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Gulleys With Soil:
On long slopes erosion can be greatly retarded by laying foot-wide strips of sod every six to ten feet and seeding between them. Do not lay the strips horizontal across the slope but at a 20 to 30 degree angle with the horizontal so that water that collects is deflected and gradually drains away without making gulleys. If sod is not available you may use boards, sinking them into the soil on edge or pegging them into that position, but boards are less satisfactory than strips of sod. Yet another method sometimes used is to cover the newly sowed bank with an inch-thick layer of straw or salt marsh hay which is carefully removed as soon as the young grass can be seen through it.Banks can also be planted with plugs or sprigs of Zoysia, Bermuda, St. Augustine and other grasses that spread rapidly by means of runners. It is well to set the sprigs or plugs closer together than when planting on the level. If, despite all precautions, part of the seed washes away before the grass plants take hold repair the damage immediately by filling gulleys with soil, sowing seed and fixing Erosionet, muslin or burlap over the area. When other methods fail a bank can always be grassed by laying turf. (See Chapter 7). A few special precautions should be taken. The turf should be laid either early in fall or early in spring. If the sod is put down too late in the season it will not root sufficiently to prevent it from heaving badly as a result of frost action. This is particularly likely to happen if the soil is clayey. When laying turf on slopes at least some of the turfs should be pegged to prevent slippage which is likely to occur after heavy rains.
The role of soil bacteria is crucial for they not only fix nitrogen from the air in a form that plants can use but also promote the processes of decay. Animals whose homes are in the soil have an important if largely mechanical function in shifting and aerating the soil -it has been estimated that earthworms alone can turn over between one and ten tonnes of soil per hectare per year. As they eat and excrete the soil they also change its texture and composition.
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