ewpoint is its topsoil. Topsoil
plus light, air and moisture provide the elements necessary for
producing vegetation. Vegetation, in its turn, furnishes the nourishment
on which animals thrive.

At the top of our priority list for the well-being of the earth stands
the injunction: conserve and build topsoil.

Topsoil is lost through erosion--wind erosion, water erosion, erosion
through over cropping. It is held in place by stones, grasses, and the
roots of shrubs and trees. Untouched by human hands, on the prairies and
in the forests, topsoil is deepened year by year as winter frosts break
up soft rocks, as dead grasses, leaves, twigs break down into humus, to
become part of the topsoil and provide the nourishment for a new round
of vegetation.

Topsoil is renewable, replaceable. Lost through cropping and erosion, it
may be rebuilt and deepened by natural processes. In temperate climates
with normal rain and snowfall, the topsoil of grasslands or a forest may
be deepened year by year and century by century. Topsoil may also be
deepened by dust storms that pick up particles of humus from dry lands
and carry them to moister areas.

Through a carefully controlled sequence, semi-desert lands planted first
to grasses and then to shrubs and trees can be protected against wind
erosion. As vegetation flourishes it increases dew formation and
rainfall. Plant roots prevent runoff and retain the water in gulleys and
low places. Evaporation builds up moisture content in the atmosphere.
Water vapor forms drops and falls in rain or snow.

Foresighted husbandry not only prevents erosion but, practiced on a
sufficiently broad scale, increases air moisture and modifies
climate--the weather.

We are less fortunate with some of the critically important minerals
that make up the earth crust.

During early centuries in the history of western civilization
adventurers and prospectors concentrated on the precious metals. The
voyagers and discoverers who sailed fifteenth century seas were seeking
supplies of gold, silver and precious stones that could be cut and
converted into the highly prized jewels adorning the crowns and scepters
of the mighty.

Production at that stage meant agriculture, with side occupations such
as hunting, fishing, weaving, tanning, pottery, thatching and peat
cutting, in the all but continuous countryside. There was a very little
mining, but outside of the commercial towns and the growing capital
cities peop