ABSTRACT
Gullies encroach upon public highways; undermine fills, bridges, and culverts; increase maintenance costs; and make travel unsafe. Livestock grazing near the edge of undermined gully banks is endangered. The careless use of land makes it possible for gullies to form. Gullying proceeds by waterfall erosion, channel erosion, erosion by alternate freezing and thawing, or a combination of these three types. Water falling over the edge of a gully or bank of a ditch forms deep and very rapidly extending gullies. Channel, or ditch, erosion is essentially a scouring away of the soil by concentrated run-off as it flows over unprotected depressions. Erosion by alternate freezing and thawing is prevalent in parts of the South, where alternate freezing and thawing temperatures are common in the winter and precipitation is generally in form of rain. In small or medium-sized gullies with small drainage areas it is frequently possible to construct checks consisting of shrubs placed across the flow line of the gully.
