CHASMS OF EROSION AND FOREST DEFENSE 



493 



FANTASTIC SHAPES DUE TO EROSION 



A scene in Stewart County, Georgia, where in a deep gully are strange 

 shapes left as the water and weather eat away the soil. 



Stroke of a walking cane can dislodge this sentinel and 

 last defender and leave the mass beneath a prey to the 

 eroding elements. 



The tree growth at the bottom of some of these gorges 

 affords interesting data. Without doubt the trees have 

 sprung from seed. The transfer of a tree or even a 

 young sprout to this site is against all probabilities. A 

 determination of the age of the trees would in a measure, 

 afford data for determining the probable length of time 

 the gorge has existed at its present depth, or the depth 

 at which the tree found its footing. 



Many trees of commercial size are found in these 

 gorges, but so inaccessible are they as to be considered 

 of little commercial value. The problem is one of lifting 

 the cut timber out of the gorge to the level. To make 

 a road out would be too expensive. 



Some of the most striking exhibitions of this phase 

 of erosion can be seen in Stewart county, Georgia, from 

 which the accompanying illustrations were taken. In this 

 region are the terrace lands characteristic of the deposits 

 of soil brought down from the Piedmont to the coastal 

 plain region. Along the river basins especially, the ter- 

 races almost attain the dignity of plateaus. In these 

 redeposits of earth, and in a region of heavy rainfall, 

 of course, erosion is to be felt with greatest severity and 

 unusual problems for the conservationist arc afforded. 



'J'HE caterpillar of the Tussock moth is of a general 

 gray color vfith its back ornamented with a series 

 of four tufts of white hair. The head is bright red in 

 color and has two pencils of black hair extending for- 

 ward while a single similar pencil extends back from 

 the end of the body. The very best way of fighting 

 this voracious leaf eater is by collecting and destroy- 

 ing the egg masses during the winter or spring. 



DESTROYING TREE PESTS 



COMPETING for prizes offered by the Clinton 

 County Agricultural Society, school children of 

 Clinton County, New York, have prevented the 

 ravages of more than two hundred and seventy million 

 ajjple tree worms during the past three years, by de- 

 stroying the egg masses before they hatched. In 1914. 

 when the contest started, 175,96.5,250 worms were ac- 

 counted for, the hatching of 95,000,000 was prevented 

 in 1915; and 10.000,000 perished in the vigorous cam- 

 paign of 1916. 



The Society has made public comprehensive plans for 

 continuing the work, with the object of completely ex- 

 terminating the ])est in the county. This year the dif- 

 ferent schools in a town will compete against each other, 

 rather than one town trying to wrest the prize from an- 

 other, and tlie increased number of prizes will mean added 

 interest on the part of the children. 



The figures above give a definite idea of the rapidity 

 with which the number of worms is decreasing, as a result 

 of the campaign, and leads to the belief that Clinton 

 County will soon be entirely freed from the destructive 

 activity of these pests. 



TREE BOWS ITS HEAD AT NIGHT 



I'Vom Simla, India, comes this story : 



"The educated public in Bengal is excited over the 

 discovery of a palm tree which is exhibiting certain re- 

 markable phenomena. 



"This tree is on a plot of land owned by an inhab- 

 itant of Faridjnu-. In the morning it stands erect, with 

 its leaves outspread ; but after sunset it bows its head, 

 the leaves touching the ground, as if prostrating. This 

 is witnessed every day. 



"Ignorant people have come to regard it as an abode 

 of some god. Hundreds of men, women and children 

 visit it daily and offer pujahs near it. It is even stated 

 that many persons have been cured by oifering pujali. 



"Sir Jagadish Nunder Bose, the renowned botanist, 

 sent some of his assistants, with a self-recording appa- 

 ratus specially constructed for the purpose to discover 

 the cause of the phenomenon. It has been found by 

 dynamometric measurements that 'the internal forces, 

 whose periodic fluctuation causes this remarkable move- 

 ment, are very great, the pull necessary to bring the tree 

 down to its position of prostration exceeding several hun- 

 dred weights.' 



"Notwithstanding the thoroughly scientific explanation 

 that this phenomenon is entirely natural, the owner of the 

 tree is still making a good income from the pujah oflFer- 

 ings of pilgrims." 



'pHE heavier the fire wood, the more heat to the 

 cord. Hickory, oak, beech, hard maple, locust, 

 ash, and elm have high heat value, and one cord of 

 seasoned wood has a value as fuel equal to one ton of 

 coal. 



