1G58 . Report of Farmers' Institutes 



kind of land in particular that financial interests are concerned. 

 Xearlv all the soil in areas not classed as mnck is dark in color 

 due to the accnmnlation of organic matter, and will usually pro- 

 duce good crops when drained. 



LAND THAT IS PERIODICALLY W^ET 



The real agricultural drainage problem, however, has to do 

 with those large areas of land that are now used for farming pur- 

 poses hut which are too wet to give good crop yields. It is the 

 land that is springy and seepy, the land where fruit trees are 

 missing, singly or in hlocks, the land where the corn is weak and 

 patchy, where the wheat freezes out and the grass is supplanted 

 })y plantain in large, hlotchy areas. A large part of the tilled 

 area of the state falls within this class in that it needs more or 

 less drainage. A careful study of soil t^i^es in several counties 

 shows the proportion of such land to range from -13 per cent, in 

 Dutchess County to nearly 60 per cent, in Xiagara County and 

 over 80 per cent, in Livingston County, We would not he under- 

 stood to say that all this area needs systematic drainage, hut 

 rather that a considerable amount of drainage is needed to pre- 

 vent needless waste and increase net returns. 



SO:\IE TYPES OF WET LAND 



Flat clav land generallv needs svstematic drainage. Such land 

 occurs in the large areas in the central part of the state along 

 lakes Erie and Ontario, in the St. Lawrence Valley and in the 

 Chainplain and upper part of the Hudson Valley as far south as 

 Xewburgh. Drainage of such soil is needed because its fine tex- 

 ture causes water to circulate very slowly. It is likely to be re- 

 tained so long that the productive capacity of the soil is reduced. 



In the same regions where the clay soils occur, there are many 

 other soil conditions that may be wet. There are terraces of 

 gravelly and sandy loam that are often wet along the base due to 

 the water that has percolated down from the top soil, being 

 brought out to the surface by some impervious substratum. There 

 may be the outcrop of some porous strata through which the 

 water moves freely. On the hillside this produces a seepage line 

 or zone of wet soil. 



