Conservation Reader   By: Harold W. (Harold Wellman) Fairbanks (1860-)

CONSERVATION SERIES

CONSERVATION READER

BY

HAROLD W. FAIRBANKS

AUTHOR OF "HOME GEOGRAPHY, STORIES OF OUR MOTHER EARTH," "ROCKS AND MINERALS," "THE WESTERN UNITED STATES," "PRACTICAL PHYSIOGRAPHY," "GEOGRAPHY OF CALIFORNIA," ETC.

ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS AND WITH REPRODUCTIONS OF PAINTINGS IN COLOR

YONKERS ON HUDSON, NEW YORK

WORLD BOOK COMPANY

1920

WORLD BOOK COMPANY

THE HOUSE OF APPLIED KNOWLEDGE

Established, 1905, by Caspar W. Hodgson

YONKERS ON HUDSON, NEW YORK

2126 PRAIRIE AVENUE, CHICAGO

The need for education in the principles of conservation is imperative. As Henry Fairfield Osborn states the matter, "We are yet far from the point where the momentum of conservation is strong enough to arrest and roll back the tide of destruction." The movement for the preservation of natural resources can succeed only with the establishment of an enlightened public sentiment on the subject. To create and maintain such a sentiment is the proper work of the schools. In making this Conservation Reader available for school use, author and publishers have had in mind the great and lasting service that such a text might render. The publishers believe that this little volume and others forthcoming in the Conservation Series will rank high among "Books That Apply the World's Knowledge to the World's Needs"

Copyright, 1920, by World Book Company Copyright in Great Britain All rights reserved

INTRODUCTION

The wave of enthusiasm for the conservation of our national resources must reach the children or it will expend much of its force uselessly.

It is from the education of the children in right ways of looking at Nature that everything is to be expected in the years to come. If they learn to understand the value of the things about them, as well as to appreciate their beauties, the carrying on and enlarging of the conservation program which is now so well under way can be safely left to their care.

The West, although it has already been ruthlessly exploited, has lost less of its natural wealth than have the longer settled Eastern states.

In the newer parts of our country we can reasonably hope to save most of the forests and most of the wild life, and pass them on down to our children and grandchildren in something of their primeval beauty and richness.

In the East we can hope to arouse a stronger sentiment for preserving what remains of the forests as well as for extending their areas, for proper forestation will lessen the danger of erosion of the soil and of floods, and will encourage the return of the wild creatures that are of so much economic importance and add so much to the joy of life.

A book bringing out in a simple and interesting manner the principles of conservation has long been needed, for there has been little that could be placed in the hands of pupils. It is with the earnest hope of furnishing something which will answer in part the present need that this Conservation Reader has been prepared.

Acknowledgments are due the publishers of American Forestry and the Century Magazine for courteous permission to reprint poems taken from those publications. For their help in supplying photographic subjects to illustrate the book, thanks are extended to the persons to whom the various illustrations are accredited in immediate connection with their use in the text. The reproductions in color of two bird subjects have been secured through the friendly coöperation of Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson, Secretary of the National Association of Audubon Societies.

CONTENTS