Show misbehaving streams take toll in lowland misbehaving streams cause an enormous amount of damage to fertile bottom land farms according to the soil conservation service sometimes these streams wander out of their courses and cut new channels across fields and pastures or they undercut the banks and eat back into valuable farmland or overtop the banks and leave heavy deposits of sand on crops at sharp bends streams are particularly ticul arly likely to kick over the traces at the outside of the bend where the thrust of the flowing water is greatest they usually gnaw away at the bank on the inside they often deposit soil matter washed down from farther upstream in this way a gravel bar is sometimes built up on the inside of the bend which tends to shove the stream farther toward the outside bank and increase the cutting on that side As a part of its demonstration program of erosion control the soil conservation service is helping many farmers make these streams behave on the outside bend of a stream where a considerable amount of cutting has occurred service engineers assist in building structures such as jetties betties jet ties which divert the flow away from the damaged area and give protective vegetation a chance to become established such trees as osier willow or dogwood are recommended for permanent protection |