6 ENGINEERING FOR LAND DRAINAGE. 



and economic use of the products of the soil, be they 

 grain, forage, or fruits. The end to be sought in all 

 of this is that the farmer may receive a profit over all 

 and still have his capital, the soil, intact and unim- 

 paired. 



One of the well-recognized means of bringing about 

 this gratifying result — making the farm pay — is to re- 

 move the surplus moisture from the soil. By surplus is 

 meant more than is needed. The surplus moisture 

 should be removed throtigh the soil, if possible, rather 

 than over it. The drainage of the soil is by no means 

 an innovation, nor is it a work remaining yet in an ex- 

 perimental stage, except as regards a better under- 

 standing of its application to various soils, and for the 

 purpose of demonstrating the scientific changes which 

 result from practical work along this line. 



The growth of the drainage improvement for agri- 

 cultural purposes has always been governed by the en- 

 vironment of the farmer. While he had sufficient land 

 which, in its natural condition, was drained and re- 

 quired only the ordinary and primitive methods of cul- 

 tivation, there was no occasion for adding to his arable 

 estate those lands which would require more than the 

 ordinary expenditure of money and labor. That time 

 is past. Now every progressive farmer looks upon 

 each unimproved acre of land as an item on his farm 

 expense account. For does he not pay taxes upon 

 it in common with his most productive land? Does 

 it not cost him as much to cultivate as does the adjoin- 

 ing field of rich and friable loam? Is it not a blot 

 upon an otherwise fair rural picture, to say nothing of 

 the financial features which with the farmer and business 



