Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-04-27

A yearly loss of many million dollars
which need never take place. a loss,
not Of one year, like that occasioned
by q great fire, but one which has oc-
CURED year after year without inter-
ruption for decades; which in its ag-
gregate, since the civil war, nearly
equals the national debt-this Is the
toll yearly exacted by erosion from the
farm soils of the upland south.
The profits Of the farmer noiselessly
flow from his sloping fields In muddy
streams. In spite Of the large amount
Of the loss the tiller almost ignores IT.;
he is, in fact, frequently ignorant of
It. Yet this immense loss to the far
mer represents only a portion OF the
actual damage; other industries suffer
directly and indirectly from the same
cause. On account Of 1t there are In
the dissected upland regions Of the
south more than 100000 acres Of land
at one time cultivated and now idle.
Many reasons have been assigned; the
reduced fertility Of the soils; the lure
of the newer, more level, and more
easily titled lands of the west; eco
nomic changes which followed the civil
war. lack Of labor and home markets.
These have been secondary factors.
Soil exhaustion and erosion are the
causes. The exhaustion
"old fields" eroded, quilted, raw with
deep wounds, and red as though stain
ed with carnage, need only the touch
of knowledge to become revivified.
How Southern Uplands Have Suffered.
The causes which produced the old
fields still operate to the ruin Of much
of the farming land. The decrease
in the productivity Of the farms Of the
eastern United States has been general.
Nowhere has 1t been 30 evident as In
the upland region of the south, where
the loss is certainly not less than 80
per cent of the yield when the lands
were fresh and new. Erosion Is the
basal problem which underlies soil ex-
haustion in this region, and so preva-
lent and so disastrous Is 1t that 1t has
become not only serious local agri-
cultural problem, but an important ma
tional problem as well, seriously az
fecting the value Of many investments
which have been made in the region.
It's enormous extent has not been due
entirely to poor cultural methods. The
heavy rainfall, the physical character
istics of the region, the broken topog-
raphy and the close-textured soils,
and in some measure also the eco
nomic conditions have contributed to
increase II. Where methods Of cultiva-
ton suited to the local conditions have
been used, not only has erosion de-
creased, but the yields have respond
ed In a wonderful manner, indicating
that the soils are not only not inferior
to those of other sections, but that, on
account of the ample rainfall and the
long growing season, they have many
distinct advantages over those Of 9TH
er humid parts Of the country.
Effect of Heavy Rainfall.
Erosion is merely the washing away
of the soil in muddy streams Of rain
water. II the rainfall Is largely abb
sorbed, as takes place in a very sandy
or porous soil or on a level country,
little water remains on the surface to
run off, and consequently there is but
slight erosion. The precipitation Of the
south amounts to from forty-five to
seventy inches a year, compared with
from thirty to forty-five inches In the
northeastern states, and falls In con-
centrated showers, especially during
the three summer months, when one
third of the total rainfall usually takes
place. Fifteen inches has been record
ed as falling in three days. The first
heavy dash of rain compacts the sur
face Of the soil, while the balance OF
the rainfall largely flows of. Uncul-
tivated fields have been examined i'm
mediately after a summer shower In
which more than an inch Of rain fell,
and the soil was found to have become
wet by the rain less than two inches
beneath the surface. In few places
was it wet to a depth Of four inches
Less than 'one-fourth Of the water
which fell had been absorbed. Had 1t
all been uniformly absorbed the earth
would have been dampened to a depth
of more than six inches. This illus
trates the compacting power Of the
heavy rains and the imperviousness OF
the heavy clays when devoid OF humus
and thoroughly sun-hardened. More
over, the methods Of farming which
have been followed-that is, the con-
tinuous production Of corn, cotton and
tobacco-all of these crops of clean
culture-with a minimum Of small
grain and the grasses, have added, by
the depletion Of the humus Of the SOILS,
to the natural tendency to erode. Since
the eroding power Of water increases
sixty-four times by doubling its We
locity, It is easy to understand how
a small stream, gathering volume and
velocity as 1t flows down the slope, ac-
complishes such enormous destruction.
Destruction Of Farms.
In the old fields as they are being
slowly colonized by trees, there Is no
cultivation to cover the gullies as they
are formed. They are deepened by
each rain; each storm adds another.
The heavy clays are eventually seam
ed into deep parallel channels, which
spread out in the hollows with great
shaped ribs. This type charac-
terizes the clay soils Of Virginia, mid
die Carolina and Georgia. The SILT
soils, less tenacious and crumbling
more easily than the clays, are readily
undermined by running water, and
erode to form huge vertically walled
bluffs. In portions Of western North
Carolina, in middle Mississippi, and In
western Tennessee, soils Of this char-
acter are most common, and their ero-
sion when once we'll begun can be
checked with difficulty. With every
flood the cliff recedes, tons Of earth are
added to the burden Of the nearest
stream. and the total destruction OF