WHAT IS BECOMING OF OUR SOILS? 211 



protection afforded secured freedom from very great 

 losses by drainage; but when these protective covers 

 were removed, the water which fell upon the soil was 

 not held back by the mechanical effects of the roots and 

 the trees and the grasses, but either flowed off of the 

 surface or rapidly sunk into the soil. While the in- 

 crease of loss from this source over that of natural 

 drainage under cover has not been great, it should not 

 be lost sight of in accounting for the depreciation of 

 soil fertility. 



Perhaps the greatest of the losses in soil fertility, es- 

 pecially in rolling lands of a texture which does not 

 hold well together, is that which is produced by erosion. 

 In many large areas of the United States the soils are 

 so easily washed that even on gently rolling lands it is 

 almost impossible to hold them in place. As you pass 

 down the Southern Railway, you will see on either side 

 thousands of acres of terraced fields. I mean by this 

 that the planting is done on contour lines, so as to 

 keep the rows as nearly as possible level, while an em- 

 bankment is thrown up so that the water during a 

 shower cannot break over. It is only in this way that 

 the land can be plowed and cultivated without wash- 

 ing. Here we find an extreme type of liability to loss. 

 There are probably no soils except those which are more 

 or less level which do not suffer somewhat from erosion 

 of this kind. 



RECLAMATION OF WASHED SOILS. 



Twenty years ago I wrote a part of a Bulletin, is- 

 sued by the Department of Agriculture, on Washed 

 Soils: How to Prevent and Reclaim Them. In this 

 Bulletin the following statements are found: 



" The denudation, or washing, of lands on the 



