acre,  83-4 

Range,  3,  10,  89 

Reactions,  natural,  83,  84,  104-6;  of 
raindrop,  83;  violent,  99-100 

Reforestation,  70 

Relationships,  61,  62;  (see  interre- 
lations) 

Reproduction,  49 ;  controls,  62 ;  soil 
and,  32-4 

Research,   12 

Reserves,  protective,  99,  100-2 

Reservoir,  silting  of,  96;  illus.,  97 

Resources,  4,  47;  American,  35;  man- 
agement, 10;  natural,  1,  67;  and 
population,  102 

Respiration,    plant,    14 

Rice,    and   beri-beri,    17 

Rivers,   6;    (see  streams) 

Rock,  5,  20,  49,  54;  decay,  24,  58; 
mantle,  57;  parent,  25,  69;  vol- 
canic, 15 

Roots,  48,  52,  59,  77,  87,  101;  nodules, 
17;  rot,  27 

Rome,  25,  35,  42,  91 

Rubber,  synthetic,  45 

Runoff,  93;  illus.,  7 

Salmon,  98 

Salts,   29,  57 

Sand,  13,  74 

Sandstone,  25 

Saprophytes,  49,  53 

Sassafras,   77,   78 

Science,  1,  83,  89,  104,  105 

Scrub,  52,  91 

Sea,  58;  life  in,  52 

Seed,  55,  62,  64,  75,  76,  77,  88 

Sewers,  6 

Shad,  98 

Shade,  69,  77,  80 

leaves  in,   70 
Shale,  oil,  13 
Shelter,  88,  98. 


INDEX 


129 


Shrubs,  72 

Silt,  13,  41,  72,  74,  88,  89,  96-7 

Slavery,   35,   41,   42 

Stime  mold,  48,  60 

Society,  47 

Soil,  2,  5,  6,  7,  52,  53,  55,  100;  amend- 
ments, 21;  and  animals,  80;  ani. 
mals  in,  16;  carbon  dioxide,  16; 
changes  in,  61 ;  chemurgic  needs, 
46;  climate,  77;  conserving,  14, 
46 ;  cultivation,  61 ;  dry,  70 ;  ero- 
sion, 38,  85;  fertility,  20,  23,  55, 
66;  formation,  20,  39,  51,  54,  58, 
59,  60,  69,  88;  of  Great  Plains,  20; 
and  health,  31-2;  loam,  15,  74,  84; 
minerals,  21,  26,  31,  55;  nitrates, 
16;  potassium,  17;  productivity, 
21,  106;  rain  effects,  84;  red  clay, 
21;  in  Southeast,  21;  structure, 
20,  84;  and  vitamins,  17,  18;  wet, 
70. 

Solar,  4,  5,  18 

Southern  states,  20,  24,  36,  37,  45,  46 

Soybeans,  17,  45 

Species,  new,  50-1 ;  effect  on  environ- 
ment, 51 

Spectroscope,  4 

Spermatophytes,  55 

Spores,  54,  62,  75,  76 

Sports,  50 

Springs,  89,  92,  93 

Starch,  14 

Streams,  3,  54,   88;   flow,  93 

Strip  cropping,  87;   illus.,  43 

Strip  mining,  75 

Stems,  48 

Subsidence,  74 

Succession,  72,  74,  75,  77,  81,  84;  illus., 
78-9;  secondary,  76 

Succulence,  20,  22,  23 

Sugar,  14,  15,  48 

Sulphur,  16,  28 

Sumac,  77,  78,  80 

Sun,  1,  4,  5,  6,  25,  49,  52,  70;  power, 
13,  14,  16,  83 

Surpluses,   36,  40   46 

Survival,  50,  51,  61,  66,  70,  87 

Sustained,  production,  36,  43;  yield, 
104 

Syria,  41 

Teachers,  25 

Teeth,  24;  and  diet,  31 

Temperature,   60 

Tensions,  of  unbalance,   84,   87 

Termites,   17 

Terraces,    in    Lebanon,    11 ;    in    Rhine 

Valley,   71 

Thallophytes,    53,    54 
Thinking,  normal  and  abnormal,  3 
Tigris,  35,  41 
Tillage,   105 

Timberland,  10,  (see  forests) 
Tobacco,  effect  on  soil,  20 


Topography,  51,  76;  cause  of  succes- 
sion, 72 

Topsoil,  3,  5,  9,  18,  57,  59,  74,  8£; 
illus.,  39;  loss  illus.,  39 

Trees,  46,  61,  62,  72,  88;  in  succession, 
77,  79,  80 

Tree  ferns,  54 

Tropics,  fertility  of,  21;  leaching  in, 
21 ;  proteins  in,  21 

Trout,  88 

Unbalance,  84,  87,   88,  89,  92 

United  States,  6,  10,  17,  24,  25,  66,  82, 

107 ;  erosion  map  of,  38 
Unity,  12 
Universe,  48 
Uplift,  geologic,  74 
Uranium — lead,  49 
U.  S.  Dept.  of  Agriculture,  40,  96 
U.  S.  Forest  Service,  42,  97 

Variations,  plant,  50-1 

Vegetation,  39,  47,  68,  69,  72,  75,  90, 
92,  104;  needed  for  chemurgy,  46; 
and  climate,  69;  destroyed,  37; 
stream  bank,  88 ;  woody,  17 

Vitamins,  17,  34,  52;  C,  70;  deficien- 
cies, 25;  A,  in  foxes,  32;  loss  of, 
18;  pills,  18 

Volcano,  58,  74 

Walnut,  80 

War,  9,  10,  64,  103 

Waste,  wood,  46 

Water,  1,  2,  5,  11,  15,  16,  17,  49,  52, 
54,  55,  58,  69,  71,  89;  artesian, 
93;  cycle,  1,  7,  13;  ground,  74; 
hauling,  illus.,  92 ;  indicators  of, 
81 ;  muddy,  89 ;  power,  1,  14 ; 
table,  93 

Watercloset,  6 

Watershed,    93,    96 

Waves,  52 

Weather,  5,  58,  61 

Weathering,  7,  20 

Weeds,  52,  69;  sea,  53 

Wills,  92;  artesian,  93 

Western  Europe,  71,  94;  agriculture, 
66 

Wheat,  20;  analysis,  26 

Wildlife,  39,  64,  93,  106;  decline  of, 
98,  99 ;  distribution,  23 ;  and  laws, 
106;  population,  106;  and  soil  fer- 
tility, 26,  32,  34,  77 

Wind,  7,  50,  54,  74 

Wolf,  106 

Woodcock,  106 

Wood,  needs,  45;  products,  40,  41; 
waste,  46 

Woodiness,  of  plants,   20  ff. 

Woodland  management,  44 

Yield,  sustained,   104 
Yacatan,   10 

Zinc,  10,  28 


TULARE  COUNTY  SCHOOLS  LIBRARY 
204  N.  CHURH  ST.  •  VISALIA,  CALIF. 


Withdrawn