- 3 ^ 



4/8/32 



Go oij.t into the open and di^^ into the soil of an -unwooded slope and 

 notice t ie difference betr^een that and vrhat you found in the woods soil. 

 Chances are you ^-'in rind the soil on that unwooded slope dry and hard. Of 

 course, you know what has happened. Then the rain fell or the snow melted 

 on that otjen hillside, there was nothing to hold it back. It just rushes 

 down hill. 



Maybe if you look around on the open hillside, you may find places 

 where the soil, vvith no roots to bind it, has been washed away by the rain. 

 If there are aa^' steep slopes in the neigliborhood, you may find deep (•::u.llies 

 dug into the •";round. Trace where that soil {toes thp.t is washed down tlie 

 slope. 



■iThen you have noted those facts about the trees, the soil, cjid. the 

 stream you begin to see the relation which the forests of our coxintry bear 

 to the well-being of our land. In a little strip of woodland cud neigiaborinii' 

 cleared land, you r.icy have an cxnxnple in miiiature of soil protection and good 

 strepins, or erosion rjid flood drjnago, and get a clearer understrjiding of the 

 larger raepjain;'^ of this Nation's forests to fcarm Ipjid ^^Jid industry and coiiTmercc. 



Or if yo\i rxe of r. investigative turn of mind, and want to find out 

 about the past life in the woods, you nr^y be able to detect in some sturro or 

 the end of the saw- log much of the story of the past of that woods. In the 

 varying thicknesses of the annual rings is written th.e fat and thin years of 

 the tree. In those rings, you nay also find evidences of fires and insect 

 attacks whicL^ liave occurred in the life of thp.t tree. By counting the growth- 

 rings, fro..i th.e bpTk bacl: to the scar left by the fire in some cases you may 

 be able to tell about what year that fire happened. 



In fact, whether you are a novice or a woodsman of long erqjerience, 

 there is a lot ty.eX the trees can tell you. As for myself, 



"I will up and get me away where the hawk is wheeling 



Lone and high. 

 And the slow clouds go by. 

 I will get me away to the waters that glass 

 The clouds as they pass. 

 I will get me away to the woods." 



AlUJOUITCII iSLTT ; You have just heard a few suggestions on getting better ac- 

 quainted with tl c woods. This program has come to you from the United States 

 Department of Agriculture. Two weeks frcn today we v/ill again go with Uncle 

 Sam's Naturalists into fresh fields and pastures new. 



