yoi//f TOMORROW 



DEPENDS ON 



CARE OF lAKin TOOAY 



CONSERVATION CHARLEY by Harry Corry 



Mother Earth is once again licking her wounds. 

 Her old battered face has been slashed and 

 gashed by the recent runoff of snow water. The 

 blood from these new cuts - in this case her 

 soil - streams down her cheeks and messes up 

 the countryside. Creeks turn to liquid mud; 

 silt deposits on roads, in ditches and on other 

 fields, becomes puddles of ugliness - and de- 

 struction. The actual source of this earthly 

 blood - the furrows and gullies upon the slopes 

 - is mute evidence that the old girl has been 

 io quite a battle. 



The water from these melting snows and from 

 the spring and summer rains which will follow 

 inherit a mad desire to get to the bottom of 

 a hill as quickly as possible. This desire 

 causes rills and rivulets of water to go gall- 

 oping off down the hillsides with little re- 

 gard for anything but the Law of Gravity. Such 

 concentrations of water quite often find the 

 shortest distance to be across cropped fields. 

 These shortcuts are scars that remain on the 

 land long after the water reaches the Gulf of 

 Mexico. 



In the beginning these water courses are 

 small and insignificant. They can be plowed 

 over and practically obliterated. But as 

 generation after generation of water follows 

 the same highway the route becomes broader 

 and deeper. Each drop of water that passes 

 takes with it some of the soil of that field. 

 Each particle of soil that is carried away 

 leaves the field a little poorer. The field 

 also becomes harder to farm. Machinery is 

 subjected to increased wear and tear as the 

 gully gets deeper and deeper. In many cases 

 the field is eventually cut in two. A tractor 

 can no longer jump across the yawning abyss. 



Such a state of affairs need not be. If the 

 water follows the same course year after year 

 across a farmed field, that watercourse should 

 no longer be farmed. It should be planted to 

 grass and deeded to the water. Grass will 

 allow the water to get to the bottom of the 



hill with no damage to the cropland. A grassed 

 waterway guarantees that a field will not be 

 cut in two by an pgly, grasping gully. In 

 addition, the waterway can furnish grass for 

 grazing and hay. 



A grassed waterway is similar to any other 

 grass planting -It takes planning. The seed- 

 bed should bfe firm and free of weeds. It should 

 be broad and relatively shallow - "U" shaped 

 rather than cut like a "V". 



If a baby gully is in shape to seed this year, 

 the job should be done today - or tomorrow. The 

 earlier the better. 



If the channel must still be shaped and the 

 ground firmed up before it can be seeded, it 

 will probably be best to postpone the seeding 

 until next spring. In such cases, this coping 

 summer and fall can be used to put the ground 

 in shape to insure a good waterway next year. 



Grassed waterways are generally rather simple 

 devices to install - and they pay big dlvd- 

 dends. Any field which Is now being gullied by 

 water will be proud to own one - or more. 



*********** 



"WHAT HAPPENED TO THE JJANUARY-FEBRUARY ISSUE OF 

 TREASURE ACRES?" 



We know that you all enjoyed the Brochure 

 denoting the 25th Anniversary of the Montana 

 Association of Soil and Water Conservation 

 Districts that was published and circulated by 

 the MASWCD. 



However, this brochure was costly; and in order 

 to help defray the expense of the brochure, it 

 was decided to forego the January-February issue 

 of Treasure Acres. 



We are sorry if you missed reading your bi- 

 monthly publication (and we certainly hope you 

 did) , but you may look forward to receiving 

 your issues regularly from this date. 



""^^ J^ 



