5(> Conservation of Natural Resources in California. 



tinuous that he must be ignorant indeed who does not know the impres- 

 sive reasons why the upland forests must be preserved. The lingering 

 tragedies of those Mediterranean countries Greece, Italy, France, 

 Spain, and the African coast which permitted wholesale destruction 

 of their forests, have been rehearsed for our warning 



Till old Experience do attain 

 To something of prophetic strain, 



while the success of the present far-sighted policies of Germany, France, 

 and other countries have been cited for our encouragement. 



* * * The walnut and white pine of the Lake States are virtually 

 exhausted; the leather trust is everywhere decimating the hemlock for 

 tanbark, while the soft woods, saplings as well as larger growth, are 

 being indiscriminately devoured by the pulp mills. Meanwhile, the 

 senseless tariff on lumber tempts the rich Companies to further deple- 

 tion of our resources, rather than permit the builder to buy in the 

 cheaper and inexhaustible market of Canada. Could folly farther go ? 



Reversing the witticism, let us ask, What has posterity ever done to 

 us that we should do such things to posterity? 



WHEN THE FORESTS ARE GONE. 



Teachers of geography and others interested in such matters will find a 

 wealth of good material In a large volume by George P. Marsh entitled 

 THE EARTH AS MODIFIED BY HUMAN ACTION. The following para- 

 graphs give a vivid idea of conditions in certain parts of France. It is 

 the part of wise people to profit by the experience of others, to take 

 warning from others' misfortunes. 



"When the forest is gone, the great reservoir of moisture stored up 

 in its vegetable mould is evaporated, and returns only in deluges of rain 

 to wash away the parched dust into which that mould has been con- 

 verted. The well-wooded and humid hills are turned to ridges of dry 

 rock, the debris from which encumbers the low grounds and chokes the 

 watercourses, and except in countries favored with an equable distri- 

 bution of rain throughout the seasons, and a moderate and regular 

 inclination of surface the whole earth, unless rescued by human art 

 from the physical degradation to which it tends, becomes as assemblage 

 of bald mountains, of barren, turfless hills, and of swampy and 

 malarious plains. There are parts of Asia Minor, of northern Africa, 

 of Greece, and even of Alpine Europe, where the operation of causes set 

 in action by man has brought the face of the earth to a desolation 

 almost as complete as that of the moon ; and though, within that brief 

 space of time which we call "the historical period," they are known to 

 have been covered with luxuriant woods, verdant pastures, and fertile 



