Show control of erosion important to farmer controlling erosion the thief of fertile topsoil Is a prominent feature of the new soll soil improvement pro program ram the soil building and conserving crops advocated under the new program serve to check erosion in several ways way 9 while these crops are growing their roots form a thick mat which holds the soil particles in place they also check the runoff run off of rain water by impeding its flow down hill and by increasing the capacity of the land to absorb water in large quantities then after they have been plowed under the building and conserving crops add organic matter to the soil that makes it soft and spongy rain soaks into such soil and Is held for long periods soil well filled with organic matter also has a greater tendency to remain in place than gritty sand or clay soils when the s soil i oll absorbs large quantities of water it prevents floods during heavy rains and keeps the land from drying out so completely when rainfall Is scarce on an 8 per cent slope elope a field on which nothing but corn is grown will lose 25 per cent of its rainfall by immediate runoff run off and an average of 67 tons of soil per acre through erosion each year but if the field I 1 is s in a good soil building crop it will lose less than 6 5 per cent of its rainfall and only a few hundred pounds of soil per acre when corn wheat and clover are grown in rotation the average runoff run off of rain water is less than half the amount from a fiel field d kept continually in corn and the soil losses are only one seventh as much |