218 THE LURE OF THE LAND 



ture had become commonly distributed. My father's 

 farm was in the hills near the Ohio River. The land 

 was originally very fertile. It was underlaid with 

 lime-stone and covered with a growth of maple, walnut, 

 and poplar (tulip) trees. The walnuts and the poplars 

 grew to great size and were the worst enemies of the 

 intending farmer. They were valueless for lumber, of 

 which there was already a surplus of supply, and hence 

 thousands of these magnificent trees were deadened, 

 cut down and burned, to get them out of the way of 

 the plow. Soon after signs of danger were manifested. 

 Deep gullies were cut in the hillside. These were 

 filled in and washed over and plowed out from year to 

 year, until finally all of the surface soil was gone. 

 The sub-soil was much less fertile and even more prone 

 to wash. Consequently, in a few years, not more than 

 fifteen or twenty at most, a great number of the cleared 

 fields were reduced to poverty and the crops fell to a 

 minimum. 



EARLY EXPERIMENT IN REFORESTATION. 



Directly in front of the house was a hillside which 

 had been so worn by erosion that it was no longer 

 plowed. It was left as a bad spot on the landscape, 

 which offended the eye and indicated an unscientific 

 method of agriculture. So much of the soil had been 

 washed off that even grass would not grow on what was 

 left. Only briers and a few weeds could survive. 

 Knowing nothing of the principles of scientific forestry, 

 I got my father's permission to re-forest this area. 

 There were only about two acres of it, but it was suf- 

 ficient for an experiment. I planted several hundred 

 young locust trees, of which there was an abundant 

 supply in the country, as carefully as I could along the 



