178 Twenty-First Biii^niai. Eepobt 



In consideriiig tlie fgfins in Kentucky at the pres- 

 ent time, it is evident that there is a large amount of 

 them which are not producing the amount of produce 

 which is possible for them to supply under the best con- 

 ditions; and the fact that this is so, results from several 

 features, among which may be mentioned the worn out 

 condition of the soil, due to the lack of a proper amount 

 of limestone, and imperviousness of the soil to surface 

 moisture, due to shallow plowing, and a packed condition 

 of the soil itself. Further, in a great many cases it is 

 impossible to use land which has heretofore been used 

 year, in and year out, on account of the "washing" of 

 the land — as this condition is generally termed. There 

 are acres of land in Kentucky that are useless at the 

 present time, due to the fact that the surface run-off 

 has been so rapid that gullying and the washing away 

 of the most valuable top soil portion of the soil has re- 

 sulted. This last feature is particularly true on lands 

 with a perceptible slope, and is especially noticeable in 

 the extremely hilly sections, and in the mountains of the 

 State. It may be proper here to set forth in brief just 

 what functions the forests serve with regard to conser- 

 vation of the soil, especially on hilly lands, and the eco- 

 nomic part which the forests play in building up the soil 

 itself. In the first place — and this is especially true in 

 hilly and mountainous regions — the forests act as a soil 

 fixative ; that is, the mass of roots of the trees which ex- 

 tend in every direction through the soil, serve to hold it 

 in place, and prevent it from washing down into the 

 stream beds and gullies. It has been said, with a large de- 

 gree of truth, that the best farms of Kentucky are at the 

 present time in the Gulf of Mexico, due to the washing 

 away of the rich top soil into the streams, and eventually 

 down the Ohio and Mississippi. In the second place, the 

 forests break the fall of rain upon the surface; in the 

 third place, as nearly as it is possible to state, the mass 

 of roots and the decaying vegetable matter in a forest 

 act as a reservoir so that the rain which falls is soaked 

 up as by a sponge, and is discharged in small quantities 

 over .. long periods, and is not precipitated into the 

 streams within a very short time as a surface run-off so 

 that gullies and washes are formed. Again, the roots 



