Indeed, a great deal of good land should be given up
to forests, for then what was cultivated would produce far more than
could be obtained from a treeless and therefore rainless country."
"Bravo, Webb!" cried Burt; "we must send you to the Legislature."
"How is the evil to be prevented?" Leonard asked.
"Primarily by instruction and the formation of public opinion. The
influence of trees on the climate should be taught in all our schools as
thoroughly as the multiplication-table. The national and state
governments would then be compelled to look beyond the next election, and
to appoint foresters who would have the same power to call out the people
to extinguish a forest fire that the sheriff has to collect his posse to
put down mob violence. In the long-run fire departments in our forest
tracts would be more useful than the same in cities, for, after all,
cities depend upon the country and its productiveness. The owners of
woodland should be taught the folly of cutting everything before them,
and of leaving the refuse brush to become like tinder. The smaller growth
should be left to mature, and the brush piled and burned in a way that
would not involve the destruction of every sprout and sapling over wide
areas. As it is, we are at the mercy of every careless boy, and such
vagrants as Lumley used to be before Amy woke him up. It is said--and
with truth at times, I fear--that the shiftless mountaineers occasionally
start the fires, for a fire means brief high-priced labor for them, and
afterward an abundance of whiskey.
Pages:
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397