SPECIAL FARM TOPICS 259 



the elements in the soil. An excess of moisture reduces the tem- 

 perature, excludes the air and dilutes the plant food, thus retarding 

 or entirely stopping the growth of the plant as effectually as a lack 

 of moisture. The soil that contains the proper percentage of mois- 

 ture is commonly called dry soil to distinguish it from those con- 

 taining an excess of water, which are called wet soils. A perfectly 

 dry soil is dead, and is worthless for producing crops. A soil that 

 contains an excess of water can be rendered fit for high cultivation 

 by proper drainage. 



Drainage problems may be divided into two classes: Those 

 involving individual drains, running through well defined courses, 

 and those involving a level area requiring systematic drainage, that 

 is a drain every few rods. The individual drain is a comparatively 

 easy proposition, yet many failures result. These failures may be 

 due to having the fall the wrong way, or in having too steep a grade. 

 These mistakes occur from use of wrong methods. Too much care 

 can not be taken in constructing the ditch or laying the tile. (F. B. 

 187; Ont. Ag. Dept, Bui. 175.) 



Methods. Two methods of drainage are in use: By open 

 ditches and by under-ground tiles. Surface drainage, as commonly 

 understood, is accomplished by open ditches, which, in addition to 

 receiving and removing water from the surface of the contiguous 

 land, may, if sufficiently deep, act as receiving drains for water 

 which percolates through a porous substratum, and under such con- 

 ditions facilitates underdrainage. Removing water downward 

 through the soil instead of over the surface is of great advantage to 

 the soil. Percolating water carries into the soil all plant food; it 

 dissolves and prepares the crude soil; the frost goes out earlier in 

 the spring, so that planting season opens one or two weeks earlier 

 than when soil has surface drainage only; the effects of drouth are 

 diminished. When it is desired to reclaim and improve large areas 

 of level land, such tracts must be cut up into sections or districts by 

 large open ditches in order that tile-drains may be laid in every part 

 without necessitating the use of mains too large and costly to be 

 profitable. While these open ditches are not desirable in themselves, 

 since the land they occupy can not be used for any other purpose, 

 and though they often divide the land into tracts of inconvenient 

 shape, yet they are necessary to every system of underdrainage. 

 They should be located with care, following the course of natural 

 drainage as nearly as maybe, with due regard to straight courses. 

 (F. B. 187; Ark. Ex. Sta. Bui. 104; Ont. Dept. Ag. Bui. 175.) 



Benefits of Drainage. The profit derived from draining wet 

 land is more apparent when we consider that the same labor that is 

 bestowed upon undrained land will produce from 20 to 50 per cent, 

 greater yield of cereals where the land is drained. As a rule, lands 

 to be drained should have a large supply of fertility, drainage being 

 the only thing needed to make them productive. It has, however, 

 been found by experience that soils which require artificial fertiliz- 

 ing frequently become very productive when drained, since the fer- 

 tilizers applied are able, through the effect of drainage upon the soil, 



