34 BULLETIN 652, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Condition of Land for Cultivation. 



A considerable area on this tract was firm enough to plow with ordinary 

 farm animals. The muck was only about 8 inches deep, and the material under- 

 neath was solid and sandy. The grass was burned off and the land then plowed 

 with large disk plows. In addition, both round-wheel and apron-wheel tractors 

 were used to pull gangs of disk plows which broke up the ground in an 

 excellent manner. The ground then was pulverized with a disk harrow and 

 planted in corn. Even on the softest of the land, after one good plowing and 

 subsequent smoothing by tools drawn with the tractors, ordinary farm animals 

 were used to cultivate the crop. After the second year of cultivation the 

 shallow muck had become so mixed with the underlying soil as practically to 

 disappear. Even the deeper muck is becoming compacted rapidly into a firm 

 soil. By the end of 1913, 250 acres were cultivated ; in 1914, 600 acres ; in 

 1915, 800 acres ; and in 1916, about 1,000 acres. The land, which was drained 

 by ditches 840 feet apart, was partially utilized for pasturing cattle. 



GUEYDAN DRAINAGE DISTRICT, SUBDISTRICT NO. 1, GUEYDAN, LA. 



This district, containing 5,600 acres, is the first one developed in the south- 

 western part of the State. The general nature of the soil and other natural con- 

 ditions already have been described. The elevation of the surface is ' between 

 1 and 3 feet above mean tide level, and the slope of the surface is from north 

 to south. This tract is typical of the harder prairies of this section as com- 

 pared with those of the softer type immediately along the rivers of this part 

 of the State (PI. 1, fig. 2). Work was begun on this district in June, 1911, and 

 the pumping plant was started in March, 1912. Figure 9 shows the general 

 arrangement of canals, levees, and ditches. 



Levees. 



Along the north side a drainage canal had been cut some years prior to the 

 beginning of the present work. A spoil bank of a cross-sectional area nearly 

 sufficient to serve as a levee remained on this canal and was utilized in making 

 the levee for this area. Along the other three sides the canal cut to get mate- 

 rial for the levee is on the inside of the district. In cutting a canal 5 feet 

 deep and 25 feet wide sufficient material was secured to build a levee with a 

 height of 5 or 6 feet and a top width of 5 feet. Owing to the solid nature of 

 the subsoil the levee subsided very little, except where some old muck-filled 

 bayous were crossed. The berm left on most of the levee work was less than 

 8 feet, and no muck ditch was used under the levee. Taking into consideration 

 the facts that the base of this levee was from 2 to 3 feet above mean tide, that 

 the water never becomes more than 3 feet deep on the original general land 

 surface, that the subsoil is very solid, and that the average depth of the muck 

 is about a foot, it would seem to have been good practice in this case to place 

 the three new levee canals on the inside of the district and thus have use of 

 them for drainage canals, except where the old muck-filled bayous were crossed. 

 While in general the levee has given satisfaction, even when for nearly a month 

 the water was 3 feet deep on the surrounding prairie, yet where the levee 

 crossed the muck-filled bayous a considerable expense was necessary to make 

 it safe, and at These crossings the canal should have been on the outside of the 

 district. A dipper dredge was used to place several layers of material at these 

 weak points, until it became apparent that the levee could not be built up to 

 the required size by such means. The depth of the bayou varied from 1 to 15 

 feet, with an average of about 10 feet. The water pressure from the outside 

 forced the levee into the interior canal. A railway trestle was built along the 



