Harold W. Fairbanks My squandered forests, hacked and hewed, Are gone; my rivers fail; My stricken hillsides, stark and nude, Stand shivering in the gale. Down to the sea my teeming soil In yellow torrents goes; The guerdon of the farmer's toil With each year lesser grows.

Robert M. Reese, The Spendthrift; quoted in
American Forestry, XIV. 269

This is the story of a land of plenty that became almost a desert. Long ago there dwelt in this land a people wise in all the things that concerned their home. Through many hard years of toil and struggle they had learned to take the very best care of what Nature had given them. Although Nature seemed to them to be wasteful, she punished waste in her children. As long as they obeyed, they had comfortable homes, fertile fields, and sleek herds.

The country of which we are speaking was very beautiful. There were lofty mountains and broad, fertile valleys. Many streams, fed by clear, cool springs, flowed through the land. There were also green meadows and deep, dark forests.

The forests contained many wild animals, for in the forests the animals found both food and protection. Birds of every sort abounded, and their music filled the air. Trees overhung the streams, shading them from the hot sun, so that they did not dry up in the summer. The springs never failed, for the carpet of leaves and decaying vegetation underneath the trees of the forests held much of the rainwater from running away, so that it sank into the ground. Instead of making floods in the rivers, it fed the springs gradually and steadily through the long, dry summers.

The people of this land had learned the secrets of the growing plants and how these plants could be made better by cultivation. They had also learned to tame the wild animals and make them useful. The farms were managed with great care so that they never grew poor. The soil never refused to grow their crops. The people had learned during their earlier years of struggle that they must not clear the forests from the hillsides, for, if they did, the soil would begin to wash away. They had learned that they must leave the forests on the mountains in order to save the springs.

Rain did not always come when it was needed for the crops, and at other times it rained too much. Reservoirs were built to hold the surplus water for use in time of drought. Canals were dug to carry it to the fields.

The wild animals and birds bothered the crops, and the first thought of the people was to kill them. But it was soon discovered that this was not wise. Those who destroyed the wild creatures about their farms began to suffer from rats, mice, rabbits, and a multitude of little insects that all but devoured the crops.

It did not take these people long to learn that Nature was not to be trifled with. If they took too much from the earth one year, she made them pay for it the next. They not only became wise enough to take care of every good thing that Nature had given them, but improved upon many things that she had left unsuited to their use.

Thus the land was kept beautiful and fertile. The inhabitants became rich, and, instead of fearing Nature as they once did, they came to love the rocks, the woods, the streams, and the wild creatures.

Let us now leave this rich and fertile land and come back to it after hundreds of years have passed. We find a new people living there and the country so changed that we can hardly believe it is the same land.

Yet it must be the same, for there are the very mountains that were there long ago. To be sure, they do not look just as they did. When we last saw them they were covered with forests, but now they are barren and scarred with many gulches. Here is the same river, but it also looks different. While it was once overhung with trees and its waters were so clear that we could see the fish in the bottom, it now has a broad, sandy bed; the trees are gone, and the water is shallow and muddy.

The new inhabitants of this land have a tired and discouraged appearance. They have a hard struggle to get enough to eat. The soil is rocky, and it takes much labor to raise the scanty crops. They never seem able to gather all the rocks from the fields, for the soil washes away and new ones are constantly uncovered.

Where are the forests that once grew here? We find in their stead only a few stunted trees and bushes. There is little grass and almost no flowers, even in spring. Sheep and cattle wander far for their forage and do not have the sleek appearance they once did.

There are few wild creatures of any sort, for since there are no woods there are few hiding places. Neither do we see any birds, and we listen in vain for a song or note of any kind.

The houses are made of mud or stone and look cold and cheerless. The people must suffer from cold in winter. The only wood they have is small brush which the women and children gather upon the far hills and bring home in huge bundles upon their backs.

In the towns of this country the only fuel now to be had is charcoal. This is brought upon the backs of burros from the distant mountains, where the few remaining trees give work to charcoal burners. The charcoal is peddled through the streets and sold in tiny quantities at each door. The people are too poor to buy much at a time and are very careful in its use. It is burned in a metal or earthen dish called a brazier, and a double handful may last a family a whole day.

Rains still fall in this country of the Poor People, as they did long ago. But the waters gather quickly upon the unprotected slopes and run off in muddy torrents, taking along some of the soil. Thus each succeeding year there is less plant food for the crops.

How did this country, once rich and fruitful, become so barren? We are sure from what we know of Nature's ways that she is not the cause of the trouble. Through greed and ignorance of how to take care of their land the present inhabitants have wasted and squandered its wealth until it has become almost a desert.

We can do things with Nature, and direct many of her forces so that they will work for our good. We cannot, however, as we have learned, change the amount of rain that falls, nor can we make it warmer or colder.

How, then, are these poor people to blame for the condition of their country? The troubles which overtook them came from two things. In the first place they did not know how to take care of their rich land, and in the second place they were greedy and wanted to become wealthy faster than they ought.Why does the rain, which once made this country fruitful, now wash away the soil and make it barren? It is because in those earlier times much of the land was covered with cool forests. The rain then fell more gently because of the forests. More of it soaked into the ground and the springs were larger. Now the rains are delayed by the hot air of the thirsty land until, when they finally do come, the water falls in torrents. Such rains or cloudbursts, as we often call them, carry away the unprotected soil faster than Nature can renew it.

The strangers in the land, under whose rule it became poor, thought they knew better than Nature. They did not look upon her as the great wise mother of them all. Soon after these people came into possession of the land, they found that in other places there was a demand for their grain, cattle, and wool. They began to increase their fields and herds. To do this it was necessary to cut down the forests which had stood so long. It seemed to them too bad to leave valuable land covered only with trees.

The people began to look askance at the birds, for they thought they were eating too much grain. Because they did not know what good the little creatures were doing, they killed them. Since most of the birds nested in trees, they got rid of them faster by cutting down the trees.

The steep hillsides were finally cleared of trees and the soil began to wash, and the rocks soon appeared. No plant food was given to the soil to replace that taken by the growing plants, and the crops soon began to show the effect of starvation. The cattle began to suffer for lack of food. They ate the grass down so closely that much of it was killed.

The rainwater, instead of feeding the springs, now ran swiftly away. The clear, steady rivers turned to muddy floods during the rainy season. They swept through the valleys, washing away houses and crops. In the summer they dried up so that the fish died.

When these people at last discovered their mistake, they strove by hard labor to repair the damage which they had done through years of ignorance and greed. This was such slow, difficult work that the land still remains a dreary place in which to live. It is known as the Land of the Poor People.