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INDIANA UNIVERSITY STUDIES 



the fourth year. An ordinary crop on good bottom land is at the 

 very least worth $20 per acre, and on much of it $30 would not be 

 too high. One-half plus one-third plus one-fourth of $20 equals 

 $21.60. This is the basis on which $20 is used as the loss per acre 

 due to soil wash. Thirty dollars may not be too high. 



The value of the bottom land varies from $75 per acre to $100 

 per acre, and there is a greater portion of it worth $100 per acre or 

 more than there is worth less; but it is better to put the price too 

 low than too high. The land lost by bank cutting is a complete 

 loss, hence the loss per acre was placed at $75. The land that is 

 covered with sand and gravel is almost useless for several years, 

 but can be reclaimed after a considerable number of years, so that 

 $50 per acre seems to be a fair estimate of this sort of damage. The 

 farmers say that the ground that is covered with silt does not pro- 

 duce a full crop the first year, but that after the new soil has been 

 ''rozen the following crop will more than make up for the loss of 

 tm %st year. 



On the West Fork there were some who thought that the 

 sediment which is being brought down in recent years is not so 

 good as that which was formerly deposited over the flood plain. 

 Others could see no difference. The investigators are of the opinion 

 that the silt is not as good as it was before so much of the forest 

 was cut from the steeper slopes. This is especially true of the un- 

 glaciated portion of the drainage basin of White River. During 

 the last few years the steeper slopes have been robbed of their forests. 

 The farmers have tried to farm these steep hills and as a result 

 much gullying has taken place. The results of this process is to 

 be seen in the western part of Monroe County and in the eastern 

 part of Greene County. As much as twenty acres can often be found 

 in one area that has been stripped of its grass sod, and numerous 

 gullies have been cut down into the red limestone soil, exposing 

 the limestone below. This soil is easily carried away and when 

 dropped on the fertile alluvial flood plain is not as productive as 

 the finer particles of humus that were gathered from the wooded 

 areas several years ago, and deposited in the same places where the 

 red clay is being deposited by every great flood. To one who has 

 spent three summers studying the geology of the unglaciated part 

 of the State, there is no doubt but that the deposits derived from 

 this part of the White River basin are less productive than formerly 

 and this decrease in productivity is due in a large measure to de- 

 forestation. There are several hundred acres in Monroe and Greene 

 Counties that are in the same condition. A fuller report on this 



