PART III 



RELATED TOPICS 



THE FOREST AS A PROTECTIVE COVER 



BESIDES supplying one of the most necessary materials, 

 wood, and besides rendering productive large areas of 

 otherwise useless land, the forest in most places has still 

 another function, namely, that of protection. 



The forest protects the soil against washing away, or 

 erosion, and it protects both the soil and the air in the 

 forest against the wind and sun, and thereby keeps them 

 cooler and moister. 



A simple experiment illustrates this influence very well : 

 Take a common wooden table and prop up one side so 

 that it is about six inches higher than the other side ; let 

 this table top represent a gently sloping hillside. If now 

 we pour water on this table top with a sprinkler, and 

 thereby imitate rain, we see that the water at once runs 

 off faster or slower, according as the table, our hillside, 

 slants more or less. 



This is exactly what happens on our sidehill or moun- 

 tain wherever its rocky body is bare of any soil or cover. 



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