14 BULLETIN 193^ U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGETCULTURE. 
running generally with the greatest slope of the land, reaching to the 
boundaries of each district. 
The plan proposed for the remainder of the county consists in (1) 
dividing it into convenient pumping districts; (2) straightening and 
deepening certain watercourses and constructing the proposed Inter- 
coastal Canal, all of which will serve as outlets for the 'pump dis- 
charges; (3) building levees to prevent the overflow of those districts 
by tides^ backwater from the river, or run-off from higher lands; (4) 
constructing systems of parallel ditches spaced 1 mile apart and 
reaching to all parts of each district; and (5) erecting pumping plants 
to lift the water from such inclosures over the protection levees. 
Spacing the lateral ditches 1 mile apart in each of the pumping dis- 
tricts will give ample relief for the present needs of the county, but 
it must be borne in mind that when those areas are put under culti- 
vation additional ditches must be constructed. The number of 
lateral ditches should then be doubled, making them one-half mile 
apart. They should be fed by small collecting ditches or field 
laterals perpendicular to the larger ditches. It may be found prac- 
ticable to use tile drains instead of open field ditches. In many 
newly reclaimed tracts in Louisiana these field laterals are made 4 
feet deep, 4 feet wide at the top, 1 J feet wide at the bottom, and are 
spaced 165 or 330 feet apart to divide the land into 10-acre or 20-acre 
plats between the larger ditches. Pine Island Bayou and Taylors 
Bayou should be improved as outlined on later pages. The work on 
each stream wiU benefit several units, and the cost should be appor- 
tioned according to the benefits to be received. The entire south end 
of Hardin County and a large area in Liberty County wiU receive 
direct benefit from the improvement of Pine Island Bayou, but since 
the present State drainage law makes no provision for cooperation 
between counties in doing such work it is proposed that no more 
work be done on that watercourse than will be necessary to meet 
the needs of Jefferson County. All the drainage units drained into 
Taylors Bayou will be benefited by the improvement of that stream 
below the mouth of Mayhaw Bayou near the limit of tidewater. 
DRAINAGE UNITS. 
GRAVITY DISTRICTS. 
The gravity drainage districts are Nos. 1,2, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 15, 20, 
25, and 28. The district boundaries foUow approximately the nat- 
ural divides between adjoining drainage basins. Since the whole 
north end of the county, except a narrow strip along Pine Island 
Bayou and the Neches River marshes, is drained into Taylors Bayou, 
and a vast area in the south half of the county is drained ultimately 
into the same bayou, all of this might be combined into one great 
