Produced by Bryan Ness, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by the Library of Congress) CHECKING THE WASTE A STUDY IN CONSERVATION _By_ MARY HUSTON GREGORY * * * _What you would weave into the life of the nation, put into the public schools._ --EMPEROR WILLIAM I. * * * INDIANAPOLIS THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY PUBLISHERS COPYRIGHT 1911 PRESS OF BRAUNWORTH & CO. BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS BROOKLYN, N. Y. * * * CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I WHAT IS CONSERVATION? 1 II SOIL 10 III FORESTS 42 IV WATER 86 V COAL 124 VI OTHER FUELS 144 VII IRON 164 VIII OTHER MINERALS 181 IX ANIMAL FOODS 198 X INSECTS 217 XI BIRDS 236 XII HEALTH 265 XIII BEAUTY 302 XIV IN CONCLUSION 312 PREFACE Much has been said and written on the subject of conservation and many excellent ideas have been advanced, but as yet too little has been accomplished in the way of practical results. Probably this is due largely to the fact that most people think of conservation as a problem for the federal and state governments, mine owners, great lumber companies, owners of vast tracts of land, and large corporations; and have not realized how much the responsibility for the care of our natural resources and the penalty for their waste rest with the whole people, that every one has a part in this work which has been called "the greatest question before the American people." One cause of the failure to realize this personal responsibility is that while there have been college text-books and scientific treatises on various branches of the subject, such as Forestry, there has been no book treating of the entire problem of our natural resources, their extent, the amount and nature of their use, their waste, and what may be done to conserve them, prepared in a way that can be readily understood by the ordinary reader, and dealing with the practical, rather than the technical, side. It is to supply the need for such general knowledge, and to show how such saving may be accomplished, that this book has been written. It is designed as a short but complete statement of the entire conservation question, and should be of service for study in teachers' reading circles, farmers' institutes, women's clubs, the advanced grades in schools, and for general library purposes. Every statement of fact bears the weight of authority, for no facts or figures are given that have not been verified by government reports, reports of scientific societies, etc.