THE FARM LAND 73 



servation Service selected watersheds ranging from 20,000 

 acres to 100,000 acres. It made contracts with the farmers in 

 these areas and with their help worked out the many technical 

 methods required to stop erosion and restore the fertility of the 

 soil. The Soil Conservation Service believed that once the 

 local farmers could see the success of these activities they 

 would adopt similar practices for themselves. At the same 

 time the Soil Conservation Service believed their work should 

 help the general public to realize the gravity of erosion and 

 the importance of controlling it. 



This was an approach to the problem partly by the old 

 method of education; partly by the new way of helping the 

 farmers to follow certain practices. Clearly, the Soil Conser' 

 vation Service realized that education alone was not always 

 enough. It developed a sort of compromise between the two 

 systems. 



If a farmer signed a cooperative agreement with the govern' 

 ment promising to follow certain soil conserving measures and 

 practices for a period of five years, the government, through 

 the Soil Conservation Service, would assist him in putting these 

 measures or practices into effect. For example, the Service 

 might furnish machinery and labor for the construction of 

 terraces and terrace outlets. A large part of this labor was done 

 by boys in the Civilian Conservation Corps under the direction 

 of Soil Conservation Service engineers. In addition to the labor 

 and machinery, the Soil Conservation Service might furnish 

 limited amounts of such materials as seeds and fertilizers for the 

 seeding of terrace outlets, gullied areas, or land retired from 

 cultivation. The general rule, however, was that the farmer's 

 contribution must equal or exceed that of the government. 

 Thus the Soil Conservation Service assisted the farmer in 

 improving his methods of land use. From the point of view of 

 the Soil Conservation Service, this farm was now a demon x 

 stration of good land use which the farmer's neighbors could 



