The Union County journal. [volume] (Marysville, Ohio) 1875-1951, 1949-02-10
PAGE EIGHT

OF ONO set an all-tlme record IN
putting real soil conservation on
the land, Thomas c. Kennard,
state conservationiSt, reported to-
day. And in the Union County
Soil Conservation district, local
farmers easily kept pace with the
new statewide trend, H. E. Hecker
of the u S. Soil Conservation
Service, says.
In this district" Mr. Hecker
said, local farmers speeded up
their application of conservation
methods during the past year to
a noticeable degree. AS an ex-
ample, these districts cooperators
put 1922 acres under contour
cultivation, seeded SIG acres of
cover crops, lined 1922 acers,
drained 528 acres, cleaned 2.75
miles Of open ditch, constructed
~ miles of terracing, built go,
900 linear feet of waterways and
445 acres of pasture was i'm
proved. "
Our farmers are getting the
conservation job done at a more
rapid pace than ever before but
we look for even greater progress
during l949," Mr.. Hecker added.
Progress Statewide.
At Columbus, the state conser-
vationiSt has just announced re-
suits from a survey of statewide
progress among soil conservation
district cooperatorS for the past
year.
I'VE believe farmers of Ohio
have set a record to be proud of, "
Kennard said They put 1860
acres of land on the contour dur
ing l948 which brings the states
total up to 58,500. They added z,
700 acres of cover crops incTeas-
ing the total for Ohio to 10000
acres.
During the year, $4,000 more
acres went into strip cropping
which brought the state total to
l04, 400 acres. In addition, $4,000
acres of Ohio pastures were inn
proved during l948, and 10000
acres of land was made more pro-
ductive by drainage"
Current state totals reported by
district cooperators, Kennard said,
are: improved pastures, 100000
and farm drainage, $4,000 acres.
Five New Districts.
Farmers of this state, Kennard.
said, organized five new soil con-
servation districts during the year
and the Ohio total now stands at
90.
A total of 9,28l farmers in this
state have now developed com
plete farm conservation plans
with the technical assistance of
the u. S. Soil Conservation Ser
vice. These plans cover, l,294,000I
acres. During the past II months
alone service technicians helped
$500 farmers develop complete
plans which increase farm incomeI
as much as a third, control e.
rosion and hold more rainfall onl
the land. They also gave techni-
cal assistance TO $50 other farmers
with one or more conservation
practices which in most cases are,
gradually developed into a COM
plete plan, Kennard explained.
At regional headquarters of the
U. S. Soil Conservation Service,
IN Milwaukee, reports show the in
creased impetus in getting con-
SerVatiOn applied on the land,
was general in l948. r. II. MUSES.,
who directs the technical pro-
gram for eight cornbelt states in
cluding Ohio, said farmers
throughout the entire region hit
a much faster pace in getting the
conservation job done during the
past year. Farmers also made
marked progress in organizing
new soil conservation districts,
MuSSer announced.
f59 Districts In Area.
There are new 459 districts in
the eight states which include
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan,
Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and
Wisconsin, MuSser announced.
And 80 of these were organized
by the cornbelt farmers during
1913.
More conservation was applied
on the land throughout this region.
IN l946 than any other year since
the Service was created" Musscr'
said. AS an example of Just one
phase of the work, cornbelt far
mcrS put $4,000 additional acres
under contour cultivation during.
the past year which is 1000 acres
more than l947 And l947 was re
garded as a banner year.
Progress during the past II
months was 10 percent above the
previous record in l947 and 30
percent above 1916" Musser de-