Show i A a P 1 j t r ft 3 r t 7 T. T t td f d T A i 1 L r 4 5 z a. a Y J n l N l t r lr d dl c l sr 1 r e t C q 1 y k 1 rl y r fKr FJ k t a A Fr h 9 y r L w r ig t f i a aX I ss f A 41 V 4 sg Hi jik B X rs v t w A r 1 W i ey Y aAr w r o ih ry I y CONSERVATION I PRACTICE By EARL DISTRICT CONSERVATIONIST Installation of conservation conservation conserva conserva- tion tiou practices has paid big dividends to Charles Black Jr of Syracuse No practice has helped more than controlling controlling controlling control control- ling the water table on waterlogged water water-i logged previously unproductive tive Live land LATE IN 1969 Black who grows vegetables on the acre Black Island Farm in west Davis County installed a tile drain on 80 acres of farm land where production was limited to water and salt tolerant crops This drain the first of its kind to be installed in the County County County Coun Coun- ty does not have a gravity outlet Water from more than 8 8 feet of main line and laterals is collected in a sump at the end of the drain and brought to the surface controlled rby y v an electrically to pump then moved away in surface ditches The pump automatically turns on and andoff andoff andoff off and keeps the water table between six and seven feet below the surface BLACK decided on the pump when Soil Conservation Service technicians found thata that a gravity drain would only lower the water table to a depth of about three feet in some areas and that crop yields on these places would be reduced When first installed installed led led the pump which delivers between two and three hundred hundred hundred hun hun- dred gallons per minute ran continuously for almost a day and a half hall before it shut off Two months later it was running three minutes out of often often often ten to maintain the water level Throughout the winter the length of time the pump operated varied with the Charles Black Jr of Syracuse checks on water being pumped from a manhole manhole man man- hole and into an open drainage ditch on his farm rendering unproductive land into tillable soil amount of snow melt and andrain andrain andrain rain percolating into the soil BLACK NAMED Davis County's outstanding farmer for 1969 by the Davis Soil So Conservation District his father Charles Sr and his brothers Bruce and Gary are partners in a family family- owned enterprise which produces produces produces pro pro- duces and markets chopped vegetables under the name of Mrs Condie's Salads The father and two sons operate the vegetable processing plant in Salt Lake City while Charles Jr manages the farm Soon after he started farming farming farming farm farm- ing in 1963 Black became a cooperator with the tile Davis Soil Conservation District With technical assistance from the Soil Conservation Service and some financial assistance from the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service he has now converted acres of soggy salty soil into good productive land by installing more than two miles of underground underground underground under- under ground drains drains' HE HAS ALSO leveled most of his cropland and lined a amile amile amile mile of ditch with concrete These same practices are arenow arenow arenow now being planned for acres of land recently added to the farm We have to have the drains Black says but butland butland butland land leveling and concrete lining lining lining lin lin- ing have taken the most workout work workout workout out of irrigating When these practices are installed I can set the water and work somewhere somewhere somewhere some some- where else without worrying about it THIS IS worth a lot for when we first started farming farming farming farm farm- ing it was a fight to keep the water in the ditch and someone had to stay with it constantly to keep it running in the same furrow This meant an extra man had to tobe tobe tobe be hired for the supervision of plowing planting weeding harvesting and preparing the vegetables for shipment Carrots spinach asparagus sweet radishes celery turnips turnips turnips turn turn- rutabagas head and leaf lettuce are grown on the farm Black reports an average yield of 12 to 15 tons of carrots carrots carrots car car- rots and crates of spinach per acre Other crops do equally well ell TEN TO fifteen people work full time during the summer harvesting and packaging vegetables on a farm that would not support one family if it were not for drains land leveling and concrete concrete concrete con con- crete lining Now many people benefit This farm furnishes employment employment employment employ employ- ment to and a living for several families The public benefits in the additional taxes that are paid resulting from the increased land value and the greatly increased yields I Industry I benefits f from bin the supplies and equipment n needed needed need need- eded ed- ed ed as a result of the use and production of the land THE STATE as a whole benefits from the fact that rather than importing some of these vegetables they are arenow arenow arenow now being produced locally and the product exported It Itis Itis Itis is a true principle everyone everyone everyone every every- one benefits from conservation conservation conservation conserva conserva- tion and development of our resources Even though my yields have increased considerably Black says demands for these crops from the company are greater than I can sup sup- ply A NICE problem in one way better than salty soggy soggy soggy sog sog- gy unproductive land |