The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-04-17

the farmer to live up to his sacred
stewardship of that land, that it
may be handed down to the gen.
erations to come in better con-
dition than we received it," said
DR.. Harcourt Morgan, director of
IVA, in charge of the agricultural
program.
eff our generation neglects this
trust, there will come a genera
ton which will find it impossible
to maintain the decent standards
of life we have so painfully
achieved. For, once we dissipate
the growing power of our soil,
every other advance in our civil
zation becomes futile. We will
wake some day to find ourselves
on the downgrade, as SO many
civilizations in the past have
found themselves doomed by their
inability to nouriSh their citizens"
IVA executives point out the
fate of Babylon and the Tigris-
EuphrateS economies upon which
the desert moved in just as it is
doing now in our Western wheat
states.
They speak of the example of
the ancient Greek culture. The
hills of Greece were once the
richest agricultural territory of
the Mediterranean. Careless farm
ing combined with rain erosion re-
duced present-day Greece to a
precarious pasture land for
scrawny goats.
OF the 10000 square miles which
make up the TWAS vast expert
mental laboratory, at least TO-
600 are threatened with destruc-
ton because of erosion.
During the nearly two years of
existence, IVA has been concen-
trating upon a technique for the
checking of this vast waste.
1t is not interested alone in con-
trolling the waste of the soil be-
cause the deposits of silt fill up
power reservoirs and make flood
problem, but it wishes to aid the
farmers in escaping from a one
crop system by creating hillside
pastures where corn grew before.
TVA knows that an increase in
Il Southern herds of livestock
means better agriculture and
hence a better diet for the two
million people that live within it's
authority.
Milk and green vegetables are
the enemies of pellagra and tu-
berculosiS, which are the health
curses Of the Tennessee Valley.
There are million acres in the
Tennessee Valley devastated by
erosion.
Soil boils is what we call
them said DR.. Harcourt Morgan.
and indeed they are just that.
Up to the present, there has been
no way in which a farmer could
guard himself against this in
fectien. A prudent landowner
might have careless neighbor
and the soil boil' is infectious.
Erosion gullies run uphill and
the silt runs downhill without re-
gard to property rights. Abused
nature will not be denied.
The Tennessee Valley Authority
has developed a technique for the
control of this infectious disease
of the soil. 1t is a simple tech
nique, but requires organization.
The ravages of rainfall show
first on the land as tiny brown
ribbons where the under soil is
exposed. Such land is easy to
save by terracing.
iva consulted with the Cater
pillar Tractor Co. of Peoria, Ill,
and between them both, they in
vented a broad terracing machine
to check this type of erosion.
The iva goes to a group of
farmers in a county and signs
up 1900 acres. The Caterpillar
Tractor Co. furnishes the equip
ment with no down payment.
iva furnishes the technical per-
sonnet. The farmers pay the bill,
which runs all the way frSm less