The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette., November 16, 1912, DRAINAGE SPECIAL., Image 1

About The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette. (Starkville, Miss.) 1910-1920

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DRAINAGE SPECIAL.
FaM ©AEIfTE
7arm and Home Weekly for
, Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee.
AM. ALA.,—MEMPHIS, TENN.
V*_
Vol. AAVil. No. 46. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16,\»12. Weekly: $1 a Year.
—. 1- —- —- o --- ■■ _ _
.*
WHEN DRAINAGE IS NEEDED. I
TWU KlINDa OI soils
need draining; those
that have too much
water, and those that are
too shallow. The signs of
poor drainage are obvious.
Swamps, marshes, mead
ows and all other low lands
on which water stands for
any considerable time may
be drained, provided there
is fall enough to secure an
outlet. These low lands
may be those which collect
surface drainage, or seep
age from nearby higher
land; or they may be lands
that are regularly flooded
by fresh water or by tides.
Farm land which dries out
slowly in spring, making
the working and growing
season shorter, or on which
water stands for a long
time after heavy rains,
needs to be drained. If
urn -jmi . «:• -v ■- ?1 mr—ilinir ■. - ^ . '• v n.w-<
STUDENTS AT STATE AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL. MAGNOLIA. ARK , LAVING TILES FOR UNDER DRAINAGE. i
waxer oozes into the furrow, the soil is too wet for good farming.
The kind of plants that take possession of a field, before it is
broken up or after it has been laid down in sod, or after it has been
neglected for a year or more, are usually a reliable index to its peed
of drainage. If bog and water-loving plants become established here
and there, especially sedges, rushes and mosses, the soil is too wet.
Certain spots in the field, usually the lowest places, will indicate their
need of drainage in this way, altho most of the field is all right.
All of these surface indications, however, should be supplemented
or verified by an examination of the water-table. Dig a hole in the
field from four to six feet deep. If water stands in this hole within
three feet of the surface or less, during most of the growing season,
it is quite certain that the roots of cultivated plants do not find
enough room, air and warmth in that soil to produce the largest crops.
The growth of the crops themselves supplies evidence. On poorly
drained soils the Diants start slowlv. look sicklv and stunted, and
never make the profitable growth of neighboring plants on well
drained soil. Within the boundaries of one field there are often both
well-drained and poorly drained places.
! There is another class of soils—those that are shallow—that are
improved by being drained, but these are not too wet, except for short
Periods. First, there are the soils that have a hard-pan close to the
surface, perhaps within one to three feet. This hard-pan may be a
stratum of rock, but more often it is a layer of stiff and impervious
c ay. The rock hard-pan cannot be improved, but the clay hard-pan
cam Water cannot readily penetrate it. It is like the bottom of a
shallow pan; when a heavy rain comes, the pan soon fills and over
flows, making surface water. This can escape by surface drainage or
y evaPoration. But such a soil quickly dries out and suffers in a
drouth, because it has so little depth. What is needed is to deepen
e *°^ 80 that it will hold more water.
Still another type of soil*—those poor in texture—is often greatly
benefited by being drained. I hese are mostly the clayey soils that
get hard, lumpy and unmanageable when dry, anil sticky when wet.
1 hey are not what would be called wet soils, neither are they shallow,
but they are not mellow and they run to extremes, either very dry or
very wet. It is impossible to work them early in spring. Heavy
rains put them in such a condition that they cannot be cultivated for
several days after the crops begin to need tilling. The surface bakes
and cracks. Such soils are improved by plowing under a green-ma
nuring crop, by under drainage, or by both. In many cases the addi
tion of humus is sufficient to bring the soil into got>d heart; in ex
treme cases under drainage must lie called to the aid of humus.—Dr.
S. W. Fletcher in “Soils." !
FEATURES OF THIS ISSUE.
DEPTH TO PIT TILE—From Three to I i>ur Feet *« a Rule IKS
DRAINAGE EYPERIKNt Fs— letters From (lui Deaden. . . H
DRAINAGE MATERIAL WITHIN REACH OF ALL_Ntomo and
Pine Poles Will Give Good Results . , . 4
HOW TO LAY TILE—Practical Adthe >n an I \|>«rt «,
KINDS OF DRAIN TILE—Vitrified. I la,, and f en»eat 2,
ONE WAY TO STOP GELLIEs—Picture* Which show the Way 3
SOILS THAT DO NOT NEED DEEP PLOWING—There ire Few
Such Soils in the South. g
THAT LITTLE WET SPOT—How to Make It Pa, V<e 3
“THE REST LIGHT I HAVE FOI Nli _\ s* * lo
TWrO GREAT DAIRY SHOWS— Koine of the laamu They Tauaht II
TWO-YEAR-OLD HEIFERS FOR *23—1|.,„ \fr H lilia.os IUi*e*
Thetn for This. 13
WHAT DENMARK TEACHES SOITHKKN I IRMFR*—Co-o,*^.
ation Possible Only When Farmers Are Fdu<ate<| ami Own
Their Homes . I* !