40 Our Field and Forest Trees 



When rain has streamed down all day, one may 

 go, toward evening, through the deep wood and 

 see no puddles and no place where rushing water 

 has torn the carpet of moss and mold. The rain 

 has all been soaked up by the forest sponge, and 

 will be gradually yielded to the springs which 

 feed the rivers. 



But if we look at cleared land after a day's 

 downpour, we see in many places that the earth 

 has been channeled out, or washed away. Streams 

 which run through fields are often clouded after 

 heavy rains, because so much earth is being car- 

 ried away by the running water. Forest streams 

 meantime are clear, or, at most, slightly stained 

 by vegetable matter, so that one can often tell 

 by the look of a river what sort of a country it 

 drains. 



Moreover, the carpet of leaves and sticks on 

 the forest floor helps to keep the ground from 

 freezing. It acts like the winter covering of straw 

 wnich the gardener spreads above his charges. 

 Trees and shrubs also prevent the snow from 

 thawing or blowing away; and snow helps to keep 

 the earth from freezing. So it is not uncommon 

 to find the ground in a deep wood entirely free 

 from frost, even after many weeks of freezing 

 weather. 



But when the wood is cut down, and the carpet 

 of moss, mold, and withered leaves is plowed 

 under, the snow blows away or half thaws several 



