humus that is necessary for even higher plant forms. The root sys-
tems become more complex, interweaving at different levels, so that
they cannot easily be separated. Greater fertility brings a richer soil
that is of too high a quality for the pioneer plants, which will now
disappear. A more favorable microclimate in the higher soil
increases the diversity of the bacteria, encouraging more complex
root systems.
There is a magical and symbiotic relationship between the vari-
ous root systems that we cannot easily observe below ground, more
complex than the interrelationships of the plants above ground.
With greater complexity, and the evolution of trees, the soil takes on
the full yin energy potential of Mother Earth, and with it the cre-
ation of virgin water, an essential requirement for higher life forms.
This process of soil formation took several million years before
larger plants, such as small bushes and trees, were able to gain a
hold; and they had to go through thousands of years of evolution
before a forest was possible. The forest is the most productive envi-
ronment for the building up of soil and fertile humus. It is self-fer-
tilizing and self-sustaining. The great forests were able, over a
period of thousands of years, to build up twenty feet or more of soil
depth. With our heedless disrespect for Nature's bounty, in one cen-
tury we have allowed these great soil banks to be eroded and
destroyed, first through deforestation, and then by careless tilling of
the unprotected soil surface.
The web of life that evolves in a natural forest is so complex and
sensitive that the removal of key species can cause a depletion of the
energy that can lead to a progressive decline of the system, as more
species fail for want of the sustenance that was provided by the
missing species. A hole is created in the complex root network that
is the interconnecting link between the deeper ground and the sur-
face. The root system raises the water table. A missing species also
means a hole is created in the water system that supplies the nutri-
ents. Over time, a shortage of nutrients puts more plants under
stress, leading to more species disappearing.
Something like this happens with our monoculture systems, for
the nutrients are not able to rise through the crusty layer formed at
the level to which all the same species' roots descend. This leads to
depletion of fertility and all the energies associated with it; unifor-
mity means sterility, something that Nature abhors.
- THE METABOLISM OF THE TREE