THE TRAINING OF A FORESTER 



civilization as we know it would be impossi- 

 ble, but serves also to protect or make valu- 

 able many of the other things without which 

 we could not get on. Thus the forest cover 

 protects the soil from the effects of wind, 

 and holds it in place. For lack of it 

 hundreds of thousands of square miles have 

 been converted by the winds from moder- 

 ately fertile, productive land to arid drifting 

 sands. Narrow strips of forest planted as 

 windbreaks make agriculture possible in cer- 

 tain regions by preventing destruction of 

 crops by moisture-stealing dry winds which 

 so afflict the central portions of our country. 

 Without the forests the great bulk of our 

 mining for coal, metals, and the precious 

 minerals would be either impossible or vastly 

 more expensive than it is at present, because 

 the galleries of mines are propped with 

 wood, and so protected against caving in. 

 So far, no satisfactory substitute for the 



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