270 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



DRAINAGE OF FARM LANDS. 



Results of Careful and Extended Investigations by the Gov- 

 ernment for the Benefit of the Farmers. 



BY C G. ELLIOTT, 

 Expert in Diainage and Irrigation, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



From Farmers' Bulletin No. 187, Courtesy U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



(CONTINUED.) 

 FILLING THE TRENCHES. 



Enough - earth should be thrown upon the tiles 

 after they are laid to secure them in their position. 

 This work should be intrusted to a careful workman, 

 who should see that moist earth is thrown around and 

 over the tiles in such a way that they will not be moved 

 by any subsequent filling. After this has been done 



continues so for a year, preventing grass from taking 

 quick and permanent root. This is not the case with 

 cultivated crops, as the most luxuriant growth may usu- 

 ally be found directly over the drains. 



DITCHING MACHINES 



During the sixty years in which tile drainage has 

 been practiced in this country, many machines for 

 opening the trenches for tile have been invented and 

 manufactured, which, when tested, failed to meet the 

 requirements. There are many difficulties to be met 

 in the digging of farm drains. The soil is often soft 

 and sticky ; at other times it is hard, and in some locali- 

 ties contains gravel, stone, and hardpan. Deep cuts 

 must sometimes be made; muck ponds and snaking 

 bogs must be gone through. In short, the difficulties 

 to be overcome by the inventor of a tile-ditching ma- 

 chine can hardly be appreciated by any one acquainted 



FIG. 15. Map showing the drainage of 128 acres of clay land in Jefferson County, Ky. 



the filling may be completed in the most convenient 

 and expeditious manner. Where the land is cultivated, 

 ditches can be filled rapidly with a plow pulled by a 

 team on each side of the trench. The evener used 

 upon the plow for this purpose should be sixteen feet 

 long. The excavated earth, it has been assumed, has 

 been thrown in about equal quantities on each side 

 of the ditch. In meadow or sod land a V-shaped scraper 

 with the point behind, made for the purpose, can be 

 used to fill from both sides at one passage without dis- 

 turbing the turf. In order to use either of these meth- 

 ods satisfactorily the earth should be dry enough to 

 fall apart when moved, instead of sticking together in 

 a gummy mass. Where the soil is too wet, soft, or 

 sticky to be moved by the means just described, the 

 filling may best be done by hand labor with a potato 

 hook, or filling hook, which is in the form of a hoe with 

 tines instead of a: solid blade. The land should be 

 cultivated the next year or two after being cut up by 

 drains, if practicable, because the earth is loose and 



with practical draining. 



Doubtless no machine will ever be made that will 

 meet the requirements of all kinds of land. There are, 

 however, a few which seem to work satisfactorily where 

 the ground is sufficiently firm to support the machine 

 and where the earth is not extremiely mucky and 

 sticky. Where draining of considerable extent is pro- 

 posed, the adaptation of these machines to the work 

 required may be profitably investigated. 



SOME OF THE RESULTS TO BE EXPECTED FROM 

 UNDEKDRAINS. 



After heavy Tains the surface usually begins to 

 dry first directly over the drain, the drying process ex- 

 tending on either side until the limit of action of the 

 drain is reached. This limit, as previously explained, 

 will depend upon the closeness and structure of the 

 soil. The physical characteristics of the soil also affect 

 in a remarkable degree the quickness of the action of 

 drains, so that their effect as regards both time and ex- 

 tent varies greatly with the kind of soil acted upon. 



