486 



STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Other than the main roads just mentioned the roads throughout the entire 

 area are poor, yet good roads are being constructed quite rapidly. 



Water transportation is well developed. A greater part of the livestock 

 raised in Monroe and Lenawee counties is marketed in Cleveland and Buffalo 

 by this means. 



(DRAINAGE 



The most important factor limiting maximum crop production"] in ^the 

 greater part of the Detroit area is lack of drainage. Thousands of acres* are 

 seeded late in the spring because of inadequate means of carrying away the 

 heavy rainfall. The level formations so characteristic to the old lake [bed 

 area do not allow a rapid removal of surface water and the surface soil is 

 usually rather heavy and impervious thus impeding under drainage. ^ The 

 subsoil is represented by three kinds namely, impervious clay, sandy clay, 

 and granular clay or "honey comb," yet only small areas of the two latter 

 conditions occur. Where no artificial drainage is present the loss of water 

 takes place by evaporation and seepage both of which remove water very 

 slowly. 



Fig. 2. — -Improper drainage is ttie cliief limiter of crop yields over much of this area. 



The natural drainage is well established for the level land. The rivers 

 Raisin, Huron, Ecorse and Rouge and creeks Otter and Swan with their 

 tributaries are the principal natural drainage channels for the area. 



Artificial drains are being built in the form of dredge ditches as well as 

 shallow surface field and tile drains. Only a few dredge ditches are con- 

 structed because for the most part outlets for smaller drains are easily 

 obtained. The larger per cent of the field drains consist of "dead furrows" 



