ABSTRACT
The southern part of the great Appalachian Valley is an admirable place to see the evil effects of that gradual land washing known as sheet erosion. A very considerable part of the wastage of erosion is obviously an immediate loss to the farmer, who in countless instances is in no economic position to stand the loss. Erosion is wasting the fertility of the soil and even the whole body of the soil in many places where the slope is sufficient for rain water to run downhill. The effect of erosion is extremely variable from place to place, on varying soil and varying slope, with varying vegetative cover and method of land usage. Under the light rainfall of the western dry regions one might reasonably conclude, in the absence of the facts, that erosion is of negligible importance in comparison with that taking place in the humid regions.
