400 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



of agriculture and forestry. There is an approach to this forest-farm notion on the 

 eastern shore of Virginia. Almost every farm has its forest. These forests vary in 

 age from fields of young trees as thick as wheat to forests fit for the mill. The ground 

 of these forests is usually free from litter and brush. If one happens in this region at 

 the proper time he will see men, women and children raking the forest litter. This 

 litter is spread evenly on the fields. It produces a fine grade of sweet potatoes. 

 When a field becomes fallow it is abandoned. Then the neighboring pines furnish 

 the seed, the winds sow it, and the pigs root it into the soil. Soon the field is covered 

 with a beautiful greening of pines. The removal of the litter prevents fire, and a kind 

 of forestry is practiced without foresters and forest laws. Although far from an ideal 

 system of management, this, under the circumstances, is not bad. Although, as I 

 shall explain later, the removal of this litter is detrimental to the growth of the pines 

 it is on the whole good, in that it insures their existence. 



From what 1 have already said it will be plain to the reader that the forest per- 

 forms two very important functions — soil-betterment and soil-fixation. 



3oil-^etferment. 



The agencies which are active in modifying the nature of the surface of this earth 

 are usually classified as atmospheric, aqueous, igneous and organic. The organic 

 agencies are ordinarily allowed small space. The potency of vegetal agencies is 

 usually underrated, in spite of the fact that they materially modify both atmospheric 

 and aqueous influences. The present-day activities are of course puny in comparison with 

 those of the carboniferous age. At the same time great changes are in progress in the 

 nature of the earth's surface through the agency of the forest. Its influence is most 

 apparent in those regions in which it has been destroyed, or by comparison with those 

 regions in which it does not exist. It is the instrument by means of which mankind 

 may harness and control the unruly forces of Nature. Man may by his carelessness 

 let loose these destructive forces, and calamities of various kinds follow. Fertile 

 regions have been turned into deserts ; and floods, avalanches, earthslides, shifting 

 sands, fevers, and strong winds have been engendered or freed from the restrictions 

 under which they have been resting. On the other hand, by the application of forest 

 planting and engineering skill, avalanches and earthslides have been prevented, shifting 

 sands fixed, sterile soils rendered productive, and malarial lowlands healthy. 



As samples of the action of trees, consider the mangrove, the great land-former 

 of tropical shores; or of the willow, that Cinderella of trees, the great protector of 

 river banks. The willow loves to grow even in abandoned land, utilizing a neglected 

 corner in a poisoned pasture, clothing with abundant green the most hopeless moors 



