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When scientists began to realise that careless, wasteful methods of farming and industry were
changing the natural environment too rapidly and were destroying our resources, they went to
work to renew our soil, our forests and grasslands and our wildlife. The work of managing these
and our mineral resources wisely is called "conservation". People who help conservation are
"conservationists". Everyone can and should be a conservationist. A boy or girl who plants a needed
tree, puts out bird houses, or saves a useful plant or animal is a conversationist.
There are, however, conservation specialists who are trying to find out just what each natural
environment is best suited for. They have learnt that in some regions of scant rainfall and thin soil,
like parts of western United States, it is wise to leave the land in grass as food for the right number
of beef cattle rather than to plow up the grass and plant grain. They know also that a marsh is not
necessarily waste land simply because corn and wheat and cotton will not grow on it. A marsh can
be a valuable soil-builder and water-holder, important to the country's water supply.
A conservation can help farmers in a way like this : He takes samples of soil from various parts
of a farm and sends them to a laboratory. There experts find out what soil chemicals the samples
contain. Then the conservation specialist makes a sketch of the whole farm, showing the different
kinds of slopes, hills, flatlands, and soil. Together he and the farmer make a "landuse map" and
decide what the various parts of the farm are best suited for and how they should be used.
Then the farmer goes to work. Some fields are suited only for pasture. These the farmer leaves in
grass. Others he cultivates in special ways to protect the land and also to restore valuable chemicals to the
worn-out soil. This is done by rotating crops -- that is, by planting crops like clover or soy beans which
restore nitrogen to the soil, then plowing them under and planting grain which needs the nitrogen.
In this cornfield, the conservationist advises the farmer to plow his furrows across the slope
instead of down it. This plowing to follow the natural curves or "contours" of the land makes each
furrow into a little dam which holds back the water and keeps it from washing away the rich topsoil.
On some slopes the farmer makes terraces to hold the water. On others he leaves strips of soil between
the plowed sections. Where deep gullies have been worn he builds little dams, and in the smaller
ditches he plants grass. The conservationists advises planting trees and shrubs along muddy creek
banks and in fence rows he suggests hedges as homes for insect-eating birds and game animals.
After a while the farmer has nature working with him on his farm. He has helped control floods.
His study of conservation has paid off in better crops and valuable wildlife. |
