WATER SUPPLY 



from the atmosphere. If not stirred, a crust is soon 

 formed against the air and moisture. At the same 

 time that the loose soil absorbs and retains the 

 moisture, it takes in, with the water, fertilizing ele- 

 ments from the surface and the air. 



We must also anticipate another point, that 

 drainage is quite as truly a method of keeping soil 

 moist as it is of keeping it from being wet. Con- 

 tradictory as this may seem, it is nevertheless true 

 that good drainage is one of the best ways of pre- 

 venting serious damage from drought. Undrained 

 land is soggy in wet weather, but is not retentive of 

 moisture in dry weather. It bakes hard, and vege- 

 tation is killed outright. There is hardly a piece of 

 land in existence that will not be better fitted for 

 resisting a dry spell by being well underdrained. 

 Tile or stone drains should be placed from twenty 

 to one hundred feet apart and three to four feet 

 below the surface. The cost will, of course, vary 

 quite largely — from fifteen dollars per acre to forty- 

 five or fifty. The profit, however, derived, in the 

 way of increased crops and decreased damage from 

 drought, will compensate the land-owner very speed- 

 ily. I have found, still further, that good drainage 

 enables the roots of many plants — such as alfalfa 



[71] 



