Photograpii by R. S. Maddox. 



FEARFUL WASTE FROM EROSION 



Showing how millions of cubic yards of rich agricultural soil have been washed away by erosion and have become a menace to bottomland fields, 

 streams and the Mississippi River. The planting of trees and grasses has proven a very practical and elTective means of stopping gullies. All 

 of these thrive when planted on "made land" if they get the proper protection. 



Fighting Gully Erosion 



Bv W. R. Mattoon, State Forest Examiner 



DURING the last few years both pubHc and pri- 

 vate interests have become very active in efforts 

 to check extensive soil erosion in western Tenn- 

 essee. The State Government, the industrial depart- 

 ments of at least two large railroads, many private own- 

 ers, and the U. S. Department of Agriculture, through 

 the County Agents connected with the States Relations 

 Service, are all engaged in this work. The situation has 

 been brought to the serious attention of the public by the 

 widespread depreciation in value of farm lands amount- 

 ing in the aggregate to many millions of dollars. 



The very deep, mellow, siliceous loam of the Lafay- 

 ette, or "orange sand," formation which spreads widely 

 over west Tennessee is easily workable and for the same 

 causes very susceptible to erosion and transportation by 

 water. In good agricultural practice, constant care is re- 

 quired on slopes to plow, cultivate, and sometimes ter- 

 race parallel with the contour lines in order to stop in- 

 cipient gullies that may start. The general surface of 

 the region is gently undulating, rising gradually eastward 

 in a plateau slope to the ridge near the Tennessee River 

 where it becomes broken. The region includes most of 

 the State west of the Tennessee River, an area about GO 

 miles in width by 100 miles in length extending in a north 

 and south line across the State. 



In about eight counties, nearly every fann contains 

 portions of land lying waste because of gullies, and there 

 are many large tracts each covering several hundred acres 

 in area that have been abandoned for the same cause. The 

 character of these is shown in the accompanying illustra- 

 tions. The result is a sparse population of an unprogres- 

 sive class and a general depreciation in all property values 

 in a region where the soil is capable of being maintained 

 in a highly productive state. Mr. R. S. Maddox, Forester, 

 State Geological Survey, Nashville, who has devoted 

 most of his time during the past two years to gully recla- 

 mation work, estimates the area of land thus affected at 

 not less than 230,00 acres.' Gullies usually are from 

 15 to 25 feet deep. At La Grange, Fayette County, gullies 

 of immense size, 70 to 100 feet in depth, have encroached 

 to the very edge of the town center, and the main highway 

 leading south is retained only at high expense of grading, 

 filling and concrete work. 



The pernicious, long-standing habit of "clearing up,'" 

 "working out," and "turning out," or abandoning, pieces 

 of land as soon as they lose their natural fertility is un- 

 questionably the underlying direct cause for the present 

 situation. The birth of gullies usually takes place in cul- 

 tivated fields where they might have been easily put out 

 of the way by a little timely attention. They increase 



'"The Resources of Tennessee," January, 1915, p. 13. 

 286 



