The River Falls times. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1894-1933, 1899-01-24
understanding Hills:des.


Many farmers whose land is rolling
or billy do not appreciate the beneht
that undertaking it would give them,
says American Cultivator. The soll
is thin and they complain that the
water runs off too rapidly. Ihat is
indeed just the trouble. There is only
a thin stratum on the surface that IS
permeable by water, and when the
floods come, they carry every winter
more or less of this surface SOIL into
the valleys below. Wherever the SUD
soil of hills is clay an underdra1n SUNK
three feet deep will cause the water
that comes to it to sink into the SOIL
and be carried off by the drain instead
of on the surface On very steep hill
sides it is not best to dig bitches
straight up and down the hill. A
diagonal course, leading the water
across the hill, with gradual descent
to the lower part, will be much better
OF course several drains will be need
ed, running parallel, in hill OF much
size, and all may run into an open
ditch on the lower side Of the HILL
We dislike to run side-hill drains into
a large underground conduit. More or
less dirt will be loosened and brought
down in the drains. The covered con-
duit will often need to be cleaned. so
will the open ditch, but it will pc
much less trouble than the underdraln.
Wherever there Is a sudden stoppage
of rapid descent, there will be large
deposit Of silt, and at such place
deep, wide hole, two or three feet pc
low the tile, should be made to be
filled with water. In this still water
al the soil brought from the heights
above will be deposited, and from this
on the further side drain can be run
that will take only the pure water
above the surface Of the silt.
BY thus draining hillsides, all the
surface wash can be prevented. what
comes down through the tiles will be
very little except for the first few
years, while the soil is settling. After
an underdrain is thus established IN
its position, it undergoes very rev
changes. The effect of frost on moist
ground is to expand and deepen 1t, SO
that it will absorb more water. In
this way the hillside may be given as
deep soil and with as much fertility
as the best lowland. with the ad-
vantage over the latter that it is not
likely to be overlooked with water
which remains stagnant. On many up
land hillsides, springs will be struck
in the progress Of undertaking, or
there may be springs that appear even
now on the surface. These springs
ought always to be tapped. Wherever
there is wet place in the hillside a
little digging will probably find the
spring that originates it. Sole or
round tile should always be used in
hillside draining. Where horseshoe
tile are used the edges of the tile are
liable to be undermined by washing
away of the soil between them, and in
this way the drain is soon spoiled.
With sole or round tile there is no
such friction on the soil beneath it.
Many hillsides are too rocky for
profitable draining, and especially
those that are very springy. But on
almost all of them it is possible to
make short underdrains from wet
places to the lower grounds, where it
can often in rocky soil find assures in
the rocks through which it may pass
to the wales below. The greater part
of the rainfall on mountains thus finds
it's way to the seaboard. If the noun
tain streams brought in surface floods
all the rain that falls, it would make
greater floods than any that are now
known. This is shown by the heavy
| covered with ice, SO that the natural
escape through absorption by the sur,
face soil is stopped