LAND AND OTHER AGENTS OF PRODUCTION 177 



tirely checked in any profitable way. However, it may be greatly 

 retarded by continually dumping debris, brush, or other material 

 into the gully, by planting wild honeysuckle around the head and 

 sides and young pines or other trees in the mouth. 



The main problem is to arouse the farmers to a realization of the 

 importance of treating their soil in the manner best suited to its con- 

 dition. Soils that cannot be cultivated without danger of erosion 

 should be used for the production of hay, for pasture, or for forestry, 

 either of which may pay better under the circumstances than the 

 crops obtained from clean cultivation. The greatest damage from 

 erosion generally occurs where the original growth has been removed 

 and the land is being used for crop production. This most frequently 

 means clean culture. The agricultural conditions in the South are 

 especially favorable for erosion, as the main crop is cotton, which 

 requires entire freedom from grasses and weeds. It often happens 

 that the same land is cropped year after year to cotton, until the soil 

 becomes so unproductive that its cultivation is not profitable, and is 

 allowed to "lie out" and become infested with weeds. It is then that 

 erosion is most destructive. The soil is exhausted of organic matter, 

 and even before the weeds begin to grow the rainsform gullies over 

 the surface. Probably the field will not be put under cultivation 

 again, and in a few years it becomes devastated, without agricultural 

 value, and a menace to the surrounding land. 



The reclamation of eroded land is possible, but requires atten- 

 tion and patience. The use of such land for forestry is commonly 

 advisable'. 



49. GRAZING WHERE TILLAGE IS IMPRACTICABLE 1 

 BY JAMES STEPHENSON, JR. 



The grazing lands of the state of Idaho constitute by far the largest 

 portion of its area. A very large portion of the acreage classified as 

 timbered is also grazing land and is occupied as a summer range by 

 sheep and cattle. There are wide areas in the northern section of the 

 state that are covered with rough hills and mountains, the south sides 

 of which are valuable grazing land and the north sides heavily tim- 

 bered. It is therefore safe to say that Idaho contains 30,000,000 acres 

 of grazing land. A large portion of the land of the southern district 



'Adapted from Bulletin 216, Office of Experiment Stations, United States 

 Department of Agriculture, p. 24. 



