ARE THERE ENOUGH PLANTS? 



39 



FIG-. 15. This rich soil 

 began as nothing- but 

 limestone rock, sterile 

 and lifeless. As the stone 

 weathered into calcium 

 dust, it was flooded from 

 time to time and deposits 

 of mineral-rich silts wer > 

 added. The roots of 

 plants, and earthworms, 

 mixed the minerals, add- 

 ed organic matter, and 

 in a few thousands of 

 years this soil was built. 

 There are 7 inches of 

 dark topsoil, 5 inches of 

 lighter topsoil, and 13 

 inches of subsoil. Its 

 product here is lush, liv- 

 ing grass and "all flesh 

 is grass." 



is : can science short-cut the leisurely processes of nature in repair- 

 ing the damage? There is evidence to support a positive answer. 



Do We Need More Food? In preceeding paragraphs it has been 

 shown that half of the nation's land is inadequately clothed with 

 vegetation, that one seventh of it has been stripped literally naked, 

 by man. As a result, or as a parallel occurence, erosion is rampant. 



FIG-. 16. A Texas case of embezzlement "secret misappropriation," according 

 to Webster. Here, the sly stealing of topsoil by sheet erosion is finally dis- 

 closed. But, it la too late. The wealth is gone; there is not one songbird or 

 gamebird to control insects. The gentle slope was no safeguard for this soil. 

 Scientific protection would have been simple, easy, profitable. 



