Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 68.djvu/174

 170 of any native animal or plant is one which may indeed be small, but may easily be irreparable. The last survivor of those flocks of wild pigeon which once darkened the sun seems to have winged his solitary way to that bourne whence no traveler returns, which the fowler's eye may vainly strain to discern. The same thing is almost true of the wood-ducks. Logging operations have absolutely cleared many a stream of trout, and it might easily be that grayling, white-fish and sturgeon would become as unknown as the wolverine in the wolverine state.

I presume that in some exterminations like those of the rattlesnake and the wolf there is a distinct gain. But it is not well that we should let these exterminations of our animal neighbors go on in sheer heedlessness, but take some pains to preserve and propagate those most valuable. A great body of laws on game preservation and fish culture show that we realize something of this. Yet I venture to say that we still know far less than we might of what animals should be preserved and especially how best to do it, or which of our animal friends are being exterminated and how best to stop it. Many a well-meaning action fails in its object because based on imperfect knowledge. The laws for the preservation of lobsters are aiding their extermination.

First then as regards these exhaustible resources one should know what is happening. Again, the consumption should be as little wasteful as possible, getting the full benefit of all that is used.

Thirdly, the product should be so used that we may have something to show for the exhausted resources and, in particular, so far as possible, substitutes should be devised and developed.

Now as to the kind of knowledge we ought to have. Marl or boglime beds which have been used as the base for cement factories have been produced in the past few thousand years, but the lake algae and shells are still busy abstracting lime from the hard water. One thing which it would be interesting to know is how fast our marl beds are growing and how many acres of pond and bog and cubic yards of boglime a company would need to have so that when they got around they could begin over again. The state might well encourage such an investigation and also see how fast it could be accumulated by the fittest plants. In the same way with peat bogs. If peat comes to be a popular fuel, it will at first be mainly on accumulated peat that we shall draw; but it will also be worth while to know how fast a bog can be made to grow and whether its growth can be stimulated by changes in water level or by encouraging appropriate plants. It is a good reason that scientific research be endowed on just this ground, that when the present coal mines are exhausted one may know where most readily to find new, and when these in turn are but hollow voids some inventor shall have found a storage battery that will turn Ariel from a tricksy sprite to a mighty genius of work and make the