Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1888-07-13
DRAINAGE OF LAND.
II. Erect Upon Soil In Wet as Wen ~ D's
Weather.

The effects of drainage are I'M
ouestionably beneficial in very hign
degree. To relieve the saturated son
of its surplus water down to depth 10
which the roots of the crops penetrate
is indispensable to the culture OF the
land and the growth OF the crops a
sodden swale or swamp can not be
cultivated and it is constant danger
and menace to the health OF the persons
living near it and of animals feeding
mon or about it. Bat when 1t IS
drained the life-giving air enters ana
fertility abounds. crops thrive win
luxuriance, and malaria no more makes
life a burden. So it Is with all reten-
tive soils in which water remains TOO
long for profitable working, and. nav
ing no bottom outlet, escapes by SLOW
surface evaporation. chilling the land.
filling the air with moisture and poison
GUS germs and preventing seasonable
culture. Such land must be drained.
There is no alternative. and II the es-
cape of the water through the tiles
used for the purpose Of carrying on the
water does really cause disastrous
droughts, tits result which can not be
helped.
1t may be worth while to discuss this
matter and see if this result does really
occur, as is stated by some very intelli-
gent writers, whose belief is entitled to
some consideration. The past summer
has been exceedingly dry in parts OF
Ohio, Iowa. Illinois and Wisconsin. and
crops have suffered seriously for want
of moisture. Has the drainage OF wet
lands and the removal of surplus water
had any serious effect in intensifying
the results Of the dry weather? No
reasonable or sane person would enter
tain for moment the idea that the
tiles in the ground caused the dry
weather and prevented rain from fall
ing. But it is charged that the tiles
carry off the rainfall as fast as it comes
down; that the water reaches the
drains and flows of, leaving the ground
above their level dry and without any
more water than it'can hold by suspen-
sion, and even preventing the water
from reaching the subsoil and the wells,
and so causing famine Of water in a
dry season. II this be true it is mat
ter of choice Of two evils, saturstion of
the soil and sloughs and swamps, or an
occasional water famine. Then the
question occurs, is this SOP
Tho ootsor Jro;os 30 wall ,,,Ior
stood. Water does not enter drains
from above, sinking in the soil and
passing off through the tiles. This is
not the way the water escapes into the
tiles. When the soil becomes filed
with as much water as it can hold, up
to the surface, the excess then flows off
by the way of the hollow places into
the water courses. This is when there
are no subsoil drains When land is
drained sufficiently to carry off the ex-
cess above the point of saturation, the
water sinking down forces itself into
the drains from below, excepting from
directly over the tiles, and in gradu-
ally sloping direction upward to the
central line between the drains. And
no more thus passes into the drains
than the excess above the saturation
point, and if this did not flow into the
Trains it would escape from the sur
face. The drains will carry off this sur
plus water If it is not more than the
soil can pass through its pores; if it is
in excess of the ability of the soil to
let it through it will flow off from the
surface, whether the land is drained
or not One principal point in the
practice of drainage is to provide such
sufficient number of drains as will
carry off all the surplus water and pre-
vent surface washing, and to have no
more drains than will do this without
lowering the point of saturation below
the surface midway between the
drains. This depends upon the char
acter of the land, and the engineer
who lays out the system of drainage
will always carefully consider this
point and avoid making a mistake
either way. So that in fact the drains
do not remove any more water from
the land than would flow away if there
were no drains; the effect of the drains
being only to carry away the surplus
below the surface that would other
wise flow off on the surface. 1t is much
better that the escape should be by the
drains than by the surface, for in its
passage through the soil the water
parts with whatever fertilizing matter
it may contain, and by means of the
carbonic acid, oxygen and nitrogen il
may hold in solution, it not only con.
veys plant food to the crops In the Sc
forms, but it has considerable useful
effect upon the soil in dissolving min.
eral matter which the crops can avail
themselves OF. These are the effects O,
the drains upon the soil in wet weathe,
when water is in excess; now let us
consider their effect in dry weather,
when moisture is deficient.
Soil parts with it's moisture more OIL
less rapidly, in proportion to its solid.
fty or porosity. A ball of solid ella,
pressed hard and compactly will dry
out very quickly. and because of It.
want of porosity it will absorb mois
ture very slowly. If the clay is pull
verified and moistened 1t will remain
moist much longer than when it is in .
solid mass, and when dry will Absorb
moisture more quickly. The behavior
OF soils in this respect has been investi
gated by several careful observers, ane
especially by the German Professor
schubler, who found that compact ella,
soil absorbed 40 per cent of water il