DOUBLE PROFIT IN DRAINAGE. 



11T 



or that are totally useless, or worse, because productive of 

 miasma, or dangerous to cattle that may trespass upon 

 them, and that might be reclaimed by drainage, and at the 

 same time furnish a copious supply of water for irrigation, 

 are far more numerous than would be suspected by any but 

 an engineer, whose practiced eye can see at a glance the 

 possibilities in this respect that others would fail to per- 

 ceive. It nine cases out of ten, at least, a swamp is in 

 reality a spring, or a number of them, which spread 



Fig. 54. THE SPRINGS COLLECTED INTO A POOL. 



themselves over the surface and stagnate, losing their 

 flow by evaporation or slow filtration through the sur- 

 rounding soil, or their own subsoil. To utilize this waste 

 water would be to turn a diseased and pestilential spot 

 into a healthful and productive field, that would also con- 

 tribute the means of enhancing the productive capacity 

 of neighboring fields. Then " out of the eater cometh 

 forth meat," and out of the waste place cometh forth fer- 

 tility. 



