Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-10

in the conviction that the proba btlitieS OF
the future are at least so great as to
render imperative the serious consider
alton Of our obligations toward 1t.
Production Of Soil.
1t is a familiar geologic deduction that
for long eras rains have fallen on the
lands and soils have grown in depth,
while the surface has been washed away.
Soil production and soil removal have
run hand in hand, and yet they have
been SO controlled by the adjustments of
nature that no large part of the surface
has been swept bare enough to altogether
exclude vegetation. More than this, 1t
appears that the usual adjustments Of
nautre make rather for increasing fer
tility Of soil than depletion. 1t Is true
that at intervals determinations of the
earth have interviewed giving mountain
Gus heights and precipitous surfaces from
which the soil product has been washed
faster than it could be produced: and
desert conditions have also interviewed
locally: but these disathrophic effects are
perhaps rather rejuvenations necessary to
the preservation of the continents than
heights and slopes have been raised the
atmosphere and its waters have at once
begun to grade them down. to cover
them with soil, and to give them re-
newed Availability so, In these and other
ways, the gifts Of the great past now
present themselves to us as the product
Of marvellous system of control which
has checked excuses and forced move
ment toward the golden means in which
have lain productivity and congeniality to
life. Thus has come our inheritance OF
land suitable for habitation, OF soil
mantle Of great fertility, of precipita-
ton conducive to produetiveness. and OF
a system of streams endowed with great
possibilities Of water foods, OF power and
of navigation
We do not hesitate to enter into the
inheritance. but what part shall We take
in the regulative system that produced
and maintains it? How shall we co-ope-
rate with nature in rendering conditions
still more servicable to ourselves, and in
transmitting a still greater inheritance
for our successors? Clearly we may use
the proper revenues Of our inheritance,
but surely we should not rob our sue
cessors Of their share in 1t
Rainfall and Soil Wastage.
Let US turn at once to the basal factors
in the problem. the rainfall. the soil for
nation and soil wastage, the special
theme Of this hour The rainfall may be
regarded as an inherited asset. the soil
is clearly an inherited asset, even a little
soil removal Is an advantage. but reckless
soil wastage Is serious error. Soils are
the product Of the atmosphere and its
waters modifying the rock surface. When
they have aided the air in producing soil
by rock decay the atmospheric waters may
pass either into plants or back to the
surface through the soil and out by evap-
grafton. or they may pass on down to
the ground waters and thence into the
streams furnishing there the basis for
water-foods, for power and for navigation
Here Is good work-soil- production-fol-
ter both I'D and down. On the other hand,
the rainfall may rush away on the surface
as q foul, erosive flood. wasting soil and
plant-food. outlying the surface. flooding
the valleys, filling the reservoirs, sweep
ing out the dams. barring the streams and
clogging the deltas. II 1t shall be found
that nearly all the rainfall should go into
the soil and thence into the under-drain-
age. coming out slowly and steadily by
seepage and by springs into the streams,
clear and pure. these streams should pre-
sent nearly ideal conditions for water
food, for water-power and for stream
navigation. An ideal solution Of the soil
problem may therefore solve the greater
Of which navigation is the last term.
1t may thus prove to be the key
problem. 1t is clearly the initial problem.
for it attacks the rainfall when it first
touches the earth.
To see more definitely If it be the key
problem. We must turn to details. and yet,
with the brevity that is Imperative. we
may only look at major details, passing
by a multitude of special cases, some Of
which are even exceptions.
How Nature Makes Land.
While soils are formed by the atmos
phere and its waters acting upon rock
(aided by plants and animals), soil sur
faces are carried away by wind and
wash. At any instant. then. the depth Of
LIE soil measures the lag Of removal be-
hind production. We hasten to note
that the addition Of new soil below and
the loss Of exhausted soil above are alike
clearly the best results spring from the
proper ratio Of addition at the bottom to
wastage at the surface.
We have as yet no accurate measure of
the rate Of soil production. We merely
know that II Is very slow. 1t varies OBJ
viously with the kind of rock. Some of
our soils are derived from material al
ready reduced to finely pulverized condi-