Canadian Forcsliij Journal, March, 1017 



1009 





'7 A 



J.^i^ 



'i^ 



FARMING NO LONGER POSSIBLE 

 Land which formerly sold for 18600 an acre has been rendered worthless by the deposit of sand, 

 gravel, and bowlders brought down the year after a severe fire in the mountains shown in the back- 

 ground. Previous to the fire the stream bed had been an inconspicuous wash carrying only a small 

 amount of water even in the rainy season. 



Farms, Forests, and Erosion 



A Lucid Explanation of the Costly Consequences to Farming 

 of Ignorant Forest Stripping. 



By Samuel T. Dana Assistant Chief of Forest Investigations, U.S. Forest 



Service. 



"Farms, forests, and erosion" may sound like a queer combination, but 

 as a matter of fact the three are closely connected. Erosion is one of the 

 most serious dangers that threaten our farms, and forests are one of the most 

 effective means of preventing erosion. How true this is would be most start- 

 lingly demonstrated if all the forests of the country were to be wiped out 

 overnight. Imagine how the water would pour off the mountains, cutting 

 to pieces and washing away the land and destroying other property in its path. 



The forest is, in fact, one of the best friends of the farmer in protecting 

 his land from erosion and consequent damage. Just what this means, not 

 only to the farmer, but to the Nation as a whole, becomes clearer when we 

 remember that over half of the population of the country is rural: that there 

 are more than 6,300,000 farms; that there are nearly 897.000,000 acres of 

 farm land with a value of approximately $28,500,000,000; and that the annual 

 production of farm crops is valued at some ?b5,500,000,000. Anything that 



