The ranch., September 15, 1909, Page 13, Image 14

About The ranch. (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914

Image provided by: Washington State Library; Olympia, WA

                
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FARM DRAINAGE
The importance or significance <>t
Farm Drainage has been spoken of I
great deal and there is considerable
literature on the subject already in
circulation. However, it is apparent
that the salient facts of farm drain
age and the absolute benefits to be
derived from properly handling this
problem on the farm have not been
driven home to the farmer.
The reasons for this are many. One
of them is the inability of the farmer
to see in dollars and cents the bene
fits to be derived from such an in
vestment. If he could once see actual
profits gained by draining his land he
would need no one to urge him to do
it. He may admit that there is a
possibility in it, but together with his
admission he entertains an idea of
risk which must, be elmnated. The
old saying, "Nothing ventured, noth
ing gained," does not, in the majority
of cases, appeal to the rural people.
The benefits to be derived from farm
drainage are numerous and have been
much written about. There arc a few,
however, which are of the more Im
portant ones and may be mentioned
again. Pulverization
There is hardly a farmer in the
country who has not experienced, or
at least observed, what happens when
a wet soil is plowed. If turned over
in the fall, the weathering of winter
often disintegrates a great portion of
it. But if plowed in the spring, after
a wet winter season or continued
spring rains, the soil is left lumpy and
is baked in the sun. Proper drainage
would remove the excess of water and
leave the ground in an easily plow
able condition.
With either a wet winter or rainy
spring we find the season (time from
plowing to harvesting) shortened and
frost is almost sure to catch some
crop. Late Spring
"Late springs" are eliminated where
the ground is well drained and the
conditions necessary for germination
of the seeds are brought on much
sooner. A water-soaked soil is a poor
place for seeds to start, due both to
the mere excess of the water and
more especially to the consequent
low temperature of the ground. Wet
land resists the warming influence of
the sun because of evaporation. An
enormous amount of heat is required
to vaporize the excess of water and
where no drainage is afforded vapor
ization is the only means of drying
the soil. Consequently, the heat which
should be used in warming the soil is
lost in driving off the excess of water.
file Drainage
Will not only make your
land easy to work, but also
increase your crops. If
your low land is not drained
a heavy rain will cause the
soil to become water soaked
and drown your crops.
Send for free booklet and
get our prices of tile.
Little Falls Fire
'Clay Company
TACOMA, WASH.
Double The Quantity of Water
delivered by any other deep well ._
cylinder pump, is ruined by the ifflfK JfffijA
"American" IF^w'Ffill
Deep Well Pump BIuSHI
The reason in it deliver! the|f|§f| fffjilwH
full capacity of the cylinder Mf j,JXl jJ iAI W
both on the DOWN-stroke l^OFx^a^
and the UP-ttroke making it act- E; iOTTOSt!
ually double capacity. There's aM| jljMvij|
revelation to pump users in our B|ylJ|ffl
new Deep Well Pump Catalog. IffmKSil
The American Well Works^all \\^^m\i\
Qen. Office & Works, Aurora Jll.^i^^!!!]
lit Nut. Hank Itldg., Chicago, ll'iTTrr t'"a>
Zimmerman, Wells. Brown Co., Portland, Oregon.
The Ranch
Loamy Soils
Lowlands, when* surface soil usually
consists ol washings are very often
very rich and suitable for agriculture,
but owing to the fact that, they arc
wet throughout the entire year they
are not made use of and no profit de
rived therefrom. The problem Of
draining lowlands is, of course, a diffi
cult one, but one which should have
careful consideration and every possi
bility exhausted before giving up the
drainage of same. There is seldom
to be found a piece so low as will not
permit of being drained. The tile may
not be laid so deep and may not serve
so great an area per number of tile
laid, but still it may be profitable to
drain it. By a careful survey of the
ground a system may in most cases
be worked out which will prove satis
factory- When once drained, this kind
of land will be found immensely pro
ductive and profitable. A piece of
ground which seemingly is "too low"
should not be overlooked, but the con
ditions should be studied and likely
it will be found highly profitable to
improve. Aeration
In order that the best conditions for
growth may be obtained, the soil
should have plenty of air. This ob
viously cannot be the case where
there is an excess of water. The sev
eral canals and interstices in the soil
become filled with water and the air
is excluded. Under these conditions
the soil becomes stale, unsanitary and
unproductive, and in some instances
becomes swampy.
By removing the excess water in the
■ground so as to admit the surfuce
water, the soil is refreshed and im
bued with life-giving qualities. The
rain in falling collects a very con
siderable amount of air and carries it
into the ground, where it. gives it to
the soil. Thus it is readily seen that
the soil is continually moistened and
aerated, rendering it in fine condition
to support plant growth.
Plant Growth
There are three essentials to plant
growth which must be derived entire
ly, or in a large part—depending on
the plant—from the soil; namely, food,
water and air. The food must be
present in readily accessible form, or
if not, conditions must be such that
it is being converted into such form.
The principal agents in this process
of breaking up the food-containing
particles are air and water, and neith
er can do it alone. Hence it may be
seen that an excess of one or the
other would be a hindrance. With
proper drainage there will be obtained
an intermittent, if not continuous,
action of these two agents in supply
ing the plant food in the necessary
form. If there is an excess of water,
air will be excluded and the operation
stopped. Hence, it will be seen that
for a proper supply of food there must
not be an excess of water, and the ex
cess, if any, must be gotten rid of.
How? By drainage.
Water is very necessary for plant
growth and must be supplied, but
never in excessive quantities. Experi
ence teaches that a meager or seem
ingly insufficient supply of water is
very much less to be feared than is
an excessive supply. This fact is
borne out by investigations into the
methods of "dry farming" which is
being taken up so extensively in the
arid districts of our country. Here
we find what may be termed "exces
sive" drainage. The only moisture
remaining in the soil is that held by
capillarity or occluded by the small
soil particles. In order to retain this
small amount of water, special meth
ods of treatment are resorted to, chief
of which may be mentioned that of
keeping the surface loose so as to
reduce loss by evaporation to a mini
mum.
"While "dry farming" is obviously
not suited to raising all crops, it has
proven very satisfactory for some,
chiefly wheat. There are many in
stances where the yield averages
25 to 30 bushels, and some consider
ably more and as high as 45 to 50
bushels to the acre, and this when
there is no rain from early spring to
harvest time. This would seem to
indicate that wheat needs no water.
However, wheat does need water, but
not an excessive amount; just the
requisite quantity properly supplied.
It is easily seen that the danger does
not lie in excessive drainage but is
wholly at the other extreme, excessive
moisture due to lack of drainage. On
well-drained land the roots spread out
and down into the soil in reach of
moisture, the result being well-rooted
plants and consequently good crops.
The third essential for plant growth,
ySqII SUCCESS SPREADER B°"^
I Free From Cog Gears—Direct Chain Drive—Light Draft—Choice of Every- I
C body Who Really Knows Manure Spreaders. |
■a Why experiment I The Success Is In use at nearly all Agricultural Colleprpn and U. R. Experimental X
I Farms. It makeH you mire of ri^lit work mid rliilit worKlntr. farts slrapl«>—everything direct— free I
I from breakage-long lived. A generation of nparlMMM In It—lt lias been the leader from Uiu lint I
I Dlgtlngulßhed features made exclusive through patents. J¥
jHRBpi Equipped With Either Steel S*
*i KEMP & BURPEE MANUFACTURING CO« SYRACUSE, N. Y. '
-riL-E drainage:
The benefits are best illustrated by noting the effects of water on
plants growing in pots. The hole in the bottom of the pot serves ex
actly the same use tli.it Tile Draining will on your farm. In irrigating
use our VITRIFIED CLAY PIPE. It is a line carrier of water and
nnikes distribution easy. Send for our free booklet explaining this, and
a lot of you club together and take advantage of our low rates on drain
tilt- in car load lots. We will give you the best terms.
DE;iVrNV = REINTOIN CtAY <& COAL CO.
Lowman Bldg., Seattle.
namely, air, or more exactly oxygen,
is supplied from two sources —the air
above the ground and the air occluded
in the ground. There are some plants
which take up oxygen above the
ground, but by far the larger part de
pends upon absorption through the
roots of the oxygen occluded in the
ground. Under conditions of exces
sive moisture, as before stated, the
supply of oxygen is limited or entirely
absent, preventing healthy plant
growth. By drainage this excess of
water is removed and oxygen is read
ily supplied to the roots.
Thus it can be seen that the neces
sary conditions for plant growth can
not exist where there is an excessive
supply of water which is not removed.
The remedy is obvious —proper drain
age. Choosing the Tile
The selection of the tile to be used
in draining a farm is very important
and should have the farmer's careful
consideration. The tile should be well
formed and of a uniform size in order
to facilitate the laying. When struck
with a hammer the tile should have a
rather metallic ring which indicates
proper burning. When touched to the
tongue the tile should adhere slightly,
indicating the degree of porosity and
hardness. These few simple tests are
of groat value to the person inexperi
enced with tile, and if closely adhered
to much trouble may be avoided.
ARGENTINA BEEF A MENACE
Prof. H. W. Mumford, of Missouri,
spent six months of last year investi
gating cattle conditions in Argentina,
S. A., and says that very fine herds of
cattle are produced in Argentina
without a mouthful of grain. These
cattle are fed simply grass and alfalfa
and were never in a stable.
Grass-fed mutton has gone from Ar
gentina to London market too fat to
sell. On one ranch of 100,000 acres
there are 18,600 cattle, 10,000 sheep
and 2,000 horses —all market fat with
out a pound of grain. Most of the
cattle country is flat and level and
the climate is ideal for growing, as
blizzards and severe weather are un
known.
Argentina is a real competitor of
the United States and has during the
past three years shipped considerable
more beef to Great Britain than has
our own country. The beef can be
delivered in London from Argentina
as cheaply as it can from Chicago.
At Colfax 3,000 head of sheep were
sold to Idaho parties for $12,118 cash.
Some years ago the sheep ranchers
declined to pay 2 cents per head for
pasture for their sheep and bought the
land at 60 cents to $1.50 per acre, and
have been forced to become wealthy
by its increase in value.
13
U.S. GOVERNMENT
Irrigation Projects
Water thousands of Acres, but
there are thousands more above the
ditch which can be reclaimed by the
Columbia Ram
utilizing a small fall from ditch
lateral or creek. The battery of
Columbias as shown above irri
gates about 240 acres of Grand
View Hill, at Sunnyside, Washing
ton.
If interested write for particulars
Columbia Steel Co.
148 N. 10th Street, Portland, Ore.
B EDISON j&*±
PRIMARY BATTERIES
You Need Batteries for Your Gas
Engine That Maintain Their
Full Voltage.
If the voltage drops the spark
fails and the; engine stops.
Edison BSCO Batteries
do not dry up, rim down or wash'
current. They insure at all times
the quick, hot spark necessary for
persistent and profitable gftl en
gine work.
lilt, us send you tree our book
giving full information.
Edison Manufacturing Co.
31 LAKESIDE AYE , ORANOB, V. J