The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1888-09-27
TERRACING ON THE FARM.
hillside Ditching Helps to Wash Away the
Soil.

ment at spartanburg the. following paper
was read by Mr.. W. K. Blake, of Green
vile, S. c.:
Mr.. President and Gentlemen: can>
not hope to do more than present few
ideas for the purpose Of eliciting discussion
on most important subject-one which
literally involves the presentation of our
lands; and the consequent prosperity and
destiny ofthe people.
conceive that it would be going
beyond the scope of the duty assigned me
were to enter into detailed statement
of all the relations and consequences
connected with it,; and hence. that I may
restrain myself within proper limits, and
give point to the discussion of practical
issues, which is to follow, aud which will
constitute the main feature of interest in
this hours proceedings, I beg to submit
fur your consideration the following brief
address, on the subject Of terracing.
A terrace ia defined to be an elevated
level space of earth supported on one or
more sides by wall or bank ofearth, and
is used for cultivation or walk. In q
more restricted sense, and in it's practical
application to agriculture, we may define
it to be an elevated level ridge of earth
extending horizontally across field, the
purpose of which is to retain the soil, and
to prevent it washing away. In this
sense it is an exceedingly simple contri.
vance, the value and efficiency Of which
do not at frat sight appear to the casual
observer, since it requires time to restore
to the surface that condition which the
lapse of time has served to destroy.
The terrace is an important factor in
the reformation Of Southern Agriculture.
1t is the turning point from which we are
to begin its restoration, and before we can
fully comprehend its importance we must
consider the conditions precedent as we'll
as those subsequent to its Introduction.
History tells us that in the primitive
state of this country our forests were
covered With dense growth of wild pea.
vines and cane, afording the richest pas.
turage for the herds of deer an6 buffalo
with which it abounded. The forest
timber was abundant and of the finest
quality, embracing all the varieties known
to exist in our Southern lands, and q
virgin soil unsurpassed in fertility. Our
brooks and rivulets we're deep and as
clear as crystal, and fish we're abundant.
No fairer lands could be found anywhere.
Such was their primitive state. What
a contrast when compared with the pres.
entl With the axe of the husbandmen
this luxuriant growth has been cleared
away with impatient haste and destroyed
till now there is comparatively little
original forest left to decorate and bean!i-
fy the face of nature. Under the opera.
tions of the ploughshare the virgin soil
has been wasted and exhausted by pro.
cess of incessant depletion-cuttiDg down
and wearing out-till this once fertile and
productive land presents the appearance
of an almost barren waste. The once
clear waters of the limpid streams have
become mingled with the soil from the
adjacent hillsides, and their channels are
we'll nigh filled up.
The reward of the husbandmen has
steadily decreased 10 like proportion,
till now the fields yield scanty increase
where they formerly gave lavish return
for the labor bestowed upon them; the
denuded hilltops and undulating surface,
SCARED with gullies, present a vivid pic
ture of the criminal neglect and abuse OF
a land unsurpassed in the variety and
value of its products and salubrity of its
climate. Scarcely more than the lapse of
a century has suaiced to witness 80 great
Transformation on the face of our country
and under the same practices of our peo.
ple who can contemplate with indifference
the result of the next hundred years?
How far this state of things is traceable
az blighting curse upon US, to the insti.
tuition of slavery, it is not now our pur-
pose, nor would it be profitable to inquire.
It is enough for us to realize the facts as
they exist, and adjust ourselves to the
remedy.
During this period Of destruction and
exhaustion it was early seen that some.
thing must be done to arrest it, and in
the absence Of better remedy the hillside
ditch was resorted to, but only to acceler-
ate and aggravate the evil, for who has
not observed the ifreparable damage
resulting from the washing of the soil into
the ditch from the upper side, till the
entire surface for the space of rods has
been carried away, leaving nothing but
the barren clay, presenting the appear
ance Of vast ulcer on the face of ma
ture.
Instead of arresting the evil, the hill,
side ditch, as it is ordinarily constructed
only facilitates the escape of the soil with
the water. They are usually 80 injudi'
ciously constructed that they wash ou'
into unsightly gullies, which the proprie
tor is more anxious to arrest and fill uE
than he was to originate. In such 8
a dilemma, therefore, the husbandmer
finds himselfsorely troubled. Ifhe makes
no attempt to prevent it his soil will soor
wash away, and yet the means he employs
to check the evil nds,greatly to aggra
Yate it.
At this critical period the terrace il
introduced, and affords the only remedy
by which to arrest the process of destruc
tion and waste. The object desired to bt
be accomplished is to retain in the fec
every particle ofsoil with its ingredients
and the way in which that is to be done