[
Revells Overcome
I Ditch Problems
‘‘When we bought this place
the cropland hadn’t been broke
i out very long and there were nc
ditches,” said E. J. Revell, 2E
miles northeast of O’Neill, s
member of the board of supervis
ors of the Holt soil conservation
district.
"But after a few years, ditch
es began to show up and as the
years progressed they got
worse and we wondered why.
“Now that we have our con
servation plan on the land, and
erosion well under control, we
know the answer. Letting water
run down hill unimpeded starts
the erosion. Then as the years
pass, taking much from the soil
Y and returning little, especially in
the way of organic matter, caus
es erosion to speed up.”
Revell’s place is rather sandy
and includes 3,000 acres. The soil
is subject to both wind and water
erosion, but because of the tree
protection that is th£ result of his
efforts since his earliest days bn
the farm, wind erosion has been
a much less serious ploblem than
water erosion.
He now operates the farm in
cooperation w’ith his sdh, Dale,
and his son-in-law, M. E. Davis.
The present conservation plan
on the farm dates from the or
ganization of the Holt soil conser
vation district, when Revell got
the help of the'Soil Conservation
technicians to work it out.
Now, part of the cropland is
terraced and farmed on the con
tour with the terraces, and some
is contour strip cropped. All is
stubble-mulch tilled, using eith
er subsurface sweep machine or
a one-way plow, depending on
the condition of the land and a
mount of stubble at the time of
tillage.
The more serious of the ditch
es—“one was so big that an op
erator upset a grader in it,” Rev
: ell said — have been bladed in,
shaped, and seeded to brome
grass and alfalfa for grassed wa- ;
terways. Two hundred acres of
cropland that were shown by the
SCS conservation survey to be
unsuited for cultivation have
been seeded to a mixture of
bromegrass and crestecj wheat
; grass. Some additional tree plant
ing has been done, dams have
been built, and some improve
ments have been made in the
range management system.
“This has come at an oppor
tune time, during my change-ov
er from Hereford to Aberdeen
Angus cattle,” Revell remarked.
“You see, I’ve been understocked
during the change, so grazing
has been light. And don’t think
the native grasses haven’t im
proved. Weight gains by the cat
tle have been excellent.
“Having the crested wheat
grass - bromegrass mixture has
helped, too. This grass starts ear
ly — two or three weeks earlier
than the native grasses. So the 1
cows have good green pasture i
and produce lots of milk for the 1
calves early. This, in turn, gives ]
the calves a fine start. Also, the j
cattle can be kept.in this grass ’
until after the native grasses j
have made a good spring growth. 1
That helps a lot in keeping na
tive pastures good. And last, th
crested wheatgrass and bronu
gbass make fine late fall pasturt
The dams that Revell has
built are far in excess of the
needs for supplying water to
livestock on the range. But he
has another aim in .mind, loo;
namely, to stop the flooding by
runoff of his meadows which
are on bottomland along a
small creek.
A couple of large drainage:
that carry the water from a size
able territory are the principa
trouble - makers so far as the
meadows are concerned. He is
getting first-class help from Fors
Knight and Joe Kubik, neigh
bors, who have built dams above
Revell in these drainages. It is
his hope, through the combina
tion of a good cover on his land
and the use of dams to hold back
most of the runoff.
“Of course, it helps in grazing,
too,” he commented. “With plen
ty of watering places easily a
vailable, the stock don’t bunch
up. Instead, they spread out and
graze the grass more evenly."
Ponds fed by runoff aren’t the
only ones on the farm, though.
Revell has created three large
ones with dams built in the live
stream and where some sizeable
springs flow. These are in the
bottomland, and their primary
purpose is to keep the water lev
si in the stream up and thus pre
vent it from cutting back its
banks.
But they have been made
dlaces of recreation, being stock
?d with fish, and furnish good
'ishing for the Revell family and
heir friends.
“Each pond has a drop-inlet
o handle the flow of the creek
>r springs,” he explained, “to
;eep the pond at the right level.
3ut,” he laughed, “the beavers
ind I have different ideas about
vhere the water level should be,
tnd I have to keep a close watch
o prevent them from plugging
" ' —Hi
- ' the drop-inlets.”
9 Altogether, he has 150 acres ol
- trees on the farm, most of which
• he planted himself. These plant
ings include a broad windbreak
that protects the farmstead, trees
around many of the fields and a
llong just about all of the north
side of the farm. Cedars make up
a sizeable portion of the trees.
| Since the soil conservation dis
trict was organized, he has re
ceived some aid in planting add
ed trees.
"These trees do a lot of good
in helping to prevent wind ero
sion and protecting the crobs
from wind damages,” he explain
ed. "And they protect the live
stock from the winds. One of the
windbreaks is right through the
pasture where we winter the cat
tle. It is fenced so that they can’t
get into it, but they can move
from one side to the other to get
out of the wind.
“The cattle did all right during
the storms of the last two years.
Sure, we had trouble because we
had to go ns far as three miles to
get feed, but the stock were well
protected from the storms and
fared all right.’’
Mrs. Revell had a word to
say about the trees. She said it
was nice to have the birds a
round. and told of a bluejay
that had become friendly and
of the progression of the arriv
ing birds each year — the red
birds, the wrens, and so on.
Turning to his cultivated land,
Revell explained the results of
using contour strips and terraces.
“The land we terraced was get
ting badly cut up," he explained,
“and it seems that the terraces
added to contour farming was
just what the doctor ordered,
mere is little runoff from this1
land now, and the land has been
smoothed up. Of course, it’s not
%
so handy operating with terraces
as on a smooth field without
them, but it is easier than work
ing tne field the way it was.”
Contour strip cropping is doing
a good job, too, but he showed
how soil was still being washed
from the corn strips, it did not
leave the field, because the grain
strips stopped it. He is inclined
to lavor terracing this land, too.
The waterways are one of his
prides.
“Not only do these waterw'ays
produce good l|iy, where there
used to be only unproductive
gullies," he said, “but they make
farming easier. They can be
crossed anywhere; now, whereas
before they were cutting the land
up. It was necessary to go quite
a way around them to get from
one part of the field to another.
And the trip around was getting
longer because the gullies were
growing.”
Alfalfa is used in the crop ro-.
tation. This was started before
the soil conservation district was :
organized, when Revell realized
that he had to put organic mat
ter and other fertility back into
the land. He has over 200 acres
in alfalfa at present, all of it
starting from a handful of rang- '
er foundation se<|d. He has grown
his own seed and increased his
ranger alfalfa acreage to its j
present size.
But he said, the measures
to restore fertility don't accom
plish much if erosion isn't con
trolled. Soil washed or blown
from the fields carries much ot
this fertility with it.
“We’re all interested in the ef
fects of conservation on produc
tion, of course,” Revell conclud
ed. “Well, I can say from experi
ence that it has paid. It has made
productive the gullied ar^s that
were becoming waste. It has con
served moisture and soil, and
j improved crop and hay yields. It
i has resulted in better pastures,
which means better gains in
livestock.
"More than that, it has chang
ed the direction. Instead of get
ting poorer as the years progress,
the farm is improving because
the soil is kept in place and the
fertility improvement measures
have a chance tq succeed."
Make $50 Payment
Toward Hospital—
The Riverside 4-H club held a
regular meeting Sunday, Febru
ary 18, at the Ed Boyle home.
Eighteen pairs of skates arrived
during the week and after the
meeting they were distributed.
The balance should arrive by the
next meeting.
Edward Boyle gave a > report
and a few pointers on how to
conduct a meeting that he learn
ed when he went to Lincoln for
the leaders’ convention.
The club rtfade the final pay
ment on a $50 share of the shovel
for the St. Anthony’s hospital
and donated $10 for the polio
fund.
There are three new members:
Leona and Roseanna Underwood
and Stanley Price. The club now
has 39 members.
Some of the members received
their project workbooks. The rest
will be here for the next meet
ing. The recreation committee
entertained with games and serv
ed cookies. After the meeting a
lunch of sandwiches, pickles,
coffee and cool-aid was served.
The club rosary meets at ihe
C. Belzer home March 6 at 8
p.m. The next regular meeting is
at Matt Beha’s on March 11. —By
Mary Frances Vitt, news re
porter.
On Extended Visit—
Mr. and Mrs. John A. Keller
and Joseph Keller, of Humphrey,
arrived Friday to visit Mr. and
Mrs. J. L. McCarville, sr., and
other relatives. Joseph Keller re
mained for an extended visit.
'Poor Relation'—
Too many farmers look on pas
ture as a “poor relation” to their
crop land.
Race Tracks for Rain Drops_
Furrows plowed up and down
hill become race tracks for rain
drops.
O’NEILL
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I Soil Conservation 1
' PREVENTS SOIL EROSION
* INCREASES YIELD
* ENRICHES SOIL
100 Years Ago...
Four out of 5 people were required to produce raw
materials for food, clothing and shelter. Most manu
facturing was done on the farm. Farm families made
wool, flax and cotton into cloth and made their own
clothing, ground their own meal and flour, processed
and preserved their own meat, built their own crude
homes, obtained fuel direct from nature. They pro
duced enough surplus to care for the other 20 percent
living in towns and cities.
Today,..
These basic needs—food, clothing and shelter—are sup
plied by 1 out of 5 people. As machines came into
use people were released from farms to operate facto
ries, to become teachers, religious workers, doctors,
lawyers, tradesmen. Today we find over 80 percent of
the peoples in cities, towns and villages with the re
mainder using science and pbwer to feed and clothe
us all!
I
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