St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1920-09-18
DRAINAGE PAYS
SAYS PROF. E.
O. FIPPIN, OF
CORNELL
Worthless Lands Made Val
liable by Drainage
and Tiles.
TERRACING ALONE
IS NOT ADEQUATE
Story Told By Professor OF
Soils in Americas
Great College.
(By Elmer o. Fippin, professor OF
Soil Technology. Cornell Uniyer-

Soil Technology. Cornell Uniyer-
sity.)
the need for better drainage OF
the soil has been shown to an un-
usual extent this year. In nearly
every section Of the humid states the
rainfall after June first was unusual
~ high; heavy doWnpours were COM
mon. The situation was made more
serious in many regions by frequent
arms at harvesting time, which pre-
vented in various ways the gathsr-
ing Of crops.
Weeds grew because the cultiyator
could not be run to keep them down.
Potatoes blighted, partly becalsc
spray material was washed off the
plants by frequent rains, partly be-
cause spray outfits could not be
operated when the land was wet.
In my neighborhood it was not un-
common to see binders and reapars
standing in the partly cut and over
ripe grain and hay fields. In one
20m.le trip from home l counted
more than twenty fields of grain
oats, harley and wheat-and several
hayfields, that were nearly valueless
because of the wet weather.
At {. large meeting of representa-
tive farmers in the midst of the ssa-
son, men congratulated or commiser-
ated themselves on their underdrains
Or the lack of them. One farmer
said it took him an hour and half
to make one round with the grain
binder IN a small field because of
wet srcts in the land. Another farm
er capped this by saying he hal
wasted two and a half hours in max
ing one rennd for the same cause.
Otherwise conditions were favorable
for harvesting-the crop was on the
ground and the weather was fair;
but the land was not dry enough to
permit work.
Had those wet places been under
drained the ground would have been
dry enough to carry the teams AID
in twenty-four to thirty-six
hours after a good rain.
A quarter of Our Farm Land Needs
Draining.
Surface conditions this past sea-
son have been such as to remind the
farmer in a variety of ways Of his
need for drainage, but probably a
of men still fail to appre-
ciate the more fundamental effects
of good soil, and especially subsoil,
drainage in crop production. Any
one. can see a field of uncut grain,
pools of water and mired machines,
and swamped and totally undevelop-
ed crops In many titled fields.
The popular mind, aroused by the
general discussion in favor of i'm
proved agriculture, has taken hold of
the idea thta swamp lands should be
reclaimed to grow more stuff.
There are 100000 square miles Of
permanently or periodically swamp
ed land in the Unite dStates. But
the fact is frequently overlooked
that the drainage of this area is the
smaller end of our national problem.
The real job is adequately to drain
the wet land in our existing fields
and farms-not swamp land, but
Iand that is being plowed, seedel,
eertili ed and titled year after year,
Yielding crops so small as to give
little or no return.
OF the 100000 square miles N
land in farms, according to
The last census, it is a conservative
estimate that quarter, or 100000
square miles, needs further drainage
to make it as efficient as may Ee.
The. need ranges from a lateral ditch
Or two to a complete system. In
some regions there must be commL-
n :ty. cooperation to construct large
canals as outlet bitches for farm
Trains. Much work of this sort has
already been done, especially in the
States, where hun
1reds Of miles of large drainage ca
nails and underdrains, reaching two
TO three feet in size, are not uncom-
mon. But the progress of that work
IS dependent upon the understanding
BY the individual farmer of the real
effects of the little, unseen drain in
his back field and it's relation to his
bank balance.
A soil may be said to need drain
age whenever from any cause pore
space in the top three feet is mora
than two-thirds full of water, or
when free water stands in, an exca-
vation of that depth for more than
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