Hold Your Soil 

 With Terraces 



Morgan County Terracer 

 Says Illinois Farmers With 

 Sloping Land Eventually 

 Will Have to Terrace 



By JIM THOMSON 



Asst. Editor, lAA RECORD 



Terrace on which 

 Warren Brockhousa 

 ( right ) sfandt f/es 

 lower on tloping field 

 than spot where Form 

 Adviser Id Oarllch 

 (left) stands. 



"U' 



NLESS they lengthen their 

 grass rotation, farmers on land 

 with a two per cent slope or 

 more will eventually have to 

 accept terracing." This is the 

 opinion of a Morgan county farmer who 

 has been terracing since 1936. 



"Farmers on sloping land will build 

 terraces," says Warren Brockhouse of 

 near Gjncord, "if for no other reason 

 than that terracing means higher fertility 

 and higher yields." Brockhouse speaks 

 as a man whose corn averages 90-100 

 bushels to the acre. 



Warren and his brother Vancil operate 

 two farms together. One is 420 acres 

 and the other 495 acres. 



The Brockhouse brothers and their 



A strong exponent ot all the tritk* of toll 

 conservation, tVarren Brockhouse (left) 

 shows Morgan County Farm Advlter td Oar- 

 llch one of his concrete spillways. 



"^ 



father, Alfred, decided to try terracing 1 3 

 years ago when they read about it in 

 extension bulletins from the G)llege of 

 Agriculture. 



"The home farm," Warren said "had 

 four to six per cent slopes, washing was 

 getting pretty bad, and ditching was de- 

 veloping. We felt that something had 

 to be done. About that time Dad got to 

 know a lot of the boys at a neighboring 

 Civilian Conservation Camp. He visited 

 the camp a number of times and learned 

 that terracing was a very important part 

 of soil conservation." 



Starting with some road equipment we 

 smoothea over the ditching and built sev- 

 eral terraces without technical assistance 

 then seeded the terraced fields to grass to 

 bind the soil. The job paid off. Wash- 

 ing stopped and ditching practically dis- 

 appeared. The terraces were arranged to 

 slow runoff to a trickle. 



Brockhouse emphasizes the importance 

 of slowing down water runoff. On the 

 home farm he has two large concrete 

 spillways which hold back the water. He 

 plans to build more later on the smaller 

 farm where some of the water drops l6- 

 18 feet to a creek bed. Brockhouse has 

 slackened the torrent of water whicli 

 often pours down the hill by making 

 sediment boxes and silting basins in the 

 higher ground. 



From their father the Brockhouse 

 brothers learned early the value of feed- 

 ing the soil. Father Brockhouse was 

 applying limestone and later phosphate 

 more than 30 years ago. 



Warren says any farmer can set up a 

 practical soil conservation, soil building- 

 crop rotation scheme of his own. He 

 lists his own program thus: (1) terrac- 

 ing, (2) contour plowing and planting. 

 (3) supplementary conservation such as 



grass waterways, silting basins, and spill- 

 ways, (4) more extensive grass farming, 

 (5) sensible crop rotation, (6) and 

 proper application of plant foods. 



Brockhouse bought 112 acres several 

 years ago for $1,600. Most of it 'was 

 rough land with timber, creek bluff, and 

 creek bottom. He has applied limestone 

 and phosphate and sown it in grasses. 

 His favorites are brome grass with alfalfa 

 or brome grass with timothy. Most of it 

 will remain in grass. Land that is not 

 too rough will be sown to grass four 

 years then cropped (corn or oats) the 

 fifth year. 



They try to feed 250 beef cattle and 

 250 hogs on the two farms each year. 

 Most of the grassland is used for grazing 

 and all of the 15,000 bushels of corn 

 raised is fed. They take care to keep 

 hogs off rolling ground as much as pos- 

 sible because of the danger of erosion. 

 Warren says: "We even watch our wagon 

 tracks and cow paths across fields for 

 beginnings of ditching." 



Brockhouse thinks average corn yields 

 in Illinois should be at least 100 bushels 

 to the acre. But he admits that it re- 

 quires good farming practices. Even the 

 farmer who is short of money can do a 

 good job of building up his soil, he 

 says, and it sometimes takes a lot of 

 hard work. But he still must spend 

 money for plant foods. I would advise 

 him to invest in limestone first, then as 

 he can afford it, buy rock phosphate, and 

 finally, commercial fertilizers. 



The important th'ing to remember, 

 Brockhouse believes, & that soil conserva- 

 tion pays off in dollars and cents and 

 you are able to leave a better farm to your 

 sons. Warren has two sons. Brooks, 23, 

 and John, 18. Brooks works on the farm 

 and accepts most of the changes made by 

 his father and grandfather as common- 

 place and good farming. John is a stu- 

 dent at the University of Illinois College 

 of Agriculture. 



They are fortunate young men to have 

 a father who takes such good care of the 



land. I 



I ■ -.■ - 



I. A. A. RECORD 



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