The act authorizes the Secretary to conduct surveys, investigations, and research, and make public the information he deems necessary to carry out its provisions.

In addition to the United States, the Territories of Alaska and Hawaii, and the possession, Puerto Rico, come under the application of the act.

AMENDMENTS TO THE AGRICULTURAL ADJUSTMENT ACT AND OTHER LAWS

Certain sections of the Agricultural Adjustment Act and other existing legislation are amended to clarify them and to make aval able certain funds appropriated under the Agricultural Adjustment Act, as amended.

Section 32 of Public, No. 320, 74th Congress, the act to amend the Agricultural Adjustment Act and for other purposes, approve August 24, 1935, which appropriates 30 percent of the duties or imports, is amended by striking out the reference to use of this money for financing adjustments in production of agricultural commodities and inserting in its place an authorization to use this money to mak domestic allotment payments. This is in addition to the authority for use of the money to encourage the exportation and domestic con sumption of agricultural commodities. Certain other changes an made in the terminology more clearly to define the circumstances under which the powers conferred by that section may be exercise The unexpended balance of the funds appropriated for the par chase of cattle and other agricultural products is made available b the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act.

The unexpended balance of funds appropriated under one of th acts amending the Agricultural Adjustment Act for the eliminatic of diseased cattle is made available and the authorization for use of these funds is extended from June 30, 1936, to June 30, 1937.

The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to allot to States individual farmers for wind erosion control, in the southern Gre Plains area, the sum of $2,000.000 of the unobligated balance of t appropriation for relief purposes contained in the Emergency Rel Appropriation Act of 1935.

Section 22 of the amended Agricultural Adjustment Act whe empowers the President to limit imports interfering with agric tural programs in the United States, is amended so as to apply as to imports interfering with programs under the Soil Conservati and Domestic Allotment Act.

U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE '

ence

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
AGRICULTURAL ADJUSTMENT ADMINISTRATION

Saving the Soil

What It Means to Farmers and the Nation

The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself. The soil is the origin, not only of food, but of clothing and many of the most basic necessities of life. It is indispensable.

Heedless wastage of the wealth which nature has taken thousands of years to store in the soil cannot long continue without the effects being felt by every member of society.

Destruction of soil and depletion of soil fertility by overcropping and overgrazing in the United States are partly a consequence of the pioneer period of development and exploitation. No other nation in history has gone ahead so rapidly or so recklessly in the utilization of its natural resources. No other nation has been guilty of permitting soil destruction at a rate so appalling.

In the 300 years since settlement of this country began, and mostly within the last 100 years, 50 million once-fertile acres have been permanently ruined as productive land, according to the Soil Conservation Service of the Department of Agriculture. Another 50 million acres are seriously damaged. In addition, there are now in cultivation 100 million acres impaired by erosion and another 100 million acres on which erosion has begun.

Of the 1,907,000,000 acres representing the total area of the country exclusive of city and water territory, nearly two-thirds is in some degree affected by erosion.

The land permanently ruined by erosion within the last hundred years represents an area equal to all the farm land in two of the large mid-western agricultural States. If all this soil destruction had occurred in two States the consequences would be much more impressive but no less costly to the Nation.

First Concern is Saving the Good Soil

Much of the best crop land, which is relatively level and unaffected by erosion, has suffered serious depletion of fertility, due to continuous or too frequent production of cultivated crops.

While there is need for combating erosion on land that is already seriously damaged, the Nation's first concern is the soil that is still elatively productive. If all the money available for soil conservaion were devoted to the land already ruined or nearly ruined, ferility of the land now productive would meantime be subjected to estructive forces. As a practical matter therefore, any sound proram of soil conservation must recognize that an ounce of prevention worth a pound of cure and must, first of all, provide for preserv1g the productivity of land to which the Nation must look for the ulk of its supply of food and fiber.

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I. Wise Use of the Land

Soil conservation is not a new problem. It has been fundamental in every civilization. It became a problem in America when the first settlers cut down the trees and plowed up the land. But it was easily evaded at that time. When the soil was worn out or washed away, there was, what seemed then, an inexhaustible supply of new land that could be had for the taking.

With the occupation of the last of the "free lands" suited to farming, the future of agriculture is confined to the land now farmed. The two great soil-destroying forces, wind and water, are seldom harmful when nature is undisturbed. But when soil resources are used unwisely, wind and water write their tragic history in dust storms and in muddy rivers that carry the good soil into the ocean. Sheet erosion, the type that removes a thin layer of the most productive soil from entire exposed, sloping fields, is prevalent in degrees ranging from slight damage to complete destruction on nearly half of the total area of 1,907,000,000 acres mentioned earlier.

Gully erosion has caused severe damage generally on approximately 337,000,000 acres, with about 4,000,000 acres so badly cut up as to be unfit for practical cultivation.

Wind erosion, resulting largely from cultivation, overgrazing, and depletion of the humus supply, has affected about one-sixth of the land area, principally in the semiarid regions of the Great Plains.

Over much of the Nation's farm-land area, the average depth of the topsoil containing sufficient plant food for economical crop production is only 6 or 7 inches. It has taken nature thousands of years to prepare this layer for productive plant growth.

The damage caused by washing away of the topsoil is further increased by the fact that loss of soil proceeds at a more rapid rate the longer it continues. The top layer of soil contains the largest percentage of humus which, because of its water-absorbing capacity, is one of the important erosion-resisting factors.

As inch after inch of the top soil is washed away, the layers underneath contain less and less humus, and are less able to hold the water and prevent washing. Erosion of subsoil is from one and onehalf to four times more rapid than of surface soil.

Water-Holding Capacity of Soil

The protective covering of the soil and the humus content of the soil are two important factors that determine its water-holding capacity and the run-off rate of surface water.

Research several years ago at the Bethany (Mo.) Erosion Experiment Station, which now is under the supervision of the Soil Con servation Service, showed that where corn was grown continuously on an 8 percent slope, the loss of moisture as immediate run-off of rains was 27 percent of the annual precipitation. When alfalfa was grown on the same soil and slope the water loss was less than 4 percent of the annual precipitation and when timothy was grown, water loss was only 8 percent of the annual precipitation.

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Drought may be caused both by the lack of rain and a lowering of the water table, the subsoil moisture level. The rapid run-off of surface water on exposed areas which destroys the soil also results in lowering of the water table which intensifies the effects of drought.

The cost to the land of a cultivated crop must be reckoned in terms of the soil lost through erosion, the fertility removed by the crop and the fertility lost through erosion and leaching.

Even when little washing away of the soil takes place, land that is intensively cultivated may lose a great deal of its fertility through leaching or draining away of valuable mineral elements which dissolve in water. Rainfall on bare fields, loosened by cultivation, even when fields are almost flat, may soak rapidly through the soil, dissolving mineral nutrients such as phosphorus, potash, and calcium (lime) and, eventually, carry them into streams and rivers. Some leaching is, of course, inevitable. But leaching is increased by farming practices which leave the land bare of cover for long periods. It can be greatly decreased by use of grass and other protective crops. Additions to and losses from plant nutrients contained in the soil are taking place constantly, but losses, in most cases, far outweigh the additions. Annual loss of soil fertility through erosion and leaching is estimated to be seven times the amount used by all crops. Erosion and leaching on the harvested acres, according to the National Resources Board Report, cause annual losses of 88,000,000 tons of plant food elements, compared to 10,500,000 tons removed by crops. Erosion and leaching are responsible for 40.3 percent of the annual loss of organic matter or humus, while crops remove only 28.6 percent.

Increased Acreage of Cover Crops Needed

Destruction of soil and soil fertility is, in large part the result of exposure to wind and water. Obviously, not all the land can be kept continuously in grass and hay crops, nor is it necessary. Sound farming practice which makes more frequent use of grasses and legumes and less frequent use of cultivated crops in the rotation, will in most cases, make possible the conservation of soil resources.

At the Bethany station, erosion research showed that when corn was grown continuously on a typical (8 percent) slope, the annual soil loss was 60 tons per acre. When alfalfa was grown on the same soil and slope, the soil loss was only two-tenths of a ton per acre. When timothy was grown, soil loss was only three-tenths of a ton per acre. It was found that by employing a 4-year rotation of corn, wheat, and clover, the annual loss of soil was about 10 tons per acre on the same slope and soil where the annual loss was 60 tons per acre when corn was grown continuously.

In numerous areas throughout the country there is land suited to crop production on slopes so steep that crop rotation must be supplemented by other erosion-prevention measures. Satisfactory supplemental control measures worked out by State and Federal agencies include terracing, contour cultivation, and strip cropping.

On silt loam soil with an 8.4 percent slope at Clarinda, Iowa, there was no measurable loss of either soil or water when corn was cultivated along contour lines but where the corn rows were planted straight up and down the slopes, the soil loss was 11 tons per acre and the immediate water run-off was 11.5 percent of the annual precipitation.

Strips of grass, legumes, small grains, or other close-growing crops alternated with row crops along contour lines on sloping land catch the washing soil and water and thus protect the field as a whole.

Erosion on the range lands is a consequence of overgrazing and the solution lies largely in giving the range a chance to replace its natural cover.

Not only do grasses and legumes protect the soil against erosion and conserve moisture and plant food by preventing rapid run-off of surface water, but when plowed under, they increase the fertility of the soil. Legumes are particularly effective in improving fertility of soil because they add to it nitrogen taken from the air.

Of the three plant-food elements-nitrogen, potash, and phosprorus-which farmers commonly purchase to apply to their soil, nitrogen can be supplied largely without cash outlay by legumes. The existing supplies of all three of these elements, stored in the soil by nature or added by farmers, can be greatly conserved by all the practices which prevent erosion.

II. Farmers and Their Income

No one knows better than the man who depends upon crop production for his living the importance of maintaining the crop-producing capacity of his land.

When productivity suffers through misuse of the land, the people engaged in agriculture are forced to a lower standard of living. But in periods of low prices farmers may feel that they are forced to sacrifice their long-time interests in the conservation of the fertility of their lands. Careful and conservative methods of farming may not return them enough money to meet fixed charges of debts and taxes. They may be compelled by the sheer force of competition at low-price levels to sell off their capital and let the farm plant run down even though they know that in the long run this will be costly to them and to the Nation.

The Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act recognizes the importance of farm income and its relation to wise use of the land. President Roosevelt, in his statement at the time of signing the act, pointed out that one of its major objectives "is the reestablishment and maintenance of farm income at fair levels so that the great gains made by agriculture in the past 3 years can be preserved and national recovery can continue." Purchasing power of farmers has continuously been below the level of purchasing power of other classes for the last 15 years. This disparity has placed an economic burden on farmers which has had a direct relation to destruction of soil

resources.

Patriotism and Profits

In the days when the Nation still had a frontier to conquer in the West and vast areas of undeveloped farm land, Europe was a constant market for its surplus farm products. Europe had loaned huge sums of money to what was then a new nation and invested heavily in the development of its resources. There were debts and interest to pay and exports of farm products helped to meet these obligations. When the war started in Europe in 1914, the overseas demand for farm products was at once increased. When the United States joined the Allies, demand was further increased, both at home and abroad. Farmers were told that "food will win the war."