United States Department of Agriculture, 



BUREAU OF FORESTRY.— Circular No. 27. 

 GIFFORD PINCHOT. Forester, 



RECLAMATIOX OF FLOOD-DAMAGED LANDS IN THE KANSAS RIVER 

 YALLEY BY FOREST PLANTING. 



The flood of 1903 did great damage to much valuable land in the 

 Kansas River Valley. The injured lands may be classed under the fol- 

 lowing four general heads : 



(a) Sanded lands. 



(h) Eroded lands. 



fcj Eroded lands subsequently silted. 



(dj Caving river banks. 



Lands that were silted but not eroded are not classified as "injured," 

 since it is believed that such lands were benefited rather than injured 

 by the flood. 



The following recommendations for the treatment of these lands are 

 made with full knowledge of their former great value for agriculture, 

 and with a keen realization of the extent of the damages wrought by 

 the greatest calamity that ever visited this fertile valley. 



SANDED LANDS. 



At least 5,000 acres of fertile plowland were buried in coarse sand to 

 such a depth as to be rendered worthless for agriculture for many years 

 to come. This should receive the first attention, for the sands are likely 

 to be shifted by the winds and deposited on land that is now fertile. 

 In order to fix this sand, Cottonwood trees should be planted over its 

 entire surface this spring (1904). The flood of 1903 caused millions of 

 cottonwoods to germinate on fields that were too wet for cultivation. 

 From these natural nurseries may be obtained all the seedlings needed. 

 If the planting is delayed until another year, the seedlings will be too 

 large to plant, and the sand will have been blown into ridges, so that 

 the ground will not be in as good condition for planting as it is now. 



The Cottonwood seedlings on farm lands should be gathered when 

 the ground is plowed for a spring crop. It may be that a boy riding 

 the front of the carriage of a sulky plow can catch and pull out from 

 the loosened soil the best specimens before they are turned under. 

 Otherwise they must be taken from beside or behind the plow. When 

 an armful has been collected, the roots of the trees should be buried in 

 the fresh soil for protection until they can be planted. The planting is 

 a very simple operation. It may be advantageously performed by a 

 man and a boy working together. The man, driving a spade into the 

 sand, makes a slit, into which, behind the spade, the boy slips a tree ; 

 the man then withdraws the spade, tramping the soil about the tree as 



