EROSION IN THE APPALACHIAN AND PIEDMONT REGIONS 



1353 



in the rivers. This sediment is carried to the lower lying 

 regions and much of it is deposited in the stream beds. 

 The river channels become so filled that navigation is 

 greatly hindered, or constant dredging must be resorted 

 to. In addition, where storage reservoirs have been built 

 by constructing dams, the sediment is deposited in the 

 reservoirs and reduces their capacities. In fact, in some 

 places it has been found inadvisable to try to maintain 

 storage reservoirs, and the practice has been adopted 

 simply of keeping open a channel. This results, of 

 course, in the loss of much power. One of the power ex- 

 perts employed in developing the power from some of the 

 streams in the South, testified before the Agricultural 

 Committee ot the House of Representatives a few years 

 ago that the capacity of certain reservoirs was so much 

 reduced that in a few years only the flow of the rivers 



being farmed began to erode. But with increased value 

 of lands the necessity of utilizing that already cleared 

 becomes constantly more and more impelling. 



Reclamation is of two classes ; lands reclaimed for 

 cultivation and those for forests. The same methods 

 that are used in prevention must be used in reclamation. 

 Where lands are reclaimed for purposes of cultivation, 

 methods are adopted to increase the porosity of the soil, 

 thereby assuring the ready absorption of water, and to 

 retard the velocity of water not absorbed and flowing 

 over the surface of the soil. The incorporation of or- 

 ganic matters in the soil, the growth of deep rooted 

 crops, green manuring, sodding to pasture, deep plowing, 

 the use of various forms of terraces and hillside ditches 

 are some of the more common methods employed to pre- 

 vent erosion and to reclaim eroded soils. 



LAND RUINED FOR AGRICULTURE BY GULLYING 



A deforested area near the Tennessee-Mississippi line which has resulted in tile formation of numerous gullies and has ruined the land for 



agricultural purposes. 



would be available for power. A report from the Geo- 

 logical Survey on the amount of silt carried by some of 

 these rivers, states that the Susquehanna carries to the 

 sea, annually, 240,000 tons, the Roanoke. 3,000,000 tons. 

 the Alabama, 3,039,000 tons, the Savannah, 1,000,000 and 

 the Tennessee, 11,000,00 tons. It is but reasonable to 

 assume that at least half of this wastage of soil material 

 is preventable. 



In discussing reclamation it is well to remark that it is 

 infinitely better to practice prevention than to apply 

 reclamation. However, there is no denying the fact that 

 the damage has been wrought in many places, and meth- 

 ods of reclaiming the devastated areas must be consid- 

 ered. In the past, with cheap land, it has been easier 

 and less expensive to move to new lands, when those 



The forests have been removed from some soils that 

 should never have been deprived of their natural growth. 

 In such sections the devastation has been almost unbe- 

 lievable and the only feasible method of utilizing in any 

 way these lands is by reforesting. The type and kind of 

 trees best suited for the work must be determined for 

 the individual localities. 



From inquiry and personal inspection of the worst 

 eroded sections of the Appalachian region, it has been 

 found that practically all of the lands now useless can 

 be utilized by reforesting. The benefits of such a course 

 can hardly be exaggerated. The losses entailed in manu- 

 factures, power development, navigation, and flood con- 

 ditions now amounting to millions yearly, will be greatly 

 reduced if not largely eliminated. 



