| Show CONSERVATION PROJECT by Laurel Baker When my father bought a certain which Is located on the lUver about three miles from It was In a run down condition due to poor agriculture With the help of the Soil Conservation Service it has been much One of the things that was it was flooded about every time there was a rain When this happened sand was washed out on covering the top soil so plants could not Sand is not rich enough in minerals and organic matter for good farming sand is easily and because of the poor growth the vegetation makes It is a waste to use valuable Irrigation water on this type of The reason for this flooding can be traced hack to one thing Livestock had run In Wide Hollow in excessive grazing the vegetation close to the leaving nothing to hold back the flood To keep the sand from spreading out over the field a cut was This cut was protected with trees and grass Soon some of the cattle were taken out of Wide Hollow and the vegetation began to grow The floods became smaller and less top soil was carried No system of crop rotation had been followed which is necessary If fields are to remain Without crop rotation the natural minerals In the soil are gradually One such as takes minerals from the soil while another like build and Improves the Another way my father improved his farm was by plowing under green This was done by plowing the last alfalfa crop He alBo hauled manure all the way from This practice added a large amount I of organic matter and it also re-I placed minerals that had been J from the This improved the structure of the soil and made it produce bigger and better One day a man a long spade put some of the soil and took It away I in a little bag Sometime later he wrote Dack saying the soil needed The alfalfa grows better since Dad has applied Watering of damage to the has done a lot besides wasting a large As the water amount of ran down the ditch it would wash causing deeper and wider ditches to When this happens valuable land Is a lot of Each year some checks are being and concrete built With these structures the water is under control and easy to Part of the land was not the because it was farmed kind to be too steep and My In this area father planted grass ad separated It from the fields with a fence making good In this way the Held was useful as pasture during the Father doesn't allow the livestock on the fields in the spring because he has found out down the ground making hard and it wil not the and the alfalfa doesn't grow These are Just a few things that have been done to Improve our |
