Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1934-05-24
Morgan County Democrat Thursday

The camp had the misfortune
to lose the first man by death last
week Mr.. Hardway, one of the
night watchmen, died at Memorial
hospital in Marietta from heart
attack. That is the reason for the
camp flags being flown at half
mast.
Three weeks ago the Camp Nor
gan baseball team walloped the
mighty Marietta camp team by a
score Of 27-23, but last Saturday
the Mariettans came back with an
1915 trouncing for our boys. How
ever, that was not SO discouraging,
as a good time was had by all, in
Guiding the Morgan pitching staff.
Two new faces appeared in the line
up from among the last replace
ment group to arrive, and Okey
Price added strength to the lineup.
With a little more strength in a
couple of the infield and outfield
positions and a new pitcher or two,
we will have strong team yet.
The latest drive in erosion check
ing is being centered about Bailey
ridge, where the Bailey sisters, the
Thompson and Tompkins farms are
all undergoing 'face-lifting' opera
tions at the hand of the camp eX-
perts. The whole camp is utilized
in single neigh borhood as far as
possible in order to simplify the
task of getting the companies ra-
tions to them at noon. And can that
gang eat? Ask the mess sergeant.
The big dam at the infirmary
farm is progressing satisfactorily,
and will soon begin to rise above
the fume, when dirt moving starts.
An experimental planting of Ber
muda grass and one of kudzu vine
have been made on selected spots on
the Jesse Chappelear farm on East
Branch, to determine whether they
are satisfactory to use for erosion
control purposes this far north.
They are both very efficient in
checking erosion in states farther
south, but it is not known whether
they will grow as satisfactorily in
this climate Both paintings will be
watched with a great deal of inter-
est, and the state headquarters Of
flee at Chillicothe has requested
monthly reports on their progress.
The dry weather this spring has
damaged the new trees recently
planted quite seriously. Many OF
the Scotch pine have died and quite
a number of the black locust one
year seedlings have expired, but
most of the two and three year old
trees have survived to date. A good
rain would bring thousands of them
out into full leaf and yigor.
1t is prophesied that the planting
of pines along route 81 on the AS
bury Bankes and Perley Patterson
farms will be one Of the show spots
of the state highway system in q
few years. About 10000 two and
three year old Corsican pines were
planted on the steep slope overlook
ing the road on the north side, the
strip being at least 25 rows wide
for over a half mile. When last in
spected the trees were doing real
well. The state office is going to fur
nish standard signs for all erosion
control work that is visible from
the main roads telling what the
particular job is and who did it, etc.
All readers are cautioned against
areas planted to pine trees. Hard
wood paintings should not be burn
ed over, of course, but the softwood
paintings are especially subject to
fire hazard because of the highly in
flammable nature of the trees.
When fire gets started in pine
tree planting it is almost impossible
to stop it, as each tree that catches
fire becomes a living torch to ignite
others.
Anyone who is dubious about the
value of the work done by the staff
and members of Camp. Morgan
should talk with men who have had
work done on their farms. Just ask
Carlos Northrup, John Ross, Jake
Stalker or Asbury Bankes what they
think of the work, then go out to
any of the above farms, or any of
the many others that have been
worked on, and see for yourselves,
then if your farm needs work of the
kind, file your application with
Frank Beckwith or at the camp su-
perintendent's office. The best as
surance of the permanent life of
erosion work in Morgan
county is an insistent demand for
it's maintenance Erosion control
has already proven it's value and
there may eventually be a branch
of the department of agriculture de-
voted entirely to this work, provid-
ed there is enough demand for it
from private landowners, who hold
the vast majority of the land that
needs such control measures.