A PROBLEM OF EROSION 



725 



k** 





fev^**^- 



^ V 



COMPARE THIS WITH THE NEXT PHOTOGRAPH 



No. 1. — An area of eroded land, seemingly a hopeless waste, but really in process of reclamation, in Carroll county, Tennessee. 



in the fall of 1915 and the photograph was taken in November of the same year. 



Dams were built 



much service in handling the problem discussed. 

 It is a wrong idea to abandon land simply because it 

 cannot be brought back to produce crops from tillage, if 

 this is what Mr. Whittle means by "bringing the land 

 under agricultural subjection." Nor is it right to think 

 trees are valueless and doing no good because they can 

 not be marketed profitably. The slopes finally resulting 

 from the reclamation of these severely eroded lands 

 might be so steep as to be impossible of or impracticable 

 for cultivation. But if trees should hold these slopes 



and prevent further erosion and encroachment on valu- 

 able forests and agricultural lands above, they would 

 command a value in themselves not to be estimated. Even 

 though trees on such slopes and gulches were very costb- 

 to handle either for farm uses or for the market, there is 

 a probability that the demand for timber will, after a 

 while, give them a money value in addition to their worth 

 for protecting lands above and checking rapid drainage. 

 Published herewith are photographs showing an ero- 

 sion problem and how it is being handled in Tennessee. 



% "^^ ^'^ 



/$: 



■^^ 





THE RESULTS OF RECLAMATION PLAINLY TO BE SEEN 



No. 1— This is the same area as shown in No. I, in Carroll county. Tennessee, but it was set out in black locust in the spring of 1917 The large 

 trees in the lower left-hand corner were set in the spring of 1916. above the dam shown in No. 1 in the same location. 



