36 BULLETIN 71, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



required capacity of the pumping plant. The surface of the ground for a con- 

 siderable distance around the pumping plant is much lower than that of the 

 remainder of the district, so that the water was allowed to overflow the reser- 

 voir and to fill this low area. As no attempt was being made to cultivate this 

 low area it was used in this manner for additional reservoir capacity. If an 

 attempt had been made to reclaim the entire district the reservoir must have 

 been found too small for any practical use. but by allowing this low part of the 

 tract to be flooded the remainder was given fairly good, drainage until the 

 summer of 1911. The need of a better reservoir then became apparent and 

 during the month of October the reservoir was excavated to a depth of 7 feet 

 and a width of 35 feet. In addition to cleaning out the old canal a new por- 

 tion was cut into the central part of the district. The capacity of the new 

 reservoir above a 4-foot level is 0.25 inch; the reservoir should maintain this 

 capacity, as the surrounding ground is quite firm. In excavating along the old 

 reservoir the material was found to be solid enough for each dipperful par- 

 tially to hold its shape after being dropped on the spoil bank. Considerable 

 difficulty was encountered, however, in removing the soft mud that had col- 

 lected in the bottom of the reservoir. A hydraulic dredge would have been 

 much more satisfactory for taking out this mud. 



Ditches. 



During the first two years of cultivation on this tract lateral ditches of a 

 depth of 3 feet, spaced as far apart as 600 feet, gave ample drainage. Due to 

 the short length of reservoir canal it was necessary to construct some large 

 collecting ditches to keep the lengths of laterals from being too great. These 

 collecting ditches were about 8 feet wide and 4 feet deep, but as they were 

 frequently nearly dry a strong growth of vegetation soon reduced their effective 

 size very greatly. They did not afford the small lateral ditches sufficient out- 

 let and consequently the tract was not well drained; at the same time the 

 ground was becoming more impervious, due to the decay of the muck. Lateral 

 ditches were then placed about 200 feet apart and the ditches were cleaned 

 out. During the summer of 1911, one of unusual precipitation, it was found 

 that about halfway between adjacent lateral ditches the ground was saturated 

 with water to the surface. Some of the landowners now propose to place 

 lateral ditches as close together as 100 feet. It would seem that this is as 

 yet unnecessary. In the first place, the laterals were not at that time of the 

 usual depth of 3 feet ; they were not kept in good condition, and some of them 

 were nearly three-fourths of a mile long, and furthermore the reservoir canal 

 was not of sufficient depth to keep the water out of these ditches. If the above 

 defects were remedied, it certainly would improve conditions greatly and might 

 make the cutting of additional ditches unnecessary. The use of a collecting 

 ditch instead of frequent reservoir canals, while it reduces the first cost of 

 the drainage channels is rather unsatisfactory. The collecting ditch soon 

 becomes grown full of weeds and grass, while a small reservoir canal will 

 always have water in it and will not so easily become obstructed. Plate I, 

 figure 1, shows an apron-traction ditcher cutting laterals on this district. 



Pumping Plant. 



i 



The plant is located in the lowest part of the district. The pumps discharge 

 through a short wooden flume into the lake. There are two 32 by 12 inch verti- 

 cal centrifugal pumps of the square wooden-case type. One of them is belt 

 driven and the other rope driven, each by a 12 by 16 inch slide-valve noncon- 



