| Show NATIONAL LOSS FROM sol SOIL EROSION one of our greatest national problems erns Is to arrest soil erosion investigations by the soil ermion service of the interior department reveal that not less les than ihan arcs peres of formerly cultivated land in the united stater state has been ruined by this menice menace men ice to our ur welfare this thi area is equivalent to acre farms or nearly the die combined areal extent of ohio illinois mary ind and and north carolina what is more acre ot of cultivated land has been made two wo to ten te times less lea productive than was the virgin soil by the lors of the greater part of topsoil such soil sil is made more expensive and difficult to plow tile the vow fow of f rainwater over exposed impervious clay more in increases creases the height of f flood oad and the rate of erosion and rate of filling stream channels and reservoirs with sit is made harder to control rol we have permitted tens of thousands of farmers to become subsoil farmer 84 which means generally something vry very clo closely elv related to bankrupt farming on bankrupt land moreover the ahe virtual vir tuil ruin of the soil is of a permanent character izing the vell veil being of f the generations to follow until a scientific effort is made mada to halt erosion and runoff run off riff of rainwater on the slopes where floods really originate there can be ittle permanent control of it flood such effort prop properly erIv executed would automatically mati cally caly reduce the volume of flood ni wr rs is about nebout 25 per cent we have been living in a fool s tri radis with will respect to our conceptions regarding the security tk of our agricultural sands lands we luve i ve begun only rec rece elit lity to se avs tto A r abt with clearness to get under way those methods of land protection protect in which should have been started seventy five or a hundred years azo ago hicl control is inextricably tied ted to erosion control every scientific step taken to halt the erosive de st ruction of our land is a step toward flood control the probed pro beni is to effect of a larger proportion of if rains into the ground at or near whre they fall about has been elpe expended n d thus far in the land and treatment program by the soil erosion service and the results are stated by the director of f that service as holding much promise for the future the problem is enormous both in extent and detail the economies to be conserved are incalculable effecting soil production flood control destruction of reservoirs and the livelihood of unborn millions harvard university astronomers in in taking a new count ot of the st stars ars in ill the universe have discovered new galaxies and their map is only one third complete A year old egg has been found in texas it is the egg of a prehistoric lizard and Is twice the age of any previously found |
