The Parisian. (Paris, Tenn.) 1907-1962, 1915-04-02
Factors That Will Enter Into the
Betterment of Tennessee Agriculture

most important factor in that
sections agriculture, by investi-
gators of the United States De-
partment of Agriculture. The
loss, in fact, is said to be greater
in than that in any other section
of the country. and wherever
billy land is used for crops, in
vestigation have just been pub
lished by the department as Bull
letin No 1870, "Soil Erosion in
the South. )" This bulletin also
contains study of the problem
of erosion in general, which will
be of interest to all farmers in
billy or rolling country.
Terracing is recommended as
the best and most efficacious
method of controlling erosion. 1t
should be supplemented, howev-
er, by deep blowing and addi-
ton of organic matter to the
soil whenever these measures are
possible. Water running rapid
ly over the surface will carry
with it particles of the soil and
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
proportions. Geologiscs have
estimated that the rivers of the
United States annually carry to
the sea soil material to the
amount Of 783, 900, 900 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 solu-
BILE salts are removed, the sur
face soils are often washed down
the lowlands, outlying so defaces
the land that it becomes difficult
to cultivate and the loss in or
ganic matter frequently causes
the field to be abandoned as too
poor for profitable agriculture.
In the South, it is said, erosion
is the chief cause of the aban.
Comment of land and in some
sections has caused so per sent
es, long at any one place Whsle.
ad' 81 Pie aDi is Wa" a = Vi preventing soil
III, tb.v.l are directed toward les
i sening the amount of water that
runs off the surface and increas-
ing the amount that sinks into
the soil. If all the water that
falls on a given area were alb
sorbed then there could be no
erosion. For this reason vegeta-
ton is useful because it checks
the flow of the water and thus
affords more time for the process
of absorption. Hence the move
ment for the more general use of
cover crops in the South. In ad-
dition to retarding the flow of
the water such crops keep the
soil more or less open by the
penetration of their roots and in
this way further facilitate alb
sorption. Deep blowing produces
somewhat the same effect, but
does not, of course, add any or
ganic matter to the soil which
promotes the granulation of the
soil particles and thus produces
larger spaces between the parti-
cles for the water to sink thu.
Terracing, the use of cover
crops, and deep blowing will un-
questionably greatly diminish
the loss from erosion. 1t is also
unquestionable, according to the
investigators, that it will pay to
do this. On moderate slopes in
the Piedmont region of North
Carolina the decrease in crop
value alone, due to erosion, has
been estimated at So an acre
yearly, making a total annual
loss of over $1,000, Tn fact
that there are many hilly farms
where erosion has been stopped,
indicates both that this loss is,
in a measure, unnecessary and
that in certain areas it must
amount at present to far more
than the So an acre already men,
toned as an average.