CROPS AND SOIL IMPROVEMENT 



the soil must be below the surface three feet, 

 two and one half feet, four feet, some reason- 

 able distance that will make possible a friable, 

 aerated, warm, friendly feeding-ground for plant- 

 roots. Only under drainage can do this. 



Counting the Cost. Thorough underdrainage 

 is costly, but it is less so than the farming of fields 

 whose productiveness is seriously limited by an ex- 

 cess of water. The work means an added invest- 

 ment. Estimates of cost can be made with fair 

 accuracy, and estimates of resulting profit can be 

 made without any assurance of accuracy. The 

 farmer with some wet land does well to gain ex- 

 perimental knowledge, and base future work upon 

 such experience. He knows that he cannot afford 

 to cultivate wet land, and the problem before him 

 is to leave it to produce what grass it can pro- 

 duce, sell it, or find profit in drainage. He has 

 the experience of others that investment in drain- 

 age is more satisfactory than most other invest- 

 ments, if land has any natural fertility. He has 

 assurance that debt incurred for drainage is the 

 safest kind of debt an owner of wet land can 

 incur. He has a right to expect profit from the 

 undertaking, and he can begin the work in a small 

 way, if an outlet is at hand, and learn what re- 



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