CHAPTER XXIII 

 DRAINAGE 



Underdrainage. There are great swamps, and 

 small ones, whose water should be carried off by 

 open ditches. Our present interest is in the wet 

 fields of the farm, the cold, wet soil of an en- 

 tire field, the swale lying between areas of well- 

 drained land, the side of a field kept wet by seep- 

 age from higher land, and here the right solution 

 of the troubling problem lies in underdrainage. 

 An excess of water in the soil robs the land-owner 

 of chance of profit. It excludes the air, sealing 

 up the plant-food so that crops cannot be secured. 

 It keeps the ground cold. It destroys the good 

 physical condition of the soil that may have been 

 secured by much tillage, causing the soil particles 

 to pack together. It compels plant-roots to form 

 at the surface of the ground. It delays seeding and 

 cultivation. An excess of water is more disheart- 

 ening than absolute soil poverty. The remedy 

 is only in its removal. The level of dead water in 



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