The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1911-11-23
0BLEl lA1EE
Few Farms Provided BY Mature
With Exact Amount Needed.
Il WIN BE Found There Is often Too
Much Or Too LittIe--onIy Remedy
Is 10 Drain the Land--cray'ty
system Most Favored.


There Is hardly a farm anywhere
which Il provided by nature with JUS
no exacl amount of water for the
production or the most satisfactory
crou There ia iust as often too much
a. mere Is too little water; moreover
AZ ines Of the year when the preclp''
tatlun Is at its maximnm the water
ben.f rises ii the soil until i actuaiiy
droYns oft and destroys the yegeta'
lion II Il supposed to feed; the oniy
way ID cure this is to drain the iahu
So n 10 draw the level Of water do~n
10 point where 1t will do no daniass.
TLis work is done either BY ditcnes
or muipa and care must be taken MOI
10 raw the water off too much III
rerept crors require OF course diner.
ent amounts Of water, but as q genera
proposition the water should not pc
drawn any lower so the roots OF plants
are abie to reach Ii and draw i up
for their nourishment. says the lFriga.
zion Age. Such drainage water should
be made use Of again for land lying
al lower elevation as it has many
rich salts in solution necessary for
plant food which 1t took up while
standing in the SOIL thus the water
drained from one rarm may pc USED
to irrigate and enrich another farm.
A gravity system Of drainage is nat.
uraIly preferable as its operation cost
/ Is practically nothing There are how.
+ ever, localities where there Is no nat
ural drainage and in such case the sur
plus water must be pumped, In such
case the cost Of pumping must be con
sidered. and ii II can be worked SO as
to store the water in a reservoir SO
AS to use 1t when the ground needs
irrigation the pumps are doing double
duty ais their work In draining the
land is the first step toward irriga-
ton as we'll
! Ii may be truly said that the arts o.
irrigation and drainage are just now
beginning to be developed, and that
the next decade will see a tremen.
dous advance in this dill elton.
The time will come when all the
land that can be irrigated by gravity
plan will have been taken up, and then
tle reclamation OF further land viii
necessarily depend on the ability Of
raising water from the deep. This
will also include such lands as are
now watered by artesian wells which
deliver water under head at present
but the time will come when the
pressure diminishes and that water
will also have to be pumped. The ques
tion whether 1t win pay to irrigate
land by pumping the necessary water
will depend on good many circum
stances which should be carefully. con
sidered. AS a general proposition the
government should be first consulted
regarding the geological formation
quantity and quality Of ground water
supply in the region under considera
ton, next the condition of the sol
should be established, which is best
done by taking samples at different 10
calities and depths and have them an
slyzed in the various experiment sta
lions. From this Information an ap
\ proximate estimate of the cost Of
pumping can be made. But the propo
.sltion is always one Of more or less
uncertainty. as no one can definitely
!. state whether a subterranean water
4 supply is permanent, like an under
ground river. or whether it is just q
pocket. For this reason the govern
ment should devote more work and
money 10 the establishment Of by
draulic Information in the various
states, especially in the arid and semi
arid regions.