Show I III The Land Doctor By Vivian Shearer Mining and arid petroleum productions productions productions are arc operations that cannot bo be managed on a sustained yield basis because neither minerals nor oil oU replace themselves Lumbering Lumbering Lumbering Lum Lum- bering is different however because because be be- cause with proper care and management management management man man- the new timber growth Is steady and unfailing and re replaces replaces replaces re- re places that which has been re re- re moved Farming and stock ranching ranching ranch ranch- ing are operations that can either cither be mined or managed on a sustained sustained sus sus- I yield basis An almost unlimited unlimited unlimited un un- un- un limited supply of ot raw mineral nutrients are usually available In the ground and under conditions conditions conditions con con- of proper land use the biochemical processes by which topsoil Is developed and maintained maintained maintained main main- convert there nutrients Into a form suitable for plant food Soil depletion d is a term that thatIs Is too often used as an alibi to explain the effects of soil abuse The soil balance is a delicate one but with proper care and management the tho and fertilIty fertility fertility fertil fertil- ity can be maintained through many generations of use Operations on a sustained yield basis is as logical for farming and ranching as it is for lumber lumber- ing Farmers and ranchers can call plan to keep their lands in sustained sustained sustained sus sus- production and to get per cent of the value which the lands lands- are able to produce rather rath rath- er than to mine them and to re realize realize re- re alize alizo only a small fraction of their production possibilities Conservation of the soil ismore ismore is la lamore more than just that It Is also the tho conservation of or civilization civilization the tho conservation of or humankind We Ve are told that the dry and barren plains of ot Mesopotamia once supported some cities that teemed with dense populations populations populations in a high state of culture Perhaps the miniature mountain ranges of silt piled 10 and 20 and 50 feet high beside the old irrigation canals explain the fall tall falland falland talland and decay of these centers of ot culture Other vast areas throughout through through- out the world have suffered the same loss of soil productivity and the resulting dissolution of ot the culture which depended upon it for tor existence Civilizations aro are and ever must be rooted in the soil To conservo conservo con- con servo seno and perpetuate culture and civilization the soil must be conserved conserved con con- served and Its productivity per per- A simple calculation on a n. small sheet of or paper will show how much longer tho the earth wll wil provide a suitable habitation and a place for tor mans man's and cultural expansion if this Is done Such a calculation would be based on that area of or orthe the earths earth's surface that has al already already already al- al ready been rendered unproductive tive because of soil abuse It is li just a simple matter of oC mathematics mathe matho matics on the one ono hand or an awakening to the need of or proper land use on the other othor Will vm we leave to posterity a rich Inheritance inheritance tance in the land or will wm it be weeds teeds and briars and a wandering wandering wander wander- ing existence hunting for and battling for Cor every water hole holo and every blade of or grass that appears appears appears ap ap- ap- ap pears after every rain In the United States physical economic and social circumstances es have havo contributed to the spread of ot erosion at a rate perhaps unequalled unequalled unequalled un un- equalled in history Water Vater and wind remove soil from our lands at the rate rato of or three billion tons tons each year This would be enough to load a fleet Cleet of or dump trucks that would reach from the earth to the moon and part way back again |