OUR BEAUTIFUL FORESTS 113 
a rich harvest, and tree roots, by forcing their way 
through cracks in the rocks, break up the stone and 
make an easier job for the earthworms. 
Forest earth is full of decaying leaves and stalks, and 
you already know that makes the very best soil. In 
the swampy southlands the mangrove tree even makes 
soil where before was only water. The mangrove seed 
begins to grow while it is still attached to the mother 
tree, by the time it falls to the water it is a young plant 
which can easily find foothold on some coral reef. 
There it grows and spreads and forms a swamp which 
soon attracts other living plants. Then appears the 
cocoanut tree, and that means there is enough soil under 
foot for man to live upon. Thousands of miles of sea 
waste have been turned to land by the work of this 
wonderful tree. 
Forests act as windbreaks. If a grove of trees stands 
between your field and the north wind, your crops will 
not be broken to earth in the storm. 
How clean and sweet is the air among pine trees! 
Once I spent the night on the edge of such a forest, 
sleeping upon sweet-smelling pine needles. The spring 
water we had in that mountain camp was the purest 
and clearest I ever drank, and so it always is with forest 
springs. 
