WISCONSIN'S RAVISHED FORESTS 

 Burned-off White Pine Lands in Douglas County 



of forestry. We also have many berry- 

 bearing shrubs, vines and fruit trees, whose 

 employment to the maximum in covering 

 slopes is likev^fise urged either alone or in 

 conjunction with trees. But, for the greater 

 part, berries and fruits are perishable and 

 have limitations of preservation, transporta- 

 tion, market, etc. But if shrubs could be 

 evolved by modern selective methods whose 

 nut-meats or dry seeds should be suitable 

 for food in place of the watery pulp, and 

 which could be treated much as cereals are, 

 and have similar wide year-round markets, 

 there would be a larger choice of crops to 

 grow in soils subject to wash, and we might 

 secure soil-protection with less crop-limita- 

 tion. There would then be less need to 

 press the culture of the cereals so far as we 

 do now, and they could be limited more 

 largely to surfaces less subject to harmful 

 soil-loss. 



Another marked feature of nature's 

 method is the development of plant-societies, 

 or from our point of view, combination- 

 crops. There can be no doubt that there 

 is much deleterious crowding and repress- 

 ive rivalry among the natural mixtures of 

 plants, but at the same time, there seem to 

 be associations that are mutually beneficial. 

 No doubt man secures a great temporary 

 advantage by isolating chosen plants and 

 freeing them from competition, but this is 

 clearly at some permanent disadvantage 

 which is partially corrected by rotation, fer- 

 tilizing, and tilth. Cannot a greater ad- 



vantage be secured by a larger use of the 

 combination method ? It is clear that 

 legumes and cereals are helpful associates 

 in rotation and in some combinations. May 

 not this be pushed so far by skillful selec- 

 tion and proper culture that legumes and 

 helpful associates may replace weeds in be- 

 coming the constant and spontaneous asso- 

 ciates of cereal crops, so that, while kept in 

 such subordination as to be the servants of 

 the cereals, they may still aid in covering 

 and protecting the soil and thus guard 

 against undue surface loss. Certainly much 

 can be done by such plants, used as fall and 

 spring crops, to cover the soil when spe- 

 cially exposed to wastage. 



The full list of tried methods should be 

 pressed into the utmost employment. 



Since the chief object is to cause the 

 maximum of rainfall to be absorbed into 

 the soil, it is obvious that all methods of 

 culture and all crops that increase the gran- 

 ularity and porosity of the soil contribute 

 to the end sought. Deep tilth to promote 

 soil granulation, and deep-rooting plants to 

 cause root-tubes, are specific modes of great 

 value. 



Artificial underdrainage by preventing the 

 water-logging of the soil and by promoting 

 its granulation, assists in absorption and 

 transmission. 



Contour cultivation, by arresting the 

 direct descent of the waters on the surface 

 and distributing them along the slopes, 

 when properly controlled aids absorption 



