FRONTISPIECE Airplane view of a Texas field showing good soil-conservation practice-contour plowing and contour strip cropping. The wider dark bands are cotton; the narrower light bands are erosion-resistant small grain. Both the grain strips and the contouring intercept water and cause it to sink into the ground as it flows down the slope. The field in the upper right shows bad practice-the land has been plowed in straight rows up and down the slope in such a way as to favor erosion. (Soil Conservation Service photo.) |