DRAINAGE 151 



which must yield a large income per acre to pay a net 

 profit. 



The land is tilled with more ease and with better 

 profits if the excess of water is removed. Draining out 

 narrow sloughs, low places inside the field, low areas 

 adjacent to other lands, all benefit the farm lands. The 

 fields can be made more nearly rectangular, which will 

 admit of easier access and of more systematic methods 

 of rotation and cultivation. All parts of the field be- 

 come sufficiently dry and ready for cultivation in the 

 spring and after rains, at one time, thus making it pos- 

 sible to employ labor economically and to cultivate the 

 soil at a time when its tilth will receive the greatest 

 beneficial effect. 



Water flowing from the mouths of tile drains or in 

 open drains may often be conducted to fields or barn- 

 yards, there to be a source of water for live stock, or to 

 be used for irrigating field, garden or orchard crops. 



The appointment by President Roosevelt of a commis- 

 sion to report on the use and improvement of our in- 

 ternal waterways, and the reclamation of wet lands, 

 may lead to engineering enterprise in drainage, even 

 more gigantic than any yet undertaken in this country. 

 The discussion of drainage by the agricultural and 

 special drainage journals of America demonstrates the 

 great interest our farmers are taking in this practical 

 question. The making of open ditches has passed from 

 the stage of making ditches with the spade to one of 

 constructing small and large canals and dikes by means 

 of machinery. The making of underground ditches has 

 rapidly passed from the making of covered drains by 

 using stone or boards, to drains with factory-made 

 cylindrical or nearly cylindrical tiles most carefully 

 placed in the ground, sometimes by means of tile-laying 

 machinery. In some states, as in level, wet sections 

 of Indiana and Illinois, there are numerous tile factories 



