350 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



the Michigan Experiment Station regnlar bulletin No. 284 — "Some In- 

 formation and Suggestions Concerning the Use of I'hosphorus." 



SOIL EROSION SHOULD BE CHECKED. 



The removal of the surface soil by water erosion or washing is serious 

 in many fields. The gullying in fields attracts some comment and re- 

 sults in considerable inconvenience in certain localities but on the whole 

 this is of minor importance in comparison with sheet erosion or the 

 displacement of the surface layer of soil without the formation of gullies. 

 The fertility of small valleys and depressions and the low productivity 

 of knolls and ridges in undulating and rolling land bear evidence of 

 the washing from the upland of the richer surface soil. Moreover soluble 

 plant-food constituents accumulate to a variable extent on the surface 

 of these heavier soils as they become dry, more so when either bare 

 of vegetation or devoted to tilled crops than if occupied by grasses or 

 small grains. When torrential or dashing rains follow such conditions 

 appreciable quantities of these are removed by the water that runs off 

 the surface. 



These amounts do not seem large and yet when it is recalled that they 

 must be procured from the available supply of the soil they assume a 



FiaPBB 6.— Slieet ufuaim jiccouuls for tiie low productivii - "v rolling or billy 1;""1 ' ■ ■ lu !■ it 



reoiovoa the Icrtile surlu 



