Date of Award
5-1949
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science
Degree Discipline
Agriculture Economics
Abstract
The earth is a sphere 8,000 miles in diameter, 25,000 miles in circumference, with a surface of approximately 200,000,000 square miles of which about one-third island and two-thirds water.
All life is supported mainly by a thin layer of topsoil which covers the land at an average plow depth of about seven inches. Largely from this soil layer comes the world's annual production of food and fiber products. Less than half of the earth's soils are suitable for crop production. The soil that supports life is created by the forces of nature — the action of the sun, atmosphere, and water on the materials that comprise the earth. Soil is a residue of weathered rocks, minerals, and decaying organic matter which supply mechanical support for vegetation and some raw materials for plant foods.
From 500 to 1,000 years are required by nature to produce a single inch of topsoil. Yet, all of this good work of nature may be destroyed by man in a relatively few years by careless land management.
Technicians have developed methods of control, and good land use. They have shown many thousands of farmers how to diagnose the physical ills on their own farms. They have shown them how to use this diagnosis to shape an integrated conservation program tailor-made for each individual farm — a program using whatever combination is necessary for terracing, strip-cropping, crop rotations, shifts in land use, and so on.
Committee Chair/Advisor
J. M. Coruthers
Publisher
Prairie View Agricultural and Mechanical College
Rights
© 2021 Prairie View A & M University
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Date of Digitization
2/15/2022
Contributing Institution
John B Coleman Library
City of Publication
Prairie View
MIME Type
Application/PDF
Recommended Citation
Harris, J. D. (1949). Development Of Soil Conservation Measures In Ellis County With Respect To Economic Gains. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.pvamu.edu/pvamu-theses/1150