Relation of Surface Cover to Brosion. 39 



litter ; moreover, the greater part of the land situated upon the 

 slopes' is either in private hands or belongs to the communal 

 forests of St. Martin. The forest service then proposed digging 

 horizontal transverse trenches to prevent the downward rush of 

 the surface waters. The peasants had little faith in the plans, 

 in fact even opposed them because they believed that it would 

 hinder the raking up of the forest litter. 



Finally, in 1899-1901, the forest service, in spite of the opposi- 

 tion of the people, dug a series of horizontal transverse ditches, 

 beginning near the top of the steepest slopes of the state and com- 

 munal forests and only extending them part of the way down, 

 as there was but a very limited amount of money available. In 

 1905, a vehement rain storm raged in the Palatinate and while 

 an enormous amount of debris was deposited upon the fields 

 underlying the other slopes, those at the bases of the steeper 

 inclines with the transverse ditches were almost entirely un- 

 disturbed. 



The inhabitants of St. Martin now saw that these trenches had 

 saved some of their farming lands and crops from damage and 

 destruction and it was a simple proposition for the forest service 

 to obtain money to continue the work upon the state and com- 

 munal forests. The following year St. Martin raised $1,500.00, 

 the legislature appropriated another $1,500.00 and a neighboring 

 town contributed $250.00 to be used to pay for the construction 

 of more trenches, to be placed at intervals upon the slopes. 



The combined area of the slopes which surround the St. Martin 

 valley is 1800 acres, but only one-quarter of the area is traversed 

 with ditches. At present 460 acres contain on the average 3400 

 running feet of trenches per acre. They cross the slopes horizon- 

 tally and are from 6-10 ft. long, 10-12 inches deep and have an 

 upper width of 20, a lower of 10 inches. The excavated soil is 

 piled along the lower edge and at the ends of each trench so as 

 to increase its capacity. They are laid in checker-board fashion 

 and unevenly distributed, so that the greater number of running 

 feet of excavations are concentrated upon the steepest slopes. 



At the time these ditches were dug the average daily wage 

 per man was $0.75 and the cost per 100 running feet of trenches 



