organisms depend upon the same reservoir of water and soil and air. Yet 

 the various Hfe forms depend upon one another. Animals and plants lack- 

 ing chlorophyl depend upon green plants for their food. But the continuous 

 action of green plants depends in tu];n upon those other forms, which, by 

 oxidizing their food, restore carbon dioxide to the air and the waters. These 

 basic materials are in constant circulation, passing from the nonliving sur- 

 roundings into plants and on into the bodies of animals. The vast total of 

 "life" appears to be possible precisely because there are so many different 

 kinds. Each species is completely surrounded by other "life" which con- 

 tributes — and also takes away. There is a constant destruction, but there is 

 also a constant restoring or balancing. 



Millions of us satisfy our need for foods of various kinds, draw water 

 (hot and cold) from convenient faucets, and buy our clothes according to 

 means and taste without ever finding out that we are drawing upon the 

 earth. The soil as the source of our material existence and well-being is 

 actually managed by a diminishing fraction of the population. Fewer 

 farmers and fishermen and hunters and foresters supply a larger population 

 than lived here a generation ago. It takes fewer acres, as well as fewer men, 

 to grow the crops and animals we consume. It is nevertheless of first im- 

 portance that the entire soil be conserved, that the nation's entire water sys- 

 tem be protected and developed, that all our forests and streams be main- 

 tained at a constant productive level. For, however far we may get from 

 the land, our life is inseparably tied to the soil. 



160 



