26 BULLETIN 652, U. S'. I'KPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



centrifugal pump with 36-incli diameter discharge pipe, direct-connected to 

 ;i double, vertical engine. Pumps 1 and 2 discharge into open flumes at an 

 average head on pump of aboul i<> feet, which is about 5 feet greater than 



necessary. Tump ."> lias a siphon on the discharge pipe, but the end is nut 



always submerged. 3 



The capacity of this plant usually lias been large enough to remove the 

 water before any damage lias resulted from flooding. Due to the use of rope 

 drives, tbe plant has been stopped several times for repairs when the loss of a 

 pump was a serious matter. 



As a whole the plant is very inefficient, but is quite typical of the pumping 

 plant usually found on the old river-front plantation. Owing to the excessive 

 lift, the cost of pumping is considerably higher than it should be. In another 

 pert ion of the bulletin will be seen figures covering the detailed cost of opera- 

 tion for this and other plants. The main defects of this plant are a long and 

 poorly designed set of piping on (he 36-inch centrifugal pump, open sluice 

 discharges on the other two pumps, causing an unnecessary lift of about 5 feet, 

 and rope drives on two of the pumps. 



Condition of Land for Cultivation. 



For two years after the tract of prairie land in the rear of tnis plantation 

 was reclaimed it was cultivated with only such drainage as was afforded by 

 the reservoir canals. Then the present lateral ditches were cut, and good 

 drainage was secured for a number of years. Not much detailed information 

 was available concerning conditions in this early period. It is known, however, 

 that during this time excellent crops were grown on the prairie land and that 

 these crops were uniformly better than those grown on the older front lands. 

 Until the last seven or eight years the prairie lands were so much better 

 drained than the front lands that plowing could be done on the former when 

 the water stood on the surface of the front lands. As is shown by figure 4, 

 the depth of drainage was not much over a foot in 1910. This condition has 

 been bettered somewhat by the deeper canal. However, crops were reported as 

 being good, even with such shallow drainage. The fact that the crops did 

 not seem to stand drought well undoubtedly was due to the very shallow depth 

 of root growth that such a small depth of drainage would permit. As this 

 tract is a part of the typical wet prairie land found in this section, the 

 results obtained show that the successful reclamation of these lands is a 

 certainty. 



NEW ORLEANS LAKESHORE LAND CO. TRACT, NEW ORLEANS. 



This tract lies along the southern shore of Lake Pontchartrain, about 4 

 miles east of the northern limits of New Orleans. As shown in figure 5, the 

 frontage on the lake is aboul 7 miles. The width at the eastern end is 

 .■•bout L' miles and at the western If miles. Most of the surface originally 

 was covered with a heavy growth of grass, with only a small percentage of 

 the area limbered. The elevation of the surface was a few inches above 

 mean lake level, and except for a few small ridges and shell mounds the 

 tract at one time was subject to overflow whenever the lake was at high 

 tide. A considerable depth of turfy humus or muck covered the entire area; 

 the range in depth was from 1 foot along the lake shore to as much as 10 feet 

 in the portion 1 mile back from the lake. The average depth of muck was 



perhaps ."". feet. 



»U. S. Dept. Apr.. An. Rpt. Office Expt. Stas., 1000, p. 420. 



