Orchard Drainage a Necessity. 87 



period of the season. Without this dust mulch such shallow soils dry out 

 through capillarv attraction to the water-table, then the tree perishes for 

 the want of moisture. 



These shallow soils where the water-table is near the surface are 

 during our wet period the wettest soils we have on this coast, and during 

 our dry periods are the dryest. A soll of this kind can be made available 

 for fruit growing by lowering the water-table to four or five feet below 

 the surface by under-draining by tiling. Bv tiling to a depth of four to 

 five feet the rains during the winter pass through these soils, and drain 

 off through the tile. This draining off through the soil causes in a year 

 or two the clay sub-soil to break up, slake, and become porous, and to the 

 depth you have laid the tile, vou have deepened the soil. It takes from 

 two to three years after the tiles are laid for all the stiff clay sub-soil to 

 break up, and become porous. We under-drain shallow soils, and achieve 

 by so doing a depth of soil greater than before drained. We carry off the 

 excess of water that falls during a wet winter through the soil to the 

 drains below. We create a depth of soil that has double the amount of 

 storage of water by absorption that we can conserve for the growing 

 tree by good cultivation, and a fine dust mulch. By drainage we carry 

 the water through the soil which is a fertilizer, making it possible for 

 whatever plant food there is in the soil to decay, and become soluble for 

 the growing tree, and through the action of the air passing through the 

 soil give the tree the essential gases — oxygen and nitrogen — it must have 

 for a healthv growth. 



As paradoxical as it mav seem, we tile wet.land to make it dry, and 

 to make it wet. This is seemingly contradictory, yet it is a fact. Yet no 

 more a fact than that our wettest soils during a wet period are our 

 dryest soils during a drv period. Through tiling we make it possible for 

 air circulation through the tile, and through the soil. At the dryest 

 period the air always is charged at night with more or less invisible 

 moisture, and by the air circulating through the tile and soil particles, 

 condensation through the difference in temperature occurs, and the 

 moisture is left in the soil for the growing plant. This has been one of 

 our very drv years, and where Irrigation could not be had, many growing 

 crops have been short, and particularly is this shortage noted on shallow 

 soils. Yet on all soils that have been under-drained by tiling it has been 

 observed that crops, both fruit and truck, have grown luxuriantly. The 

 under-drained soils have had a continual supply of moisture from con- 

 densation that occurs from air circulation through the soil by the way 

 of the tile. 



Many of our hill slopes that do not require drainage to carry off the 

 water from heavy rains can be made very pi'oductive bv tiling so as to 

 create the necessary moisture for growing crops through air circulation 

 through the soil. 



Where drainage is contemplated. the one who does it must not forget 

 that the deeper the tile is laid. the greater area of ground it will drain, 

 and the deeper he has made bis soil. Another essential is grade. Every 

 tile should be laid on grade. In fact, where a plot of ground is to be 

 drained it will pav to have the Services of a competent civil engineer to 

 lay off the mains and laterals, and establish the proper grade. There 

 should be no guess-work as to grade. Every tile must be laid on grade, 

 or eise the purpose of cutting ditches for tile, which is expensive, would be 

 lost. A Single tile out of grade would soon fill up, and your purpose to 

 drain your land would be defeated. 



The expense of under-drainage is a factor that perhaps deters manv 

 from undertaking it. However, when the benefit derived from under- 

 drainage is once understood the time will come when manv thousand 

 acres in Oregon will be under-drained. In fact, the question of Irrigation 



