The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1909-08-25
TILE DRAINAGE.


In the present state of our agricul-
ture, speaking generally. 1t might be
well to confine our operations Of un-
derdraining to those lands that are
naturally very fertile and new; only
the removal Of the surplus water to
enable them to produce large crops
And yet there seems some danger In
laying down q general rule like
this. for our country is largely made
up Of land which. though they cannot
be classed az very fertile Soils yet,
must be cultivated and proper drain
age even without extra fertilization
would very much increase their yield.
The farmer whose estate Is largely or
entirely composed of land of this
class can find satisfaction In the fact
that having drained his land he has
not only placed his business on a
much surer basis. but, by supple
menting his drainage with judicious
manuring, he has 1t In his power to
bring his soil up to very high state
Of fertility. Agriculture, when as
sisted by drainage. Is not so much in
fluenced by vicissitudes Of weather
and becomes as unfailing in it's re-
turns as any other occupation.
OF course what is here said about
underdrainage might be applied with
equal propriety to surface drainage.
The proper treatment of the surface
in order to remove the water of heavy
rains and at the same time prevent
erosion. should precede underdrain-
age. 1 shall not dwell upon the sub
Ject Of surface drainage here. as this
paper Is intended to be a mono
graph on tile drainage 1 will only
remark in passing that surface drain
age does not contemplate soil drain
age. 1t removes water that would
otherwise stand on or soak into the
soil. thus keeping the soil wet longer.
and. incidentally. may furnish outlet
channels for receiving the water de-
A good soil is a soil abounding In
all the elements Of plant food; but
there are certain conditions that must
| exist in any good soil in order that
a seed may make thriving plant.
The soil must be moist. but not wet
and well supplied with air. We sup
ply the air when we remove the su-
perabundant water. and this aeration
Of the soil is promoted by tillage. A
better than a crop on undrained soils.
because drained soils have more
moisture In them during droughts
than undrained soils. The greater
supply Of moisture during dry seasons
In drained soils Is to be accounted for
as follows:
| First-A water-logged soil, that Ia
to say soil that continues full Of
water all through the winter. will.
when dry weather sets In. begin to
bake and get hard. This hard crust,
ever increasing in depth, serves as a
pump just like the lamp wick,
drawing the water up from below
and giving 1t of to the atmosphere
until the subsoil water Is exhausted
down to a depth out Of reach Of the
crop roots. The soil during the pro-
cess Of drying shrinks and splits into
those big cracks already alluded to-
and these promote the drying effect
Of the atmosphere. Hundreds of tons
OF water are thus carried from every
acre. Notice In your cabbage patel,
that the tracks you made while set
ting out plants where the ground was
wet are the last points to dry. Thii
Is because the soil under your feet
was kneaded or pressed together. and
condensed for some distance below
the surface. which had the effect OF
increasing It's capillarity. thus en-
abling 1t to draw water from a great.
er depth. thereby keeping the surface
wet longer than the surrounding soil
Now after our water-logged soil has
been drained. the first few feet of sol
from the surface downward have beer
made more open and mellow. and the
capacity of the soil for sucking NJ
water from below as well as its ca
pacity as a conductor of the sun''
heat Is thereby greatly diminished
and be 1t remembered that i'm just the
proportion that the capacity of tn,
soil as heat conductor is lessened