The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1915-04-14
LOSS FROM
EROSION OF
SOILLhRCE
Department Of Agriculture issues
Bulletin and Points Out Best
Methods Of Remedyiug
the Damage
BY United Press.

ioJ uulieu freSS.
Washington, April 14.-Loss from
soil erosion in the south has been
found to be most important factor in
that sections agriculture, by investi-
gators of the United States depart.
ment OF agriculture. The loss, in fact.
is said to be greater in that than in
any other section of the country. and
wherever hilly land is used for crops,
investigators urge that measures for
preventing further damage be adopted.
The results of the investigation have
Just been published by the department
as bulletin No. 1S0, "Soil Erosion in
the South" This bulletin also con
tains a study of the problem Of erosion
in general, which will be of interest
to all farmers in hilly or rolling coun.
try.
Terracing is recommended as the
best and most efficacious method OF
controlling erosion 1t should be sup
plemented, however, by deep plowing
and the addition of organic matter to
the soil whenever these measures are
possible. Water running rapidly over
the surface viii carry with it particles
OF the soil and the faster it runs the
more soil will it carry. In the course
Of a year the amount Of earth that is
thus removed reaches colossal proper
tions. Biologists have estimated that
the rivers of the United States annual
iy carry to the sea soil material to
the amount of $4,000, COO tons. In
localities where this erosion is carried
on to an advanced stage the quality OF
the soil is greatly impaired, large
part of the soluble salts are removed,
the surface soils are often washed
down to the lowlands, outlying SO de-
faces the land it it becomes difficult
10 cultivate and the loss in organic
matter frequently causes the field to
be abandoned as too poor for profit
able agriculture. In the south, it is
said, erosion is the chief cause of the
abandonment of land and i'll some sec
ticns has caused 80 per cent of the
arabic land to lie idle.
All methods of preventing soil eros
ion are directed toward lessening the
amount Of water that runs off the sur
face and increasing the amount that
sinks into the soil If ell the water
that falls on given area were absorb
ed by the soil there could be no eros
ion. For this reason vegetation is use
Tu because it checks the flow of the
water and thus affords more time for
he process of absorption. Hence the
movement for the more general use of
cover crops in the south In addition
o retarding the flow of water such
crops keep the soil more or less open
~ the penetration of their roots and
n this way further facilitate absorp-
ion. Deep plowing produces some
What the same effect, but does not OF
curse, add any organic matter tc
he soil which promotes the granula-
ion of the soil particles and thus pro-
uces larger spaces between the parti-
les for the water to sink through.
Terracing, the use Of cover crops,
nd deep plowing will unquestionably
realty diminish the loss fr1m eros
on. tits also unquestionably, accord
ng to the investigators, that it will
ay TO do this. On moderate slopes
. the Piedmont region of North Caro-
ma the decrease in crop values alone. I
ue to erosion, has been estimated at
an acre yearly, making total an
ual loss of over s2,0OO,000 The fact
hat there are many hilly farms where
rosion has ben stopped, indicates
9th that this loss is, IN measure S
Unnecessary and that in certain areas
must amount at present to far more :
nan the SO an acre already mentioned
S an average.