WEST VIRGINIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



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Men themselves, then, not only become direct destructive agents, 

 by clearing land, by cutting down the trees for their lumber, 

 and by setting out fires, but in so doing they become indirectly 

 responsible for injuries done by fungi, insects^ and other de- 

 stroying agents. 



CLEARINGS. 



All land cannot be used for the same purpose. Some will 

 produce one crop and some another. Land that is adapted to 

 the growing of corn may not be good wheat land; and that 

 which will produce peaches may not produce vegetables. It is 

 certain that a large quantity of land in West Virginia will not 

 grow successfully any of the ordinary farm and garden crops. 

 It is fortunate, however, that practically every acre that is un- 

 fit for other crops will produce trees of a valuable sort, or was 

 capable at one time of producing them. It is the part of land 

 owners to discover the most profitable use to which their lands 

 can be devoted and then to put into actual practice what they 

 have discovered. Anything short of this is mistreatment of the 

 land and a reflection on the intelligence of its owner. If an 

 area is most profitable for the growing of apples or grapes then 

 it should be used for those purposes ; if it is more profitable for 

 growing grain, or truck, or grass than for any other crop, then 

 it is clear what use should be made of it ; and it is no less true 

 that if land is most valuable as a producer of forest products 

 and as a protector of soils and streams, it should be kept in 

 woods and as carefully tended and protected as if it were in 

 corn. 



It can truthfully be stated that a great many acres have 

 been cultivated by the farmers of West*Virginia that should 

 never have been cleared. Numerous farms with from 30 to 100 

 acres can easily be found which do not contain a half dozen 

 acres of land suitable for the growing of cultivated crops or for 

 grazing. In such cases the farmers are not excusable for their 

 destruction of timber although the motive may have been good. 

 Those who have tried to cultivate such land have had hard 

 work to live and their lives have been a burden to them. There 

 is enough rich and easily tilled land in West Virginia to pro- 

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