Evening star., 1941-01-12
Considers Menace of
Soil Erosion
Bu Frederic J. HdSEi7l.


servation, particularly of land resources.
Long before any one suggested the need
of a defense against an enemy ABROAD,
many were pointing out the constant
damage being done by an enemy with
in-the wastage Of land.
For example, soil experts and conser-
vationists refer indirectly to the possi-
bility that most of the United states
will be only barren hills and deserts by
the year 1000, unless soil-saving prac-
tices are carried out to greater extent
than now pursued.
Reports of these experts as result
of observations and surveys may be
somewhat unconsciously overdrawn, due
to their great desire to emphasize the
importance of protecting natural re-
sources, but even allowing for such deep
interest and great enthusiasm, there Is
every evidence that the American peo-
pie are the greatest land destroyers in
the world
For instance, the largest man-made
gully in the Western Hemisphere is near
Lumpkin, Ga This gully is 200 feet
deep. Its beginning is said to have
started from a drip from barn roof
only so years ago, and subsequently It
swallowed the barn, schoolhouse,
tenant house and a cemetery.
As further illustrations of this land
destruction, in Alabama there are five
counties that contain 100000 acres OF
once highly productive land which now
is scared with gullies. Poor manage
of ha
stroyed 10000 acres of once good farm
land in one county in the Piedmont sec
ton of South Carolina. Farming was
carried on in the area for nearly two
centuries but now the quilted region lies
as a humiliating monument to mans
lack of foresight in visualizing what the
failure to rotate crops and the lack OF
other scientific care will do. Once pala-
tisl homes now tumbled down also are
reminders that man has failed to un-
derstand and manage the soil from
which he has received his living through
the ages.
Although these are extreme examples
of destructive soil erosion, similar con-
ditions prevail throughout the country.
The extent to which erosion has devas-
tated the land is amazing. 1t has re-
moved most of the topsoil from nearly
one-third Of the farm and pasture land
of the country On certain moderately
steep slopes some types of soil erode so
rapidly that the land cannot be used
except by strip farming or with terrace
ing and the use of cover crops and soil
conserving crop rotations. Thus mill
lions of acres of this type are already
beyond redemption, except by the long
process of reforestation.
Erosion annually takes 3.000000,000
tons Of soil from American farms and
pastures This means a direct monetary
loss to farmers of not less than s400.-
100000 every year, appearing in reduced
Yields abandoned land, damaged high
ways and reservoirs and irrigation
bitches and culverts choked with erosion
al debris It is becoming increasingly
plain that the stoppage of this waste is
a part of the Nations defense program.
Perhaps no other nation ever permit
ted its agricultural lands to go to waste
so quickly as has the United States. Fro
sion has ruined vast areas of farming
lands elsewhere. but usually after thou
sands of years of use. This country has
permitted enormous impoverishments
and destruction during only two CEN
turies of cultivation, but most Of the
damage has come about in the past half
century.
The use of land for agriculture Is gLv-
erned by variety of social, economic
and physical considerations. Conceiv-
ably, man can temper the operation of
economic and sociological forces. But
he cannot change the broad lay of the
land or the wide diversity of weather.
Thus nature imposes certain absolute
limitations on the use of land.
Nature cannot be blamed for all the
havoc wrought by wind and water. AS
far as scientists have been able to dis
cover, the rainfall in the various Sec
tions of the country has not changed
much over the course of the past few
centuries. 1t varies from year to year,
and there appear to be cycles of wet and
dry seasons extending over a period Of
years. But the depletion of the soil, and
to lesser extent the destructiveness of
foods are indirect results of mans ac-
tivities.
Something more than the making of
surveys and reports is being done about
this national problem of soil erosion.
The Nation, within the past few years,
has become land-conscious, and prac-
tical measures to prevent land losses are
now in full swing.
In nearly all the States the United
States Department of Agriculture, in
close cooperation with State agencies
and individuals, is carrying on demon
stration projects where measures of soil
conservation are being applied directly
to the land. Also in most of the States,
C. C. c. camps are engaged in actual
erosion prevention work on agricultural
land. The extent of this program is
reflected in the fact that in the southern
plains section alone. c. C. c. workers are
treating 100000 acres of eroded land.
This national program already has
produced significant results. 1t has
awakened thousands of farmers to the
Importance of conserving their SOIL More
than $4,000 farmers are cooperating
actively by furnishing their lands for
demonstration purposes. and some 25,OOo
other farmers have expressed willing
ness to cooperate when funds and per-
sonnel are sufficient to begin work in