HOW THE FORESTS HELP MANKIND 129 



cold and clear and pure, and many cities are now reforesting 

 and protecting the lands that lie above the headwaters of the 

 streams from which their drinking water comes. 



In addition to all this the forest, every day it grows, is making 

 the soil beneath it more fertile. For, instead of being exposed 

 to the baking rays of the sun and to the drying and cracking 

 action of the winds, forest soil is continuously enriched by 



How FORESTS SAVE THE SOIL 



Forests protect the shores of lakes and the edges of streams against beating rains. 

 For this reason the forest stream at the left is clear and carries little mud and silt. 



But the barren shore on the right is washing away under heavy rains and its 

 streams are charged with mud which quickly fills up lakes and reservoirs. 



falling leaves, and by the important, but little known micro- 

 scopic life that grows about the roots of the trees. 



In these many ways, then, the forests make the world a 

 better place for man better in body and spirit. And besides 

 all these, the forests bring man still another service more diffi- 

 cult to put into words, but none the less real. This is the 

 pleasure and peace that trees and forests give us just to look 

 at, to wander among and to play in. 



It is a very natural thing that we should love the woods. It 



