Farm Drainage Practice

DRAINAGE of wet spots in cultivated fields results in increased crops of better quality, removes wet pockets from fields, thus permitting cultivation with a minimum of time and labor, and allows more timely seeding and cultivation. A delay of a single week in seeding sometimes means• from 10 to 50 per •cent less yield.• Modem labor-saving
machines cannot be used effectively on fields cut up by wet spots. Poor drainage, resulting in no
crop after plowing, planting, and cultivating, caus_es loss of labor, fertilizer, seed, and rental
value of the land. Roots of ordinary crop plants in saturated soil, instead of penetrating to a depth of three or four
feet, mature early in the upper few inches. Here the plant food is soon exhausted, and the plant
becomes stunted or dies. Since soil erosion control is dependent upon proper drainage, many
problems in soil erosion can be obviated or solved by adequate drainage.