CHAPTER IX 



THE WASHING OF SOILS AND METHODS OF PREVENTING 

 THIS LOSS 



ONE of the chief sources of loss in hilly soils, es- 

 pecially the hill lands of the South, is the wash- 

 ing of the surface soil during heavy rains. The 

 upland soils of the South, owing to their pecuhar compo- 

 sition, and the imprudent practice of keeping them in 

 clean culture in cotton year after year, aided by the shal- 

 low plowing which has been the rule, have been wasted 

 and washed into gullies until in some places the land is 

 utterly irreclaimable. Efforts have been made to check 

 this washing by running a system of horizontal banks 

 with narrow ditches above them to carry off the water 

 slowly. While this for a time checks the downward 

 rush of the water the result finally is that the hillside 

 ditches gradually become gullies. In North Carolina a 

 better system has been adopted to a great extent. They 

 make broad banks around the contour of the hills with 

 plow and horse scoop and give these a very slight fall, 

 with a broad leveled space on the upper side to cause the 

 water to spread out and move slowly down the slope. 

 The broad banks are cultivated just as the rest of the land, 

 and not allowed to grow up in grass and weeds like the old 

 hillside ditch banks. 



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