I. _The Little Old Man of the Rock_ 1 II. _Some Early Settlers and Their Bones_ 19 III. _The Winds and the World's Work_ 37 IV. _The Bottom-Lands_ 55 V. _What the Earth Owes to the Earthworm_ 75 VI. _The Little Farmers with Six Feet_ 92 VII. _Farmers with Four Feet_ 114 VIII. _Water Farmers Who Help Make Land_ 137 IX. _Farmers Who Wear Feathers_ 162 X. _The Busy Fingers of the Roots_ 186 XI. _The Autumn Stores and the Long Winter Night_ 204 XII. _The Brotherhood of the Dust_ 225 _Index_ 247 THE ILLUSTRATIONS The author wishes to make special acknowledgment to the following publishers for their courtesy in supplying illustrations: The Macmillan Company for the pictures from Tarr and Martin's "College Physiography" on page 239; Darwin's "Formation of Vegetable Mould" on page 77. D. Appleton and Company for the pictures from Gilbert and Brigham's "Introduction to Physical Geography" on page 94; "Picturesque America" on page 243. J. B. Lippincott Company for the pictures from Beard's "American Boy's Book of Bugs, Butterflies, and Beetles" on page 229; McCook's "Natural History of the Agricultural Ant of Texas" on pages 206 and 213. _McClure's Magazine_ for the pictures on pages 149 and 157. Scientific American Publishing Company for the picture from "Scientific American Boy at School" on page 227. Harper and Brothers for the pictures from McCook's "Nature's Craftsmen" on pages 98, 105, 109, 207, and 208. _Strand Magazine_ for the pictures on pages 165, 182, and 204. Charles Scribner's Sons for the pictures from Yard's "Top of the Continent" on page 5; "Country Life Reader" on pages 9, 64, 85, 114, 186, and 241; Osborn's "Men of the Old Stone Age" on page 33. Hornaday's "American Natural History" on pages 116, 117, 119, 123, 130, 144, and 225; Seton's "Life Histories of Northern Animals" on pages 123, 129, 147, and 151. Henry Holt and Company for the pictures from Beebe's "The Bird, Its Form and Function" on page 167; Salisbury's "Physiography" on pages 55, 71, and 167. Carnegie Institution of Washington for the pictures on pages 8 and 69. University of Nebraska for the picture on page 37. Columbia University Press for the picture from Wheeler's "Ants and Their Structure" on page 95. Houghton Mifflin Company for the pictures from Sharp's "Year Out of Doors" on page 11; "Riverside Natural History" on page 117; Mill's "In the Beaver World" on pages 152 and 153.