26 AGRICULTURE FOR COMMON SCHOOLS 



arid region does not need drainage. On the contrary, it 

 needs watering. 1. All over the United States there are Httle 

 ponds, swamps and marshes which need drainage. It is said 

 that there are six hundred miUion acres of such land in the 

 United States. This area, however, is growing smaller every 



3. CROP FAILURE DUE TO LACK OF DRAINAGE 

 By courtesy of Prof. G. I. Christie, Purdue University 



year, because great drainage operations are being carried on 

 everywhere. Land values have increased so much that it 

 pays to drain land now that a few years ago was thought to 

 be worthless. 2. Besides this swamp land there is much farm 

 land where there are low places in which the water stands 

 a long time in the spring and after heavy rains, making the 

 farmer late in getting out his crops, and often drowning out 

 the crop after it is -planted. 3. In almost any field there is 



