308 



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 Drainage and Irrigation, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



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

 culture. 



(Continued.) 



A pond, previously waste land, was drained at a 

 cost of $8 per acre. It was broken and sown to mil- 

 let and the first crop paid the expense of underdrain- 

 age. 



A farm of 160 acres, situated in an Illinois drain- 

 age district, wa? taxed $5 per acre for the general out- 

 let. It was bought for $30, subject to this tax of $5, 

 costing the purchaser $35 an acre. Tile drainage and 

 improvements cost $15 per acre, making the land cost 

 $50 per acre. The farm was rented and yielded the 

 owner a rental of $5 per acre for four successive years, 

 or 10 per cent on the entire investment. He was 

 then offered $80 per acre for the farm and refused it. 



Fig. 16. Catch basin for leading surface water into a tile drain. 



As will be noticed in comparing the two maps of 

 drainage given on preceding pages, there is a material 

 difference in the method of treatment necessitated by 

 the differences in soil. In the Kentucky plan (Fig. 

 15) the drains are placed systematically fifty, sixty and 

 seventy feet apart, the entire cost of the work being 

 $25 per acre. The plan of the Illinois work, where 

 the soil possesses better drainage properties, was made 

 with special reference to the particular requirements 

 of the land in connection with natural drainage and 

 the work cost about $9 per acre. The drains in both 

 plans have been in actual operation for several years 

 and are evidently well adapted to the needs of the re- 

 spective localities. 



It is a well-recognized fact that no practical 

 gardener or fruit grower attempts to practice intensive 

 cultivation on land which is not fairly well drained, 

 either naturally or artificially. It would be easy to 

 multiply examples of the profits which accrue from the 

 practice of soil drainage, not only to the farmer who 

 drains his land and cultivates it himself, but also to 

 the capitalist who purchases land which is compara- 

 tively worthless without drainage and then improves it 

 in this way as an investment. What has been said, 

 however, will be sufficient to indicate that nothing 



brings a surer return for the money invested than does 

 the drainage of rich soils. 



CATCH-BASINS AND PROTECTION OP OUTLETS. 



Surface water should be excluded from the tile 

 drains unless sufficient provision is made for conveying 

 it into them in such a way that dirt, sand and rubbish 

 will be prevented from entering. This may be done by 

 the use of catch-basins constructed of two lengths of 

 sewer pipe set in a vertical position (Fig. 16) and 

 covered by an iron grating (a) to prevent rubbish 

 entering the drain. This grate may be covered with 

 a pile of bricks or small stones (6) to act as a coarse 

 filter and prevent the clogging of the grate. The 

 bricks or stones may be rearranged and the silt removed 

 from the bottom of the basin occasionally so that with 

 proper care such an arrangement will serve an excellent 

 purpose for removing surface water from places where 

 it can not pass through the soil with sufficient readi- 

 ness and at the same time do no injury to the drain. 

 Such basins should not be connected with drains of 

 less diameter than six inches. * Under the conditions 

 which make it desirable to use them, the surface water 

 will be received and pass away before the soil water 

 reaches the drain. 



JVhile a substantial stone or brick bulkhead at the 

 outlet of each main drain, when well made, has a per- 

 manent and workmanlike appearance, it is expensive 

 and in many localities impracticable to use because of 

 the lack of proper material. One of the most common, 

 as well as most efficient, protections is the plank box 

 with wire bars placed vertically across the end about 

 two inches apart. Such a box (Fig. 17) should be 

 made of two-inch plank, twelve feet long and large 

 enough to admit of the insertion of the tile into the 

 upstream end. It should be laid correctly, and more 



Fig. 17. Outlet protection for drains. 



than ordinary care should be taken in tamping the 

 earth securely about it. In fact, the entire filling 

 should be well tamped from bottom to top. A protec- 

 tion of this kind serves two purposes: It prevents 

 small animals from entering the drain, which they are 

 likely to do when no water is flowing from it, and ob- 

 viates the necessity of using vitrified tile at the out- 

 let. which it is always wise to do for the reason that red 

 tiles usually scale when exposed to the weather under 

 such conditions. 



OBSTRUCTION OF DRAINS BY HOOTS. 



As far as known, the roots of grains, grasses and 

 annual field crops do not obstruct underdrains, but 

 this is not the case with the roots of some trees. Among 

 them are the willow, water elm, tamarack and some- 

 times the soft maple, which in a short time will fill 

 the drain with a mass of root hairs, even when they 

 are growing fifty feet distant from the line of the 

 drain. It should be noted that our field drains under 



