MEADOW. 9 



add small amounts of fine-grained, fertile sediment and even some 

 organic matter with little injury to the growing grass unless the 

 deposit be too thick to permit it to spring through and make new 

 growth. Areas of meadowland which are above the level of ordinary 

 freshets and are only submerged at long intervals constitute some of 

 the best pasture lands to be found in any part of the country. Such 

 pastures have been known to carry one head of stock to two acres of 

 land, furnishing all of the necessary roughage for six months in the 

 year. Few upland pastures can approach this record of grass produc- 

 tion. This ability to maintain a rapidly growing stand of pasture 

 grasses depends largely upon the high content of soil moisture main- 

 tained through periods of the year when the upland pastures are 

 badly affected by drought. Hence, for pasturage purposes the com- 

 plete drainage of the meadowlands is not essential. 



In order that meadowlands may be brought into condition to plant 

 the tilled crops, both drainage and diking are frequently necessary, 

 There are very extensive tracts of excellent Meadow located in all 

 sections of the country which merely require the construction of a 

 few rods of dike to prevent the destructive washing of the surface 

 of a tilled field at times of exceptionally high flood to become extremely 

 fertile farm land. Such areas are located where the natural configura- 

 tion of the land partially protects the area from the floods and where 

 a short bank may be made to connect natural elevations for the 

 exclusion of flood waters. In other cases more elaborate construction 

 is required, and frequently the flood waters of minor tributary streams 

 must be diverted from their usual channel in order that the embanked 

 area may be not be flooded from the upland, even after proper levees 

 have been constructed along the major stream. The problem becomes 

 unusually complicated when a minor stream flows through the center 

 of an area to join the chief stream at its farther border. In such 

 cases embankments are required along the margins of both streams. 

 Thus the problem of protecting areas of meadowland from inundation 

 becomes one of the particular area rather than a general one for all 

 classes of meadowland. 



The construction of embankments for the exclusion of flood waters 

 should usually be accompanied by some provision for drawing off the 

 seepage waters of the area inclosed and for reducing the water table 

 under the land to be reclaimed. The construction of the dikes should 

 be coincident with the excavation of ditches along their inner walls 

 into which the internal drainage of the project may be led. Except 

 for a few main-line ditches, which may be left open, it is usually more 

 satisfactory to complete the drainage by means of tile underdrains. 

 The chief advantage of this method of drainage lies in the fact that 

 the reclaimed area is not cut into small tracts by a number of open 

 ditches, but is left in a larger tract for greater convenience in tillage 

 41683 Cir. 6812 2 



