Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1889-08-01
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
Damage From Floods.

In many parts OF the country sum.
mer storms have done almost incalcu-
liable damage. The losses Of life such
as have occurred in Pennsylvania are
largely the result OF criminal careless
ness, leaving u reservoir for months
and even for years in unsafe position.
until finally violent storm falling on
bare rock pours into it flood of water
that no barrier could resist. But every :
where as the country grows older and
longer cultivated storms are apt to in
crease in violence. Where this does
not result, the summer rains, IL of the
same amount in volume, are greatly
| increased in their destructive force.
| Water that while the land was in
forest was absorbed by leaves and
loose porous soil, is now poured on
cOmpacted surfaces, and runs off al
most as quickly as from the roof of a
house.
The extremes of drought and OF ey-
cessivc moisture are both to be guarded
against, and rather curiously it Is the
same remedy that the best farmers
prescribe for both. Land that is drained
not only never too wet, but IL is also
hONCt wv 1CStolCos anu
we believe increases, from the original
character the natural porosity Of the
soil TO depth of one, two or three
feet, depending mainly on the frost line
in various localities. So far as the frost
OF the coolest winters penetrates the
soil becomes porous. In the course Of
years this porous condition increas-
es and extends. II an underdrain is
kept in good working order, it does
better service five, ten or fifteen years
after it is laid than at first. 1t takes
time to enable the original water chan
nels, broken up by digging, to reform.
1t takes still more time for the hard
humps in the soil to be expanded into
porosity by frost.
Injury from summer rains comes in
part from washing away OF elevated
lands and from flooding Of valleys.
OF the two, ordinarily. the former is
much the more injurious. In fact,
| flooding OF the lowland rarely occurs
while the land is new. except in win
ter or in early spring, when the sur
face is frozen and ice retards the pass
! ing away of surplus water through
streams. But as the country becomes
older, while the outlying of hillsides
does not decrease, it is accompanied
by greatly increased d niger of floods
in valleys at all seasons. II n flood
occurs on land that can be overlooked
while a crop is on it the loss is fully as
great, if not greater, than it is by the
washing away of soil from uplands. A
grain crop overfOwed just as it was
coming into head is tlattened to the
ground and cannot fill. There will be
straw, though even that will be rusted
and of little value; but there will be
10 grain.
Undertaking the uplands is the
only cffectual remedy for flooded val
leys, unless we return them to their
original forest, which by the decay Of
roots in the soil and of leaves on the
surface made u natural drainage. The
Outlying of hillside roads has obliged
the pathmasters to run underdrains by
the side connecting with the centre. 1t
is indeed the very cause Of the diff
Guilty. II we could hold back the
water, allowing it to soak into and
through the soil to outlets beneath,
not only would the danger Of floods be
prevented, but the evils OF drought
following freshetS would also be
mitigated.
A still further consideration may be
worth noting. After the bulk of arabic
land has been underdrained, we believe
there VII! be less probability of the
prevalence Of violent storms that OF
late have become very common. They
did not prevail to such an extent as
now when the cCuntry was new, when
the surface was covered by forests,
and summer evaporation was much less
violent and rapid than now. 1t may
be that the sudden changes of tempera,
ture in summer so disturb electrical
conditions as to create more sudden
and injurious storms than those thai
formerly prevailed.-Amcrican Guilt,
yatOr