FORESTRY LESSONS ON HOME WOODLANDS 



11 



has been carried away in a freshet. Some one may tell of the log 

 bridge on the farm that was destroyed. Then what happens when 

 the winter snow melts upon the unprotected mountain slopes and 

 the spring rains swell the rivers? (Figs. 5 and 6.) 



While the class is on the open hillside, places will be found where 

 the soil, which has no roots to bind it, has been washed away by the 

 rain, and on some steep slope there will be deep gullies dug into the 

 ground. 



Where does the soil go that is washed down the slope ? Into the 

 stream. Perhaps the stream carries the silt into the water supply of 

 a city. If there is a river near, a sand bar may be found that has 



Figure 5. 



-Effect of deforestation. Washing of soil and devastation of valuable farm 

 lands at the heads of streams 



washed down from the hill country. What do muddy rivers mean 

 to the harbors near the coast? Who has seen a dredge at work 

 scooping up the silt to keep the channel free? This means a vast 

 expense to the country. (Fig. 6.) 



The pupil who has noted these facts about woodland, soil, and 

 stream will begin to see the relation which the forests of our country 

 bear to the well-being of the land. The little examples that he finds 

 in his own neighborhood of soil protection and good streams, of 

 erosion and flood damage, are intimations of the larger meaning of 

 the Nation's forests to farm land and industry and commerce. His 

 own home woodland is a part of nature's plan to aid man and his 

 enterprise. 



