H.Go Bobst of the SCS in his talk on '•Future Water Demands" at the recent Montana 

 Association oF SCD~"meetings cited the following startling figures on water uses 

 "The per capita consumption was roughly I3OO gallons in 1950 ^ has risen to 1^00 by 

 I960, and is estimated to be 2U00 gallons by 19eOo This amounts to 2000 tons of 

 water per year per person^ while our amoiint per capita use of all other materials, 

 such as foodg fuel, metals, plastics^ lumber^, sando gravel, etc amounts to only 

 18 tons'*. "Its not the supply that is changing - it's the niimber of people who 

 use it - and the continued growth of per capita demand"* 



How well are soil conservation distrLct supervisors doing their work in the leader- 

 ship of water conservation? 



Lower De lta S oil Conser va tionJDistrict in Louisian a recently distributed an attractive 

 leaflet through all food markets located within the district. The leaflet explained 

 that all foodj clothing and shelter came from the soilj and that muddy waters carried 

 away valuable soils. The leaflet was placed in each customer's grocery bag. 



FROM MONTANA FAI^JER-STOCKMA N 



"Good Soil is a LivJ.ng Thing" 



There is a wise philsopher who^ anonymouslys writes essays for the"Monthly Letter" 

 of the Royal Bank of Canada. 



In a recent treatise on the "Relationship of Man and Nature", he tells the story of 

 soil in a few simple words i 



Good soil is a living thing, he writes, and its health 

 is a matter of life and death to plants and animals. What 

 folly it is to call silver, gold and gems "precious" and 

 dirt "base". If there were as great a scarcity of soil 

 as there is of jewels and precious metals <, we should 

 gladly give a heap of diamonds to purchase only so much 

 earth as would hold a small vj.olet in any pot. 



The soil is constantly changing. In the soil we find one 

 of the oldest laws of life known to uss birth, growth, 

 death, decay and rebirth. 



Nothing is wasted in nature. Everything nourishes some- 

 thing else until the bacteria finally get hold of it and 

 return it to the soil after breaking it down once more 

 into inorganic conpoimds which plants can again trans- 

 form into protein o The roots of man's physical and mental 

 health spring from the soil. 



Soil is first of all rock particles, then the organic matter 

 from dead plants and animals, and finally a community of 

 living plant and animal organisms. Roots, insects, worms. 

 and bacteria build fertility into it, while small mammals 

 plow it and let in the air. The soil becomes filled with 

 organic matter containing packaged energy from the sun. 



The hive of living things existing in and on the soil is 

 vitally important. At Rothamsted in England, the oldest 



