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Show PRESERVE FERTILITY AND SAVE THE SOIL . H By P. G. HOLDEN. JB 1 A WORN-OUT, -gullied cotton farm in the SSuth, which has paid the jffiSr price of a one-crop system of farmlpg. The one-qrop system will H Impoverish the soil and In turn Impoverish the people. a Soil washes because It cannot hold the water that falls upon It i In the form of rain and snow. mm The loss of fertility by washing of the soil amounts to millions of dollars jH annually In the United States. It Is far more damaging to some farms than -IB the plant-food lost by the growing crops. Erosion removes the best port of the soil the surface which contains the most hmus and the greatest WM amount of available plantfood. The action of erosion Is usually slow, but jH continuous and certain. It starts from small beginnings, works unnoticed, and mm In the end returns a full measure in worthless land. The most disastrous SB losses from washing are on rolling or sloping lasnds which are low In humus. Sometimes it Is necessary to keep portions of the farm In timbered pasture. mm Roots of trees and grass vegetable matter hold the soil together and absorb flB the water, thus preventing washing of the soli. |