16 BULLETIN 180, U. S. DEPAETMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



The rye was being turned under at the time the place was visited, and 

 the soil seemed to be in good physical condition. The owner kept an 

 account of the cost of reclamation, and the total expenditure 

 amounted to $376, or an average of about $10 an acre. An offer of 

 $100 an acre had been refused. The deep plowing and the incorpora- 

 tion of large quantities of organic matter left the soil in such condition 

 that practically all the water falling on the surface was absorbed. 



Another example of similar character was encountered near Knox- 

 ville. A steep hillside of several acres, which had been badly eroded, 

 was under cultivation by a truck grower. It had been reclaimed by 

 startmg terraces and cutting hillside ditches, and when this place was 

 seen it supported an excellent crop of strawberries. The owner had 

 not kept an account of expenses, but had bought the land at a very low 

 price. His greatest trouble was in preventing further erosion. Re- 

 clamation at best is an expensive, though not a hopeless, process. It 

 is infinitely better to use preventive measures in the first place. 



NATURAL RECLAMATION. 



Nature attempts to check excessive soil waste by supplying a nat- 

 ural growth of vegetation to lands abandoned to soil erosion. Trees 

 grow voluntarily in the ditches, and grasses and briers spread over the 

 sides of gulUes, retarding the extension of the gullies by erosion. The 

 roots penetrating the soil give it more coherence and increase its 

 resistence to water action. The leaves and other parts of the plants 

 add to the organic matter in the soil, making it more absorptive of 

 the j)recipitation. This vegetation constitutes an impediment to the 

 water fiowing over the surface. The velocity is checked and a part of 

 the burden of soil material is deposited. In this way there is a slow 

 buildhig up of ditch bottoms and. a tendency to flatten out the land 

 surface. The natural reclamation begins at the mouth of the gully 

 and extends back to the steep areas. It is not uncommon to find 

 immense gulHes with this process taking place, often with large trees 

 growiag in them. This is illustrated in Plate I, figure 1. 



Nature, however, does not wait for large gulhes to form before 

 making an effort to check the erosion. A field abandoned before such 

 devastation has resulted is soon covered with a growth of native 

 brush and trees, which begin at once to prevent the rapid wash of the 

 soil and to reclaim, those gullies already begun. In Plate II, figures 

 1 and 2, abandoned areas, in which a natural growth of pines, shrubs, 

 and grasses has started, are shown. 



This natural growth often furnishes a suggestion as to the best 

 method of reclamation by reforestation. From the character of the 

 natural growth the kind of trees and shrubs best suited to the soil 

 may be determined, and soils offering no hope of reclamation for 

 agriculture may be used for forestry. One section of the State of Ten- 



