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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



GRASS 



By John J. Ingalls 



Late Senator of Kansas 



Southern Pine Association 



"/-><RASS is the forgiveness of Nature— her constant 

 I -r benediction. Fields trampled with battle, saturat- 

 V* ed with blood, torn with the ruts of cannon, grow 

 green again with grass, and carnage is forgotten. Streets 

 abandoned by traffic become grass-grown like rural lanes, 

 and are obliterated; forests decay, harvests perish, flowers 

 vanish, but grass is immortal. Beleagured by the sullen 

 hosts of winter, it withdraws into the impregnable fort- 

 ress of its subterranean vitality and emerges upon the 

 solicitation of Spring Sown by the winds, by wandering 

 birds, propagated by the subtle horticulture of the ele- 

 ments, which are its ministers and servants, it softens the 

 rude outline of the world. Its tenacious fibers hold the 

 earth in its place, and prevent its soluble components 

 from washing into the sea. It invades the solitude of 

 deserts, climbs the inaccessible slopes and forbidding pin- 

 nacles of mountains, modifies climates and determines the 

 history, character and destiny of nations. Unobtrusive 

 and patient, it has immortal vigor and aggression. Ban- 

 ished from the thoroughfare or the field, it bides its time 

 to return, and when vigilance is relaxed, or the dynasty 

 has perished, it silently resumes its throne, from which it 

 has been expelled but which it never abdicates. It bearsno 

 blazonry of bloom to charm the senses with fragrance or 

 splendor, but its homely hue is more enchanting than the 

 lily or the rose. It yields no fruit in earth or air, and yet 

 should its harvest fail for a single year famine would de- 

 populate the world. " 



The South 's future depends upon full utili- 

 zation of its vast idle acreage, in agricultural 

 pursuits, live stock raising and reforestation. 



Cut Over Land Department 



Southern Pine 

 Association 





