40 



Conservation Reader 



the richest of his lands, 

 those lands where the soil 

 is deep and dark and 

 filled with plant food. 

 I and my brother rivu- 

 lets have been thousands 

 of years in collecting the 

 soU which forms the fer- 

 tile lowlands in the val- 

 leys through which we 

 flow. We all unite to 

 form the mighty river 

 which finally ends in the 

 sea. 



Upon all the slopes 

 which drain toward the 

 river we rivulets are at 

 work. Other servants 

 of Nature are working 

 here. Some of them are 

 making the rocks soften 

 and fall apart. Others 

 are bringing seeds of the grasses and trees that they may 

 take root in the crumbling rock. It is their business to 

 make a carpet of plants over the earth and thus stop my 

 work. But wherever the slopes are steep we rivulets have 

 our way. We pick up and carry away the particles of 

 sand and clay so that only the bare, hard rocks remain. 



When the steep slopes become gentle, and we can no 

 longer carry away all the particles of crumbled rock, then 

 the carpet of plants spreads over the surface. Now our 



H. W. Fairbanks 

 Because some farmer was careless, a rivulet 

 has nearly destroyed this rich valley. 



