"WEXL BUILD THIS TERRACE 

 SO HIGH . . . 

 I only regret we didn't start 

 this work sooner." 



y^N Montgomery county, Earl 

 l/l Battles has a reputation for be- 

 S^^ ing not only an all-around good 

 fellow but also public spirited, business- 

 like and progressive. His neighbors 

 recall that the day Earl was married he 

 hauled a couple of loads of hay to the 

 baler before slipping quietly away with- 

 out a word to his fellow workers to 

 meet his bride. When he was elected 

 president of the Montgomery County 

 Farm Bureau four years ago, it wasn't 

 long until the organization moved into 

 a commodious building of its own. Be- 

 cause he thoroughly believes that farm- 

 ers ought to work together for their 

 mutual interests, he gives the Farm 

 Bureau a great deal of his time, even 

 when it is inconvenient to be away 

 from home. 



If you asked Earl which came first 

 in his life, the Farm Bureau or run- 

 ning his 180 acre rolling farm he 

 might have a tough time answering. 

 He attends to both with equal enthu- 

 siasm and dispatch. Just now he and 

 several neighbors are pioneering in a 

 soil erosion control project in coopera- 



Among the County Farm 

 Bureau Presidents 



In Operating His Farm and Helping Run the Farm 



Bureau^ Earl Battles Is Thinking of 



the IVext Generation 



tion with the Soil Conservation Service 

 at Edwardsville. He is as proud and 

 happy about the soil conservation ideas 

 he is practicing as a small boy with a 

 pair of shiny new boots. Terracing, 

 strip cropping, contour farming, you'll 

 find them all in the new program on 

 the Battles farm and Earl is doing most 

 of the work himself following care- 

 fully prepared plans he and the camp 

 engineers have worked out. 



"See that piece down at the foot of 

 the slope." he said pointing to the lane 

 leading in to the farmstead from the 

 public highway. "Years ago there used 

 to be an old corduroy road there, paved 

 with hedge posts. It's covered up now 

 with about 3^2 foot of the best top 

 soil from the side hill above. If these 

 terraces I put in had been built 30 to 

 40 years ago, I would still have a foot 

 or more of good soil up there. It got so 

 bad we had to do something. Another 

 20 years of that and we'd have to hunt 

 around for a place to farm." 



The Battles farm has been under 

 cultivation about 80 years. Earl's grand- 

 fatfier bought it from a Mexican War 



EARL BATTLES AND THE MARTIN DITCHER BRUSH HALTED THIS GULLY 



"I ieel like we're shutting the gate after two-thirds Terraces in time will result in 



of the cattle are gone." filling up the draws. 



soldier, Wesley Seymour, who got it 

 as a grant from the government in 

 1851. The old sheepskin deed trans- 

 ferring the land to Seymour for his 

 services in the army is a prized posses- 

 sion in the Battles family. 



During the past two years most of 

 the old hedge fence has been pulled 

 out. "Dad thought I shouldn't get rid 

 of the hedge, ought to save it to fill 

 up ditches," Earl said. "I think I'm 

 going to get along without the hedge 

 by using terraces and farming on the 

 contour. Last winter I hauled 39 loads 

 a hedge brush to fill gullies and cut 

 a lot of hedge posts, too. I don't think 

 a man will spend as much time build- 

 ing terraces and contour farming as 

 he will hauling brush to prevent his 

 farm from washing away. The only 

 thing I regret is that we didn't start 

 this work sooner. I feel like we're 

 shutting the gate after two-thirds of 

 the cattle are gone." 



Mr. Battles admits that some of his 

 neighbors aren't sold on the idea of 

 terracing and strip cropping. "But I'm 

 tickled with it,' he continued. "It's 



FOR THE SIDE HIUS AND DITCHES 



Stable manure will help bring back 

 the grass. 





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