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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



a time when the forest had shrunk suffi- 

 ciently to make each year's cutting a 

 serious matter, and from that time on the 

 destruction proceeded with appalling ra- 

 pidity; for of course each year of de- 

 struction rendered the forest less able to 

 recuperate, less able to resist next year's 

 inroad. 



Mr Meyer describes the ceaseless prog- 

 ress of the destruction even now, when 

 there is so little left to destroy. Every 

 morning men and boys go out armed with 

 mattox or axe, scale the steepest moun- 

 tain sides and cut down and grub out, 

 root and branch, the small trees and 

 shrubs still to be found. The big trees 

 disappeared centuries ago, so that now 

 one of these is never seen save in the 

 neighborhood of temples, where they are 

 artificially protected; and even here it 

 takes all the watch and care of the tree- 

 loving priests to prevent their destruc- 

 tion. 



Each family, each community, where 

 there is no common care exercised in the 

 interest of all of them to prevent de- 

 forestation, finds its profit in the imme- 

 diate use of the fuel which would other- 

 wise be used by some other family or 

 some other community. In the total ab- 

 sence of regulation of the matter in the 

 interest of the whole people, each small 

 group is inevitably pushed into a policy 

 of destruction which cannot afford to 

 take thought for the morrow. 



This is just one of those matters which 

 it is fatal to leave to unsupervised indi- 

 vidual control. The forests can only be 

 protected by the state, by the nation, and 

 the liberty of action of individuals must 

 be conditioned upon what the state or 

 nation determines to be necessary for the 

 common safety. 



The lesson of deforestation in China 

 is a lesson which mankind should have 

 learned many times already from what 

 has occurred in other places. Denuda- 

 tion leaves naked soil ; then gullying cuts 

 down to the bare rocks; and meanwhile 

 the rock-waste buries the bottom lands. 

 When the soil is gone men must go, and 

 the process does not take long. 



DESOLATION AFTER SPOLIATION 



This ruthless destruction of the forests 

 in northern China has brought about, or 

 has aided in bringing about, desolation, 

 just as the destruction of the forests in 

 central Asia aid in bringing ruin to the 

 once rich central Asian cities; just as 

 the destruction of the forests in northern 

 Africa helped toward the ruin of a region 

 that was a fertile granary in Roman days. 

 Short-sighted man, whether barbaric, 

 semi-civilized, or what he mistakenly re- 

 gards as fully civilized, when he has 

 destroyed the forests, has rendered cer- 

 tain the ultimate destruction of the land 

 itself. 



In northern China the mountains are 

 now absolutely barren peaks. Not only 

 have the forests been destroyed, but be- 

 cause ot their destruction the soil has 

 been washed off the naked rock. 



The terrible consequence is that it is 

 impossible now to undo the damage that 

 has been done. Many centuries would 

 have to pass before soil would again 

 collect, or could be made to collect, in 

 sufficient quantity once more to support 

 the old-time forest growth. In conse- 

 quence the Mongol desert is practically 

 extending eastward over northern China. 



The climate has changed and is still 

 changing. It has changed even within 

 the last half century, as the work of tree 

 destruction has been consummated. The 

 great masses of arboreal vegetation on 

 the mountains formerly absorbed the 

 heat of the sun and sent up currents of 

 cool air which brought the moisture-laden 

 clouds lower and forced them to precipi- 

 tate in rain a part of their burden of 

 water. Now that there is no vegetation 

 the barren mountains, scorched by the 

 sun, send up currents of heated air which 

 drive away instead of attracting the rain 

 clouds, and cause their moisture to be 

 disseminated. 



In consequence, instead of the regular 

 and plentiful rains which existed in these 

 regions of China when the forests were 

 still in evidence, the unfortunate inhabi- 

 tants of the deforested lands now see 

 their crops wither for lack of rainfall, 



