43 



and in the west, in the Adirondacks, the White Mountains, and 

 the Appalachians, and in the Rocky Mountains, where we can 

 already see for ourselves the damage in the shape of permanent 

 injury to the soil and the river systems which comes from reck- 

 less deforestation. It matters not whether this deforestation is 

 due to the actual reckless cutting of timber, to the fires that in- 

 evitably follow such reckless cutting of timber or to reckless and 

 uncontrolled grazing, especially by the great migratory bands of 

 sheep, the unchecked wandering of which over the country means 

 destruction to forests and disaster to the small homemakers, the 

 settlers of limited means." 



(3) " Not many centuries ago the country of northern China 

 was one of the most fertile and beautiful spots in the entire world 

 and was heavily forested. 



"We know this not only from the old Chinese records, but 

 from the accounts given by the traveler Marco Polo. He, for 

 instance, mentions that in visiting the provinces of Shansi and 

 Shensi he observed many plantations of mulberry trees. Now 

 there is hardly a single mulberry tree in either of these provinces, 

 and the culture of the silkworm has moved further south, to 

 regions of atmospheric moisture. As an illustration of the com- 

 plete change in the rivers, we may take Polo's statement that a 

 certain river, the Hun Ho, was so large and deep that merchants 

 ascended it from the sea with heavily laden boats ; to-day this 

 river is simply a broad sandy bed, with shallow, rapid currents 

 wandering hither and thither across it, absolutely unnavigable. 



" But we do not have to depend upon written records. The 

 dry wells, and the wells with water far below the former water 

 mark, bear testimony to the good days of the past and the evil 

 days of the present. Wherever the native vegetation has been 

 allowed to remain, as, for instance, here and there around a sacred 

 temple or imperial burying ground, there are still huge trees and 

 tangled jungle, fragments of the glorious ancient forests. The 

 thick, matted forest growth formerly covered the mountains to 

 their summits. All natural factors favored this dense forest growth, 

 and as long as it was permitted to exist the plains at the foot of 

 the mountains were among the most fertile on the globe, and 

 the whole country was a garden. 



