18 BULLETIX "16, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Part of the waste land of this area is the result of erosion. Un- 
protected soils on these hillsides erode easily. Any slight breaks in 
the sod furnish starting places for washes and after a few years' 
neglect often result in a condition much like that shown in the upper 
illustration in Plate I. If neglected a few years longer gullies similar 
to those shown in the lower illustration may be worn. On several 
farms are areas where conditions prevail similar to those indicated in 
one or both of these illustrations. Such areas vary in extent from 
small fractions of an acre to 15 acres or more. These conditions, 
prevalent throughout the hill section, exist through neglect. When 
small breaks in the sod are first made a little grass seed and manure 
scattered over the bare soil will prevent further washing; but the 
longer the matter is neglected the more difficult it is to overcome. 
The upper picture in Plate II shows sweet clover growing on land 
that had reached the stage indicated by the lower illustration in 
Plate I. While the work was only experimental, it indicates what 
may be done to reclaim such land. In the spring of 1913 one-half 
bushel of white sweet-clover seed (hulled) was sown on 4 or 5 acres 
of this land. The stand obtained was by no means perfect, but it 
was encouraging. The plants that grew from this seeding matured 
seed in the fall of 1914 (the white sweet clover being a biennial) 
and reseeded themselves. The illustration was photographed in 
November, 1916, shortly after the reseeding had matured its crop of 
seed and the foliage had dropped off. It indicates the stand obtained 
and the growth made from the reseeding. In a number of places on 
this land bluegrass and white clover were already coming in at 
that time. 
On an adjoining farm 25 locust sprouts were set in the ravines of 
washed land, also in the spring of 1913. Most of these lived, and 
in the spring of 1917 the washes where they grew were about one- 
half filled in. (See lower picture, PL II.) 
These simple experiments indicate that sweet clover sown on eroded 
areas and locust sprouts set in the gullies are effective means in 
checking erosion. The sweet clover is also a soil improver and an 
excellent forerunner for bluegrass pastures. It should be noted that 
the sweet clover thrives better on the red than on the white or yellow 
soils. 
PASTTKE LAND. 
Pasture land comprises about one-half of the farm area. Fully 
two-thirds of the pasture land admits of cultivation, but when con- 
sidering how difficult it is to cultivate and how easily the soil erodes 
it is hardly advisable that much of it be broken, except for occasional 
reseedings. Only a small proportion of the total pasture land was 
included in the rotation area. 
