that is rather a minor factor. The important thing is 

 to know what lands should be drained and what ones 

 should not. 



The flames of the recent forest fires have thrown 

 more light on this subject than the most expert soil 

 analysts and engineers. Many acres of drained swamp, 

 where the peat has burned away, resemble the rock 

 rip-rap on the caving banks of the Mississippi river. 

 One can get out of sight of land on the rocks on the 

 bottoms of some of those swamps. No one knew the 

 rocks were there till the swamps burned, because, 

 though drained, they had never been cultivated. And 

 thereby hangs another tale of waste. Such a small 

 per cent of our drained peat lands have ever been used 

 that one cannot lay out a respectable sample plot with- 

 out slipping over the edge. 



The answer is easy. While it is true that there are 

 some peat lands which can be drained and used to ad- 

 vantage, there are many more of them that cannot. 

 This should be determined before they are drained. 

 Furthermore, even the best of them, should certainly 

 never be drained till they are needed. Left unculti- 

 vated they become the worst firetrap imaginable. It 

 is almost safe to say that, if there had been no useless 

 drained swamps, there would have been no great con- 

 flagration last October. It was the dry swamp that 

 harbored the hundreds of small fires which combined 

 to make the great fires. 



One little fable before we part. A tin can holds 

 water for drinking just as well as it holds water for 

 filling a rubber boot. Punch the bottom of the can full 



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