Washing Away Our Farms.
Dallas Co.. Texas.
Farm and lianeh:
Although there are being .iis
eussed throughout the State a
number of questions concerning
the welfare of the people of
Texas, one of the most important
matters, in the opinion of the
writer, that needs attention is
seldom discusst.ll by the people
or the press. Right at present,
as will be shown later, is an op
portune time to try to bring this
matter to the attention of the
public.
As all will admit the prosper
ity of Texas is dependent very
largely upon its farms. And it
is practically certain that for
many years to come the greater
part of the wealth of the state
will be produced in its corn and
cotton fields. So the fact that
every year a large area of farm
ing land in Texas is damaged
mor' or less, and will be event
ually ruined if conditions con
tinue as they are, ought to cause
every Texan some concern.
There is reason for believing
that the intrinsic value of the
farm lands of Texas is today
several million dollars less than
it was a year ago. We have just
experienced an unusually wet
winter and spring. As one re
sult the farms are poorer by an
immense amount of their best
soil, now in the (lulf of Mexico
an I in the beds and valleys of
the various creeks and rivers.
Some may object that this esti
mate is unreasonably large. It
may be that it is. It is clearly i
impossible to show just how i
much the farms in the State
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DANBURY, - - - - NORTH CARO.
l-.avi been but that a
■urge re:* cent o: the upland
farms have been appreciably
damaged can be easily proved.
Also that a great many farms
have been considerably damaged.
Ar.i the fact can be established
that a number of tracts of land
that were considered of some
value as farms a year ago are
now ruined for all time for farm
ing purposes because they can he
reclaimed or resoiled only at a
prohibitive cost.
It is not easy for the average
man to fully realize that a large
amount of soil is annually remov
ed from the upland farms. It s
'V.' t often that a great amount is
washed off any one farm during
cne rain. And usually before
tie r.ext heavy ain comes, the
'
!a:ul has been plowed ar.d the
evidence of the wash from the!
I
:irst rain has been largely cover
ed up. The very fact that this
continual loss of soil is but rarely
so great at any one time to cause!
alarm makes the danger more
serious. It will be harder to get
i
the farmers to try to protect
their lands. As stated above.
i
now is an opportune time to dis-l
cuss this problem. After the
recent 10-g and heavy rainy
season there is plenty of evidence
in nearly every community to
show how unprotected land has)
suffered. In fact, there has
been so much evidence in various
sections of the State that it (
seems remarkable that so little
has been said about it. Not only '
people, the newspapers, whose i'
•
business it is to look out for un

usual occurrences, have express
ed but little if any concern about ]
this great loss of wealth to the i
i
THE DANBURY REPORTER
. State. As an illustration of this,
i one of the iariro daily papers of
■ North Texas considered it im
portant enough for editorial
mention that the roads in its
home county had been damaged
i to an extent estimated to be $50.-
CK'O by the heavy rains. Not a
■ lino was written about the dam
■ age that the farms of th? county
had suffered, and the amount
was probably several times more
than the figure named for the
damage to the roads. This soil
loss is indeed an insidious evil,
and it is high time the public is
made aware of its seriousness.
It may be thought bv some
that the ioss can not be prevent
ed it the farms are to be l:e;>t in
cultivation. The rain water run
ning o:V is bound to carry some
of the soil with it. they will say.
|Tke writer is not an agricultur
ist nor professes to be expert in
the matter of farm drainage. I
believe, though, that it would
I not be dilHcult for an expert
agriculturist to chow how the
rain water falling on any ordin
ary fatal can be drained off witli
'out carrying any appreciable
(amount of sou with it. Or else
he could show how the land could
be thoroughly protected by ter
racing. etc. However, it should
be much easier to convince any
intelligent person that a very
large per cent of the soils wash-'
ed otf of the farms in Texas 1
every year could be saved at a
very little trouble and expanse to
each individual farmer. When a
man lays oil' the rows in a field
so that they have a heavy grade
or slope, how can any one fail to
see that the field will wash badly?
I>uring a heavy rain each row
becomes a small ravine. If the ji
' soil was literally asphalt it would
wash some. The average man
■ thinks of Texas as a level coun
-1 try. The percent of its good up
i land farms that are so level as to
1 be entirely safe from wash when
■ the rows are layed off with no re
i gard to the lay of the land is
■ small. The per cent- of its up
lands that have eonsiderale slope
is large. It is sel.'om that the
■ rows in a field can be laid off
straight and the loss of soil from
wash be reduced to a minimum.
A stranger in Texas would al
most be justified in concluding
there was a State law like those
of the Medes and Persians,
"which altereth not," that com
pelled farmers to plan cotton and
corn in straight rows. Or that
•
crops would {not grow in Texas
unless planted in straight. He
would find, with very few ex
ceptions, farmers lay off the
rows straight whether they have
a heavy grjide or not. The rows
a'most invariably run parallel r,
at right angles to the fences.
With this as a guide, they go up
hill and down hi'l, and seldom
around the hills, which they,
should do.
Straight rows: that is the prin
cipal reason that Texas loses j
every year unnecessarily a large
amount of its best upland soil.
The remedy is plain. Fit the,
! rows to the lay of the land in- !
stead of the fence.
The time mav come when a
man will not be allowed to culti-;
vate a farm in such a haphazard
way that its top and richest layer,
of soil will soon be washed away j
and the farm practically ruined
for the use of future generations.
And he may also be held account
able for aiding in destruction of l
i the creeks and rivers, causing
I them to fill up their channels and
. consequently overflowing more
. often to the damage of the crops
j on the bottom farms. Such a pro
i posal would be frowned upon now
. as a visionarv idea by many
n "practical farmers." Some of
. the sons and heirs of these
>! "practical farmers" will pro-
bably see the day when they will
[' wish that their fathers had been
i compelled by law to conserve
: their farms.
. j The surest and probably the
r j most feasible way now to remedy
. I this evil which is costing Texas
dearly is to instruct the farmers
. and their sons in some of th 2
[ | principles of scientific agriulture.
This can be done in two ways:
ij by sending experts out to
i; lecture to the farmers: or by
1 sending the frmers. or their sons.
1 to schojl to study agriculture and
; be.'oine, in some measure, experts
j themselves. This latter is un
douptedly the better method and
! the more expensive one. The
icost, however, of t ikinjr a regu
: lar or short term c.u.'se in agric
j ulture at A. & M. College is com
paratively low now. And still it
; would doubtless be a good
I economic policy for the state to
expend largo sums to decrease
the cost and in urging the farm
ers to take advantage of it.
W. W. LILLARD.
: Tobacco Is Curing Good.
Mr. W. Y. Gordon, who was
1 here Monday from the Flat Shoal
section, stated that the farmers
jof his section were curing their
tobacco good and that the crop
i was turning out good notwith
standing the dry weather. We
have heard similar reports from
'other sections of the county.
; Watermelon By "Facefui"
;■ Too Much For Daughter.
-: That a colored man or woman
v i likes watermelon by the mouth
/ i ful is exiomatic; but there is, at
f, least, one colored woman in the
2 [ city who does not like it by the
-! "faceful" and when anybody
I serves it to her in that mode she
1 is going to call up ''p*lice station"
j i and have the dignity of hers truly
and the State appeased.
3, That colored woman is Daugh>
', ter Lee. The charge was brought
i against John Hanks, colored,
?. that he had assaulted Daughter
» ! with watermelon, not a melon in
. ; toto, but just a gob of it indeed.
: ( when John pushed the luscious
> j bit of melon into her face, as
r.much of it went into her eves
~ and nose as into her mouth and
I; good-naturedly she testified that
i she calmly "gougfd" it out.
Daughter said that the melon
' j was cut and that she gave
f ; another girl a slice of it and that
" i made John mad and he proceed
" ed to turn the delicacy into a
' i munition of war. The case was
dismissed. Winston - Saleni
' Journal.
>'
I
' I
i Dr. A. S. Mitchell
OPTOMETRIST.
I ' j
|i My whole timo 111• I at
tention is uivtMl to the lit-
II tiiij; of anil I'harui'w |
• ■ for xHiue very reasonable.
For referetiee auk any l>usl- j
news hoiiw iii the rit.v.
 >ff|«-e Kliiiont Theatre Ithlt;.,
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\VI.\STi.N-S.Xl.l'.M, X. r.
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