DRAINAGE 
lands of the West are already injured by 
alkali and are in need of drainage. 
The history of drainage shows that vari- 
ous methods and materials have been used 
in the past, but we have now settled 
on one universal method. The first rec- 
ord of tile drainage is found in the gar- 
den of a monastery in France about 1620, 
where it was noticed that it was very fer- 
tile in times of drought, and that the 
quality and earliness of the fruit were 
very marked. Investigation revealed that 
tile 10 inches long and 4 inches in diam- 
eter were in the soil in such a manner as 
to form a drain at a depth of 4 feet. 
Each pipe was funnel shaped and made to 
fit into the next one. How early they were 
placed there was not known. 
In 1650 Captain Walter Raleigh pub- 
lished a book on drainage called “The 
English Improved Agriculture,” in which 
he proposed a plan of boring down into 
the hard sub-strata and letting the water 
down into the gravelly zone underneath. 
In 1882 the Denston system was intro- 
duced by Mr. Smith of Denston, Scot- 
land. This was a system of clay pipes. 
In 1833 Smith published a pamphlet en- 
titled “Smith’s Remarks on Thorough 
Drainage.” His plan was as follows: 1. 
Frequent drains. 2. Shallow depth, some 
30 inches. 3. Parallel drains at equal 
distances apart throughout the field. 4. 
Minor drains should run down the steep- 
er places and the main drains run along 
the chief hollow, tributary drains being 
provided for lesser hollows. 
In 1837 Mr. Johnson, of Geneva, N. Y. 
introduced tile drainage on his farm. 
This was the first drainage system in 
America and is in still successful opera- 
tion. Drainage has been rapidly develop- 
ed in the Middle West during the last 
20 years. Drainage laws and drainage 
machinery have helped to reclaim swampy 
areas in the Central states. 
Box, stone and brush drains have given 
place to tile drains, which are now in 
general use. There are over 5,000 tile 
factories in the United States; some are 
very large. To make tile requires expen- 
sive machinery. 
2—16 
897 
Soils That Need Drainage 
Soil texture and structure. These of- 
ten determine the need of drainage. Clay 
offers great friction to the movement of 
water. It has a greater water capacity 
and is apt to have a compact puddled 
structure. In retentive soils the first step 
in improvement is drainage. Getting out 
the excess of moisture assists in granula- 
tion. The addition of fertilizer will only 
be effective after good drainage. The or- 
der of improvement should be: 1. Drain- 
age. 2. Tillage. 38. Manure. 4. Lime. 
Soil and Subsoil 
Soil is the surface strata where the 
bulk of plant foods are found, while sub- 
soil is the strata on which the soil rests. 
It is lighter in color, finer in texture and 
contains less organic matter. Certain pro- 
portions of gravel and clay form hardpan. 
Iron or lime may cement and clay and 
give the condition known as hardpan. 
Water Zones 
There are three zones of flow of water 
through the soil: 1. The saturated zone 
or the strata through the water moves 
vertically to the water table. It may move 
by capillarity or by percolation or both. 
2. Surface zone. This is the water table. 
In winter the water table is very near the 
surface, and in the summer the water 
table goes down to various depths, some- 
times quite deep. 3. Deeper zone. Veins 
of water. 
All soils must be drained, but fortun- 
ately most soils are more or less drained 
naturally. Natural drainage is much 
cheaper. The following are the conditions 
which require drainage: 
1. Nearly flat lands upon which the 
water from the surrounding higher lands 
collects. 
2. <Areas adjacent to higher lands 
where the soil is of such a nature that 
water which falls on the upland will seep 
under and out through the low land, mak- 
ing it wet. 
3. Lands inundated regularly by the 
rise of tides or frequently by the overflow 
of rivers. 
4, Extremely flat lands in wide areas 
which are underlaid near the surface by 
