The Rural Voice, 1978-11, Page 7erect. Mr. Smith said the only drawback is that the terraces use
up a bit of land which would ordinarily be in crop.
Mr. Smith also plants some of his corn on the contour and on
erosion -prone land, he chisel plows the land. This means he
doesn't plow the land in the fall, but waits until spring and then
goes over the land once with a chisel plow and packs it down. He
then plants his corn seed with a no till corn planter while the
stalks of last year's crop are still on top of the soil.
Mr. Smith said his use of terraces and his tillage scheme have
helped a great deal and he now has few problemswitherosion.
Unfortunately, the tillage methods being proposed to lessen
erosion don't work for everyone.
Bev Hill, a Varna area farmer in Huron County tried using a
different method of primary tillage for three years. Instead of
using the traditional mould -board plow, Mr. Hill experimented
with a soil saver. a modified chisel plow that doesn't bury all the
crop residue and minimizes the effects of wind and rain erosion.
The result of his experiementation may have been less
erosion, but it also resulted in 14 per cent lower corn yields. Mr.
Hill concluded that the texture of the soil on his land wasn't
conducive to using the chisel -type of plow.
Now Mr. Hill leaves the surface of the soil rough when he
plows in the fall with an many of last year's corn stalks showing
as possible. Again, the soil texture on his farm necssitat es fall
rather than spring plowing.
Tillage
Charles Baldwin, a soil scientist at the Ridgetown College of
Agriculture has suggested a number of steps which farmers can
take to protect their soil from the effects of wind erosion, and one
of these methods involves tillage.
Dr. Baldwin suggests keeping the soil in a rough, cloddy
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condition when it's not in crop. This will reduce wind velocity
over the surface and provide small catch basins for drifting soil.
"Pulversizing the soil and working up the subsoil hastens the
action of wind erosion," he said.
The scientist advises farmers who have clay soils and who
therefore must plow in the fall to leave their land in this rough
condition.
Dr. Baldwin said many farmers tend to "overwork" their land
by plowing it and then working it several times, as if they're
preparing a seed bed. The scientist said today there's a trend to
farmers plowing their land twice in the fall since they have the
time and "think they're doing good."
The scientists said from a farmer's viewpoint, it is a case of
excericising "real self discipline" not to overwork the land.
Dr. Baldwin said corn crops are particularly conducive to soil
compaction and when they're removed, leave the surface of the
soil exposed to both wind and rain erosion.
They'll Return
The scientist said when farmers realize soil compaction is
becoming a serious problem they'll return to crop rotation
practises with crops of legumes and the new small grasses.
Other farmers have experimented with other soil conservation
measures.
Dave Marshall a farmer in thcKirkton area, has had grassed
waterways on the family farm for some years now.
Mr. Marshall said the grassed areas are from six to 10 feet
wide in most places and he is careful not to plow through them.
A former classmate of Mr. Marshall's, Tom Prout, has just
been hired by the Upper Thames Valley Conservation Authority
as an extension services supervisor, to start a grass roots
consrvation program with private land owners in the area served
by the Upper Thames waterway.
Two others who have instituted their own erosion control
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THE RURAL VOICE/NOVEMBER 1978 PG. 7