HUMID AREAS AND THEIR RECLAMATION 67 



the work of preparing the soil for the crop. The labor 

 of preparation is usually increased, and the planting 

 delayed. The results of the delayed seeding and the 

 injured physical conditions are: (1) reduced yields of 

 crops; (2) increased labor in handling the crops; and 

 (3) again increased labor in the later preparation of the 

 soil for succeeding crops. Instead of net profits, there 

 are realized net losses. The fact that these soils produce 

 " crops " is the chief reason why their owners do not resort 

 to artificial means for preventing the continued presence 

 of saturating water in them. The prevention of standing 

 water would mean net profits instead of net losses from the 

 crops produced. Elevation is not always a factor in the 

 natural control of the water in these soils. 



97. Small wet areas. The second class includes a 

 large number of small areas, perennially covered or filled 

 with water. These areas comprise small shallow ponds ; 

 small muck lands, sometimes producing cattails only; 

 small springy areas sometimes on low grounds, and some- 

 times well up on a slope; small bog lands with streams 

 flowing through them. Sometimes one or more of these 

 tracts lie within a cultivated field, interfering with practi- 

 cally every agricultural operation performed. Sometimes 

 they lie apart, fenced out from the field. Sometimes, 

 when they are fenced out, they have with them a portion 

 of good ground set off in squaring up the field from which 

 they are fenced. Their presence (1) means waste, direct 

 or indirect, (2) lessens the attractiveness of the farm, 

 (3) lowers its value an acre, and (4) may prove a men- 

 ace to the lives of the animals on the place, and the 

 health of the owner and his family. They remain un- 

 drained because (1) their owners become used to them, 

 (2) of their small area, and therefore small direct value, 



