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By ROGER E. GISH, Director 



lAA Soil Conservation Activities 



What Will Your Farm 

 Be Like Tomorrow? 



By working in harmony with nature 

 you can save a highly fertile soil 

 for your children. 



I dlint )dm, oa your children inheriiinq thi* ! * 





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WHAT type of farm will you 

 p.iss on to your children and 

 grandchildren? Will it be one 

 with eroded, worn-out soil or 

 one with high fertility and pro- 

 ductivity? The choice is yours. 



Future generations are depending on 

 you. Vou can make life more difficult 

 for them by shrugging off the future and 

 confining your farming to present profits 

 and present yields. 



Vou can fulfill that obligation to the 

 Americ.ins of the future and at the same 

 time help yourself. How? By preventing 

 soil erosion and practicing soil conserva- 

 tion. 



Through soil control, you can increase 

 the moisture content of your land during 

 the growing season and increase yields 

 with less fertilizer and at the same time 

 use 10 per cent less fuel in your farming 

 operations. 



Soil erosion is the result of man's 

 attempt to take something for nothing 

 from the soil. Now nature needs help to 

 regain productivity on much of our 

 eroded land. Are you making returns to 

 the "soil bank" and guarding it from 

 erosion so that you will have a future 

 "checking account"? 



It has been said that the man who 

 would gain nature's rewards must first 

 learn her laws and obey them implicitly. 

 Apparently, we have not yet learned 

 nature's laws or how to obey them. Wide, 

 fertile areas have been depleted. Over- 

 cropping, over-grazing, burning over of 

 woodl.inds and other undesirable practices 

 have allowed sheet and gulley erosion to 

 spread. Many operators have acquired 

 more acreage in order to maintain total 

 production. Proper land use is the key to 

 soil conservation. This more than the 

 cropping of more acres is a far better 

 solution to the production problem. 



According to the Bureau of Agricul- 

 tural F.conomics, there are in Illinois 

 3,523.000 acres which should be taken 



out of crop land and 3.016.000 acres in 

 idle or pasture land which should be put 

 in grain production. This gives a minus 

 balance of 507,000 acres. 



From the present 22,103,000 acres of 

 crop land in the state, this would leave 

 21.596,000 acres in crop land according 

 to their classification of proper land 

 use. Even with the reduction of 5()7.()0t) 

 acres of crop land, total production and 

 profits could be increa.sed by making the 

 shifts to proper land use. 



According to the 1940 census, there 

 are 1,007,001,467 acres in farm land in 

 the United States. These acres are de- 

 voted to the following purposes : crop- 

 land, 397,869.606; grassland, 493.801, 

 863: woodland, 115,329,998. 



Of the 398 million acres used for 

 crops, 40 million acres are not suitable for 

 this purpose, according to the Soil Con- 

 servation Service. That leaves 3'S8 mil- 

 lion acres of cultivated land wliieh arc 

 suitable for crops. However, some lands 

 not used for crops are suitable for this 

 purpose. The following t.ible gives the 

 suitable land use regardless of present 

 crops. 



millior acres 



Cultivated land suitable for 



crops 1^8 



Land in grass (mainly pasture) 

 which could be put into 

 crops 132 



Land in woods (including con- 

 siderable cutover and brush 

 land) which could be put into 

 crops 3 4 



Total land suitable for crops 524 



Any problem should be attacked first 

 by carefully looking at what we have and 

 then making a plan as to what should 

 be done. Based on a complete soil sur\ev 

 which includes the mapping of soil type, 

 slope, and degree of erosion, the Soil 

 Conservation Service classifies all the 

 agricultural land into eight classifications 



according to land capabilities. With the 

 farmer, technicians of the Soil Conserva- 

 tion Districts make a farm plan to suit 

 the land capabilities of each acre. 



Scientific soil tests on which to base 

 fertilizer recommendations are nctessary 

 for greatest efficiency. Terraces may be 

 needed to prevent erosion. Contour 

 farming and strip cropping may be suf- 

 ficient. A grass waterway is. m many 

 cases, nothing more or less than a re- 

 i^l.iimed gulley but nature will never, by 

 herself, produce a desired shape which 

 can be attained with ordinary farm im- 

 plements by the farmer. 



Shaping with farm implements, to- 

 gether with use of the proper fertilizers, 

 and the final seeding, will accomplish in 

 a short time something that wouKl never 

 be accomplished if left alone. Black lo- 

 cust seedlings in the guHey might ac- 

 complish the same job of erosion con- 

 trol, but thev have to be put in by man 

 in oriler for them to do the job. These 

 same seedlings could not continue to 

 grow unless properly protected from 

 'grazing. 



In a pasture-improvement program, a 

 proper fertilization program is necessary 

 and a desirable seeding mixture should 

 be used. The area then needs to be pro- 

 tected from ovcrgazing. Sometimes this 

 involves the removal of a hedge row. 

 changing of fences, or the use of tem- 

 porary- fences. In the establishment of 

 a pasture or wood lot, the desired speues 

 are selected and planted rather than al 

 lowing a survival of the fittest ainong the 

 existing species, most of which are usual- 

 ly not too desirable. 



Altogether, the Soil Conservation Serv- 

 ice lists '''■> standard physical practices, 

 but many of these are simple variations 

 of a few basic ones such as vegct.it ivc 

 cover, rotation, fertilization, contour cul- 

 tivation, strip-cropping, terracing, and 

 drainage. Not all of the basic ones are 



(Continued on page 34) 



OCTOBER, 1948 



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