238 Bulletin 254. 



This land is wet, not because of its impervious character, but because its 

 location is favorable to the accumulation of water from higher soils either 

 by surface flow or through springs. The reclamation of such land involves 

 the control of this drainage water from other land in such a way that it 

 does not interfere with the low land. 



The soil in these marshy places is often the most productive in the 

 country when well drained and constitute a highly important part of the 

 great soil reserve of the State. In some of the Central States where large 

 areas of similar soil existed, which have been drained, they give some of 

 the largest yields of the staple crops as well as of truck and other special 

 crops. Such, for example, is the Clyde series of soils of New York, Ohio, 

 Michigan, etc., and the Miami black clay loam in the north central states. 



(2) In the second division of the State, as made in this paper, is found 

 nearly all of the heavy clay soils. Much of this region has been formed 

 under lake conditions during earlier times with the result that the sedi- 

 ments brought into these lakes, either local or general, were sorted and de- 

 posited in strata of ditTering texture. In some places they are clay, in 

 other places they are silt, sand or gravel. Since the clay represents the 

 most quiet conditions of deposition it forms the most nearly level land, any 

 undulation being the result of the uneven surface upon which the deposit 

 was made. Consequently much of the truly clay soil embraced in the 

 Dunkirk, Clyde, Vergennes and Galveston series of soil has an even, and 

 often, flat surface. The impervious character of such material, combined 

 with its level topography, permit the retention of the rainfall on the surface. 

 It differs from the first group in that there is much less accumulation of the 

 rainfall from other areas of soil. There is some accumulation of water 

 due to the undulations of the surface, but in the main the problem is one of 

 handling the rainfall which normally falls upon the clay area. This 

 further important observation should be made. On heavy clay soil, the 

 subsoil is frequently not saturated with water in the sense in which sandy 

 soil is saturated. The water is held on the surface. It moves through the 

 soil very slowly, an important factor in its removal being evaporation. 

 Such water is especially injurious because of its " stagnant " condition. It 

 very completely cuts off the soil from free circulation of air. 



This water must, in the main, be removed by surface methods. This 

 does not necessarily mean open ditches. These are now very generally used 

 in the State on such land and it is one of the purposes of this bulletin to 

 call attention to the better method. This method is the use of tile drains. 

 On land as level as are many of these clay soils, the open ditches are often 

 hastily and poorly made. They are rough and in a short time become 

 clogged by weeds. Their fall is too small to permit any rapid movement 

 of water, and further, they generally have a ridge of earth on cither side 

 which hinders the entrance of the water. These disadvantages are in 



