Dresden enterprise and Sharon tribune. (Dresden, Tenn.) 1907-1997, 1920-08-20
RRACE HILLSIDES:
4 STOP WASHING

ithin the rain belt but
/ what has some land subject more
or less to soil washing. The torren.
4ial rains of the spring and summer
as they rush down the hlllsides and
slOping fields carrying with them a
heavy toll of the fertile top soil,
leaving bitches and gullies in their
wake. Where this waste is allowed
e. go on unhindered, the land soon
becomes barren and unproductive,
and finally abandoned.
Field terracing has been found to
be the most effective and permanent
solution to combat this evil. Terrac-
ing is no new method. It has been
carried on by the farmers in Europe
for generations but it is only recent
" that it is being practiced in the
United States, and chiefly in the
South and Southwest. Agricultu-
raj colleges, county demonstration
agents and other agencies interested
in the promotion of better farming
are now stressing the Importance of
fhis work to the farmers.
Terraces are broad banks of earth,
averaging A to 20 feet in width, and
Is inches in height, thrown up on
a level and paralleling each other
around the hillside or across ris-
ing slope. Bear in mind a well
graded road and you will at once
conceive what terrace is like.
These terraces hold back the water,
causing the most of it to seep into
the ground and retain moisture for
the growing crops, while the balance
is allowed to run off gradually
around the hillsides and escape by
way of suitable outlets provided at
the ends of the terraces.
The top six inches of soil contains
about rs to B5 per cent of the avail
able plant food. The farmers can
not permit this soil to go on wash
ing away each year Terracing is
already g practlsRed extensively
~, some 5ecti5ns of this coaatry but
lands Of counties the de-
8CciOn of hillsides and sloping
fields is going on at an alarming
rate. It is time for the farmers
and business men to wake up and
take the necessary steps to stop this
waste.
The evil of erosion is all about
you. Don't. be deceived. At first
glance those washes just beginning
to appear in the hillsides may not
seem to amount to much. But it /.
allowed to go on washing, in the
course of a few~years the first thing
you know the whole hillside will be- |
come so badly quilted as to be unfit
for cultivation.
Even abandoned quilted hillsides {
an be reclaimed by terracfng, and
~ deep blowing and fertilizing new
oil can rapidly be built up.
Terracing is not expensive. 1t is
'stimated that the cost averages 81
o So per acre, much less than the Z
mount spent each year on CONNER S
ial fertilizer and lost by washing t
way. =
Neither is terracing difficult. Any
armer can do it. The most import
mt point is to run the lines correct
Y. 1t is best to ask the county
gent to show you how to do this :,
york. After the terrace lines are y
ocated the rest is easy, all the
required is a farm level, !
plow and V-shaped steel ditcher-
erracer. l.
Terraces should be constructed in
he fall Of the year, and where pos !,
bile sown over with cover crops. {,
UGH terraces hold much better and
0 not wash as rapidly as when made G
other seasons Of the year. :
Consult your county agent, or get r
1 touch with the Extension Depart h
rent of your state agricultural col 4
zee in regard to this work. Don't !.
clay but start now.
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