28 



Conservation Reader 



is best. Cattle are pas- 

 tured on those lands not 

 suited to fanning. The 

 miners go to the moun- 

 tains, where they can 

 more easily find the min- 

 erals they are after. The 

 lumberman finds his work 

 where the climate favors 

 the growth of forest trees. 

 The manufacturer seeks 

 the waterfalls, where there 

 is power to turn his mills. 

 Now let us try to dis- 

 cover in how far we can 

 change Nature's plan and 

 make habitable those 

 places which she left unin- 

 habitable. There are 

 some things which we 

 cannot do. We cannot make the air warmer or colder. 

 We cannot cause rain to fall even though the fields are 

 parched with drought. We caimot stop the rain falling, 

 and we caimot, stop the winds blowing. 



While we cannot stop the water falling from the clouds, 

 we can drain the lowlands and marshes and so make them 

 fit for the farmer. We can raise great dikes or embank- 

 ments along the rivers and so shut out the flood waters. 

 The people of Holland have saved thousands of acres from 

 the sea by building dikes and pumping out the water from 

 the inclosed fields. 



H. W. Fairbanks 

 The prickly pear in its desert home. 



