ABSTRACT
Erosion due to moving water occurs in two forms—sheet washing and gullying. Small areas are practically ruined by gullying, while sheet washing diminishes the productive power of large areas. Erosion is due chiefly to the free movement of water over the surface of land, which carries off particles of soil. If all rain water were absorbed by the ground upon which it falls, soil erosion would be reduced to a minimum. The greatest benefits from the foregoing methods of prevention come when they are applied in connection with a system of terraces. As applied to the protection of farm lands, a terrace is any arrangement or disposition of the soil the object of which is to retard the rapid movement of surface water and thereby arrest process of erosion. In cultivating a terrace as much of the soil as possible should be thrown toward its center. The best results are obtained where the rows are run parallel with the terraces.
