10 PRINCIPLES OF FARM PRACTICE 



Loss of soil by the action of water. The same processes 

 that made the soil are continuing today. Material from 

 higher levels is constantly being removed by water to lower 

 levels. This not only applies to the wearing away of rocks, 

 but to that of the soil itself. One has only to observe the 

 effect of a rain to see how readily the soil is washed from a 

 hillside. The soil particles are carried by the smaller streams 

 into the larger ones, and so on, until finally some are swept 



An illustration of effect of erosion on a field. 

 (U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.) 



into the ocean. But all along particles are left by the water; 

 by the slow waters in bends, on level stretches, and at the 

 edges of the streams, especially as the waters of the streams 

 get lower and the currents less swift. 



If the bottom land which has recently been covered with 

 the water from an overflow of a stream is examined, it will 

 be seen to be covered with fine sand and silt left there by the 

 receding waters. This deposit has come from the land of 



