The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1947-09-12

Agriculture, no other nation has los
much soil in little time
According to a nationwide survey of land cond-
tons by the Soil Conservation Service, out of the
425OO00oO acres now in cropIand around f07-
100000 have deteriorated badly. Another 49,
100000 acres of cropand were found to be in ser-
Gus, if less advanced, stage loss. According to
another report, erosion has already seriously dam
aged two-fifths of all the cropand in the United
States.
Each year erosion costs the United States in the
neghborhood of 1884 900 in SOIL railroad
and highway damage, flood damage, abandonment
of farms reduced reservoir capacity other losses
And where erosion is permitted the living
goes down. Since the beginning of history poverty
has followed in the wake of erosion.
How long has soil erosion been going on in our
country? The first white settlers had hardly
upon the continent before the of erosion ap-
peared: In 1907 the first settlers arrived in Virginia
and 1920 the Mayfower landed her passengers at Ply
mouth Rock By 1856 some of the more observant
settlers the seaboard noticed an increase in
floods due to cutting down the forests. Streams
previously had run clear now ran brown with silt
Still the settler heedlessly continued deforesta
ton of the seaboard They cut and burned the
to make fields and planted corn among the stumps
Wrong Farming Practices fastened Soil Loss
Much of the seriousness of erosion in this country
is due to the by the early settlers European
immigrants who followed them of the same methods
of cultivation the riable forest lands which
proved good the years the heavy clay soils
of Western Europe under gentle, regular rainfall.
Transplanted here, those methods did not produce
much damage the first year two because the I'M
decayed vegetable matter held the soil place Even
the steeply slipping land produced good crops as
continual cropping and heavy rainfall washed away
the organic matter from the surface of soil
depleted organic matter the deeper levels prod
ucveness of the land declined each succeeding year
-. Erosion is not and it is not confined to the
United States. There is scarcely a nation on earth
without its erosion problem and some face tougher
job than do.
Nothing Done Until Midwest Became Dust Bowl
fIfc
halt the inroads of erosion done until about Is
years when the blowing soil from the Great Plains
began bloting out the at midday state after
state 1t was only then that any great numbers of
people recognized the urgency and the emergency pro-
portions of the soil erosion problem in country
Then congress established the Soil Conservation
Service to carry on a nationwide action program
against erosion, which described a national
menace Thus for the first time in history a pro-
gram developed and tested beyond doubt which
protects the land against winds and even while
he land is being used for crop production.
Farmers approve of this program. 1t makes good
sense, for conservation farming has demonstrated
that it not only protects the soil but increases yields
per at the time. On thousands of farms
in all parts of country conservative farming has
resulted in an average 20 cent increase in pro-
duction per And this is accomplished with
little additional equipment, time labor.
What Is Conservation Farming?
Dr. Hugh Bennett of the Soil Conservation Service
las defined it as common sense farming with scen-
ific methods" 1t treating every acre of land
ccordng to its individual needs using every acre
ccordng to its individual capabilities. Each of
and, like each human being, is different the next
ne. To get the best from it, it must be handled in
lst the right way. If there simple remedy,
d. the problems of the land that could be applied
verywhere, in standardized treatment or formula,
job of conservation would be relatively easy But
acre is much variety in erosion there is in the
tndscape
There SO major soil conservation practices
ow being used to stop erosion, rainfall and
improve the land. These practices include terracng
0ntouring, strip cropping grassed waterways and so
n. Each conservation measure applied the land is
esgned to support another and the conservation
ork farm is carried out with an eve to the
ext farm and to all the other farms downstream
his viewpoint is essential for has no respect
# boundary lines Gullies do not stop at fence lines
even for county state lines and neither do dust
orms
This problem of soil erosion and its solution is