20G REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



amount $4,000 was sot aside, according lo ap'oonioiit. for drainage 

 investigations and experiments. Experimental drains have been put 

 in upon a tract at Huntington, Emery County, and at St. George, in 

 Washington County, two in-igated sections whicli have suffered most 

 severely from the elfects of surface water and consequent injury of 

 land from alkali. These drains were constructed dining the sununer, 

 those at St. (leorge being completed in December, lUO."). The drains 

 at both of these places were made of lumber, that being the oidy 

 available material. It is too early to re])ort definitely uj)on the 

 effect of this work. It should be said that two of the farmers at 

 Huntington are so encouraged by the success promised by this work- 

 that they are preparing to drain their land in the same manner. This 

 experiment, however, will be closely observed, and changes or addi- 

 tions made as may be found necessary to meet the conditions, so 

 that after another year it is hoped that we may give the results and 

 outline a method of work adapted to that soil and to the conditions of 

 the farmers. 



As to the expense which should be incurred in this kind of work, a 

 matter of vital importance in every undertaking of this kind, we have 

 aimed to secure adequate drainage at a cost not exceeding $10 to $12 

 an acre. As noted in the discussion before, it is much more expensive 

 to drain a small field in the middle of an affected tract than to take 

 up the matter as a larger problem in which farms upon which no 

 drains are placed will be largelv benefited. It is seen that the lessen- 

 ing of the quantity of water flowing through the soil of any farm 

 wnll have an important effect upon all lands lying farther down the 

 slope. 



The experimental work at St. George has just been completed, yet 

 the tow^nspeople are so confident that the work will be successful that 

 the}' have at their own expense laid 2,000 feet of similar drains in the 

 village for the better drainage of their lots, which for some time have 

 showed injury and many of which have become unproductive by 

 reason of the alkali resulting from the raising of the water table. 

 The difficulties of drain construction in both of these last-mentioned 

 places have been serious, adding much to the expense of the Avork 

 and requiring considerable skill in execution. 



It is to be regretted that Ave are obliged to use perishable material 

 like lumber in this drainage work ; but the great cost of more durable 

 material is at present prohibitive, especially since the work is many 

 times regarded purely experimental and its success is doubted by the 

 people interested. While the truth of this is conceded, it is also found 

 that, owing to the exceedingly soft and unstable condition of the soil 

 in which drains are placed, nothing but some kind of drain Avhich can 

 be supported and maintained in place will serve the purpose. Ex- 

 periments are usually undertaken in lands shoAving the most serious 



