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Show New Publication On Soils Available I "Soils and Security", a new illustrated il-lustrated booklet written by Dr. H. H. Bennett, . chief of the United States- soil conservation service, has been released and is available to all persons interested in the ra p i d 1 y growing conservation movement, SCS officials re- ' port. Pointing out that about 14 percent per-cent of the land about 2S0 mil- lion acres have been essentially I ruined by soil erosion and another 35 percent of the land damaged, the publication places the annual cost of soil erosion in the United States at not less than S844,000,- j 000. Of particular interest to the southwest where the farming in- dustry depends primarily upon I storage of irrigation water, is the statement that unlesfc present , rates of sedimentation are reduc-'. reduc-'. ed, 38 percent of the existing 8400 I dams and reservoirs in the United Unit-ed States will have a useful life i of 50 years or less. , j Techniques of erosion control and the results of soil conserva-; conserva-; tion efforts in recent years are described. The new movement of I locally guided soil conservation districts is growing rapidly and by 1950, at the present rate, about 367 million acres of farm and range land in the country will be included in these conservation cooperatives, Dr. Bennett estimates. esti-mates. Copies of the booklet may- be obtained free from the U. S. Department De-partment of Agriculture, Washington, Wash-ington, D. C, or from U S D A representatives. |