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  and 
  that 
  soil 
  conservation 
  is 
  99 
  per 
  cent 
  the 
  prevention 
  of 
  erosion. 
  

   Soil 
  robbery 
  by 
  unscientific 
  agriculture 
  can 
  go 
  to 
  its 
  most 
  extreme 
  

   lengths 
  and 
  reduce 
  the 
  soil 
  to 
  the 
  depths 
  of 
  non-productivity; 
  but 
  

   scientific 
  agriculture 
  can, 
  by 
  the 
  addition 
  of 
  humus 
  and 
  some 
  fer- 
  

   tihzer, 
  soon 
  restore 
  such 
  soil 
  to 
  high 
  fertility. 
  In 
  these 
  conditions 
  

   of 
  exhaustion 
  the 
  loss 
  to 
  fertiUty 
  by 
  soil 
  leaching 
  is 
  small, 
  because 
  

   of 
  the 
  non-soluble 
  character 
  of 
  the 
  earth 
  particles. 
  Thus 
  experi- 
  

   ments 
  at 
  Cornell 
  have 
  shown 
  that 
  in 
  the 
  average 
  foot 
  of 
  top 
  soil 
  

   from 
  rather 
  unproductive 
  farms 
  in 
  a 
  low 
  state 
  of 
  production, 
  there 
  

   was 
  plant 
  food 
  sufficient 
  for 
  6,000 
  crops 
  of 
  corn. 
  We 
  have 
  all 
  seen 
  

   a 
  single 
  thunder 
  shower 
  remove 
  from 
  a 
  hillside 
  corn 
  field 
  the 
  fer- 
  

   tility 
  adequate 
  for 
  the 
  making 
  of 
  a 
  hundred 
  crops 
  of 
  corn, 
  

  

  American 
  agriculture 
  is 
  peculiarly 
  soil 
  destructive. 
  Three 
  of 
  our 
  

   greatest 
  money 
  crops 
  — 
  corn, 
  cotton 
  and 
  tobacco 
  — 
  require 
  that 
  the 
  

   earth 
  shall, 
  throughout 
  the 
  summer, 
  be 
  loose 
  and 
  even 
  furrowed 
  

   with 
  the 
  cultivator, 
  which 
  prepares 
  the 
  ground 
  for 
  washing 
  away^ 
  

   and 
  by 
  its 
  furrow 
  starts 
  the 
  gully. 
  The 
  second 
  factor 
  in 
  this 
  pecu- 
  

   liarly 
  destructive 
  agriculture 
  is 
  the 
  fact 
  of 
  our 
  emphasis 
  of 
  rainfall- 
  

   in 
  summer. 
  Third 
  in 
  the 
  Hst 
  of 
  factors 
  of 
  destruction 
  is 
  the 
  rainfall 
  

   unit, 
  the 
  thunder 
  shower, 
  which 
  dumps 
  water, 
  hundreds 
  of 
  tons 
  per 
  

   hour 
  on 
  every 
  hillside 
  acre. 
  A 
  little 
  examination 
  of 
  the 
  facts 
  and 
  

   careful 
  inclusion 
  of 
  the 
  time 
  element 
  will 
  show 
  that 
  the 
  old-world 
  

   saying, 
  "After 
  man 
  the 
  desert" 
  is 
  quite 
  as 
  true 
  in 
  the 
  United 
  States 
  

   as 
  in 
  Europe 
  and 
  Asia, 
  where 
  it 
  has 
  been 
  so 
  fearfully 
  proven 
  in 
  the 
  

   seats 
  of 
  ancient 
  empire. 
  

  

  This 
  soil 
  resource 
  destruction 
  from 
  erosion 
  leads 
  to 
  the 
  destruc- 
  

   tion 
  of 
  other 
  valuable 
  resources. 
  We 
  appear 
  to 
  be 
  upon 
  the 
  eve 
  of 
  

   an 
  epoch 
  of 
  waterway 
  construction 
  and 
  experiment. 
  The 
  greatest 
  

   injury 
  to 
  waterways 
  is 
  channel 
  filhng 
  by 
  down-washed 
  mud. 
  Pitts- 
  

   burgh 
  has 
  been 
  praised 
  highly 
  for 
  the 
  energetic 
  action 
  of 
  her 
  Cham- 
  

   ber 
  of 
  Commerce 
  and 
  citizens 
  in 
  appropriating 
  money 
  for 
  the 
  

   careful 
  survey 
  of 
  drainage 
  basins 
  above 
  the 
  river, 
  with 
  the 
  idea 
  of 
  

   obtaining 
  knowledge 
  preparatory 
  to 
  the 
  building 
  of 
  reservoirs 
  to 
  

   check 
  floods. 
  They 
  have 
  forty-three 
  reservoir 
  sites, 
  and 
  the 
  early 
  

   construction 
  of 
  nineteen 
  of 
  these 
  reservoirs 
  is 
  recommended. 
  

  

  A 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  reservoir 
  plan, 
  however, 
  is 
  that 
  the 
  land 
  above 
  it 
  

   shall 
  not 
  be 
  cultivated; 
  otherwise 
  the 
  erosion 
  from 
  the 
  tilled 
  fields 
  

   will 
  promptly 
  fill 
  up 
  the 
  reservoirs, 
  as 
  the 
  present 
  condition 
  of 
  many 
  

   eastern 
  mill 
  dams 
  so 
  emphatically 
  attests. 
  The 
  carrying 
  out, 
  there- 
  

   fore, 
  of 
  the 
  Pittsburgh 
  reservoir 
  plan 
  necessitates 
  the 
  exodus 
  of 
  

   hundreds 
  of 
  thousands 
  of 
  farmers 
  and 
  the 
  restriction 
  of 
  many 
  farm- 
  

   ing 
  communities 
  to 
  forest 
  or 
  a 
  new 
  type 
  of 
  agriculture. 
  

  

  