284 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



amounts of water to bring them to maturity. It requires 310 

 tons of water to produce a ton of corn, and in order to produce 

 a ton of dry oats the oat plants must drink 522 tons of water. 

 On the average it requires 325 tons of water to produce one 

 ton of dry matter in the common field crops. 



The value of a given water supply for domestic purposes 

 varies with the locality and with the increase of population, 

 and accordingly during the process of settlement of the United 

 States different sources of water have been used and abandoned 

 in turn. The first European emigrants were satisfied with any 

 of the numerous streams of fresh water which enter the Atlan- 

 tic from the well watered slopes of New England and the 

 coastal plain. But the streams were muddied during floods 

 and in times of high water the water courses were burdened 

 with accumulations of organic matter from swamps and 

 marshes. To remedy this defect cisterns were built to store the 

 rain water, as is now common in Bermuda and certain tropi- 

 cal regions. As the pioneers made their way westward their 

 movements were controlled by the water supply. Springs de- 

 termined the location of camps, and many a log cabin built by 

 some practical frontiersman near an abundant spring of pure 

 water was the nucleus about which has grown the permanent 

 village. The origin of the water in the spring and its possi- 

 bility of exhaustion did not attract the attention of the settler, 

 and the result was that many of the springs became contami- 

 nated or dried up. Certain springs known to the Connecticut 

 pioneers seem to have disappeared entirely from the landscape. 

 With the change from hunting and lumbering to agriculture a 

 new problem in the water supply was presented. Much of the 

 best tillable land was found to lie above the water courses 

 where there were no springs ; and furthermore the cultivation 

 of the uplands resulted in polluting and decreasing the flow 

 of the springs lying at a lower level. To remedy this defect 

 springs were deepened and holes were dug where seepage 

 indicated the presence of water near the surface. These .were 

 the first wells. As the demand for an easily accessible supply 

 of water increased wells were dug without regard to surface 

 indications and this artificial supply soon replaced the natural 

 supply from streams and springs. The farm or the village 

 home without its well was a rarity, and the water supply was 

 satisfactory both as to quality and quantity. However, as gen- 



