446 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



run sufficient to enable the first drains built to be intelligently planned 

 '^o serve as parts of the final system. 



Another feature of ehgineering work for farm drainage in which 

 There should be great improvement is that of maps and records. At 

 Ames, on the college farm, the present authorities have had predeces- 

 ~;ors who put in quite extensive amounts bf tile drains without leaving 

 accurate plats,, so that in many places we can not now find even where 

 the drains were built, to say nothing of their sizes, grades and depths. 

 In making excavations old lines of tile whose very existence was not 

 suspected, are not infrequently encountered, and the writer knows of 

 places where at least two systems of tiles in the same I'ocality have been 

 put in by successive generation of authorities. The same, or a worse 

 state of affairs must result on individual farms throughout the State, 

 as time goes by and the farms change ov/ners, unless the present almo»t 

 total neglect of keeping complete records of all tile drains built is reme- 

 died. Even if the land does n'ot change owners, men's memories fail, 

 and the writer has often noted that even after a very few years men who 

 actually help build drains are frequently unable to locate them within 

 a considerable distance. Without complete maps showing the particulars 

 of our drains, how can we hope to keep them in working order? Tno 

 breaking and choking up of a single tile might render many acres of 

 land worthless in a wet season, and cause enough damage in a single 

 year to have paid ten times over for records which would have enabled 

 the difficulty to be located and remedied at less than one dollar's ex- 

 pense. 



Every land owner constructing drains should therefore call on his 

 engineer for a complete map of all his land requiring drainage, on which 

 the exact locations 'of all drains, together with their sizes and grades, 

 and their depths below the surface at frequent intervals should be clearly 

 indicated. Proposed drains for the future may also be shown, and as 

 soon as any new drain is built it should also be noted on the map. Such 

 maps should also show the natural features of the farm, such as water 

 also be given, and on flat land requiring drainage these elevations should 

 boundary lines, the locations of buildings, etc. The heights or eleva- 

 tions of the more important points as calculated from levels, should 

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 of all parts of the farm by contours drawn one foot apart vertically 

 through all points at the same elevation, would be desirable if. as Mr. 

 Elliott estimates, the surveying for one of a 160-acre farm can be done 

 in two days. Another thing about both drainage plats and profiles is 

 that they should not be made on opaque paper, but on tracing cloth, or 

 in the case of profiles, on transparent profile paper. It then only co<^ts 

 a few cents to make a blue print copy at any time, and the original, 

 drawing need not be taken into the field at all, but can always be kept 

 safely at the house along with the farm deeds. 



The matter of specifications for the construction of tile drains is, 

 in -my opinion, very important, although almost universally neglected. 

 Every engineer ought to prepare and always keep on hand regular printed 

 specifications and forms Of agreement between land owner and tile con- 



