Hold Your Soil 

 With Terraces 



Morgan County Terracer 

 Says Illinois Farmers With 

 Sloping Land Eventually 

 Will Have to Terrace 



"U 



NLIXS they lengthen tlicir 

 grass rotation, farmers on land 

 with a two per cent slope or 

 more will eventually have to 

 accept terracing.' This is the 

 opinion ot a Nlorgan county farmer who 

 has been terracing since \9'^C^. 



"Farmers on sloping land will build 

 terraces." says Warren Brockhouse ot 

 near Concord, "if for no other reason 

 than that terracing means higher fertility 

 and higher yields." Brockhouse speaks 

 as a man whose corn a\erages ')()-100 

 bushels to the acre. 



Warren and his brother Vancil operate 

 two farms together. One is i2() acres 

 and the other -iO°' acres. 



The Brockhouse brothers and their 



A strong exponent ot all »he Iriclcf of soil 



conservcifion, Worren Broefchoose (left) 



shows Morgan County farm Adviser Id Gar- 



llch one ot his concrete splllwoys. 



' -»*, ♦"•'Ac 



By JIM THOMSON 



Asst. Editor, lAA RECORD 



Terrace on which 

 tVorren Brockhouse 

 (right) stands lies 

 lower on sloping field 

 than spot where Farm 

 Adviser Ed Garlieh 

 (left) stands. 



lather. All red, decided to try terracing 1 ^ 

 years ago when they read about it in 

 extension bulletins from the College ol 

 Agriculture. 



"The home farm," Warren said "haii 

 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 Consenation 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 ecjuipmeiit wc 

 smoothed 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 ui 

 slow runoff to a trickle. 



Brockhouse emphasizes the importance 

 of slowing down water runoff. On the 

 home farm he has two large (Oiicreie 

 spillways which hold b.uk the water. He 

 plans to build more later on the smaller 

 farm where some of the water drops 16 

 IK feet to a creek bed. Brockhouse lia> 

 sl.ickened the torrent of water whiili 

 often pours down the hill bv m.ikim: 

 sediment boxes and siltiiis: basins m the 

 higher ground. 



From their 

 i^rolhers learned 

 inu the soil. 



father the Broikhou^ 

 earlv the \aliie ol teed 

 Father Brockhouse w.i^ 

 ph, 



.i|''plying limestone and later phosphate 

 inore than M) vears .igo. 



Warren says any farmer can ^c•l up a 

 practical soil conservation, soil building- 

 crop rotation scheme of his own. He 

 lists his own program thus: f 1 ) terrai - 

 ing, (2) contour plowing and planting, 

 f^) supplementarv conservation such as 



Urass waterways, silting basins, and spill- 

 ways. (-1) more extensive grass farming. 

 (5) sensible crop rotation, (6) and 

 proper application of plant foods. 



Brockhouse bought 112 acres several 

 years ago for SI. 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 bromc 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 tour 

 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 1 5,000 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 w.igon 

 tracks and cow paths across fields tor 

 beginnings of ditching. ' 



Brockhouse thinks average corn yields 

 in Illinois should be .it least 100 bushels 

 to the .icre. But he admits that it re- 

 cjuircs good farming practices. Even the 

 farmer who is short of money can do a 

 L'ood job of building up his soil, he 

 sa\s. and it sometimes takes a lot of 

 hard work. But he still must spend 

 monev for plant foods. I would advise 

 him to invest in limestone first, then as 

 he can afford it. buv rock phosphate, antl 

 finally, commercial fertilizers. 



The important thint; to remember, 

 Brockhouse believes, is 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. 2^. 

 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. lohn is a stu- 

 dent at the University of Illinois C ollege 

 of Agriculture. 



Thev are fortunate young men to have 

 a f.ither who takes such good care of the 

 land. 



iv 



I. A. A. RECORD 



