60 



MAN ON THE LANDSCAPE 



FIG*. 19. In any good community the living 1 and the dead are one. The living 1 

 are enriched by the contributions of the dead. The more good dead have preceded 

 the living 1 , the better life is, the better the community is any kind of com- 

 munity, plants, or worms, or men. 



organization, crammed with life, energy, proteins, vitamins and raw 

 minerals, all interacting, producing and maintaining a high order 

 environment usable by the organisms involved. (Fig. 19). 



Living macroscopic (visible to the naked eye) plants and animals 

 are usually host to micro-organisms. But it is when plants die and 

 help form that part of the soil known as humus, that the micro- 

 organisms have a field day and multiply by the billions in each hand- 

 ful of soil when moisture and temperature are favorable. "So 

 enormous is the total that protein . . . determined in the usual soil 

 analysis, is largely composed of microbic remains." 3 It is such or- 

 ganisms as bacteria, actinomycetes (mold-like), fungi, mycorrhiza 

 (certain molds) protozoa (one-celled animals) and myxomycetes 

 (slime molds) which are largely responsible for high grade soils. 

 Micro-organisms are fundamental in the creation of a basic environ- 

 ment which will support the higher plants and animals, including 

 ourselves and our civilization. Where these primitive life forms 

 with their slime and their stinking gases are absent, also absent will 

 be the cathedrals, the universities, and country clubs of man. 



In nature the activity of microbial organisms is balanced in some 

 degree against the fertility needs of the larger, green plants. 



8Jbt<Z., p. 942. 



