The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1897-11-06

SuD-SOll. II lldL Is
OF sand or gravel the water will pass off
below by natural drainage; but if the
suD-soil Is clay or other impervious
substance, the water is checked in its
downward course and remains stag
nant or bursts out upon the surface
in the form of springs. Most of the
prairie lands are of the latter charac-
ter, and wherever such sub-soil exists
the land will not only be improved by
tile drainage. but it may be said that
such drainage is absolutely essential
to its proper development and culture.
To question the necessity of the process
is little less absurd than it would be
to ask whether it would be improved
by plowing, instead of making hills for
corn In the prairie grass with hoe
OF spade. All lands require drainage
which, at any season, contain too much
water-that is, which hold at any time
OF the year more moisture than is good
for the crops, and causes them to suf-
fer, either by freezing out in winter,
or having their roots in water during
the growing season. Drainage has
been appropriately defined as " the art
of rendering land not only so free from
moisture that no superfuous water
shall remain in it, but that no water
shall remain long enough to injure or
retard the healthy growth of such
plants as are required for the susie
nance of man or beast" There are
some plants, as rice and cranberries,
which require wet soil, but most OF
those which are useful to man, are
drowned by being overlooked for
short time. and are injured by any
stagnant water about their roots. The
soil of The prairies, in most cases, is
undertake with clay, which not un-
frequently contains a mixture OF me-
tallic oxides, which cause it to form
a substratum almost of the nature OF
rock, and known commonly among
farmers as hard pan" 1t is a COM
mon impression that clay is impervious
to water, and that, therefore, clay
soil-and particularly if it has assumed
the solid form of hard pan" under the
surface-can not be drained with the,
and especially if the tile is laid lower
than the hard pan" But that such
land is not absolutely impervious is
proved by the fact that it is very wet
in the spring at almost any depth,
while in the latter part of the summer
it becomes dry and hard. How comes
it to be soaked at any time, If water
does not go into it? And how comes 1t
dry, if water does not come out OF IT.
The facts that clay will readily absorb
a great deal of water, and that it may
be subsequently dried, prove conclu-
sively that it is not imperVious to
water, but they do not prove that water
will pass through it with sufficient
rapidity to answer the practical pur-
noses of drainage 1t is nevertheless
fact that owners of clay farms al
most invariably overestimate the diff
ficulty in draining their land. They
know that puddled clay is used for the
bottom of ponds, canals, etc, and is
nearly or quite impervious. But such
is not its natural condition, and it is
onlv reached by working and beating
il while wet, or, as in the case OF the
hard pan subsoil, by continued pres
sure from above. Nor can clay be
kent in this condition except by being
constantly wet. If once dried, or sub
iected to the action of frost. it resumes
it's natural porous confederation.