Evening star., 1936-03-29
Erosion a Link in Tragic Story
New Sol Program to Saw Land Distinction

increases erosion by creating ready
made gulleys for the rainwater. Field
terraces are to be employed where
the conditions are favorable. and in
some localities the land is being scarf
fed with a machine which scoops out
10000 basin like holes to the acre,
each Of which retains gallons OF
rain.
Steep erosive slopes are being taken
out of cultivation and planted to trees,
grass or other thick-growing crops
known to be highly effective in stabil-
izing land against erosion. Part Of
the cultivated crops are being pro-
tected with a new system of strip
cropping, under which the clean-tilled
crops, such as cotton, corn and tobac-
co, the real producers Of erosion, will
be grown between parallel bands of
grass and other dense crops. These
latter crops catch the rain water fiow-
ing down the slopes, spread it out and
cause the suspended soil to be de-
posted and much of the water to be
absorbed.
Small demonstration projects also
are being operated in $50 Civilian
Conservation Corps camps.
The Army Corps of Engineers is CO.
operating in the work. To date they
have constructed 81 food control dams
in Ohio, Vermont, West Virginia, Mis-
sissippi, Montana and New Mexico.
The work in the national parks is
being done by the Forest Service, while
the Resettlement Administration is
engaged in removing families from
hopelessly eroded land.
Land Can Be Saved.
Working in close cooperation,
these agencies hope to demonstrate
that land not already damaged beyond
repair can be saved for profitable cul-
tivation But they can only point the
way. II the farm land Of the country
is to be saved for future generations.
the farmers themselves must lend
their support to the fight.
To enlist their aid, the Government,
through the Secretary of Agriculture,
is preparing to spend s47o,000. 900
under the soil conservation and do
mestic allotment law, successor to
A. A. A.
Whether a farmer be a small to-
mato planter or a big Western wheat
grower, he Is entitled to share in the
distribution of this money if he. will
participate in the conservation move
ment.
The act puts all crops into three
general classifications. Collection OF
a. part of the reward money depends
on the farmers willingness to cut
down on the soil-depleting class
scientific term for crops which usually
20 to market-in favor Of soil-con-
serving and soil-building crops. Soil
conserving crops are those intended to
hold the land in place, while soil
building crops are those plowed under
to increase its fertility.
The new legislation Is vastly more
complex than A. A. A. and in some
instances cooperating farmers VIII
receive larger financial benefits.
. Payments Higher.
A wheat grower owning 100 acres
for example, would have received $1s
each for four acres under A. A. A.. OF
a total of $72. Now he Is in q posi-
ton to get $147, although the pay
ment will vary in different areas.
BY co-ordinating the work OF al
these agencies and obtaining the sup
port of the farmers and lumbermen
experts believe the inroads Of erosion
can be halted. They point to the his
tory of China, land Of floods and fam
inc. as an outstanding example Of what
surely will happen to any nation that
allows wind and water to impoverish
its land.
The floods of last week, they say, will
become more and more frequent un-
less erosion is controlled, for erosion
causes floods and the floods in turn
cause still greater erosion.
Unless man and science intervene
1t will become an endless, vicious circle
and the waters ultimately will compose
the tragic story Of civilization tina,
| failed because 1t would not conserve
the land from which 1t grew.