The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1906-06-08
LOSS OF SOIL BY EROSION.
One of the Largest Leaks For Money
on the American Farm.

One of the Largest Leaks For Money
on the American Farm.
The moving of soil by water is not
confined to large streams, as many
farmers know to their sorrow. Every
tiny rill trickling down the slope car
ries of some of the finest and richest
soil on the farm. After q heavy rain
the spring is soily and the puddles in
the hollows are muddy with it. The
deep burrows left up and down the
slope by the cuit1vator teeth become
miniature water courses, and the trio
king water exacts tribute of rich soil
before it joins the large rill by the
road. The soil OF the cornf1eld that
was left bare all winter has lost some
Of its best loan by planting time
Gullies appear on the farm here and
there, widening and deepening after
every rain. The soil on the knobs and
hillsides becomes thin and yellow, for
the rich black surface part of it has
hurried of to help build up some excel
lent farming land about ten miles
downstream.
After a heavy rain the farmer can
see the best part OF his soil creeping,
running, racing away from him. A
thousand murky rills slowly meander
across his plowed ground and gather
forces in the hollows. A hundred tur-
bid rivulets pour down the hollows and
Join the water in the gulch. A dozen
muddy brooklets rush down the gulch,
swell the brook into a creek and race
downstream, bearing away tons Of
the rich silt and loan that make plants
grow. When the rain is over and the
soaked soil has dried out enough to
till, there are gravelly places that the
farmer finds it hard to make pro-
ductive, and rocks are exposed that
have never been above the surface be-
fore.
Unchecked erosion has ruined many
farms and seriously hurt many others,
Thousands Of acres Of valuable farm
ing land, particularly. the red clay soils
Of the south and the loose, shaly soils
Of the north, are gouged and quilted
every year until they become practical
ly valueless for cropping 1 have seen
many hundreds of acres ruined by
washing in the Carolinas, Tennessee
and Georgia. On most farms, however,
the loss is less conspicuous and more
insidious. Every farm that has an ir-
regularity Of surface, however slight,
pays tribute to the force that does
more leveling in an hour than all the
patent leveling machines have ever
done or ever will do.
A very important problem for the
farm owner to consider is how to check
erosion cheaply and effectively. The
plan that will be most successful de-
ponds upon the locality, the lay Of the
land, the kind Of soil, the crop and
many other local matters. In extreme
cases it has been found necessary to
retain wooded areas running across the !
slopes that are subject to washing and
otherwise disposed so as to prevent the
gathering Of water. The water course
should be looked to carefully. A little !
work directing streamlets into legiti- !
mate channels is time well spent. There /!
are various methods Of holding the soil !
with plants. A cover crop of rye, clo- |
yer, vetch, etc, sown in the orchard |
or cornfield in late summer may do 1
much to prevent surface washing dur !
Ing the winter. Steep banks may be |
held with quack grass; slopes may be |
put into meadows. Cultivating across |
the slopes instead Of up and down will |
save many tiny leaks that amount to a |
serious loss in some cases. Many other |
methods Of checking erosion will sug-
gest themselves to the man who has
this problem to solve, and the methods 1
born Of personal need and local expe- 4
rienee are apt to be most efficient.
The loss by erosion is, believe, one /
OF the largest leaks on American farms
today. 1t is bound TO increase as our
wooded area decreases. This loss can
not be entirely prevented, as long as
the rain falls upon land that is not per.
fectly level. But large part Of it can
be prevented. How to do this is worth
by every man who has the
problem on his Country Life In
America.