﻿LAND 
  USE 
  — 
  LOWDERMILK 
  425 
  

  

  the 
  farmers 
  threshing 
  their 
  huge 
  stacks 
  of 
  grain, 
  which 
  resembled 
  

   African 
  villages 
  on 
  the 
  landscape 
  (pi. 
  4, 
  fig. 
  2). 
  

  

  Hollanders 
  are 
  experts 
  in 
  the 
  use 
  of 
  land 
  and 
  the 
  control 
  of 
  water. 
  

   Since 
  early 
  times, 
  picturesque 
  Dutch 
  windmills 
  have 
  drained 
  the 
  

   otherwise 
  useless 
  lowlands 
  and 
  lifted 
  drainage 
  water 
  into 
  canals 
  to 
  

   empty 
  into 
  the 
  ocean. 
  Since 
  the 
  completion 
  of 
  the 
  huge 
  26-mile 
  

   ocean 
  dyke 
  across 
  the 
  outlet 
  of 
  the 
  Zuider 
  Zee, 
  Holland 
  has 
  con- 
  

   quered 
  her 
  thousand-year-old 
  enemy, 
  the 
  North 
  Sea, 
  and 
  has 
  provided 
  

   her 
  people 
  with 
  a 
  much-needed 
  sweet-water 
  lake, 
  new 
  agricultural 
  

   lands, 
  and 
  better 
  transportation. 
  The 
  Dutch 
  take 
  an 
  artistic 
  pride 
  

   in 
  the 
  excellence 
  of 
  the 
  crops 
  of 
  their 
  native 
  soil; 
  their 
  farms 
  and 
  

   forests 
  are 
  models 
  in 
  management. 
  This 
  conquest 
  of 
  the 
  soulless 
  sea 
  

   has 
  carried 
  with 
  it 
  none 
  of 
  the 
  destructive 
  horrors 
  of 
  modern 
  war 
  

   and 
  has 
  cost 
  much 
  less. 
  The 
  hope 
  of 
  the 
  world 
  in 
  conservation 
  

   rather 
  than 
  in 
  destruction 
  is 
  made 
  realistic 
  by 
  this 
  masterpiece 
  of 
  

   reclamation. 
  

  

  THE 
  INSIDIOUS 
  NATURE 
  OF 
  EROSION 
  

  

  Our 
  studies 
  in 
  lands 
  long 
  occupied 
  by 
  man 
  disclose 
  that 
  soil 
  erosion, 
  

   i. 
  e., 
  man-induced 
  erosion 
  as 
  distinguished 
  from 
  normal 
  geologic 
  ero- 
  

   sion, 
  is 
  an 
  insidious 
  process 
  that 
  has 
  destroyed 
  lands 
  and 
  undermined 
  

   progress 
  of 
  civilization 
  and 
  cultures. 
  Achievements 
  in 
  the 
  control 
  of 
  

   soil 
  erosion 
  and 
  in 
  adjustments 
  of 
  a 
  lasting 
  agriculture 
  to 
  sloping 
  lands 
  

   are 
  steps 
  in 
  the 
  march 
  of 
  civilization 
  as 
  momentous 
  as 
  the 
  discovery 
  of 
  

   fire 
  and 
  the 
  selection 
  of 
  food 
  plants. 
  

  

  Solutions 
  to 
  problems 
  of 
  population 
  pressure 
  have 
  too 
  often 
  in 
  the 
  

   past 
  been 
  sought 
  in 
  the 
  conquest 
  and 
  destruction 
  of 
  the 
  works 
  of 
  

   peoples 
  rather 
  than 
  in 
  conservation 
  and 
  improving 
  the 
  potential 
  pro- 
  

   ductivity 
  of 
  the 
  earth, 
  with 
  provision 
  for 
  exchange 
  of 
  specialty 
  prod- 
  

   ucts. 
  The 
  formula 
  of 
  exploitation 
  and 
  destruction 
  has 
  interrupted 
  

   the 
  orderly 
  solutions 
  to 
  land-use 
  problems 
  in 
  the 
  past 
  and 
  has 
  un- 
  

   leashed 
  the 
  forces 
  of 
  erosion 
  to 
  spread 
  like 
  the 
  tentacles 
  of 
  an 
  octopus 
  

   through 
  the 
  lands 
  of 
  North 
  China, 
  North 
  Africa, 
  Asia 
  Minor, 
  and 
  the 
  

   Holy 
  Lands, 
  as 
  well 
  as 
  in 
  the 
  United 
  States 
  and 
  other 
  countries 
  of 
  the 
  

   New 
  World. 
  

  

  One 
  generation 
  of 
  people 
  replaces 
  another, 
  but 
  productive 
  soils 
  de- 
  

   stroyed 
  by 
  erosion 
  are 
  seldom 
  restorable 
  and 
  never 
  replaceable. 
  Con- 
  

   servation 
  of 
  the 
  basic 
  soil 
  resource 
  becomes 
  more 
  than 
  a 
  matter 
  of 
  indi- 
  

   vidual 
  interest 
  ; 
  it 
  becomes 
  a 
  matter 
  of 
  national 
  interest 
  necessary 
  to 
  

   the 
  continuing 
  welfare 
  of 
  a 
  people. 
  The 
  day 
  is 
  gone 
  when 
  lands 
  may 
  

   be 
  worn 
  out 
  with 
  the 
  expectation 
  of 
  finding 
  new 
  lands 
  to 
  the 
  west. 
  

   The 
  economy 
  of 
  exploitation 
  must 
  give 
  place 
  to 
  an 
  economy 
  of 
  con- 
  

   servation 
  if 
  a 
  people 
  will 
  survive 
  into 
  the 
  unknown 
  future. 
  Peace 
  

   among 
  nations 
  must 
  rest 
  upon 
  such 
  a 
  policy. 
  

  

  