Saving Soil with Sod in the Ohio Valley Region Page: 1
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SAVING SOIL WITH SOD IN THE OHIO
VALLEY REGION
By KE1NETH WELTON, UasistanI regional conservator, Soil Conservation Service
CONTENTS
Page Page
From forest to eroded land.......... I Sod in cultivated bfelds-Continued.
How sod vs oil and water.............. 4 Grassed drainageways .............. ..23
Sod in medows and pastures ................. 6 Diversion ditches. ...... ..... _ ..... 24
Proit wrn-out meadows and pastures 6 Sod In orchards....... .. ............... 24
Restortaing row-crop land to pasture..... 9 Sod on other eroded ares .....................25
Howtoestablsh sod. .............. 9 Ingulles......................... 25
Psture management for soil improvement Along stream banks ................... a26
sad Incresed yields................ 13 Along highways ........a............26
Ptes for hogs and poultry..-------------- 18 On blw-outs and dunes--------------26
ti icaultivated felds-.... -.... .. ..... . 20 Sod for urn by wildlife .. - - ..- ... - . - . - 27
Madow strips in rotations ........------------.. 20 rtliers and soil amendments ..... .. 27
Oen manure ............................ 21 List of common and scientific names of plants
Winterover ............................. 22 referred to ..................---------------..-...--- 28
FROM FOREST TO ERODED LAND
TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO the scout saw great forests on
I all sides as he followed the Ohio River headwaters in Pennsyl-
vania down tortuous watercourses to the Mississippi. Years later,
white men's families came over the Appalachian divide, following ani-
mal and Indian trails. They pitched their camps in well-watered
glades, in small natural meadows surrounding watering places of
wild animals, or in clearings made by Indians.
In these open spaces, their livestock grazed a variety of grasses
and legumes, most of which can still be found in woodlands (fig.
1, A), marshes, and areas that once were prairie openings in the
forest. Though still found here and there, not one of these native
plants is now of much economic importance in the Ohio Valley
Region,' which comprises Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and
Tennessee.
Trees were, and still are, the climax vegetation in the Ohio Val-
ley. Native grasses maintained themselves only where trees were
unable to compete because of localized conditions. Only on ex-
tremely wet spots, dry shallow soils, and in paths and clearings
were the grasses able to supplant the woody vegetation. Grasses
and clovers that now cover millions of acres in this region were in-
troduced by the white man and established themselves only after
the forests were removed. In this natural woodland empire trees
regenerate and reestablish themselves without the help of man, but
1The Ohio Valley Region is one of the 10 administrative regions of the Soil Conserva-
tlon Service. All but small parts of the four southernmost States in this region are
Ia the Ohio River drainage basin, which includes also parts of 10 other States. (Bee
msp on back cover.)
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Welton, Kenneth. Saving Soil with Sod in the Ohio Valley Region, pamphlet, 1939; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc97284/m1/3/: accessed April 2, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.