i 'ill'i mm Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/farmdevelopmentiOOhaysrich Farm Development An Introductory Book in Agriculture Including a Discussion of Soils, Sele•A nlanfc anrl ^^ed wheat, originated from the parent peCiailZea piantS ana 51^3 stem shown in Figure 1, grovra animal« Tncf qc +Iip murliin- *° various parts of Minnesota in 1902 animaiS. just as tne macnm- under similar conditions as the com- • ■ , • , • ^l.^ U^:^^^ mon wheat, shown in Figure 3, was ISt tries to improve the boiler 21.5 bushels per acre, an increase of d.t . 1 11 1 .3.3 bushels, or 18 per cent. engine that shall best receive and transmit from the fuel the force it liberates upon burning, so the farmer seeks the best plants with 24 FARM DEVELOPMENT* which to gather and store up the force of the sun's rays and transmit them to his uses whenever wanted. As the electrician seeks the most economical form of dynamo to receive the force transmitted from the steam engine, so the farmer seeks the best horse, milch cow, or other ^•N5iSf:^'55ppi*^a.^^ f'im^ animal that shall in the most economical manner receive the force from the plants and transmit it to whatever use may be de- sired. Some chemical com- pounds, within the plant or animal, form storage bat- Figure 5. The net returns from Ethel, ferifc; nf murh cr r p n + a t when used in the dairy, a cow bred mainly '"^^ ^^^ ^^ IIIULII greater for beef, for one year, figuring butter, skim rinwTP'ra fh^n nflnprc TViiic milk and feed at market prices, in 1895. puwcrb Illdn OinerS, 1 nUS, was $9.92. Haecker. f ^ ^ 5 h a V C nearly tWO and one-half times as much latent heat, or power, stored up in a given weight as have starches and sugars, or the substance of cell walls of plants, called cellulose. Vari- ous compounds called proteins are also rated high in value, because in addition to supplying energy they nourish the muscles, nerves, bones, etc. Plants which are bred so as to have a large percentage of protein and fat compounds have a spe- cial value, because they con- tain much more available latent energy than do those not so bred. In like man- ner, animals that are so well bred that their carcasses of beef, mutton or pork have a larger percentage of the high-priced lean meat are especially valuable because of the larger amounts of these more useful forms of " storage batteries." The dairy cow which transforms figure 6. The nel returns from Houston, a specially bred dairy cow, for one year, figuring butter, skim milk and feed at market prices in 1895. was $58.33. Haecker. AGRICULTURAL SUBSTANCES CARRY FORCE 25 most of her food into the vakiable butter fats, storing up a minimum amount in the form of protein in her milk, or as a padding of fatty tissue on her body, is the best machine for transferring a large portion of energy from the pasture or grain bin into the valuable product, butter. The illustrations shown in Figs, i to 6, inclusive, may serve to show differences in engines, plants and animals as to their effectiveness in changing latent energy into active forms useful to man. They emphasize the great importance of properly understanding the relation exist- ing between latent and active energy as related to agri- culture. The sciences related to agriculture. — The theories and facts of science have been grouped around the great divisions of nature. Thus, there is the science of plants, the science of animals, and the science of minerals. The division of knowledge into groups continues with the accumulation of facts, until there are many sciences. Some of these deal mainly with the facts without direct reference to the utility of the facts, while most sciences ultimately affect some economic interest. Agriculture has been wonderfully aided by the sciences, many of which have a very close relation to agricultural produc- tion and to the life of the farm home. In a general way the sciences may be divided into two classes : The physical sciences, which deal with the facts and laws of matter in which life may or may not take part; and the biological sciences, which deal only with living forms, both plants and animals. Among the physical sciences the following are especially useful to agriculture: Mathematics, physics, mechanics, electric- ity, chemistry, geology and meteorology. Since the biological sciences treat of the life of the animal and the plant kingdoms, they are equally useful and important, for they throw light upon many things which have a 26 FARM DEVELOPMENT practical bearing upon plant and animal production, such as heredity, variation, selection, and the development of species, varieties or breeds. Some of the more general biological sciences are botany, bacteriology, zoology, entomology and breeding. Mathematics is the most exact of all the sciences. It deals v^ith the measurement and relations of quan- tities, and by symbols and processes treats of numbers, as in arithmetic and algebra, and of space, as in geometry. Mathematics is applied to all the physical and biological sciences, and is used in all industries and professions. Like all the more practical subjects, the study of mathe- matics not only develops mental vigor, but also gives valuable facts. Physics, in its specific sense, deals with the phenomena of matter, and with the energy which accompanies mat- ter, excluding the phenomena peculiar to living matter, biology, and the phenomena peculiar to elemental forms of matter, chemistry. Physics treats of the constitution and properties of matter, of mechanics, acoustics, heat, light, electricity and magnetism. A study of the gen- eral principles of physics, illustrated at every possible point by its use in explaining mechanical contrivances, soils, feeding and other questions in agricultural prac- tice, is proving most useful as a means of general mind- training and of acquiring useful facts. Mechanics treats of the phenomena caused by the action of energy, or force, on material bodies. It considers the phenomena of static bodies of matter with their latent energy, and kinetic bodies with their dynamic forces operating. Applied mechanics deals with the invention, construction, care and use of all kinds of structures, machines and devices. The people of the world are housed, clothed, fed, transported and supplied with in- formation and luxuries in far greater amount and with far less cost of time and effort because of the development AGRICULTURAL SUBSTANCES CARRY FORCE 2/ of mechanics. Theoretical mathematicians and physicists by their researches, and inventors, have given the basic ideas for the development of practical mechanics. The scientist and the practical man have alike contributed to our sum of mechanical knowledge and to our collection of mechanical appliances. Electficity deals with one form of the invisible force of inorganic and organic substances which manifests itself in many ways, and which is rendered active by some molecular disturbance, as from friction, rupture, or chem- ical action. The laws of the generation, storage, trans- portation and use of this power and {he mechanical ap- pliances driven by it furnish subject matter for school studies and laboratory practice alike practical and useful for mental training. Chemistry is that branch of the physical sciences which treats of the minutiae of substances, as of their atoms, their molecules, the relations these units sustain to each other within substances with simple and compound molecules and the manner in which molecules of dif- ferent kinds are constructed. Theoretical chemistry deals with the laws governing chemical action, while applied chemistry treats of the relations of these laws to agriculture, medicine, mining, sanitation, etc. Physics and chemistry overlap or dovetail, as do all related sciences, and classification cannot make straight lines where nature has not made them. Classification, as in books, is only to aid us in better organizing our thoughts. Geology treats of the constitution and structure of the earth, the operation of its physical forces, the history of its development, including the causes and modes of changes it has passed through, and the occurrence and development of organisms. It embraces physical geog- raphy in part, but is not concerned with political geography. It includes a study of the successive layers 28 FARM DEVELOPMENT of the earth's surface, and the meaning of the fossil evidences of living things in each layer is considered. It gives the relation of the slov^ly developed organic life through the geological ages to the plant and animal forms now on the surface of the earth. It has very prac- tical relations to studies of soils, farm management, and to plant and animal production, as well as to mining and many lines of engineering. The study of this subject is peculiarly broadening, in that it gives the mind a view of the development of life under a process of gradual natural evolution. Meteorology treats of the phenomena of the atmos- phere, especially those that relate to climate. This very difficult subject is slowly being brought into a form adapted to a school study, and as a practical science it is being developed so as to make weather prediction very useful. Botany has grown to be a wonderful science. The many, many thousand species of plants are being classified and named, and the functions of the parts of plants are being worked out. New facts as to the best places and plans for growing and cultivating each useful plant, are being brought to light. Plant breeders are studying the laws of heredity, and so im- proving the crops of the field, garden and forest that yields are increased, and the quality of the products improved. New beauties are added to flowers and foli- age ; new flavors to fruits and vegetables ; and new qualities to fibers and woods. New ways of propagat- ing, cultivating and feeding plants are discovered, and the methods of harvesting, preserving and utilizing plant products in the home and in the factory are becoming so numerous as to be fairly bewildering. The study of the life histories of fungi, such as molds, rusts and other minute plants, is doing a great deal to aid farmers in combating fungous diseases of AGRICULTURAL SUBSTANCES CARRY FORCE 29 plants and animals, and in making use of some of these minute plants for economic purposes. These plants have no flowers or seeds such as larger plants have, and usually a microscope must be used to work out their life histories. The farmer who does not seek to learn the interesting things about plants is constantly losing a large part of the enjoyment which nature has made so abundantly available to him. Facts about plants which are avail- able in books on botany, horticulture and agriculture, and taught in agricultural schools, are of great value to those who till the soil. Bacteriology has brought to light a world of important facts regarding the many germs which breed disease in plant and animal bodies, which cause decay in dead organic substances, which aid in elaborating plant food from soil and air, which assist in transforming the food in the digestive canal of the animal, and in many other ways take part in plant and animal production. Bac- teria and other very small organisms are so simple in their structure that it is difficult to class them with animals or plants; they are so simple that they have not the special organs or functions of either. Zoology. — The science of animal life is full of inter- esting things. There is no study more profoundly inter- esting than that of the development of species in animals and in plants. Every species of animal has a different life history, and many of its habits, when known, are very interesting. The anatomy, or structure, and the physiology, or functional activities, of each species of wild, and especially of domesticated, animals is of inter- est. The experiment station officers and others are working out methods of feeding, breeding and managing live stock that are of great value to the farmer. Entomology, — This division of zoology deals with in- sects and Is full of interesting facts. Descriptive 30 FARM DEVELOPMENT entomology tells of the life histories of the various insects, and the stories of the work of these w^on- derful little creatures are full of interesting surprises. The patient entomologists have worked out methods of combating many injurious insects and have learned that many of them are by nature our friends and should be protected. A knowledge of how to combat those that obtain their food by sucking the juice out of plants and those that chew their food is both interesting and useful to the farmer. The agricultural sciences. — While the practice of agri- culture is mainly art, agricultural science is becoming the most wonderful of sciences, in part because nearly all the other sciences contribute to agricultural science. Only recently have the facts of agricultural theory and practice been brought together in a systematically ar- ranged form. A literature of scientific, practical agricul- ture is being written, most varied in kind, most wonder- ful in extent, most interesting in character, and most useful in its economic relations. No other science in- terests so many people, nor are the lives and work of any other industrial class brought so close to the laws, the forces, the materials, and the enjoyable objects of nature. The principal subjects under which a knowledge of farming is obtained are : Agriculture, or agronomy, the study of field agriculture ; horticulture, the study of garden and orchard crops ; animal industry, the study of animal production ; dairy industry, the study of dairy stock, dairy production and dairy manufacturing; vet- erinary science, the study of the diseases and hygiene of animals ; breeding, the study of how to originate animals and plants with heredity which will produce higher economic and artistic values; agricultural chemistry, the study of the chemistry of soils, plants and animals; and rural engineering, the study of machines, buildings, roads, drainage, etc., relating to the farm. AGRICULTURAL SUBSTANCES CARRY FORCE 3 1 Agricultural technology. — This group includes a study of manufacturing as related to agriculture, such as sugar making, slaughtering animals, manufacturing commercial fertilizers, textile manufactures, etc. CHAPTER IV GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE EARTH Plants and animals have developed from lower forms. — The generally accepted theory is that at one time the earth's surface was of solid rock, but the action of wind, water, glaciers, earthquakes, heat, cold and other forces, during many ages, has broken up this surface into smaller particles which form the larger part of our soil as we see it today. Some of the lower forms of plant life which live largely from the elements of the air, at first grew upon the rocky surfaces and on the pulverized surface ma- terials, and gradually deposited small amounts of organic matter which, together with the disintegrated soil par- ticles, formed rich soils on which higher plants and animals could grow. As the ages passed a large growth of plants developed on the surface, and the organized matter of decaying plants, mixed with fine particles of earth, helped make a productive soil. In many places the rains washed these plant and animal remains into streams, and, together with par- ticles of soil, they were deposited along the river beds or deltas in layers. Where earthquakes, the washing of water or other influences have operated to expose the edges of these layers, the geologist has studied and unraveled the history of the layers of earth. Sur- face layers which have been formed in compar- atively recent times are found to contain the fossil forms of the plants and animals now living on the earth. As he goes deeper among the older deposits, the geologist finds many lower forms of animals and plants, of some of which no living representatives have ever GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE EARTH 33 been found. In certain layers it is found that given kinds of animals or plants are more abundant than in others, and thus definite periods of ages are marked off in successive layers, as the Devonian age, when fish forms of life were most abundant. The Carboniferous age is marked by the enormous growth of lower forms of plants which have given us the large coal fields. But the most important of all the teachings of this wonder- ful history is, that our present forms of plants and animals have ascended from lower, simpler and inferior forms, and that we may expect to find this process still continuing. All the things about us that have in no way been modified by man we call natural, and the wonderful things taught by them we call natural history. This natural history is a wonderful book and we see about us in living things and in rocks, hills and rivers its most recently written pages. One of the most in- teresting facts is the evidences in the layers of rock, slate, clay, etc., of the great age of our world, or the long time covered by natural history. There are several theories as to how our planet came to have the shape and size that it has, but there is much evidence that in the beginning the earth was very hot. According to this theory, part of the water now in the seas, rivers and earth was in the atmosphere as gas. As the cycles of centuries rolled on, the earth gradually became cooler. A part of the water fell on the surface. As the surface of the earth lost its heat, it would crack and part of the water would rush in, the heat being so intense as to form such volumes of steam that terrific explosions took place. As the surface cooled sufficiently, it was found that the very first forms of animal and vegetable life appeared, but the earth was not in a settled form even when these appeared, for the geologist finds in the layers of rocks of elevated regions the remains of plants 34 FARM DEVELOPMENT and animals that have lived at the bottom of the sea. This shows that forces are at work which are con- tinually modifying the physiography of the earth, level- ing some parts and elevating other parts above their original position. The rains falling on the high places of the earth's surface washed the looser particles to the low places and with them the forms of life that then existed, thus leaving a record of the times in the fossils preserved in the layers thus formed. In some cases a deposit of earlier records has been raised and washed down a second time, and here the record is confused, for a layer of rock or clay may thus contain forms that existed centuries apart in point of time. We think of the earth as being very stable, but crustal disturbances, as earthquakes and volcanoes, occur fre- quently at many parts of the globe. The formation of mountain ranges is wonderful and can be appreciated only by those who have been on the mountains and have been awed by their stupendous proportions. These mountain ranges may be accounted for, in part, by the fact that the earth is cooling from the outside toward its center, and, as it loses heat, it becomes smaller and the surface, being hard, bulges up in places and settles down in others, as does the rind of an apple when it is drying. Development of present land surfaces. — The layers of the earth which are now exposed have been modified not only by the action of heat and cold, wind and water, but also by animals and plants. During recent geological times great changes in temperature have caused immense collections of ice, called glaciers, to lie upon and flow or glide very slowly over large areas of land near the north and south poles of the globe. These glaciers, which once pushed much farther out from the poles toward the equator than now, have done much to transport the particles of soil from place to place, mix- GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE EARTH 35 ing the stony substances together, or depositing them in layers, as the case might be. Water and winds have also done much in this mixing of soils. In moist, low places vegetation has grown and been preserved by water cov- ering it, and thus collected into beds of peat. Peat beds thus made in former times, and afterward covered with clay, in some cases have been gradually transformed into coal. In other places, where the surface of the earth is com- posed of solid rock, of hard stones, or even of gravel or sand, which does not easily decay, vegetation has not been able to grow and the surface is still bare and not hospitable to plants. Between these two extremes, where soils have been made of clay or of a mixture of clay and sand and other materials, plants have found a congenial home. The soils have an abundance of plant food ; they are rich in humus or decaying vegetable mat- ter, and, therefore, able to hold moisture, and to provide bacterial and other agencies which aid in producing conditions suitable for the feeding by the plant roots. In some places these congenial soils are formed by the rock decaying where it lies; in other places they are formed by the water washing particles from many places, thus mixing them together and spreading them out in layers ready to form the home of plants. In other places the winds bring together soil particles in a mixture which is adapted to the growth of plants. Igneous rocks (rocks that are formed from the molten lava from the interior of the earth, or that at least have been heated) are found at many places on the surface of the earth, as where they were poured through volcanoes or oozed out through openings on the earth's crust. Sand and gravel are found in other places where they have been deposited by the action of water. All these form inhospitable soils. The granitic and other igneous rocks are not open to the penetration of plant roots, and 36 FARM ' DEVELOPMENT sand and gravel are not suitable soils from which plants can secure food. The glacial period. — Beginning tens of thousands of years ago, and continuing, perhaps, ten thousand years, a most important occurrence of vast proportions hap- pened to the north temperate zone of the earth. At least this occurrence was important for the welfare of man in his present state, because it served as a stu- pendous motor to provide immense areas of finely pul- verized mixed soils suited to growing valuable crops. Owing to some astronomical or geological phenomenon not well understood, the sun failed to heat this zone as had been its custom before, or as it does at present, and the climate became as cold in Maine or Minnesota as it is at the present time near the north pole. From Missouri northward in America, and in a similar zone in Eurasia, was a region of perpetual snow. The rain and snowfall of each season was added to the layer which fell the year before, and thus there gradually accumulated a sheet of snow and ice hundreds of feet thick, extending southward far into the Mississippi valley basin in America and another sheet extending into the central part of Eurasia. This sheet of accu- mulated snow and ice was called the great glacier. In the beginning the zone of perpetual snow of the arctic circle gradually extended southward as the cold con- tinued to increase from age to age. The cold crept southward and extended the southern edge of the region of perpetual snow. The annual fall of ice and snow continued to accumulate and finally extended southward in the United States, as shown by the map in Figure 7, reaching to the Missouri and the Ohio rivers. It is not thought that this movement took place rapidly or even regularly, as during some ages the cold would increase more rapidly than at other times, then again, the cold would not increase but would even decrease. GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE EARTH 37 The snow and rain accumulations had become pressed into a solid sheet of ice, hundreds and even thousands of feet in thickness. We would expect that this ice would lie quietly on the surface of the earth, but it is found that ice will flow to a lower level, as will water, though very slowly. This fact is illustrated by pressing a chunk of ice in a very strong box which it does not quite fit. By placing an immense pressure on the chunk, it will gradually bend or mold itself to fit into all the corners of the box without apparently breaking, thus illustrating that under heavy pressure ice will flow like a liquid, moving, of course, only very slowly. That great sheets of ice do actually move, or flow, is shown by the great ice sheets now known to be moving down the valleys in Greenland and the Alps, and in other regions of perpetual snow. In Greenland the ice is shoved out over the water, and there the weight, assisted somewhat by the waves of the ocean, causes great pieces of the ice sheet to break oflf, which float out into the ocean as icebergs. It is even found that ice flows faster in the center of its path down the valleys than it does near the edges, just as water flows more rapidly in the center of the river than where it is retarded by coming in contact with the shore or bottom. The states north of the Missouri and the Ohio rivers were practically all covered by the great glacier. The Mississippi valley was then much as it is now, the ele- vated plains toward the Rocky Mountains preventing the ice sheet from flowing in that direction. The higher land at the foot of the Alleghanies also prevented the ice sheet from flowing over against those mountains. There were, also, other occasional higher portions of the earth, as around the west end of Lake Superior, and in the vicin- ity of Dubuque, Iowa, where the glacier did not flow over the land. There was stored up in this immense sheet of ice a large amount of water, which, during the 38 FARM DEVELOPMENT period of melting and recession of the yet moving south edge of the glacier, v^as added to the annual rainfall and greatly enlarged the streams flowing into the Mississippi river, and the drainage of this whole region was very different from what we see at present. Now only a part of the annual rainfall must find its way to the Gulf of Mexico. This excess of water during the recession of the glacier is illustrated by a spring rain melting the snow, combining the rain and the snow water into a flood. The front edge of the glacier, instead of being a straight line, was very irregular. Great streams, or fingers, of ice flowed south through the valleys and lower areas, in advance of the general body of the glacier. The reces- sion was sufficiently rapid, in spite of the slow forward movement of the frozen water, so that the ice which flowed to a given point, and there melted, added an immense amount of water to the usual rainfall. All this water swelled the streams in the midsummer so that, instead of the small streams winding through the flats in our valleys, there were rushing torrents rising nearly to the tops of the present bluffs, which were then banks of the large streams. Many neighborhoods in the states mentioned have very interesting illustrations of how the glacier and the large volume of water from the melting glacier operated in modifying the land surface. Every citizen of such regions should study the glacial geology so as to be able, by observation, to understand the phenomena presented by the surface features in his own neighborhood. Glacial drift or till. — Prior to the time of the glacier there was loose soil, rock, sand, clay, etc., covering the underlying rocks of the region over which the glacier flowed. The ice, in flowing over this surface, gathered up much of the loose clay, sand and stones, and also tore loose and ground up more of the underlying rocks. This whole mass was made finer by the immense forces in GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE EARTH 39 Operation, and when the ice melted this material was deposited along the margin of the glacier. Where the recession of the ice sheet was gradual, the debris was laid out in rather level sheets over the surface of the earth and is now called by the geologists drift or till. In some places this material still lies as it was deposited, with fine and coarse particles mixed, but in many places the water flowing from the melting glacier washed the drift about, often making great valleys through which the streams could run. The material which was thus washed about by the water, was usually left assorted and in layers, just as the stream on the hillside carries forward gravel and small stones, particles of sand and clay, depositing the heaviest particles first. The finer particles of clay and silt are often carried long dis- tances before they are deposited in the quiet waters of some lake or large stream. Since the fine particles were carried out in the water beyond where the coarser par- ticles were deposited, the clay is usually found above the stones, gravel and sand. The formation of morainic hills. — In some instances, owing to temporary cessation in the increasing warmth, the glacier, instead of receding with regularity, stopped for a time, or even again progressed for a period. The melting taking place only as rapidly as the ice flow proceeded, in case the front edge of the glacier remained stationary, there was naturally much debris left in the place where the ice melted, for the ice always carried within its body stones and finer particles of earth. In this way ranges of hills were formed. These are called moraines, of which there is an example in southwestern Minnesota, called the Coteau Hills, and many others in the states over which the glacier flowed. Unassorted till formed good soils. — Where the glacier dropped its debris in such a way that we find no distinct laminae or layers, the geologists call it * till," or " unaS' 40 FARM DEVELOPMENT sorted till." Where water flowing from the melting ice washed the loose materials about and deposited them in layers of clay, silt, sand, gravel, etc., the geologists call it " assorted till." Some of the best soils are those where the glacial till is unassorted. The farmers of the middle northwest have the great glacier to thank for mixing to- gether clay, sand and particles of all kinds of rocks, thus making soils wonderfully adapted to the growth of useful plants. These soils of mixed materials furnish ideal mechanical conditions for the roots of plants, contain the needed variety of mineral plant food, conserve the remains of plant or animal life as organic fertilizers, favor the elaboration and storage of plant food as well as the absorption and conservation of soil moisture, serve as hospitable homes to useful soil bacteria, and are easily handled with cultivating implements. Assorted till formed poor soils. — Wherever the water assorted the great body of materials drifted along by the glacier, some poor soils are found. Layers of sand left at the surface give us sandy soils, likewise layers of gravel or of boulders make very poor soil, and even layers of dense clay without a mixture of sand are less valuable than soils made up of these materials mixed. Sandy soils in the regions of ample rainfall have, in many instances, been so covered with vegetation and so filled with decaying organic substances, that they retain water very well and nourish large crops. Even gravelly soils, where moisture is abundant, are gradually so changed that they raise crops of native plants and make fair agricultural soils. Clay soils which are too dense to make very good water reservoirs, or to allow the en- trance of air, are, likewise, sometimes made into very productive soils by the plants which grow on them. These clay soils, in some cases, cover large areas. In the valley of the Red River of the North is an example. The glacial ice melting in "Ancient Lake Agassiz " (see GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE EARTH 4I Figure 7), which extended from the south border of the receding glacier above Winnipeg, Canada, to the region of Lake Traverse on the western side of Minnesota, where it had its outlet through what is now called the Minnesota river, deposited in its basin a final surface layer of fine clay, covering what is now known as the valley of the Red River of the North. Clay soils, thus laid, have their good qualities and their disadvantages, as compared with the best types of mixed soils. An undulating country. — The drift formed a generally undulating surface over the upper Mississippi valley region, the flood waters having eroded hollows, giving natural surface drainage ; and the gentler forces acting through the long ages since the glacial period have rounded down any steeply washed banks, making the country one of beautiful broad hills and vales. The great prairies of the West resemble the swells of a high sea, with the waves and troughs much enlarged. In digging into the drift, as in making wells, layers of clay, sand, gravel and unassorted till are met with. Sometimes these seem to have been deposited in an unnatural order, or lie in two or more series of layers. In some places glacial streams have eroded large masses of the drift, and, carrying it forward, left it in assorted layers. Too often sandy or gravelly layers have been left at the surface, and form poor soils and subsoils. In other cases the unassorted till forming the surface contains bowlders, which are an impediment to cultivation. There are areas within the glacial region over which the glacier did not flow; some are covered with soils formed from easily decaying rocks, or, as north of Lake Superior and in mountainous regions, are of granite, trap rock or sand rock uncovered with soil; others were formed as clay layers and rock ledges. The forces still acting on the soil cause it to become more productive; the action of water, of bacteria, of plant 42 FARM DEVELOPMENT roots and of air on the soil are all of great interest and lead in a most interesting way to the study of plants; likewise of animals and men which depend upon the food the plants obtain from the soil and air. Source of materials moved by glaciers. — The source of material moved by the glacier is difficult to determine. Doubtless in the beginning of things, when the earth's crust first became cool, it was much like the lava which now flows from the craters of volcanoes. This glassy, hard, rocky substance was not made up like marble or limestone or slate, but elements of all kinds of rocks were melted together in one mass. This rocky crust was broken up by the water, air, sun and winds, literally rotted, and thus made into soil; and later, as the earth became cooler, ice became one of the greatest factors in soil making, as seen in the immense grinding done by the glaciers we have bjeen considering. During the earlier geologic periods, doubtless even the interior heat helped to break up the material of the earth's crust. Water, running into fissures of the earth and coming in contact with the heated inner part, formed such volumes of steam as to cause great explosions, throwing about and breaking up great masses of materials. We have, in more recent times, illustrations of volcanic action; one, for instance, when Vesuvius belched forth enough ashes to completely bury the city of Pompeii, and, again, more recently, on the island of Martinique. Some of the materials of the great area of glacial drift have doubtless been transported many hundreds of miles. Many of the bowlders and other rocks found in Minne- sota can be traced to beds of similar materials far to the northward in Canada. One of the proofs of the glacial action is the fact that the glacier flowed southward and carried down from the north many large fragments of the rocks over which it passed, as well as much of the finely pulverized materials. Usually these coarser ma- GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE EARTH 43 terials were taken from less than a hundred miles ; how- ever, geologists believe that in Europe, as in America, some materials can be identified as belonging to ledges five or six hundred miles northward. The southern two- fifths of Minnesota, or that part south of the line drawn east and west through St. Cloud, Minnesota, is an area where the surface is made up of bowlder clay, more technically called " till," into which is mixed clay, sand; gravel and stones. This same kind of excellent soil- making material was left on the surface through Iowa and as far as the glacier proceeded into Missouri, through eastern Dakota, Nebraska, Illinois, Wisconsin and other states eastward adjoining the Great Lakes over whicb- the great glacier moved. Northeast of St. Cloud, Min- nesota, there is not such a happy m.xture, and the soils are assorted, sand, gravel and clay often appearing in separate areas. Soils formed in place. — Only in the northern states, however, do we find these mixed soils of glacial origin. In most districts, as in the southern part of the United States, the soils have been formed in situ (in place). In the Piedmont Plateau region of the South Atlantic states the soil is the remains of rocks which have gradu- ally decayed, only those particles remaining to form the soil which longest resisted decay. In some cases a limestone rock has decayed, leaving a limestone soil ; in other cases a granite rock has rotted, the more soluble particles being washed out, leaving particles forming a granitic soil. In some places more than one layer of rock has been dissolved, the remains of the upper rock being mixed with the remains of the lower layer. In many cases the fine particles resulting from this soil weathering have been mixed by the agency of water and wind, especially in the lower places, resulting in a mixed soil, or more frequently in a stratified soil. In case of young soils, as where rocks have recently been 44 FARM DEVELOPMENT ground fine by glacial action, the broken particles of sand have sharp, harsh edges. Where this sand has been much v^orn, as in running water, or in sand dunes often shifted by the winds, the particles become rounded. In case of soils formed in situ, resulting from very long continued action of the elements, the particles are not so angular and firm. Like ripened cheese, they have lost their toughness as well as their rough edges. Some interesting glacial geology; History of the Falls of St. Anthony. — A very interesting chapter in the history of the glacial period, illustrating the magnitude of the changes wrought by geologic forces, is recorded in Minnesota. It includes the Falls of St. Anthony, the Mississippi and the Minnesota rivers and their water- shed in Minnesota; also the valley of the Red River of the North, or the bed of the *' Ancient Lake Agassiz," all of which tell part of the story. The valley, from bluff to bluff, of the Minnesota river, is considerably larger than the valley of the Mississippi at their confluence, as illustrated in Figures 8 and 9. This is evidence that when the glacier was rapidly melt- ing, while its southern boundary was passing from north- ern Minnesota, the Minnesota river was much larger than the Mississippi, and that a much larger volume of water was passing through these rivers than later, when only the present watersheds furnished the surplus rain- fall to be drained off. The Ancient Lake Agassiz. — While the southern line of the glacier was receding northward toward the region of Hudson Bay, there was a lake in the valley of the present Red River of the North, as shown in Figure 7. This lake has recently been named " Ancient Lake Agassiz." The land slopes to the north in that valley, but the ice sheet as it receded northward served as a dam to the waters, and this so-called "Ancient Lake Agassiz " had its outlet to the southward where the Red GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE EARTH 45 River of the North and the Minnesota river now have their sources. As the Minnesota river extended west- ward from where it and the Mississippi river came to- gether, it received, during that period, the waters from a very much longer section of the southern edge of the glacier than did the Mississippi river. The watershed of the Minnesota river during that time extended far out Figure 7. The dotted surface, including the system of great lakes, and the area marked "Lake Agassiz," shows the area covered by the great glacier during the period when arctic cold extended far down into the temperate zone. The waters from the melt- ing glacier and from the annual rainfall flowed from the southern arm of Lake Agassiz into the Minnesota river. into North Dakota, into the northwest territories of Canada, and even around eastward to the north of the Mississippi river. In other words, " Ancient Lake Agassiz," received water from streams flowing into it from the east and from the west as well as from the surface of the receding glaciers. The larger watershed, supplying a larger flow of water in the Minnesota than was supplied to the Mississippi river during the glacial period, seems to account for the washing out of 46 FARM DEVELOPMENT ^^'^/■■'\ SANDSTONE Figure 8 shows in cross-section the Minnesota river above where it and the Mississippi come together. Tliis river is a type of the common rivers made in the glacial period. From A to B was the surface of the flood water In the glacial times when the melting water from the glacier added to that from the annual precipitation of rain required a large channel. From C to D is the present surface of the water, ordina- rily forming but a small river. In the seasons of high water, as at the time of spring floods, the water rises so as to cover the bottoms from E to F. the larger valley of the first named river; but this is not the most interesting fact. (Figures lo and ii.) As long as the original larger bed of the Minnesota river v^as well filled with water at Fort Snelling, where the two rivers come together, the water from the Missis- sippi did not fall over a precipice, but flowed gently into a body of water nearly as high as its own river bed, as shown in Figure i i. When the ice dam in the vicinity of Lake Winnipeg was melted low enough for the water from " Ancient Lake Agassiz " to flow over it, and thus drain the water of that lake to the northward into Hudson Bay, instead of to the southward into the Gulf of Mexico, the Minne- sota river no longer re- ceived water from the watershed of the valley of the Red River of the North and from the melting glacier, but only that falling in its own valley, extending from Big Stone Lake on the west border of Minnesota to where St. Paul, Minnesota, now stands. This caused the great reduction mentioned in the volume of the water in the Minnesota river ; it no longer had as large a watershed as the Mississippi, which ^//^/.v/////^v////^v/ir^/-^^^^^^^ 1 DRI FT FT?] 5ANDST0N E Figure 9 shows a cross-section of the Missis- sippi river above where the Minnesota enters it, but below the Falls of St. Anthony. This river at one time carried much more water than now; but, as shown by the width between the bluffs, it never contained as much water as the Minnesota river did during the recession of the great gla- cier, as shown in Figure 8. GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE EARTH 47 extends from St. Paul north to Lake Itasca, and is broader than the watershed of the Minnesota ; and hence the Minnesota changed from much the larger river to the smaller one. The recession of the Falls of St. Anthony. — The waters of the Mississippi now had to fall over a precipice, as shown at D, Figure 12, to get down to the deep bed of the Minnesota River, where it had previously flowed directly out into the waters which filled the original Figure 10. The area Inclosed by the line thus —..—..—..—,. is the area formerly drained by the Minnesota river. The area at present drained by the same river is surrounded by the solid line, thus . The area then, as now, drained by the MlflslsBippl river above where the two rivers flow together Is inclosed by a broken line, thus -------- banks of the Minnesota, as shown in B, Figure ii. At this time and in this way the Falls of St. Anthony were formed. The water fell over a ledge of limestone rock which is underlaid with a very thick stratum of loosely cemented sandstone, that is easily worn away by the falling water. The waterfall thus gradually undermined the overlying limestone, which broke off in large masses and was washed away. Thus the falls had receded northwestward about six miles to within a 48 FARM DEVELOPMENT few hundred feet of the present site, when they were first discovered by the European explorers, and named the Falls of St. Anthony. From comparisons of descrip- tions and drawings made by the earliest explorers, and pictures taken at later dates, it seems that these falls receded at the Figure 11. A, surface of water in the Minnesota river In , j glacial times wlien it received the water from the valley of tnOUSanQ the present Red River of the North. B, surface of the water . In the Mississippi river in glacial times when it flowed gently i his into the well-fllled channel of the Minnesota river, X, the limestone. Y, the layer of sandstone below. rate of several feet per year, or that the falls re- ceded eight miles in about seven or eight years, has been thought by some to very roughly mark the date when the glacial dam was melted low enough to allow the waters of the valley of the Red River of the North, then the "Ancient Lake Agassiz," to flow northward into the Hudson Bay and no longer swell the banks of the Minnesota River, which began to shrink to a small stream in the bed of the old river. In 1871 it was found that the Falls of St. Anthony, beside which a number of flour and saw mills had been erected, were in dan- ger of being under- mined and washed out. The water had broken through crevices in the lime rock, which was thin, and was wearing away the soft sandstone beneath. As this would have caused the falls to recede very rapidly, and to become a mere rapids, destroy- ing the valuable water power, the United States Figure 12. The Falls of St. Anthony when its recession had just begun. A, water in the Min- nesota, after it had ceased to receive the glacial water. B, water in the Mississippi river above the falls. C, water in the Mississippi river below the falls. D, the Falls of St. An- thony when yet at a point near the confluence of the two rivers. GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE EARTH 49 government put in a solid wall of masonry and an apron to preserve the falls, not in their picturesque form, but so as to conserve the water power. (See E in Figure 13.) Figure 13. The Mississippi river. A, Falls of St. Anthony. B, dam below the falls. C, the Minnesota river at the confluence of the two rivers. D, apron to prevent the falls from further receding. E, retaining wall above the falls. K, the present city of Minneapolis. M, the group of great flouring mills. O, river below dam. Z. drift above the limestone. X, limestone. Y, sandstone. In 1896 a dam was built in the rapids a short distance below the falls, for added power to be obtained. (See B, Figure 13.) As the Mississippi river descends quite rapidly between the great falls and the con- fluence of the two rivers, there is room between the high bluffs for other dams which are being erected. In Figure 12 is a diagram showing the recession of the Falls of St. Anthony very soon after the recession began. In Figure 13 is a diagram showing the falls at the present time, also the mills for which they furnish power. Minnehaha Figure 14. A diagrammatic map showing how the water in flood times, during the glacial period, flowed Hiound the higher land at X, X. following the flood course of F, F, F, and entered through a branch stream into the river at K below the present gorge from G to G. No doubt there was once a falls that gradually receded from G to G, as the water pouring over the limestone layer of rock disintegrated the soft sandstone underneath it and undermined the thin limestone. At the confluence of the two flood streams a great gravel bed was formed at O from the materials washed out through the floodway at F-F. Another gravel bed was formed, possibly at a later date, at P. so FARM DEVELOPMENT --^.. 7^ M \ / ^^--4 Falls, made famous by Longfellow's poem, are in a stream, Minnehaha creek, which flows from beautiful Lake Minnetonka and enters the Mississippi river about one-fourth of the way from the ,. r., V, , „ , *K , , 1 mouth of the Minne- Figure 15. The broader valley of the glacial river where it was cut through the loose till, as cnta rivpr to tllf T^pllc above the gorge G-G in Figure 14. during glacial ^^^'^ IIVCF lU tllC J? dllb times. A-B. surface of flood water In glacial ^f C^. Anflnnnv Min- times. E-F. flood water covering the present val- ^^ *~>^' -TVii Liiuii_y . xviiii ley. C-D. present stream bed. nchaha Falls did nOt begin to form until the Falls of St. Anthony had receded past the mouth of Minnehaha creek, when the creek waters began to tumble into the deepened bed of the Mississippi river. Minnehaha Falls, like the Falls of St. An- thony, have since then gradu- in Figure 16 is shown a cross-sec- ,, 111 .1 . tion of a river where the glacial floods allv receded, by the waters cut through limestone and sandstone, / . 11 fonning the gorge at G-G in Figure mmmSr into the very loosely 14 Here no broad valley Is found on <=> '' •' either side of the present stream. At rnh frpnt «;anHstnnP frnm be- ^^^^ this seemed very strange, since CUiieiCUL &d.uuSLUiic iiuiii uc ^Qjj^ farther up the stream, as above nAo+ln fVif» IpHo-P' r»f limpctnnf ^' ^° r . • i j^ j j together. The oil in rising by mcut of watcr IS much retarded capillarity through the wick is un- - , ... . , -. -., able to pass this opening where bV the iriCtlOn m thC thm hlmS. the capillary connections are sepa- ^ rated. The movcmcut of water and plant food toward the growing roots of plants, however, is not so rapid as many suppose. Other facts concerning this interesting force are shown in Figures 32 and 33. A new lamp wick, Figure 32, is attached to an old one, which has become too short to reach the oil, but the threads connecting the two ends are not drawn tightly, leaving the two ends slightly 84 FARM DEVELOPMENT Figure 33. Soil satu- apart, and the interstices among the threads between the two wicks being too large to form capillary spaces, little or no oil rises to the flame. In Figure 33, at a depth of several feet, A, there is ground water ; at B, the soil is well supplied with capillary water; at C, as is often the case in very dry sections of the country, a layer of coarse straw, ly- ing up dry and loose, is plowed under. The moisture cannot pass by capillary movement upward through the layer C, to moisten the furrow-slice, D, and the "moisture line," or the zone of If ihe^'^^^ouom'^* a- ""^^p- capillary moisture, rises only to C; ff1he"'?pp^er^t'b7o'irB: thus shutting off the seeds from ob- tL''1u?piy' of°|r?^^ ... J » T-\ • ^ j1 m water. At C, a layer of tammg water from D, just as the oil coarse straw is repre- f. .^ . 1 n • 1 1 sented as hanng been fails to rise to the flame in the lamp plowed under the fur- ^ row -slice, D. in Figure 32. The layer of coarse straw makes a mulch of the entire furrow-slice, protecting the moisture below from rising and wasting by evapora- tion, which causes .^ injury by forcing the roots of the plants to feed only in the sub- soil. In most coun- tries there is sufficient moisture so that a layer of dry straw soon decays and no longer acts as a barrier be- tween the subsoil and The lowey half or' two"-thirds of the furrow-slice, F, StronP'er to the bottom of the dust blanket. C. '^ S ^ power of the decaying plant substance, on the other hand, secures and holds within itself larger amounts of water, and thus both water and plant food are most liberally supplied to the Figure 34. E, subsoil. D, furrow-slice with .-i r i- dust blanket at surface shown darker. Upper tnC lUrrOW-SllCC. surface of capillary water here rises through the capillary THE SOIL AND SOIL FORMATION 8s roots and the plant feeds in the upper soil zone which con- tains the most plant food. Where the recently plowed fur- row-slice is very porous and loose, it also acts as a mulch to retard the upward flow of moisture by capillarity. Dust blanket and dirt mulch. — The use of a dirt mulch or dust blanket is illustrated in Figure 34. Here the furrow-slice, D, rests upon the subsoil, E, with which it is in intimate contact, so that the capillary water may rise into it. To pre- vent the water from rising entirely to the surface, there by the aid of the sun's heat to be evaporated into the atmosphere, the upper zone of soil, C, is kept broken up and made too mellow and open Figure 35. Shows a pervious mass over a r_„ . i ^ ,,ro-<-^*- +/^ «-:o« layer of impervious clay or stone, B. Water falling lOr tUC WatCr tO riSe on the upland at T>, sinks dovyn to the im- ,■. < •. i j.i_ r pervious layer of clay and seeps forward until tnrOUgn It Dy tnC lOrCe the hillside is reached, and there flows out, re- . .,, . rrr . suiting in a seepy hillside, as at K, or possibly oi CaplllaritV. i h C forming a definite spring. ^ -^ moisture line here is at the bottom of C, thus bringing the moisture zone up so as to include the lower two-thirds, F, of the furrow-slice D, and allow the roots of crops to feed in this portion of soil, which is not only the richest in plant food, but is the most congenial for the roots of plants and for their little helpers, the soil bacteria. The general movements of water in the earth. — The surface of the water in our wells shows that the ground water does not actually rise near the surface. The upper part of the earth acts as a storage sponge, and gets its supply of water annually from the rainfall, ex- cepting cases where irrigation is practiced, or in rare cases where water seeps out of hillsides and forms moist, springlike areas, or flows along porous layers under- 86 FARM DEVELOPMENT as is high neath level tracts, there serving as natural sub-irrigat- ing waters to be drawn upward by capillarity, or to be reached direct by the roots of plants. Porous earth, as at D, Figure 35, allows part of the rainfall to sink deeply. This upon reaching a porous layer, as gravel, B, lying upon impervious clay or rock, seeps sidewise, reaching the surface at a lower level, K. Here it may flow out as a spring, or simply seep slowly out, and result in keep- ing the hillside moist, or it may flow down through the open soil in the valley and keep that moist, or it may flow into an open water-bearing stratum with impervious clay or rock both above and below, and lie there with very little movement. In such cases this water is often sub- jected to great pressure, because the head of water above, at B, Figure 36, A well sunk ,, ..esS^lSI^^B into such a vein of water under pressure, makes an opening through which artesian water rises to, or above, the surface of the earth, or oftener only a short distance in the well. In regions where the rainfall is not ample, the furrow-slice should be kept as mellow as practicable so as to give easy access to rain water, that none may be lost by flowing oflF over the surface. An open, loose furrow-slice, four or more inches thick, in a climate with too little rainfall and with dry, hot atmos- phere and drying winds, does much to retard the loss of moisture from the soil by evaporation. The moisture line, under such conditions, rises only to the bottom of Figure 36. Shows how water confined between impervious strata, as in A between B and C, is subjected to pressure, making it possible to secure flowing wells, as at D. The water of rains, sinking in the pervious earth to the right of A, flows be- tween the impervious layers. The pressure at any point Is sufficient to force the water to rise to a height somewhat less than the height of the water in the region where it enters the soil. THE SOIL AND SOIL FORMATION 87 the furrow-slice and the roots of crops must feed in the subsoil, not being able to get food from the dry, porous furrow-slice. For this reason spring plowing for spring- sown grains in dry regions sometimes serves as a more open, more efficient dust blanket than the more compact fall-plowed furrow-slice, and thus sometimes enables the farmer to produce better crops than autumn plowing, which is ordinarily the better practice in humid regions. The stubble standing on the land over winter in a windy country often holds snow which, upon melting, largely enters the soil, leaving it more moist in the spring than would be the wind-swept fall-plowed land. The looser spring-plowed furrow-slice, then, better conserves water from melting snows and from spring rains. On the other hand, the loose furrow-slice affords very poor conditions for seeds to germinate, and, under most conditions, the better results come from having the lower part of the furrow-slice compact and the upper part kept open by cultivation to serve as the blanket of loose earth, or dirt mulch, to retard evaporation. Under very dry conditions the deep, loose furrow-slice is so open and dry that seeds will not germinate ; and a heavy rain is required to make the furrow-slice sufficiently moist to provide the necessary moisture to start the seeds. A still heavier rain is required in order that moisture may pene- trate to the solid earth below the furrow-slice, there to become a part of the stored-up water of the subsoil. The moldboard or disk plow inverts and pulverizes the soil, and mixes into it such stubble and weeds as may have grown, and such manure or other fertilizers as may have been applied to it. The weight of the earth, the action of water, bacteria and other agencies which encourage decay, bring the coarse vegetable mat- ter and the lower part of the furrow-slice into a compact mass closely adhering to the subsoil. The cultivating implement again loosens the upper part of the furrow- 88 FARM DEVELOPMENT slice in the preparation for planting, and keeps it loose and open during the cultivation of crops planted in rows for intertillage. Both plow^ing and tillage have other functions than so controlling the water as to provide the optimum amount of film water best for the plants. Crops thrive with an amount of water somewhat less than that required to entirely satisfy the force of capil- larity, and can adjust themselves to some range of moisture content between saturation of capillarity and such a low amount of water that they cannot get all they need, and wither, and are stunted in their growth. In drouthy regions, the application of water and the con- servation of soil water are often the controlling factors in crop production. CHAPTER VI THE SELECTION OF A FARM HOME The selection of a farm for a permanent family home is a matter of great importance. Here most of the life is to be spent ; and upon the quality, character and loca- tion of the farm largely depends the success and the happiness of each and every member of the family. Its importance as a place for developing the home, bringing up a family, enjoying family ties, entertaining friends, and working out life's success, can hardly be over- estimated. If its location is unsuitable, its soil poor or difficult to subdue, or if it be otherwise poorly adapted to the particular needs of the family, there may be life- long regret at the choice. It is highly important to the farm family to feel that it is permanently located, and that whatever is done to build up the place is done with a view to its permanent usefulness as the foundation of a happy and prosperous home, for generations, of a strong, prosperous family. The farm the foundation of the business. — Each farmer should choose a farm suited to the kind of farming he desires to follow. It is far better to spend some time looking about, so as to be fully suited, than to take a farm that is easily obtainable, but not just adapted to the kind of farming to be done. A fruit farm too far away from market, a sheep farm on too low land, or a grain farm in a sandy, wooded country, would be an unfortunate choice. In such regions as the great prairies of the upper Mississippi valley, one can easily find lands suited to general farming, that is, to the production of grain, forage crops and live stock in combination. But if one wishes to do vegetable gardening, he should avoid 90 FARM DEVELOPMENT the heavy lands and secure a soil somewhat lighter. On the other hand, it is often necessary to adapt the busi- ness to the farm which it is practicable to secure. Producing capacity. — Generally the producing capacity of the soil is of the greatest importance. The lands of the western states are rising in value and in price from decade to decade. Lands with large native fertility will generally rise in value more rapidly than will the more sandy lands, or lands which for other reasons are not especially productive. No one ever hears of farms on mixed black prairie soils of the west being abandoned, as are sometimes the farms of hilly New England, or the sandier lands of the pine regions, or the drouthy lands of the Great Plains area. The soil surveys of the United States Department of Agriculture and of some state bureaus will be great aids in selecting the regions to investigate for good soils and desirable farms. Ability to withstand drouth. — Drouth resistance is an- other important quality, especially to soils in, or border- ing on, the great semi-arid regions. Here it is not so much a question of fertility, as of soil moisture. Farm- ing on drouthy, sandy or gravelly soil is more specula- tive ; one year the crop may be satisfactory, but another year the crop is ruined by the drouth. Generally, sandy lands sell for more than they are worth, while the re- verse is true of the stronger lands. Far to the north, heavy lands are at a disadvantage because they are too cold. Healthfulness. — In choosing a locality in which to pur- chase a farm, a healthful climate is of importance, as such a climate is necessary to develop strong, useful and happy people. Many sections once unhealthful, as large parts of Indiana and Illinois, have been made healthful by drainage, and many regions needing drain- age will, ere long, be so completely drained as to be free from malarial diseases. Sufficient and evenly dis- THE SELECTION OF A FARM HOME 9I tributed rainfall is of prime importance. Irrigation can be resorted to in some districts, and, where there is an abundance of water, farming under this plan is even more satisfactory than where the dependence is upon rain. In irrigation the water can be supplied when needed, and there is usually no rain to interfere when crops are being cured. Often farms needing drainage or irrigation can be purchased, and drained or irrigated with great profit by those who know how to make these improvements. Proximity to markets and large cities is a very great advantage. One cannot forecast how the farming busi- ness may develop, and, in any event, nearness to com- petitive markets is of great importance to the farmer. Large cities provide many advantages which cannot be enjoyed by those who live far from the great centers of population. Higher prices can be paid for lands near large cities. Not only is the cost of freight less on the products to be sold or purchased, but advantages may be taken of city opportunities of many kinds, if the trip by steam, or trolley, or team be not too long. It is also a great advantage to farmers to come frequently into contact with the bustling life of cities. Character of neighbors. — It pays the home seeker to consider carefully the class of neighbors surrounding the farm he contemplates selecting. People generally do as those about them show that they expect them to do. The farmer and his children are more likely to be altruistic, lovable, honorable, industrious, businesslike, enterprising and thoroughly up to date if they live among neighbors who are congenial, upright, industrious, thrifty and up with the times. Life is not all the " rais- ing of corn, to raise more hogs, to buy more land, to raise more corn," etc. ; the enjoyment of social and public life, as well as the enjoyment of horne and family, are considerations of the very highest importance. It is very 92 FARM DEVELOPMENT desirable that the neighbors with whom one must asso- ciate, exchange views and confidences, and with whom the children of the family must associate in school, in church, and in social functions, should be somewhat sim- ilar in tastes and habits and withal honorable and agree- able. Many a farmer has become backward and even morose because of a lack of social life. Children in rural homes learn how to do with things better than they learn how to think about things. They need to go to school and be taught to think about things around them, but, quite as important, they need to learn how to think about people and to do with people. Rural youths can nearly as well afford to fail to learn books as to be deprived of contact with their playfellows at school and with the people they meet at church or at other gatherings, as in the farm home or in the village. Prox- imity to good schools and churches, and nearness to town centers, are all of large value in making up a decision as to where to select a farm. Care in judging the value of soils. — In inspecting the soil itself, it is easy to determine whether a soil is clayey, sandy, gravelly; or, if a mixed soil, whether it is the happy medium, or golden mean, made up of nearly equal parts of sand and clay. The texture of the surface soil when wet, and also when dry, should be observed. The heaviness or ease of tillage operations should be taken into consideration. Other factors to be taken into ac- count are whether the land is level or hilly, whether there are many stones to be removed ; and often the number, size and kind of stumps, must be considered. The butter dealer will inspect every jar of butter with his butter trier, or, at least, a sample of every lot, but the farmer too often looks only at the surface soil. With the aid of a common spade or with a post-hole digger, the subsoil to the depth of three or more feet may easily be ob- served ; and since one can in this way make the best anal- THE SELECTIOl^ OF A FARM HOME 93 ysis of the soil and subsoil, it should never be neglected. In many cases upturned stumps show the quality of the subsoil, and burrowing animals may have brought to the surface the deeper earth. The experienced land judge has many ways in which to determine the quality of the soil. The person who will make an earnest effort can find many ways of judging the fertility, the water-holding power, and the wearing ability of a soil. Growing crops tell their story, though the kind of season must be taken into consideration. Sandy lands may have large crops during a moist year, partly because drouth for a few previous seasons may have so prevented the growth of crops that there are unusually favorable conditions for plant growth, resulting in an exceptionally large crop. The testimony of residents on adjoining lands is of the greatest value, especially if the home seeker knows how to draw out and weigh information. One need not depend upon the appearance of the cul- tivated grasses and clovers alone, but can find out much about the soil by the native plants. Land which pro- duces a thick crop of large weeds, either native or intro- duced, gives evidence of strength and crop-producing power. In timber sections trees are much used as an index to the character of the soil. Thus, in the North, jack pine grows on very sandy land, Norway pine on land usually not quite so sandy, white pine on still stronger sandy loam and on mixed soils. Some kinds of oak, in a given region, will be found to grow on sandy land, other kinds only on strong soil of mixed sand and clay. Sugar maples and some other deciduous trees grow only on the strong mixed soils. Where soil surveys have been made by the Bureau of Soils of the United States Department of Agriculture, or by a state department or experiment station, the soil maps showing the areas of soils of different classes will be found valuable aids in selecting a farm. 94 FARM DEVELOPMENT Special and general considerations are often worthy of attention. A perennial spring of water near the barns or near the dwelling has value. The ease or difficulty of getting well water should be noted, also the quality of the water. The possibility of using irriga- tion water often modifies the desirability of the land. Not only in the Plains Region, but even east of the Mississippi river, waters for irrigation will no doubt sometime be highly valued. In a new section of coun- try, free pasturage of commons which are likely to re- main open to the public for a long series of years, may have considerable value in connection with the farm to be bought. The purchase and building up of a farm is such a seri- ous life matter that the farmer should look the entire situation over beforehand with a view to locating build- ings, developing the fields, etc. It is very desirable to have land suitable for evolving a highly organized farm. A place is needed for buildings where there is good drainage, opportunity to protect from cold winds by means of a grove, land for garden, orchard, lawn and stock paddocks. This location should be so situated as to be readily accessible, by means of lanes and cartways, to all the fields of the farm. The cost and ease of develop- ment, including the cost of clearing, breaking, draining, laying out fences and developing the fields of the farm, are all matters which should be carefully considered at the time the choice is being made among the different farms under consideration. Hunt for a bargain. — It pays to hunt for a bargain. Occasionally farms are offered much below their normal or intrinsic values, but the effort to make a profit on the purchase price should not be carried so far as to settle on land which is not suitable for the kind of farming to be entered upon, or is otherwise very unsatisfactory as a permanent home for the family. No other part of the THE SELECTION OF A FARM HOME 95 farmer's remuneration has the high value of the happy home life. We may not look too much at money getting, but we certainly do not look enough at home making. The farm home is a little world in itself. Its sunshine, its joy, its influence in producing strong happy people, its potentiality of national strength, its power in conserving morals, its opportunities for man's communion with nature and nature's God,' combine to make it important. We should choose the farm home wisely, that we may there express our lives in doing what we can for ourselves, our families and our country. CHAPTER VII PLANNING THE FARM General foundation plans for the farm are next in im- portance to the selection of the farm. It should be so laid out and improved as to make a highly organized structure, even though many years must elapse before its completion. One has an opportunity, in opening a new farm, for making a grand monument to his skill or a discreditable showing of his lack of foresight and ability. In assuming the management of an old farm, one can often make changes which will materially increase the comforts, facilitate the daily work, enlarge the profits, stimulate the pride and build up the character of the owner and his family. Organization of the farm business. — The farm may be looked upon as an organized structure. The windbreaks, public roads, outside line fences, and the inside road and field fences make up, as it were, a skeleton or frame- work. The buildings, fields and yards are the active organs and the lanes serve as arteries. The main por- tions of the farm are the farmstead* containing, so to speak, the head and heart; the fields, acting as stomach and lungs; and the lanes, serving as circulatory organs. In the middle northwestern states, and in most other parts of the country, whatever may be the present lines of farming chosen, the foundation plan should be such that stock raising may easily be taken up at once or in the near future, possibly by future owners. This means that in placing the windbreak, the dwelling and other *The name farmstead is here used to mean that portion of the farm separate from the fields, chosen for the location of the build- ings, yards, garden, orchard, etc.. and often in part surrounded with a grove left when clearing, or planted to serve as a windbreak. PLANNING THE FARM 97 improvements, space should be allotted in a suitable loca- tion for buildings and yards for the stock and for build- ings for the storage of feedstuffs. The general plan should be so made that the stock barns and yards may be directly connected by lanes with the various fields of the farm. If stock farming or mixed farming is not to be at once entered upon, the ultimate plan need not at first be wholly developed. Specialized forms of farm management need the farm- stead and fields arranged to suit specific purposes. Most farmers, however, are devoted to general farming, with which are dovetailed the production of crops to be sold for money, of forage and grain to be fed to stock, of animals which are reared for sale or for use on the farm for work, for the dairy, or for meat or wool products. Poultry and crops raised for family use, as garden and fruit, are also important products of nearly all well- regulated farms, whether highly specialized or quite general in the nature of crops produced for the market, and space in suitable locations should be given them. In planning a farm the entire business, including the lines of production, should be decided upon. In only rare cases is it well to limit the production of marketable products to a single line. On the other hand, it is un- wise to attempt too many lines. Two to four main lines are usually more profitable than one or many. The ad- vantage of having a few lines rather than one are numer- ous. The available labor can be more economically used, as one crop will need attention at one season of the year, and another at a different time. Live stock require most labor in the winter, when other farm enter- prises demand least, and thus aid in economically utiliz- ing labor the year round. A combination of specialties may be selected which will thus furnish labor profitable employment at all sea- sons of the year. A few lines can be so mastered that 98 FARM DEVELOPMENT the farmer can become a specialist in each, thus enabling him to pursue those lines at an advantage over persons who are less expert. It pays the farmer to equip himself thoroughly with modern appliances and materials in the few enterprises in which he risks his success, and to make a thorough study along those lines. There is not only more certainty of success, but more satisfaction, to the man who tries to know his lines of work more thor- oughly than anyone else. One specialty necessitates " carrying all the eggs in one basket," and should prices be low, the season unfavorable, or should other mis- fortunes befall this one industry, the loss is felt most keenly. There are few single lines of farm production which may be so managed as profitably to utilize labor steadily throughout the year. On the other hand, too many lines result in the business being so indefinite and poorly arranged, that none of the numerous lines may be studied and followed up and by years of accumulated experience and equipment made a success equal to the best. The management of labor cannot be systematized, as there are liable to be too many things to be done at once. Too many irons in the fire result in some being burned, and, while giving a few saving blows at those that are suffering, the most important projects are not pressed forward to a profitable completion. The business plan should be stable. — Changing from one line of farming to another, with temporary changes in prices or profits, is most unwise. Steadiness of pur- pose, determination to stand by the ship, is a quality as necessary to success in farming as in other business affairs. During every year in which a given line of pro- duction is pursued, there is some experience gained, and usually the farm equipment for this particular enter- prise grows. Much is lost both by abandoning the prep- aration made to carry on the old line and in gathering PLANNING THE FARM 99 together the knowledge and the materials necessary to inaugurate the new. If one has a few principal lines, he may cater some- what to prices in choosing the relative energy and time to devote each year to the respective lines of production. Prices depend so much on unforeseen conditions that, at best, something must be left to chance. There are, how- ever, a few simple rules which are worthy of recognition. When the price of a product is abnormally low, it is a far better time to get ready for producing more of it than when prices are high. One extreme follows another in the prices of staple farm products which can easily be produced. Thus high prices for pork usually alter- nate every several years with low prices. High prices for horses, in like manner, are sure to follow low prices. The length of the periods of change require a longer time with horses than with hogs, because horses will not reproduce in large numbers at so rapid a rate as hogs, and each animal requires several times as long to reach maturity. When prices are very high is usually not the best time to purchase foundation stock for new herds, because high prices are sure to fall. Low prices are nearly always followed by higher prices in agricultural products. By keeping posted in the lines of production, the farmer can sometimes foresee that there are evidences of a coming strong demand for certain products and a slow demand for other products. One acquainted with the wonderful development of cattle ranches during the decades 1870 to 1890 could not fail to see that the supply of beef in this country was increasing more rapidly than the demand, a condition which always results in falling prices. On the other hand, the fact that prices of beef ad- vanced, rather than fell off, during the financial panic, fol- lowing 1893, when the people had less money with which to purchase meats, could be taken by the farmer, at the lOO FARM DEVELOPMENT end of the panic, as an assurance that the supply was no longer increasing more rapidly than the demand, and that the supply of cheaply raised ranch beef, as com- pared with the growing demand, had reached its climax, and that beef raising would be more remunerative. These illustrations are given, not to show that these industries may now be remunerative, but rather to illus- trate a principle and to show the advantage of studying in a broad way those factors which modify supply and demand and thus cause irregular fluctuations in prices. Some farmers who have an abundance of the product which may be in special demand, succeed partly because they look ahead and anticipate high prices. Enterprise brings success. — The farmer has abundant opportunities for the exercise of the spirit of enterprise. If all his neighbors have poor hogs, the most profitable line of production he can enter upon may be the pro- duction of pure-bred animals to sell for breeding pur- poses. To make a success of this, he must carry out his business in a somewhat different way from that which might succeed in simply raising fat porkers for the mar- ket. He must secure superior breeding animals and rear their young in the most improved manner. He must create a market for his pigs by educating his neighbors to an appreciation of better stock. Likewise, a farmer may get the best corn, wheat or other crop, and, by raising fine crops of good quality, work up a reputation as a grower of pure-bred seeds and thus obtain from his neighbors prices for seed which are better than the prices offered at the elevator, or even more than could be realized if the grain were fed to live stock. Other specialties which offer opportunities are berry raising, orchard fruits, or even some less common crop with which the local market is not supplied by other farmers in the vicinity. Often the distant market will afford better prices than the home market. Especially in case PLANNING/ l^HE 7ARM-.^. lOI of pure-bred animals and pedigreed seeds, people will pay better prices for something secured at a distance from their homes. But most farmers must win out by doing prdinary farming very well. The great staple crops and the great classes of live stock are the stay of the farming business, and producing them is a remunera- tive business if well conducted. e- J GARDEN Tmrr TEL ORCHARD m-zmnMim THE FARMSTEAD Location. — After taking a general view of the farm, the location of the central feature should be decided J , upon. The farm- f[ ~^ Jf p stead must be so placed as to have a good site and be in easy communi- cation with all other parts of the farm. See sites of farm- steads in Figures 41 to 43 F. Site of the farmstead. — The farmstead should be proportionate in size to the farm and to the farm business, and it may be definite in its So locating the in one or two the w* TREES Fig 37. General plan for a farmstead, with road on the north; with windbreak, orchard and gardens; and with buildings, lanes and paddocks or small fields handily ar- ranged beside each barn: I, house; II, horse barn; III, poultry house; IV. cow barn. Tne south half of the small field beside the horse barn could be used for swine with a building near the central lane, with such division Into lots as may be required for the horses and hogs. outline on at least two sides. farmstead that it may be enlarged directions is sometimes an advantage, as when farm is enlarged by the purchase of adjoining tracts. 102 FAR^ pEyEp.OPMENT .^^ GARDEN rfevr'tei-^ -yja-i— ^a- ORCHARD Ten acres, or an area 40 by 40 rods, or 30 by 50 rods, makes a very good-sized farmstead on a farm of 160 acres. (See Figure 37.) This allows a distance of 8 to 20 rods between the house and the barn, with ample room for the garden, orchard, lawns and shelter belt on half the area. The remainder can be utilized for barns, food storage build- ings, machine sheds and yards for animals. The laying out, plat- ting and staking out locations for buildings can best be done on the ground, and while the owner must decide most of these questions, h e z a, z D^ \\r* BT 1 fr Figure 38. Farmstead on the southeast corner of the farm, fronting east and the land sloping to the east. I, Dwelling; II. hog house; III, horse barn; IV, cattle barn; ^U^^.IA li. V, poultry house; VI, grain house. By means of branch SnOUm consult lanes from II. FV and V, with cross fences, the hogs, cattle '4.U 4.U A ^^^^ poultry can be supplied with small fenced fields planted Wltn OtnerS to to permanent pasture or used for growing pasturage and , . soilage in rotation. secure their criticisms of his plans and suggestions of improvements. After the plan has been decided upon, the necessary meas- urements should be made and a map drawn showing the proposed location for grove, buildings and other features of the farmstead. Windbreaks and shelter belts. — The location of a grove for a windbreak, and for a background to the picture of home life within, is a matter worthy of careful thought, especially in cold or windy regions. Laying out the loca- tion for a tirnb^r b^lt to form two or rnore sides of th^ PLANNING THE FARM 103 farmstead, as definitely locates the size, form and position of this center of the operations of the farm, as the placing of the foundation and sills of a barn or dwelling decides upon the plan of the building. These foundation plans should be large so that the farmstead may contain ample room for all the buildings, yards and garden plats which may be needed in the future. If there is more land thus inclosed than is needed in the start, one or two small plats or fields can be utilized for special crops. Potatoes, roots for stock, corn or other crops for soilage, or pastures for calves, colts or hogs, may thus be raised to advantage near the build- . ; ings. The area within the wind- breaks should be large enough so that when the live stock has so increased as to necessitate en- larging the num- ber of buildings and paddocks, there will be adequate room. Many farms on the prairies are not sheltered by windbreaks, though ample time has elapsed since they were first established. The dreary aspect, the frigid experiences of caring for stock in winter, the loss of profits on animals from the lack of protection from the sweep of biting winds, the barren- ness of the surroundings of the home, are not to be con- sidered lightly. The man or woman who has grown up :i:;;:;e - ■ " " :;^;.:. i:--:!;!':; ;;I:;>j;I;; •'!'';•'• DD Li] ^^ II 0^ • [W] a: rL_ Y I > TREES, - 11 Figure 39. Farmstead fronting road on the south. I, Horse barn; II, swine barn; III. poultry house; IV, cattle barn. 104 FARM DEVELOPMENT within a prairie home snugly surrounded by a grove planted early by the father, can best appreciate the dif- ference between that and the unprotected farmhouse. Considered from the standpoint of cost and profit in dollars and cents, the grove pays. If to this is added the comforts, the pleasures, the greater possibilities of hav- i n g a more beautiful home life, stronger attachment of the children to the home, and better op- portunities for developing strong, useful lives, the profits are not easily com- puted. In the middle northwest, where the prevailing win- ter winds and cold storms come from the north and west, it is usually desirable to have the windbreak on these two sides, with the south and east open to the warm sun, as shown in Figures 37, 38, 39 and 40. These four plans are designed to show: the general arrangement as to the approach from the public highway, whether it is on the north, east, west or south ; the relative location and distance apart of buildings ; and the general plans for lanes and paddocks, also the location of the orchard and the gar- dens. Nearly every farm ofifers individual problems and only general suggestions can be given here. In some Figure 40. Farmstead fronting road on the west, a, house; b. horse barn; c, poultry house; d, cow barn; e, hog barn. PLANNING THE FARM IO5 sections, belts or clumps of trees grouped throughout the farmstead for a protection from hot, southwest winds are also desirable and they add beauty. Trees for shade and to reduce the summer temperature of the home often are important, and foresight in planting the proper kinds of trees in the best places is wise. Some farms have been unfortunately planned, and the buildings so placed that it is very difficult to locate groves and clumps of trees where they are most needed. Not infrequently the dwelling or the barn buildings, or both, are located so close to a public road on the west or north that there is no room for a timber belt. A similarly fatal mistake is often made by placing the buildings on the top of a hill that slopes to the north or west. This last arrangement is especially undesirable if the hillside is gravelly or otherwise unsuited to the rapid growth of trees for shel- ter, shade and ornament. Farmers who enter timbered lands are too apt to cut away all trees near their buildings. The necessity for removing trees from their fields seems to develop a de- sire for destroying trees. Many a farmhouse in the timbered regions has been placed on a hill, the trees have been cut away all around, and no protection left on the north and west sides, thus changing a cozy nook into a blank opening, having only a house instead of a cozy home. Trees may yet be planted, however, and the farm made homelike. It is often an advantage to have the farmstead near a public road, as this facilitates communication with the outer world. The wife likes to have a glimpse of passers- by, and the neighborly call of a friend who can drop in is pleasant to all members of the family. The free de- livery of mail and the public conveyance of children to the consolidated rural school, which should be the rule in every farm community, also are less expensive and more satisfactory when the house is not too far from the high- io6 FARM DEVELOPMENT way. In some cases old farmsteads should be aban- doned and new ones developed in locations more suitable as to topography and soil, and in easier reach of schools, churches, towns and neighbors. Other timber belts on parts of the farm not adjacent to the buildings are often desirable on prairie farms, and F D E If C 1 G B H L- I^Vi^iP9SS 49/2 - 6/r^/V /9/3 - CO/>M permanent portion of the capital stock. The outbuild- ings, such as woodshed, ice house, etc., may often be utilized by building them near together, to inclose or shelter a court or yard in which the wood cutting and many other outdoor duties may be performed in com- fort, even on cold days. The barn buildings. — The buildings for animals and feedstufifs should not be too near the residence, because of the odors, and the litter which is usually scat- tered about at harvest time. Neither should the distance be too great, es- pecially in cold, windy countries, where the numerous daily trips between the house and barns should not be unneces- sarily long. There are many arguments for having one large barn and centering there the live stock and their foods. In developing a farm, however, the means with which to erect buildings are not earned at a bound, and, as a rule, it is necessary to erect one build- ing at a time. It is not a bad plan, as it can be afforded, to build well a separate building for each class of live stock. The barns, machinery sheds, and other sheds and granaries may often be used to inclose yards, in /908 - e^A//t t909 - COfH 4910 - mne/i7 4911 - VmS 4911 - a»*ss 49/3 - e/TAIM 49/4 - CO/1/4 /9/S - nr/tCAr /90a - 6^/ISS .4909 - 6/lAIN 4910 - con/4 49// - i/vne/iT 49/2 - CAJii 49/3 - CP4SS /9l4 - CAIN 49/S. - CO/r/4 IfSSS* Ji^ Figure 43C. Olson Farm. Reorganized plan. NOTE. Five-year rotation on five twenty-acre fields: First year, wheat; second year, grass; third year, grass; fourth year, grain; fifth year, corn. Four-year rotation on four fields of five and six acres each: First year, corn; second year, wlieat; third year, clover: fourth year, plots of annual pasturage and soiling crops, to be used with movable fences for separately fencing each por- tion as ready for pasturing. PLANNING THE FARM III which the stock may be comfortable when out of doors in winter. The fields. — A complete inspection of the farm is necessary, in selecting one to purchase, and it should be even more complete when deciding on the general plan for its development. Lands which can- not be used in arable fields in the general scheme of the rotation must be set aside for meadows, permanent pastures or wood lots. In considering these in connection with the several fields into which the arable portion should be divided for the pur- pose of decid- ing upon a sys- tem of rotating the ,crops, each should be so ar- ranged that it may be reached through suit- able roads and lanes. (See Figure 41.) The fields which are to be alter- nately plowed and in tame grasses should be three or more in number, so as to make practicable a system of change or rotation which will be at once profitable in the yields of crops, and will aid in keeping up the fertility of the soil. The plan of the fields and lanes should also be platted on paper. This is important, not only to preserve the plan, but to induce one to keep a record of the fields. Provide for systematic rotation. — Every farm business should be planned out years ahead and the plan should Figure 43D. Harlan Farm. One-hundred-and-sixty-acre farm before replanning. The wet area is to be tile drained. 112 FARM DEVELOPMENT /907 i9oa , 1909 - CMIM tml9lO - COm -t-s 1911 -^^N \ i 19/a- GRASS ■ t9/3-CP*SS 19/4 -GRASS I /9IS-6MIH \ 19/6 - CORN \ \ 1907- (fiRA/V) I /90a- CRASS i I909- GRASS • 1910 -GRAIN <*/9// t9/2 - GRAM *9/3 - GRASS 1914 • GRASS 191$ - GRASS 1316 - GRAIN ^^ 1907- GRAIN I90S- GRASS 1909 -cgm*-^ I I907- C0R» —L 1903-GRAIM 1909 -GRASS 1910 -CORH 1911 -tRSfH \\ I9IZ- GRASS ;k! 1913 - CORV m 79/4 -GRAM ■« I9IS- GRASS !« I9I(, - CORN tou -(SRASS \tti9oe- 1909 1910 - BRASS 1911 - CORR I9li - ^fiAIM 1913 - MASS I9t* - CORfl ISIS - SrSTh H 1916 • CRASS 10/^ TSOB - GRASS 7909 - GTHtSS 79/0 - GRASS 7977 - GRAIN f*797Z- CORN 7913 - 6RA7N 79/4 - CRASS 79/S - GRASS 79/6 - GRASS 2^07- JdM- \V/908 - ^Aiit \\ 7909 -GRASS S 1910 - 6RASS Kt.t. be recorded. There should be adopted a scheme cff rotating the crops, the general features of which should be adhered to, with modifications in the less important matters as 7907-UA/7h ' ' •■ ' r ' ' ' /V- '^^V ' « " « ' I season, market, 7908-^N, 79M- GRASS t - , labor and other farm conditions may require. The central feature of the field plan should be a scheme of rotation of crops. Most farms should be divided into two portions, and each por- tion divided into a number of fields of nearly equal size. Some farms should have only one set of fields, and some should be divided into more than two parts, with each part divided up into a series of fields adapted to a given scheme of crop rotation. Thus two fields accommodate a two-year rotation, three fields a three-year rotation, four fields a four-year rotation, etc. Thus about the same acreage of each class of crops is provided each year ; also all the advantages of crop rotation to keep the soil productive ; and farming becomes an orderly business in which records can be kept and where profits and losses on each enterprise can be more definitely known. That a systematic rotation of crops may and should be planned and successfully inaugurated has been amply demon- -\ r — -~^ ' ' Figure 43E. Harlan Farm. A six-year rotation projected on six twenty-acre fields, and a tliree-year rotation on tliree ten-acre fields. The arrows following corn from 1907, on Field C, on tlie successive fields to 1912 on Field D, sliows the arrangement of succession of the fields in the six-year rotation. PLANNING THE FARM 113 strated. A few illustrations of systematically arranged plans for new farms and for the rearrangement of old farms are here given. Those who have become expert in this kind of rural engineering in a given locality have no serious trouble in using the farmer's own knowl- edge of his soils and of the products he wishes to make, in rearranging and mapping any farm so that the owner can conduct it under systematic crop rotations. This cannot be done at arm's length, as by editors in their offices, but must be done on " the ground," with the plan of the farm, a knowledge of the farm and the farm busi- ness in all its details, in mind. Even then, the final decisions relat- ing to the number of fields in the Cam • I2oo6u.930* Sforfr Z3 T tr^/'A Hr/ae per Acre 4/9.72 Cosf-perAcrK 0.19 Met MewM oer Acre fi/033 360.OO _3±S0 439^.SO 390iu a 31* ^ /^S-/FrrA ffff/ffroim fier^. 4 As.x> IOA. //jy . 3S7: @ 46/m. a 2Z7.SO * 270.7Q Valae perA 4/3 S3 Cott . . 4^*7 MetlnccmtjierA 4 S.06 C ?0/lc fhsfumfe IZCows. t30.Z* cropping scheme ; the sequence of crops ; specific plans, as for catch crops ; the place for fences; all must be work- ed out by the farmer, and much of the drawing must be done by him or under his immediate supervision. Often he cannot, and more often he will not, follow a ready-made plan or even a plan which does not compre- hend his own best thought. The work of rearranging fence lines, placing lanes, and deciding upon the length of rotations and the crops to be included in each series of fields, requires some skill. A few of the general prin- f/ay /it.Cut/ing3Sr.e*7 4 Zi^oo j» ga. . /ar. jfi. 7/ so Va/ue per Ave 4 /■* 77 CosrptrAm S./e . Akf fncome /XT Acrt t S.6S tVAra/-- -Kotu @i7S* 43/S.oo S/rau . /irtollZ 32 00. * 3f7oo fa/utfierA 4'73S Cur . 7/<. fH/ncome/»rA 41O.ZI Figure 43F. Harlan Farm. Annual ledger map showing records of crops for 1910. 114 FARM DEVELOPMENT ciples and facts concerning the rotation of crops may properly be stated here. (See Figures 41 and 43.) It should be observed that the following statements apply somewhat locally to the farm conditions of the middle Northwest. The average yearly value of the series of crops in rota- tion must considerably exceed the average cost of pro- duction, that there may be a large net annual profit per acre and per worker. Each crop chosen must do its share toward producing the average net profit by its direct net profit, taking into account the reduction of the productivity of the soil, or its improvement of the soil for succeeding crops. Soil-reducing crops include most of the grains and cul- tivated crops. Soil-improving crops include most of the grasses, clovers and such other leguminous crops as peas, beans and lupins. Some crops reduce the productivity of the soil for the same and certain other crops, while some crops increase the productivity of the soil for certain crops. Thus wheat, oats and barley reduce the productivity of the soil for wheat, oats and barley. Corn, on the other hand, leaves the soil in peculiarly favorable condition for these small grains, and for grasses and clovers seeded with them. Clovers, and the legumes generally, leave the soil peculiarly improved for nearly all crops. Crops which reduce the productivity of the soil may do so in various ways, as, by allowing to multiply those kinds of weeds which are peculiarly harmful to the succeeding crops; by introducing plant diseases; pos- sibly by introducing substances poisonous to the soil; by leaving the soil in poor mechanical condition ; and by leaving it lean of certain compounds needed for plant food. Crops which increase the productivity of the soil may accomplish this in numerous ways, as by adding organic matter which support bacterial and other activities; b^r PLANNING THE FARM 1 15 supporting bacteria which bring into the soil atmospheric nitrogen ; by providing a good seed bed ; by opening up impervious subsoils by the roots; by improving the mechanical conditions of the furrow-slice so that it may be put into better tilth; and by increasing the farm supply of manure. As a general rule cultivated crops prepare the im- mediate conditions of the land for the grains ; grains for the grasses, especially where the grasses are grown the first year among grain crops ; and the grasses, in turn, prepare the land for cultivated crops, as in the following rotation: First year, corn; second year, wheat; third year, clover; and repeat indefinitely. All the crops in the rotation should be in practical sequence, as: First year, corn; second year, wheat; third, fourth and fifth years, timothy and clover for hay and pasturage; sixth year, grain. Here the corn prepares the land for the wheat, and also provides a solid furrow-slice with mellow seed bed, suited to insure a catch of timothy and clover seeded with the spring wheat; the wheat gives a profitable crop, while the clover and timothy plants have a year in which to start among the wheat so as to yield well the third year; the grass sod provides splendid conditions for the oats, barley, flax or other grain grown in the sixth year; and after receiving part of the year's product of stable manure, the grain stubble, plowed in either fall or spring, puts the soil in splendid condition for the crop of corn, with which the rotation is again inaugurated. This rotation scheme includes crops each of which gives a large average net profit; requires the expense of plowing each field only twice in six years, once for the corn and once for grain ; keeps in check weeds and plant diseases; maintains a good percentage of organic matter in the soil; provides for a high annual rate pf Il6 FARM DEVELOPMENT plant food production from the soil and from the air; maintains the soil in good condition mechanically; leaves the land more productive at the end of each six- year rotation period; keeps down the requirements for present day high-priced labor; and, for the region men- tioned above, it is the basis of a system of crop and live vStock production which yields a high annual net income per acre and per worker. Most farms are rather awkwardly organized, many of them not showing any attempt at systematic planning. It is hoped that investigations, in crop rotations, in the cost of making farm products, in the methods used by the most successful farmers, and other like subjects, will ere long give a basis for a literature on farm organization and farm management in each state. When this has been done the farmer, often with the help of his son and the teacher in the consolidated rural school, can place on paper a systematically organ- ized plan to be followed in its main features. Keeping an annual ledger map by annually putting yields, cost and other facts in each field on the map, will be a pleas- ant task for the farmer. Duplicate copies of these maps on file in the consolidated rural school, in the agricul- tural high school, and in the agricultural newspaper, will be the bases of very lively discussion of farm manage- ment. This subject will then have changed from an in- definite, if not uninteresting, topic to a fascinating and most vital educational and economic subject. CHAPTER VIII SUBDUING THE LAND In subduing the land we meet a variety of problems. The labor, time and expense of subduing the native grass sod on a field of undulating prairie land is not more than double the cost of plowing under the stubble of one crop, preparatory to planting another. Where the land is wet and part or all the field must be drained, there is a material addition to the cost; and often much time must elapse before the soil is drained and ready to receive the seeds of a cultivated crop and bring in returns for capital invested in the wet acres. Where brush, trees, stones or even coarse peat are present, there is an added outlay of labor required, and the date when profits may be realized on the land is still further delayed. A large portion of our wooded lands has rich soils free of stones, and is well adapted to use as arable lands in rotative cropping. Much of the land covered with native trees, however, is rough, stony, wet or otherwise not adapted to the use of the plow, and would best be used for permanent grass land or for the continued growth of forest crops. Brushing the land is usually the first operation in forest-covered land, that there may be little to impede the operations of grubbing, and that the piled brush may be dry and useful in aiding to burn the stumps. In new districts, remote from large centers of popu- lation, much good wood, and even straight timber sticks, must be sacrificed to the flames because of the too great expense of transporting them to market. ii8 FARM DEVELOPMENT The brush scythe, a light ax, a hand brush hook, and simple devices for using horses for raking the brush together into piles, are the implements chiefly u^ed in Figure 44. A, canthook; B, spade: C, poll ax; D, double-edged ax; E. shovel; F, crowbar; G, mattock; H, brush hook; I. piQi;; J, auger; K, brush scythe; L, cross-cut saw. SUBDUING THE LAND IIQ clearing the land of shrubs and of brush left from fallen trees. In this, as in other operations of clearing, there is use for skill and judgment as well as for an abundance of brawn. For the heavy work of drawing together logs, a team, preferably one experienced in logging, and an equipment of chains, canthooks, etc., are very necessary ; while human muscle, coupled with skill and tact, are Figure 45. A useful form of windlass or capstan stump puller. also required for rapid and thoroughgoing work. It is necessary to precede the skidding of logs with some ax work, in case of recently felled trees or tops from which the branches have not yet rotted; and following the skidding, the ax and brush scythe are used to remove the shrubs and trees which are too small to require grubbing. Where not too remote, and where herding or fencing can be arranged, sheep and goats may sometimes be employed in brushing the lands, provided it is not im- portant to get the land immediately tinder the plow. 120 FARM DEVELOPMENT For arable fields all trees and stones should be re- moved. In some cases the difBculty of removing stones and stumps will not permit the immediate completion of the work. Time allows the stumps to decay and our fungous bacterial friends may be allowed to gradually decompose the roots until the stumps may more readily be removed. Time also gives opportunity for accumulat- ing the means and forces necessary to remove obstacles Figure 46. Showing use of windlass and "stump hook" or "root plow." which could not be removed with the limited resources at first available. Where the stones or stumps are not too thick the cultivation may, in some cases, at least temporarily, be carried on among them. The stump may be removed easier by attacking the roots while the tree is standing, rather than after it has been cut down. Any mechanical device for pulling the stump aflfords greater advantage if attached some distance up the body of the tree. Usually, however, the lumbermen precede the settler and only stumps remain to be removed. Grubbing is the heavy and expensive part of the work of clearing, Heavy machinerv is being developed for removing stumps, and explosives are useful, yet hand SUBDUING THE LAND 121 work IS necessary, and in rare cases stumps may be best removed entirely by hand. Some of the most necessary baud tools are shown in Figure 44. The art of digging about the stump with shovel and mattock, of cutting the roots with mattock or ax and of gradually working the stump loose so that it may be displaced, cannot well be learned from the written page. Doing the work, together with the expert advice and counsel of one experienced in the business, is the way this and many other things, consisting largely of manual operations, may best be learned. There is much oppor- tunity for head work, and the man who uses good judg- ment as to where and how to strike, conserves his strength and makes rapid progress. Stump pullers are becoming a most useful part of the clearing outfit and are adapted to a large proportion of the work. These machines are of several kinds. Vari- ous forms are adapted to multiply handpower. One of the common forms of this type of machine has, as its essential parts, a strong tripod, and a powerful screw worked by a hand lever which lifts the stump, on the same principle as the jackscrew, except that it is used to pull instead of to push. A short, strong chain, 20 to 40 feet long, fastened to a heavy lever, and a team hitched to the other end, gives power to pull out many stumps, even if they are as large as 2 feet in diameter. A very large pole, 30 or more feet long, with a heavy chain to wrap around the stump, is the usual device. The team pulling on the small end of the pole literally twists the stump loose from the earth. A block and tackle, applied by means of a capstan, is much used to multiply horse and steam power. The capstan, fastened to one or more strong stumps by means of guy chains or cables, is the main feature of some of the most practical stump pullers in use. (See Figures 45-47.) 122 FARM DEVELOPMENT Since loggers have successfully adapted steam engines to drawing logs through the woods, invention has been directed to the use of steam power for pulling stumps. The general plan is to use an engine with sufficient power to pull stumps or trees, with a long cable. A horse or team is used to carry quickly the outer end of the cable from the dislodged stump to the one next to be removed. Recently devised steam stump-pulling machinery promises to reduce the cost of removing stumps. These machines are too large to be afforded by 3 Il^i>=- UbC LllCbC ''""^' ''^- devices to clear a por- tion of each farm offered for sale. In the settlement of a new region the land dealer who thus sells partially cleared farms can give employment to new settlers, who in return for part of their wages hire the machine to clear more of their lands. By using only sufficient dynamite to jar the larger stumps loose from the earth, so they may be brought to the burning pile with less adhering soil, the stumps are easily pulled and drawn by the cables to a pile near the engine. Sometimes an acre of stumps are thus placed in one pile at a single setting of the engine. The drum which winds up the cables is also used to draw the engine to its new station. To accomplish this, the cable is attached to stumps in the area to be next cleared and as the drum winds it up, the engine, now made free of its guy cables, travels on skids to its new location. SUBDUING THE LAND 123 Some stumps may be partially burned by boring a hole from the top of the stump down diagonally through the side, pouring kerosene into this slowly, so as to saturate the walls of the hole, and then applying a match. The hole serves as a chimney to give draft to the fire, which causes the stump to burn. Stumps or logs in the pile which refuse to burn may sometimes be started anew by thus using the auger and a small amount of kero- sene. But the more frequent use of fire in removing stumps is to cover them with brush and waste timber and burn part of the stump while burning the other wood. Remaining portions, as large roots, may then be dislodged by pulling them with the stump puller. The cost per acre of clearing land of stumps varies from a few dollars to a hundred dollars or more. The kind of growth, the thickness of the stumps, the kind of soil and subsoil and the value of the wood products secured while clearing the land are the leading items to be considered in estimating the net cost. There is more labor connected with removing stumps from a clay or from a stony soil than from a sandy soil and subsoil. The species of tree is also a most influential factor in the cost of clearing lands. The poplar stump, for ex- ample, is soft, easily broken, and not large, and may be removed when green with comparatively little trouble; and if killed, it will rot in a few years so as to be very easily removed. The white birch, tamarack, basswood and jack pine stumps are also easily removed. The white pine, on the other hand, grows large, has very extensive though not deeply penetrating roots. It is solid, its wood is full of pitch, which serves as a pre- servative, and it will remain for a generation and still be hard to remove. Large stumps of this tree often require from one to five dollars' worth of labor and materials to remove them. Some hickories and oaks, develop large stumps with strong tap roots, holding 124 FARM DEVELOPMENT them very firmly to the soil. The wood will last, in case of the oaks, almost as long as the white pine stumps. The number of stumps per acre likewise modi- fies the cost, as does also the amount of brush and logs, which must be burned or hauled off. The value of logs, cordwood, posts, etc., in some cases may be equal to or greater than the cost of clearing the field. Explosives used in grubbing. — Explosives are coming into general use in removing stumps. Their use is only in part to throw the stumps out of the ground, the greater aid being to jar the stump loose from the earth adhering to its roots. Stumps which are pulled by mechanically applied power bring up with their roots large quantities of earth which must be worked loose with shovel, and mattock, requiring no small amount of labor, as this earth must be returned to the hole from which the stump came. The stump which has been thoroughly shaken with a charge of dynamite, even if it must then be pulled by the stump puller, usually brings up but little earth. Stumps which are not clean of earth require a long time to dry and additional labor to burn them. Another considerable gain in using a powerful explosive comes from splitting the stump so that it may be more easily handled and piled closer in the log pile, that it may more certainly be consumed at the first burn- ing. Stumps which are pulled up entire are often great sprawling bodies, the roots preventing close piling in the fire heap, often requiring a second or a third piling and refiring before they are all consumed. The nature of explosives should be thoroughly under- stood by those who use them that serious accidents may be avoided. Dynamite should be handled with much the same care as would be used in handling eggs. It should be kept cool, yet not frozen, and the sticks of dynamite should be handled gently. For transporting, it should be packed in sawdust or some similar material, which SUBDUING THE LAND 12$ will prevent its receiving sudden jars. When frozen, it should be thawed out slowly and without direct contact with the heated surface of a stove or fuel. Most acci- dents in cold climates happen while thawing out frozen dynamite. Dynamite is sold in forms so that one or more pieces or sticks may be used for each stump, and suitable fuses are also made. The portions of stumps not thrown entirely out of the ground by the explosive may be drawn out by means of a team with chain and stump hook; though if large roots remain deeply im- bedded in the soil the stump puller may be used. The position in which to place the dynamite must be determined by the form and position of the stump. At the side of and under the stump, in a hole made in the earth with a crowbar, is usually the most advantageous place in case of large pine stumps. In some cases, it is wise to bore a hole in the stump, and, in rare cases, to locate the load of explosive under the center of the stump. In timbered regions where much clearing is in progress, men may be employed who are especially expert in the effective and economic use of dynamite. Experience with a given kind of stump under certain conditions of soil will aid the judgment of the intelligent man in locating the explosives so as best to throw the stump out, and break it into parts which may be easily piled for burning. Chemicals for destroying stumps have been experi- mented with, but so far as known none of them have been successfully used. Bacteria and fungi perform an important part in the decay of stumps and it has been suggested that the work of the bacteria might be encouraged by inoculating the stump with the proper species, or by supplying them with the kinds of foods or conditions which would cause them to multiply. Forms of fungi perform an important part in slowly removing stumps, and it may be that by 126 FARM DEVELOPMENT mulching or by otherwise controlling the amount of moisture these and the bacteria would be encouraged to do their work more rapidly. Burning is a convenient method of removing logs, brush and stumps, and the ashes have a value as fer- tilizer. Some care is required in piling green or wet logs or stumps so that when set on fire they will be com- pletely consumed. Since labor is required to collect and repile the partially burned wood, which is so charred on the outer surface that it will not readily start to burn, the manner of piling the first time is of importance. Waiting until the piled wood has had ample time to dry before setting it on fire is often necessary. Intelligence and care are required to avoid fire spreading into adjoining forests and fields. When the season is ex- cessively dry and the danger considerable it is often best to defer the burning until rains have made the grass and leaves on surrounding lands less inflammable. Skidding logs together, raising them on the heap, and drawing the stumps into advantageous positions for their complete burning requires a constant exercise of intel- ligence. Partial clearing for grass lands. — Frequently the ex- pense of removing the largest stumps from a field which is to be cultivated is so great that until the stumps have partially decayed, farmers must farm around them, but the general practice should be, as far as practicable, to clear thoroughly whatever is begun. In " cut over'* fields, which cannot be at once cleared of all the stumps, valuable pasturage may be had by clearing out and burn- ing only the shrubs, small trees and down timber. The stumps may thus be left for the rotting process to make their removal easier at a later date. Where there are valuable young trees still growing, these, too, may be left and only the open spaces cleared out to be seeded to the grasses and clovers desired for pasturage. Since SUBDUING THE LAND 12/ these grass and clover seeds should be planted in freshly worked soil and not covered deeply by leaves and weeds, it is wise, in many cases, to choose a dry time and burn the surface over, using care to remove leaves from about valuable trees, thus to avoid their being injured by the fire. Cutting up the surface by means of a spring tooth harrow, or a heavily built and weighted A harrow, or double A harrow, or by means of a disk harrow, gives a place for the grass seeds to germinate. Experience proves that seeds planted in these lands, in northern or drouthy sections, are more certain to germinate and live if planted early in the spring. This gives the roots a strong hold on the soil before hot, dry summer conditions prevail, and the crowns are then sufficiently mature to endure the severity of the first winter. In southern moister sections, early autumn, or even late autumn or winter planting of grasses and clover is sometimes best. Fire as a means of clearing up timber lands is a very useful and dangerous agency. In very dry seasons great forest fires sweep over large tracts, sometimes cov- ering many townships, and sometimes entire counties are burned over, as in the case of the Hinckley fire in Pine county, Minnesota, in 1894. Immense quantities of tim- ber of more or less value are destroyed, the brush is burned to the ground ; partially rotted logs and other forms of " down timber " are consumed. But these forest conflagrations in dry seasons do not stop with the con- sumption of the useful trees and the useless wood and brush. They burn up the thick mulch of leaves and twigs and nearly decayed matter on the surface of the soil, which would be valuable if the farmer could save it until his plow has turned it under the furrow-slice to become useful in forming fertility. The damage from fire does not even stop here. The heat from the burning wood and leaves penetrates and destroys much of the organic mat- ter already incorporated among the stony particles of the 128 FARM DEVELOPMENT Figure 48. Mud boat. soil, and even injures the mechanical texture of soils already lacking in binding power. The leaves and other forms of nearly decayed plant substances are especially needed by sandy soils, and it is on our light soils that fires most frequently cause permanent loss of fertility. A fire, in a very dry season, w^ill consume all the soil covering which Nature has been slowly accumulating for centuries. Even in heavy soils all the fine humus mulching ma- terials should be care- fully preserved and care should be used to select seasons for burning the brush and stump piles when the fire will not burn up valuable fertilizing matter by running over the surface of the ground. Removing stones. — Removing stones is largely a matter of main strength. Most smaller stones should be picked from the sur- face by hand or fork as they are turned up by the plow. The breaking plow by no means brings them all to the surface the first year, but each time the field is stirred with the stubble plow a new crop of stones comes to the surface. The only way to get them all out is to remove them as they are brought to the surface, or uncovered by the plow, and not allow them again to be covered. When there are only occa- sional stones found, the plowman may carry them to the end of the field in a small box on the plow, but if there are many, a man should follow after the plow, and re- move them with the stone boat or wagon. Where the stones are thick, a low wagon is best for stones of Figure 49. Low or handy wagon. SUBDUING THE LAND 129 medium size, and the stone boat for larger ones. (See Figures 48, 49 and 50.) Machinery and tools. — A two-wheeled cart, made very strong and with wheels of large diameter, is a useful im- plement for swinging up heavy stones and transporting them. The requirements in the way of tools, etc., for removing and breaking large stones are: Shovels, heavy chains to place about the stones, drills and wedges for making holes and giant powder or other explosives. Drawing the stones out of their settings with a team, like skidding logs, is a matter requiring skill, and also a steady, strong team. Using dynamite laid on the stone or some explosive placed in a drill hole and held down with tamped clay, while a comparatively simple matter, must be learned by experience, else too much expense will be entailed for materials, and there will be too muth danger of accidents from the improper handling of the explosives. Since stones are often useful, they may be drawn to places where they are most available for use. If in large numbers and no immediate use is to be made of them, they should be compactly piled where they will occupy little valuable land, where they will not be un- sightly, and in such a manner that they will not harbor weeds. Uses for field stones. — A limited number of field stones may be found so useful on the farm where rocks from quarries are expensive to secure, that the cost of remov- ing them is small compared with their value. Material for foundations to buildings and for cellar walls may thus be secured more cheaply than from a distant stone quarry. Bridge abutments, stone arches for smaller bridges and culverts, retaining walls, roads and paths, may be made of stones thus collected; and with fore- sight these may be drawn directly from the field to the points at which they are needed. Stones thus secured 130 FARM DEVELOPMENT are useful for the foundation of roads and walks. Ditches along the roadside, farm ditches through land which readily washes, may be paved cheaply with field stones; and rather than leave the stones in unsightly piles along the roadside or throughout the field, it sometimes pays to pile them up into' fences. The cost of wire fences is now so low, however, that the labor of piling up stone fences and of repairing them will not, as a rule, pay in the end. Removing trees, shrubs and roots from peaty land. — Many swamps are covered with trees. Sometimes a thick growth, as of tamarack or spruce, is formed, which is valuable Figure 50. Stone boat. f^j. p^^^g^ f^^j ^^ ^^^^^ purposes. Other swamps have scattering trees of small size, and in other cases no trees are to be seen, but under- neath the upper layers of peat are encountered stumps, roots and logs which greatly impede the work of making drains and of cultivation. Where fire can be safely used to consume the upper 3 to 6 inches of peat, the stumps and roots of standing or decayed ^, „ „ ^ . « . . 1 ° -^ . Figure 51. Hook. A kind of large hoe used f«-ppc thiic linrnvfrPn in Western Germany to upturn the coarse surface Licca uiius uiicuvcicu ^^^^^ ^ subduing virgin moorlands. may then be easily re- moved. The roots of trees growing in peat do not pene- trate deeply, but spread out almost horizontally. By burning ofif the covering of moss and peat, the roots and stumps are also burned, or are so exposed that they may be freely lifted out of the peat and removed. Any stumps, roots or stems of trees of a former time which have been covered by the upbuilding of the peat and which impede the plow may usually be drawn out by hand or team. In case burning is not practicable, as where the surface peat cannot be gotten sufficiently dry. SUBDUING THE LAND I3I or where it is so dry that there is danger of burning pit holes in the peat, much force and labor are required to pull the trees and stumps out and pile them up for burn- ing. Some care is necessary to avoid burning large piles of wood on peaty soils, as the fire may make the peat beneath so hot and dry that a pit will be burned out, and a fire thus started can often only be extinguished with great difficulty. In peaty lands which are used for pastures, and in some which are used for meadows, the slow process of decay may be allowed to remove stumps and roots. When the peat is drained, and air takes the place of part of the water among the particles of peat, decay goes on rapidly. This is in a large part due to the presence of the myriads of bacteria which thrive in the drier soil and help to decompose the organic matter. Burning the surface peat as a means of getting rid of the coarse, unrotted, recently formed moss and other forms of plant life, and of securing a finer soil in the better decayed deeper and older peat in which to plant crops, is important. The upper 6 to lo inches of newly drained peaty land is usually a loose mass of moss and may in some instances be burned off. Solidifying by pasturing. — Where it is impracticable to burn off or to otherwise remove the surface moss before sowing tame grass seed, it is difficult to secure a stand of grasses or clovers. In many instances where one is in no haste to subdue fully the peaty land, an advantage is gained by having animals pasture on it, and thus compact the peat by tramping. Animals may be encouraged to roam over the fields by sowing such pasture plants as red-top, timothy and alsike clover. This compacting prevents the development of sphagnum or other mosses and forms the surface into a soil-like condition, thus giving the grasses a better chance to thrive. 132 FARM DEVELOPMENT The packing by the feet of animals often results in the formation of hummocks which make mowing for hay next to impossible, and breaking somewhat difficult. Where the land is to remain for some time in pasture, these objections have less force. Plowing and pulverizing peaty lands is ordinarily done with the plows, pulverizers and harrows in ordinary use on the farm. Plows might be made that would be especially adapted to breaking such land. The share Figure 52. Burning surface peat In West Germany wliere peaty lands are called moorlands. should be broad, so that a wide furrow can be made, and it should be kept sharp so as to cut off roots. The coulter should be adapted to cut loose the edge of the soft, mossy furrow-slice and to sever all but the largest roots. Where it is desired to use moorlands for pastures or meadows, the complete destruction of wild plants and the making of a smooth seed bed is wise, if not too ex- pensive. Peaty lands once subdued are cultivated with much the same plows and implements used in solid soils. Growing crops on peaty lands. — In many cases the moorland may be broken, sown to flax or oats, and seeded SUBDUING THE LAND 133 down to tame grasses, to remain permanently; or the grass sod may be plowed under after several years, one or more crops of flax, oats or other crops grown, and the land again seeded down. These soils are usually best for producing grasses or vegetables, and are some- times used in the cultivation of celery. But if fertilized, and the drainage and cultivation properly managed, they will produce a number of the staple crops. They are Figure 53. Placing bog shoes on a horse. not good wheat soils. Oats thrive better than most grains, and corn for fodder may also be raised on some peaty soils. Timothy and alsike clover, or timothy alone, will make large yields of hay where the water level can be main- tained at a point to keep up the proper moisture supply. Where the conditions are slightly too wet for these crops, red-top will make a good yield of hay of fair quality, and on sorne marshes too wet for red-top, fair 134 FARM DEVELOPMENT crops of hay from wild grasses are produced. Kentucky blue grass seeds should never be sown on lands designed for permanent meadow, because this grass grows too short for hay; though, owing to its underground root stalks, it can, in north temperate regions, crowd out most of the better meadow grasses, except in very moist soils. The seeds of tame grasses or clover should be sown at the North as soon in spring as the land is dry enough to allow the seeds to germinate. The seed bed is best if made fine and smooth, since this will aid in secur- ing at once a good sod and an even surface for mowing. In many instances it is beneficial to tear up the meadow or pasture sod on peaty lands with the disk harrow, so as to relieve the sodbound condition. While this destroys a portion of the plants, those remaining have more room and respond to the cultivation. This cultivation should usually be done as early in spring as is practicable, or in some cases late in the fall. Manuring peaty soils. — Extensive experiments at the Moor Experiment Station at Bremen, Germany, show that peaty lands are benefited by complete fertilizers con- taining nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid. But it was also found that stable manures are superior to com- mercial fertilizers for these soils. Peaty lands have an overabundance of old inert humus, but often lack the mineral ingredients, available nitrogen and the easily fermenting vegetable matter of recently applied manures. No doubt, the stable manure, in addition to supplying mineral plant food and nitrogen, brings to the soil many useful bacteria, and possibly a better pabulum of food, for these minute friends than otherwise exists in the peat. Breaking prairie sod. — The time which vast ex- perience has proven best for breaking prairie land is in the late spring or early summer. During the summer and autumn, the perennial plant stores up in its rootSj crown and stems food with which to start SUBDUING THE LAND I35 its growth the next spring, this food serving the plant much as the stored-up food of the seed nourishes the newly born plantlet. In the spring, after the plant has drawn upon and used all the stored-up food, and before it has had time to lay by a similar supply for the next season, is the best time to kill it. During this stage the leaves are very actively at work, the new growth of roots and stems is succulent, and the plant is in no condition to endure, after being cut in two and turned with its top buried in the soil and its roots exposed to the hot sun. The old portions of the plant are in a weak condition, the new succulent parts have not as yet become hardy and able to withstand rough treatment, and under the influence of the moisture and warm temperature of summer, and with conditions favorable to the bacterial ferments, the sod will rapidly soften and decay. Late in May or June, or early in July, are the best times for breaking, in the middle North- west, and earlier to the southward. The farmers of each region soon learn the limits of time before and after which the overturned prairie sods do not rot well. Prairie sods which are tough and strong, rot best if cut only about 3 inches deep, or as shallow as the plow can be made to " swim " and do perfect work. On lighter lands where the grasses grow in bunches with- out forming a continuous sod, or on prairie lands on which the sod has been killed or much weakened by close pasturing or by the tramping of stock, deeper breaking may be done. Where heavy soils are broken early and shallow, they may be " backset " in the autumn so as to secure a fine seed bed. In backsetting tough sod, the plow is run in the same direction as the breaker ran, and the furrow is turned back and with it an inch or more of the sub- soil. On lands upon which the sods are not tough, the breaking plow or the stubble plow can be run across at 136 FARM DEVELOPMENT right angles with the furrows made in breaking, the sharp rolling coulter being used to cut the sods cross- wise. The earth cut below the first furrow is thrown on top by the plow and forms a coating of fine material over the tougher sods, and this loose earth is used to advantage in smoothing the whole into a fine seed bed. Where the sod is very weak and the breaking was done Figure 54. Breaking piow^with rather dccply, the disk pulver- roiiing coulter. -^^j.^ ^j^^ spriug-tooth harrow or even the common spike-tooth harrow, may give a better treatment than to backset, for crops like wheat, which prefer a compact furrow-slice. For the cereal grains, which need to be sown very early, it is often better to complete the preparation of the soil in the fall. While it is customary to leave most newly broken prairie land fallow the first year, it ofttimes pays to sow a crop of flax, millet, fodder corn or turnips; and even beans and potatoes ^,^^,^ .^ ^^^^..^^ ^,^^ ^j^, may sometimes be profitably '^'^'^^^^ "°"""'•• grown on newly broken prairie where the sod is weak. Plows for breaking prairie sod are now so perfected that most of the prominent plow firms make breakers suited to each section of the country. For heavy work, and where stones hinder, single walking breakers are used, or the ordinary gang plow is transformed into a breaker by replacing with " breaker bottoms " the mold- boards and shares used for stubble plowing. Plows suited to the work of breaking brush or timber lands are made on a somewhat different plan from those used in prairie breaking. The parts must be stronger, to resist the strains in striking stumps and roots. The moldboard does not need to be so slanting, since there is rarely a tough sod to turn, and the furrow is usually SUBDUING THE LAND 137 made deeper. In prairie breaking the rolling coulter is often preferred; in timber breaking the standing coulter is generally found more satisfactory. Timber lands are plowed 4 to 7 inches deep. Holes left by the removal of stumps should be first leveled up. The Slush Scraper, the Fresno Scraper, or even the Reversible Road Machine will do this work in many cases much more expeditiously than it can be done by hand. Mixing sand into clay soils, or mixing clay or muck into sandy soils, is done in some cases, but only where the benefit is very large, so as to repay the cost of high-priced labor. Spreading sand over marshes de- signed for cranberries, has been found to pay, where the conditions are such that this greatly increases the yields of the cranberries. And in rare cases mucky lands which were too wet for tame grasses, as beside a stream, have been made into very productive soils by the addition of a thin coating of sand. With modern machinery, earth may be moved much more cheaply than for- merly, and the ameliorating of inhospitable soils may eventu- ally become more common, though now good lands are so low in price that only for small areas, and for very especial pur- pose, will it pay to haul heavy figure Se.'^mon gang plow earthy materials to mix with the """"^ ^'^^^'' *'°*'^"'- soil. Carting dried peat into barns or into manure cellars, or mixing it directly into the compost heaps, is often profitable, as it decomposes there and aids in conserv- ing the fertilizing constituents of the vegetable manures, and when placed on the land adds somewhat to the humus-making substances. Alkali Soils. — One of the troublesome and but par- tially solved problems is the treatment of soils which 138 FARM DEVELOPMENT have an excess of soluble alkaline compounds. Flood- ing the land, and then drawing off the water after it has dissolved a quantity of alkali, is a plan which has been suggested for heavy, flat lands, but it is not practicable in most cases. Dressing heavily with rotted barn manure has a temporary, beneficial effect, as has also sometimes burning a thick layer of straw upon the soil and thus charring the surface. Irrigating the alkaline soil with a surplus of water which is carried off by means of underground drains, is an expensive method of leaching out the excess of salts, which is successfully used in some districts where irriga- tion is practiced. Irrigation may, in many cases, in- crease the injurious effects of alkali by supplying to the soil large amounts of water which sink down to only a short depth and are returned to the surface by capillary action. Upon evaporation, this water deposits, or leaves, at the surface of the soil, soluble salts which it absorbed from the subsoil. The water in passing down through the soil goes so rapidly that it does not again dissolve all these soluble salts, and thus they gradually accumu- late in the furrow-slice, and the roots of the plant are obliged to feed in a soil too strongly impregnated with the substances which, in smaller quantities, would allow them to thrive and grow. Seepage waters coming through pervious layers of earth, from higher areas, and moistening hillsides or lower areas, often, upon evaporat- ing, leave alkaline deposits resulting in " alkali spots." Under-drains and open ditches, to divert the seepage water, are sometimes effective in preventing the ac- cumulation of alkali on the surface or in remedying alkalinity. Terracing hillsides is sometimes done in fields of con- siderable size. In gardens it is frequently resorted to, that cultivation may be made easier, to prevent the soils being furrowed out so badly by the waters washing down SUBDUING THE LAND 139 the hillsides, and as an aid in making it practical to use irrigating waters. In many of the southern states ter- racing is practiced extensively on the large general fields devoted to cotton, corn and other crops. In many cases where terracing has not been done, the fields are so badly gullied that they are ruined for field crop cultivation. By terracing, the water is conducted gently sidewise and thus carried slowly around the hills and down the slopes, without forming streams which wash out gullies in the easily eroded subsoil. CHAPTER IX DRAINAGE The work of crop production is nearly all concerned with classes of plants which have been evolved through cycles of ages on soils containing only capillary water. Our field crops, garden crops, fruit, forest and orna- mental trees are nearly all accustomed to soils in which the ground water does not rise within several feet of the surface. The ground water rising to, or nearly to, the sur- face, even for short intervals, reduces the yields of many crops. In very few cases, indeed, are the crops made less productive by systems of drainage which rapidly remove all ground water from the soil to the depth of several feet. Taken in its entirety, land drainage is of vast im- portance. There a^e many large areas, in some cases hundreds of miles across, from which standing water must be removed, or which must be protected from oft- recurring flood water. There are large areas, including a few or many farms, for which drainage systems must be constructed by the voluntary co-operation of the owners, or by the county or state, with cost and benefits equalized among the owners. But the larger total of final expense is the drainage within the millions of farms, whether into a natural outlet or into an outlet provided by large community drains. There is great variety of conditions where drainage will pay, ranging from the deep pond to the hillside which, only in occasional years of unusual rainfall is so wet as to reduce crop yields. The wet sloughs, or bottoms, along streams, the nearly level bottom lands, and the heavy clay lands constitute the bulk of the 140 DRAINAGE I4I lands needing drainage ; though the ponds, seepy hill- sides, alkali areas under irrigation and other minor classes of areas are also large in the aggregate. The values now going to waste in lands which, on account of too much water, are not under cultivation, or are not yielding the full return on the capital and labor in- vested in their cultivation, is represented by hundreds of millions, if not by billions of dollars, in the United States alone. The writer knows of no cases where the investment in well-constructed drains, on lands clearly needing drainage, has not proven profitable. On the whole, there has been far too much conservatism in draining out the wet places on the farm, and in co-operative efforts of individuals and public agencies in promoting and build- ing community drains. There are very few forms of property in which money can be more safely invested than in lands which have been properly reclaimed by drainage. Underdrains of tile are nearly as permanent forms of wealth as the soil itself. Lands needing drainage. — Those soils need draining which are too wet for the crops we wish to grow on them, though some of these may not pay for draining, es- pecially if they are so situated that the cost per acre will be large. Fields requiring draining may be mentioned under the following heads: Slough. — Low, flat areas over which the water usually flows in a sluggish manner, seeping through the surface and passing away slowly, are common in nearly all neighborhoods, and many fai'ms have one or more of them. Removing obstructions from the sloughs, or plow- ing them so as to permit the surface water to flow more freely, will often make these low areas sufficiently dry for the cultivation of crops in rotation or, at least, for the growing of useful meadows of cultivated grasses. 142 FARM DEVELOPMENT Cultivating lands which drain into sloughs sometimes results in so much less water seeping downward into the slough that it does not thereafter need drainage. The cultivation evidently results in more of the water percolating into, and being stored in, the upper several feet of the surface of fields and being from there trans- pired back into the air by the rapidly growing plants, which usually are more luxuriant than were the native grasses or other native plants. Ponds, swamps and sink holes. — Glaciers, in some northern districts, in depositing debris, glacial water in assorting and spreading out the solid materials, and water from snow and rain where there was no glacier, have caused many flat or saucer-shaped places to be formed on the surface of the land. If beneath these low areas there are layers of impervious clay, water accu- mulates, making them too wet for the growing of cul- tivated crops. Drainage through open ditches, tile drains, or vertical drains, must be resorted to for the removal of surplus water which accumulates in these places. In some cases these low areas are so situated that drainage is impractical or too expensive to be profitably executed. Lake borders. — Many lakes are bordered by lands which lie at or very little above the level of lake water. These may be drained by lowering the lake, or, in some cases, conducting the surplus water away from the lake. In many cases it is impractical to drain these lands. The government holds that bodies of water of consider- able size belong to the public at large and not to private individuals. When the national government surveys new territory preparatory to its settlement, all water areas of considerable depth and size are carefully sur- veyed and their borders are accurately mapped by the surveyors. This surveying and mapping is called " meandering," and no one has a right to lower the DRAINAGE 1 43 water in a meandered lake without consent. Where the area of low land lies along the stream through which the lake discharges its supply of water, it is often prac- ticable to construct surface or tile drains which will dis- charge their water at some point down the stream. Where low areas lie on the side of the lake opposite the outlet, and higher land rises behind them, there is usually no chance for an outlet away from the lake, and owing to these difficulties many of these lands cannot well be drained. Where such areas are large and valu- able, however, they may be drained by a system of dikes, drains and pumping machinery, conducting the water through ditches to a low point near the lake, and then elevating it over the embankments by pumps oper- ated by steam or other power. Large areas of land in Holland have been thus reclaimed from the sea, and much more is now being reclaimed at great expense. The streams which pass through these " Netherlands " are conducted to the sea by means of large embankments, called dikes, and not allowed to overflow their banks and thus spread out over the fields, even in times of floods, so that all of the water that it is necessary to pump out over the embankments is that which actually falls upon the land. These flat lands are so rich that this trouble and expense have well repaid the thrifty people of Holland. As our country becomes more densely populated, the areas which we will thus reclaim will increase. The great irrigation projects of the West are bringing us, also, to see that very large diking and draining projects are feasible and may be profitable. Springy hillsides. — Since the earth composing hills is often deposited in layers, the water which penetrates the soil on higher portions of the land is often arrested in its downward course by an impervious layer of clay or rock. If above the dense stratum there is a layer of sand, gravel or mixed earth, through which the water can seep 144 FARM DEVELOPMENT sidewise, it naturally seeks its lowest level and follows the slope of the layer of clay or stone. If this imper- vious layer extends out to the side of a hill, the water flows out and spreads through the surface soil of the hillside. Since this flow of spring water is more or less constant, it may keep a considerable layer of the surface of the hillside or level land beyond the hill, or of a de- pression into which it runs, so wet that there is too much water in the soil for cultivated plants, and only sedges and other water-loving plants will grow. If there is considerable of this water centered in one point, we term it a spring. In some cases the spring water oozes slowly out over a wide area ; in other cases it flows gently from one place; and in others it bubbles upward as if confined between an upper and a lower im- pervious stratum and had broken a passageway through the upper one, and thus finding an outlet had centered in a spring. Some springy hillsides have been so long kept thoroughly saturated with water that the dead roots, stems and leaves of plants have been preserved and a layer of peat has been formed. Flat lands. — Lands which have not a natural slope are often kept wet by more rain falling on them than runs off or is evaporated. Thus, in Louisiana, a large area of land, made up of deposits from the Mississippi river, is flat and must be drained to be adapted to the growth of cultivated crops. In the valley of the Red River of the North, in Minnesota, North Dakota and Manitoba, likewise, there is a large level area formed by deposits of coarse till and on top of this a fine clay from the great glacier. This was deposited while that area was covered by what is now known as " Ancient Lake Agassiz." (See Figure 7.) In Illinois, Indiana and Iowa, there are large level areas from which the natural rainfall is not removed with sufficient rapidity by natural drainage and evaporation to make them suitable for the DRAINAGE I45 most profitable cropping, and in other States north and south there are larger or smaller areas of flat lands which need draining. Side flooding. — Along rivers and streams there are areas which are subject to flooding by the streams rising and flowing out over the banks. There are other areas where there are no well-defined streams which receive the flood water from the surrounding lands, and are thus made too wet from the lack of suitable channels in which the water can run off. In sections where the drouth is excessive, as in the semi-arid regions of the west, lands which receive flood water have a great advantage, since they are thus naturally irrigated, and in that dry climate the water does not usually stand on them so long as to kill out the plants. But in regions of considerable rain- fall, it is generally desirable to prevent water from higher lands flowing over the fields used for cultivated crops, depending only upon the rain which falls directly upon each acre. The Nile valley in Egypt is an excellent example of the lands naturally irrigated and also fer- tilized by annual deposits of mud. Localities especially needing drainage. — Some districts need drainage only on small areas, each drain confined to one, or, at most, a few neighboring farms. In other cases the drainage becomes a large problem concerning one or more countries. Thus, in the valley of the Red River of the North, there is a flat area 75 miles by 300 or more, covering several counties in Minnesota and North Dakota, and a large area in Manitoba which need draining of flood water. Here are many conditions which require co-operation of neighboring farmers of an entire township, or several townships, and, in some cases, two or more counties. The problem in that region has been such a large one that the State of Min- nesota has appropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars to aid in constructing very large main drains into which 146 FARM DEVELOPMENT the counties and townships may run smaller drains, and with which the farmers, in turn, may connect their farm drains. Even the aid of the United States has been invoked, and there may prove to be sufficient cause for co-operation between the United States and Canada. In northeast Minnesota are large peaty swamps, in some cases covering many thousands of acres. These cannot well be drained by individual farmers, since no farmer can get an outlet unless a general canal is built, into which he can conduct his farm drains. Minnesota, fol- lowing Illinois, Ohio,* Indiana and other older States, has recognized the need of the county and even the State co-operating with the farmers in constructing large drains, and the State legislature has passed laws under which landowners, townships and counties may organ- ize into associations coroperating in the drainage of large districts. Cost and profits must be carefully studied. — Where good lands are low in price, drainage must be done at slight expense per acre to justify the investment. On the other hand, where the lands are valuable, consider- able expense may be put into open and tile drains and a profit made from the investment. In most cases drain- ing of the really wet lands can be done for a sum far less than the increased value produced. Surface drains can often be used to reclaim land, the increased value of which will represent many times the cost of the drain. In some cases a single drain will carry the water off, or keep it off, a large area, as in a wide slough ; while in other cases, in sections where there is a heavy rainfall, open or tile drains are necessarily placed close together. Since tile draining is quite expensive, it usually pays only where the drained lands are relatively high in price, *The revised drainage law of Ohio is regarded as being a model of its kind; under it great drainage projects have been put into operation at a remarkably low cost and with equitable adjustment of both public and private interests. DRAINAGE 147 $40 per acre or upwards. There are practical cases, how- ever, where tile drains pay on cheap lands, as where one line of tile will carry off the water from a large area. The judgment of an expert is often worth securing to determine whether the probable profits will be sufficient to warrant the expense of a drain, as well as to plan the proposed drain. How to determine where drainage is needed. — The farmer who sees his lands from season to season can determine the injury to crops, or the difficulty of raising desired crops on any wet areas. The purchaser who would estimate the need and the probable cost of drain- age on lands which he desires to purchase, must depend largely upon inspection and upon the credited state- ments of those who have observed the land for a series of years. If there is water on the surface, if wild plants which grow only upon wet soils are found, or if there is other evidence that the soil is not suitable for those crops which thrive best on arable land, the need of drain- ing is easily seen. In some instances useful facts can be learned by making holes here or there with a spade or a posthole auger, and observing, from time to time, the height of the ground water in these little wells. By studying the soil throughout successive seasons, im- portant facts may be learned. Where the land is in cul- tivated crops, or even in tame grasses, the effect of the water in doubtful areas may easily be studied as affecting the health and yield of the crops. Most domesticated plants growing in soil containing more water than they need become yellow, do not grow luxuriantly and yield but little, and sometimes are killed. The area of the watershed which discharges its water over any given area must be carefully determined and taken into consideration in determining whether the land needs draining, so as better to estimate the amount and influence of the flood water. Sometimes a simple 148 FARM DEVELOPMENT drain may divert this water so as not to necessitate the draining of a large area. The stratification of the soil where spring or seepage water occurs should be studied when practicable to do so. This can sometimes be done effectively by making holes several feet deep in the wet area with a posthole auger. Lands not needing drainage. — Where Nature has so formed the surface of the ground that the excess of water easily runs off, or has put together the particles of the soil and subsoil so that the water can readily per- colate downward, there is usually nothing to be gained by a system of drainage. Hillsides with open subsoils do not need drainage. In localities where there is not a very large amount of rainfall, drainage has very little effect, even in heavy soils on hillsides. Level lands through which water can easily percolate do not need artificial drainage, since the drainage down- ward is sufficient to carry off the excess water. It is desirable for the water to seep through the soil, rather than to run over its surface. Heavy lands in dry climates, whether rolling or flat, usually do not need draining, or only a sufficient amount to prevent flooding in case of unusual storms. Here it is desirable to let the water from rains lie on the land for a short time, giving it an abundance of time to be absorbed, and preventing as much from running off the surface as possible. The soil and subsoil are great reservoirs which must be relied upon to store up water to be used during periods of drought. In regions of slight or irregular rainfall, it may be advisable to risk the crops suffering some during wet periods, even if the water stands on the fields. This water will go deep into the subsoil and be held available for crops at a future time. Drainage and rainfall. — The greater the rainfall the greater need there is of drainage. In western Dakota, Montana and oth^r semi-arid districts, drainage is very DRAINAGE 1 49 seldom a problem, except as a mere adjunct to irrigation on the relatively small areas where water for the irriga- tion can be secured. Most of the denser lower lands require either surface or tile draining in regions of much rainfall, and some of the more dense soils, even on the hillsides, are benefited by removing their excess of water. In England, where the rainfall is heavy and the proximity to the ocean keeps the air moist, thereby decreasing evaporation, a large portion of the land may be drained with profit. There, even the hillsides, if the soil is at all close in texture, will produce better crops if well tile drained. In countries, such as portions of Italy, where the rainfall is three or four times as much as in the Mississippi valley, the drainage must be very complete. The land is ridged so as to carry off as much of the water over the surface as is practicable, and tile drains are used to remove the surplus water from the subsoil, even in soils not very dense. The benefits of drainage are apparent in many ways. The individual farmer is greatly benefited, and the neigh- borhood is often made more healthful; and with the better profits in farming the entire community and the state are built up. Elliot, in his book " Engineering for Land Drainage," says that in one Indiana township especially needing drainage, averaging for five years before drainage and five years after drainage, the yield of wheat was increased from 9^ to 1934 bushels per acre, the yield of corn from 31^ to 74^, and that the physicians' books showed 1480 calls to visit malarial patients for the five years before, and only 490 cases for the five years following drainage. Thus the yields of crops were doubled and the malarial cases were divided by three. Many individual farms are changed from malarial to healthful homes by draining out swampy areas. The development of our country means a healthier as well as a richer people. 150 FARM DEVELOPMENT The eflFect on the soil is shown in various ways. — • Planting and cultivating may be done earlier in the spring, w^hich will insure to crops planted in due season their maturity before early frosts. Drainage also gives the farmer a longer time in which to do his spring work. Drainage holds the soil open to the circulation of the air, so that oxygen and other gases may act in preparing the soil for the plants. Drainage greatly lessens injury from " heaving." In Ohio and other states, where the peculiar clay soils greatly expand or " heave " upon freezing, causing the winter wheat, rye, clover plants, etc., to be broken off from their roots, and the crops thus injured, drainage removes the excess of water and the soils do not expand so much. Not the least among the benefits of drainage is that it opens the soil to the entrance of the air and makes it a better and more healthful home for bacteria, and for plant and animal life in general. Drainage adapts soils to a greater variety of crops, and a rotation of several crops is known to be more profitable than the continuous planting to one crop. Drainage helps to bring the farm up to that ideal which enables us to grow, under system- atic rotation plans, those crops which combine to make the farm the most profitable. Increase of certainty and quality of crops. — Poorly drained lands are usually low lying, and are, therefore, fairly moist, even in dry years. In wet years, if drained properly, these rich lands raise superior crops. A more profitable use of fertilizers is brought about by draining the land in such a way that there is only a proper amount of capillary water in the soil and that there are healthy crops to make good use of the land. In case of the application of expensive commercial fertilizers to the land, the above is an important consideration, and especially so in case of crops which require a large amount of expensive hand labor and. DRAINAGE I5I which must yield a large income per acre to pay a net profit. The land is tilled with more ease and with better profits if the excess of water is removed. Draining out narrow sloughs, low places inside the field, low areas adjacent to other lands, all benefit the farm lands. The fields can be made more nearly rectangular, which will admit of easier access and of more systematic methods of rotation and cultivation. All parts of the field be- come sufficiently dry and ready for cultivation in the spring and after rains, at one time, thus making it pos- sible to employ labor economically and to cultivate the soil at a time when its tilth will receive the greatest beneficial effect. Water flowing from the mouths of tile drains or in open drains may often be conducted to fields or barn- yards, there to be a source of water for live stock, or to be used for irrigating field, garden or orchard crops. The appointment by President Roosevelt of a commis- sion to report on the use and imiprovement of our in- ternal waterways, and the reclamation of wet lands, may lead to engineering enterprise in drainage, even more gigantic than any yet undertaken in this country. The discussion of drainage by the agricultural and special drainage journals of America demonstrates the great interest our farmers are taking in this practical question. The making of open ditches has passed from the stage of making ditches with the spade to one of constructing small and large canals and dikes by means of machinery. The making of underground ditches has rapidly passed from the making of covered drains by using stone or boards, to drains with factory-made cylindrical or nearly cylindrical tiles most carefully placed in the ground, sometimes by means of tile-laying machinery. In some states, as in level, wet sections of Indiana and Illinois, there are numerous tile factories 152 FARM DEVELOPMENT in each county, and the farmers there have gradually- laid tiles on acre after acre until nearly the entire wet area is underdrained, transforming both the agriculture and the sanitation of entire counties. While machinery for laying tiles has been highly developed, for many conditions the spade continues to be the chief imple- ment in opening tile drains. Injury of tiles by freezing. — In the southern half of the United States there is no danger of frost injuring tile drains. In the extreme northern portions of the country, however, where the earth sometimes freezes to the depth of six or eight feet, the question often arises whether tiles laid two to five feet deep will be ruined by the frost. Where an outlet can be secured so that the water will run freely from the properly laid tiles, there is little danger that sufficient water will remain in them to break the tiles by its expansion under freezing. Where the outlet must be very low, sometimes beneath the water in a pond or stream, the tiles may be full of water when the ground freezes, and in this case its expansion within the tiles may cause them to be split. This may also occur in case the tiles have not been laid on an even down- ward grade, so that the water will not run out of the low sections of the drain. Likewise, where the tiles have been laid in peaty lands which, upon drying out, shrink and settle more in some areas than in others, thus making the line of grade uneven, freezing may work injury. The actual places on record where freezing of water within the tiles has caused them to crumble down and become clogged up and useless, are, indeed, very few, even in states as far north as Minnesota. No doubt, in many cases, where the water upon freezing expands within the tile causing it to break, it simply cracks length- wise, or a number of cracks are produced in such a manner that the pieces all remain in position. The expansion of the ice does not usually cause the pieces to DRAINAGE 153 Spread far enough apart to allow them to fall in and obstruct the water. They are held in position by the weight placed upon them by the surrounding earth as the stones in an arch are held. Drainage legislation. — Along with the development of the theory of drainage, of drainage machinery and of drainage work, there has been a development of laws relating to the subject. Since the flood water and the drainage water run from farm to farm, it ofttimes hap- pens that one man cannot drain his land unless his neighbor allows him an outlet, or, perhaps, joins with him in making a system of drainage including the wet lands of both farms. In other cases, numerous farms are concerned in one system of drainage. A common ditch may be required to carry oflf the water from the several farms. This requires concerted action, since it is unfair that one, or even several, of the number inter- ested should bear the large initial expense which should be shared by all who are benefited. Most of those states in which considerable drainage is needed have devised laws under which a majority of the landowners in any area needing drainage can, under the law, bring about co-operation of all landowners in the payment of the expense of general drains. These laws are made to operate through township or county officers, usually through the boards of county super- visors or commissioners. Those landowners who de- sire the drain may present a petition to the board, which decides whether the project shall be undertaken, and, if so, arranges to carry forward «the work and assesses the costs to the respective landowners. The law designates that a certain area be surveyed, and, if it be found prac- ticable, drained under the drainage law. Generally the board is required to appoint viewers, and to supply them with the services of a competent drainage engineer. These viewers take into consideration the need of the 154 FARM DEVELOPMENT drainage, and after having made a plan of the drains, estimate its cost and apportion the cost to the various persons interested. In some cases the apportionment of the cost is left until the drains are complete and the actual cost is known. The apportionment of the entire cost is made among all the farmers in proportion to their respective benefits. In rare cases the construction of a large drain injures a portion of the land through which it passes, and in such cases damages may be allowed. In cases where individual landowners feel that they have been assessed for more than their just share of the cost of the drains, they may appeal to the board of county commissioners for a reduction. In case of fail- ing to receive what they consider justice, they may appeal to the proper court, which, upon hearing both sides, makes its decision as to the actual amount of the total expense which the appealing landholder shall be re- quired to pay. As a rule, the board of county commissioners has charge of the construction of the drain. They may revise the plan of the engineer, readjust the findings of the viewers, as to the boundaries of the drainage district and as to the proportion of assessment against each benefited landholder. In many counties the boards of county commissioners issue bonds with which to pay the expenses of the drainage, and when the drain is completed, require the proper county officer to assess the entire cost of the drain upon the owners of the benefited land. Where the drain is constructed under a contractor the board of .county commissioners appoints the county engineer or some other competent person to superintend the work of the contractor, under a properly written contract and specifications, that the work may be thoroughly carried out. In many counties the board of commissioners employs a superintendent of construction and supplies him with laborers and materials. In some DRAINAGE 155 cases the county assumes the entire or partial cost of drains, and in other cases the state furnishes part or all of the means with which to carry out a large amount of drainage work. Wherever the county or state furnishes part of the means for constructing the drains, it wisely retains at least partial supervision of the expenditures and of the future maintenance of the drains. Private drains. — Legal questions often arise in making private drains. As a general legal proposition, no one has a right to interfere with natural drainage in a way that shall injure the property of another. Thus, no farmer has the right to discharge the water from a drain upon the land of another in such a way that the flooding of his lands shall be increased or occur at a dififerent time, or in a different place, than would naturally occur. Neither has one person the right to make embankments to prevent his own lands flooding and thereby retard the water flowing naturally from the fields of his neighbor. Bitter litigation and neighborhood quarrels of a most disagreeable and disastrous kind often arise from the ^ failure of neighbors to adjust properly these matters of drainage in a friendly and peaceable manner. In matters of this kind, there is entirely too much effort to get the better of the neighbor, or too much anxiety lest the neighbor get the advantage. It is far wiser to con- cede much more than is fair than to become involved in a quarrel, and possibly in legal difficulties, which will destroy the peace of the neighborhood, and surely cost both parties many times as much as either one would have had to sacrifice in effecting a peaceable adjustment. Arbitration is becoming much more popular in the world, and here is one of the places where it should nearly always prevail in case of disagreement. Persons asked to serve as arbitrators in difficult matters of this kind have an opportunity to do a patriotic service, not only to the parties involved, but to the neighborhood, and 156 FARM DEVELOPMENT they should courageously accept the responsibility and try to bring about an adjustment which may reasonably satisfy both parties. Laws encouraging, or almost enforc- ing, arbitration in such matters would be largely useful and should be devised and enacted. A normal public sentiment which would almost force people into arbitra- tion would make for harmony and civilization. SURVEYING AND MECHANICAL APPLIANCES The making of drains is an engineering problem and the theory must precede the practical work. The plan should be carefully devised, that the work, when com- pleted, may be effective. The drains should be so located that they will conduct the water from all portions of the wet areas. They should be placed at the proper depth, and have the proper grades, so that the water will run evenly and be carried rapidly to its destination. The number of drains or branch drains should be sufficient to carry off the surface water. They should be placed at that depth which will effectively improve the soil, but not so deep as to make the construction of the drains too expensive. If the system of drainage is very simple and the slope of the land ample to give sufficient fall, the plan may be easily made. In many such cases instruments for measuring and leveling are not necessary. The farmer's knowledge of the land, or even a " bird's-eye " survey may be sufficient. In other cases, the system may be very extensive, the grade very slight, the expense large and the need of accuracy imperative. Here the assist- ance of a competent drainage engineer with his measur- ing and leveling instruments, and his methods of cal- culation should be employed. He should have a practical knowledge of the local rainfall, ability to estimate the flood water which must be taken care of, DRAINAGE 157 an intimate acquaintance with the character of the sub- soil, experience in calculating and in judging what size to make open ditches and what size of drain tiles to use. Figure 57. Surveyor's transit. He should also have tactful ability to deal with the parties interested in co-operative drainage, and this is quite as much needed in the enterprise as his technical knowledge. 158 FARM DEVELOPMENT Surveying instruments. — In planning drainage requir- ing the services of a competent engineer, a number of instruments are needed. These are illustrated in various figures accompanying the text. Notes under the figures describe the instruments and give some instructions as to their use. The farmer needs to know more of the rigure 58 shows a 20-inch wye level, such as Is used by engineers for rail- road surveying, wagon road surveying and in all drainage surveying where great accuracy is required. The instrument is mounted on a tripod and the operator spreads the legs 3 feet apart, more or less, to bring the telescope even with his eye when slightly stooping. The tripod should be so adjusted that the plate A is in a nearly horizontal position. Turn the telescope so that it rests above two opposite thumb screws, as B, C. With the thumb and forefinger turn these two screws both toward center or both away from center, until the bubble in the spirit level is in the center at D. Now turn the telescope at right angles to its former position so as to be above the other two thumb screws. Turn these screws until the bubble indicates that the telescope is again level. It is wise to turn the instrument the second time over B and C to see that its adjustment is level, and in the course of taking levels the bulb should frequently be inspected and leveled up, especially if the tripod is not firmly placed on solid ground, or if the tripod or the instrument has been in the least jarred out of its position. Tlie use of the set screw at E is to re- strain the telescope from revolving and the alignment screw at F is used to make slight changes in revolving the telescope in line with a leveling rod or with a desired line of stakes upon which levels are to be taken. engineer's technique, that he may better understand th^, work and that he may be more liberal in employing the trained engineer when needed. The transit is necessary in planning large drainage enterprises. It is used in locating the line and in deter- mining the angles at which branch lines leave the main lines. The use of the transit is not very difficult for one who has a knowledge of algebra, geometry and trigo- DRAINAGE 159 nometry, and even persons with only a knowledge of arithmetic, with a moderate amount of technical instruc- tion, can make use of it to a limited extent. It is an instrument for the use of the engineer, however, rather than for the use of those who are not specialists in the line of surveying. Transits, such as professional en- gineers use, are scientific optical instruments of a high order and are expensive, costing about $200. There are cheaper instruments, and also less expensive combined forms of level and transit for the use of farmers. These cost about $50. The farmer who has been well trained in an agricultural school, or who has otherwise learned the use of surveying instruments, can do his own work in small drainage projects cheaply and well. By means of the transit a permanent record may be made, showing on a plat of the land through which drains pass the exact location of the drainage lines. In most cases such records and plats may be made from measurements without the use of a transit. A map or drawing of the system should be made, locating section corners of the government survey, where that is prac- ticable. Points or lines from which to measure the various lines of the drains, and their point of junction and their extremities, may be definitely located in relation to certain natural objects or artificial monuments, as the lines subdividing the section, or monuments mark- •i • Leveling instrument on which sights are attached common pocket, or better, a mason's spirit level. T, screw; H, hinge. Figure 59, i6o FARM DEVELOPMENT ing the corners of farms and recorded in a drawing or drainage map. By placing the distances and angles on this map, any underdrain can be located at any point at any future time, by again measuring from the given points and base lines. (See Transit in Figure 58.) Leveling instruments are even more generally useful and necessary, in planning and constructing drains, than the transit. Very often they are necessary to aid in getting the general level of the land so as to determine w^here to locate the drains so as best to reach v^et areas and carry off the w^ater in the most effective man- ner w^ith the minimum cost of construction. For example, in the Valley of the Red River of the North a drainage engineer v^as employed to lay out a general plan of drainage. The land Figure 60. Mason's level placed on tripod and waS SO UCarlv IcVCl in an supplied with sights. -^ area 40 by 100 miles that, with his assisting engineers, he surveyed east from the Red River of the North through this district, taking the level at every section corner and also at half mile posts along all east and west section lines. When all this had been done, the figures representing the height of each point above datum plane* were recorded on a map of the entire territory. By examining these figures, the engineer was able to map out all the low areas through which large drainage canals were needed to *A datum plane is an imaginary level plane used as a basis for comparing- the heights of points at or near the surface of the ground. It is usually assumed 100 or 1,000 feet below some stated point or sea level. DRAINAGE i6i give an outlet for smaller canals and for needed farm and roadside ditches. A general map thus made was published in a pamphlet and has been of great use to the counties, townships and farmers co-operating in the drainage of these lands. A copy of a portion of this map is shown in Figure 70, page 167. In some low areas of much less size, even in single fields, it is necessary to take levels at various points, or, as the engineer says, " cross section the field," so as to map the contour or ele- vation of the en- tire area and thus decide where drains are neces- sary and prac- tical. The level is a necessity also in determining the rates of fall and the grades that should be given to ditch or drain where grades are nearly level that they must be very the tile the so Figure 61 represents a simple form of home-made leveling in- strument which is useful where great accuracy is not required. P is a tube of tin or of gas pipe. At either end of the tube a glass tube, G, a few inches long, is inserted. Colored water is poured in so as to rise nearly to the corks in the tubes. A front and a back sight, as SS, or another form of sight, may be adjusted so as to be easily placed level with the top of the colored liquid in either glass tube. At H is shown a form of joint in the stem connecting the level with the tripod. With this the instrument can be placed so nearly level that the water stands at the point desired in each glass tube. This level does not require adjusting, but it is not accurate for long dis- - tances on drains which are nearly level, though in the hands accurately of a careful man it may be found useful under circumstances , _ , where a better instrument Is not available. made. It is often needed, while constructing the drain, to see that the bottom of the ditch is at the right depth at the various points. For draining small areas it is often unnecessary to use an expensive instrument, as the home-made instruments shown in Figures 59-61, may serve the purpose. 1 62 FARM DEVELOPMENT Chains, tapes, rods, stakes, etc. — The surveyor's chain, folded, is shown in Figures 63 and 64. Chains are usually four rods (66 feet), sometimes 100 feet in length. The surveyor's band chain of steel is shown in Figure 62. It is now commonly used by engineers, being made lighter and more accurate than the steel chain. Note books and blank forms. — All measurements and surveys should be accurately recorded in such form that they will not only be useful in planning and constructing the drain, but will serve as a per- manent record. If the drain does not work properly, some fault in the figuring or calculations may be found, in which case the records will be useful. Should the drain at any time get out of repair, the original notes may be useful in its repair or reconstruction. Notes of the location of underdrains are especially valuable as permanent gra^dSd''eitl?er'in^'?St"or'*lS ^CCOrds for USC whcU wishiug tO Kl;cheV%'u?§i?ireSireiJ ^ocatc obstructious in tile drains. Sfnd?efslSr?o%Seused'on FigUrC 8l givCS a form tO bc USCd chains. It is not so convenient -^ «^^^«J: j.1. _ 1„ ^1 x 1 as the link chain, but Is accu- m recordmg the levels taken m rate, even serving as a standard /• j • j i i j r . i with which to compare the link nnamg the Dcst coursc lor the oro- chaln. that its length may oc- - ^ . ,- , , casionaiiy be tested, and. If poscd drain, as wcll as the datc necessary, corrected. ^ , used in making calculations for its grade and depth. Furthermore, in making the drain, the level is used in checking for the depth of the ditch at various points along its course. An indexed notebook, 4x6 inches, ruled as in Figure 82, is a good place to keep the original notes, including the calculations. Drainage plats show methods of making drainage maps. A drainage map of a portion of the valley of the Red River of the North is shown in Figure 70. The DRAINAGE 163 figures at the government section corners, giving elevations, show the very level char- acter of the land. The central portion is a great swamp area six by fifteen miles in extent. The proposed ditch, A B, collects a " lost river," which was spread out through the low area into a large swamp. The proposed ditches, C D, E F and G H, are designed to serve as main channels to carry Figure 63. Surveyor's chain folded. Very desirable form of chain in weeds, across streams, around curves, and for general work. Often incorrect in length, and for accurate work should be compared with steel tape. the water toward the Red River. Tributary to these main ditches are roadside ditches along the section lines and ditches across some farms. These farm ditches are here usually made broad and flat with reversible road machines. Into these roadside and farm ditches, dead furrows are made to lead at frequent intervals, by so laying out the plow lands as to place the final furrows in favor- able places to lead the water ofiF the fields and into the field, roadside and main ditches. In case of low places a few inches to a foot below the general surface and from a rod in diameter to many acres in area, they are drained by special ditches veyor's chain partly . . ,., ,.r folded. mto the farm ditches. It is often neces- sary in late fall or in early spring to open out all drains by removing weeds and dust, or earth, that has blown 164 FARM DEVELOPMENT into the ditches or has been washed in, that the water may move quickly out of all low places, thus allowing ^ the soil to dry out for early planting in 11^ that cold climate. In Figure /^2, dotted lines show tile drains on a large flat area, in a moderately open subsoil, in a region where the rainfall is 30 inches per annum. In case wet years show the need in given areas, additional drains pin^Si^ to ma^rk ^^" ^^ ^^^^ bctwcen thosc providcd in this chaSng ^^ofe? ^ plsLU. At A and B are tile drains under ^'^^- the center of the roadbed in the flat area. These connect with the main tile ditch at X. Figure 73 shows the plan used in draining a tract of 480 acres in Iroquois county, Illinois, which is generally level, but was, be- fore drainage, diversified to some extent by ponds which contained water during six months of the year. The grades upon which the drains were laid were, in some cases, one-half inch to 100 feet, varying from this to two inches to 100 feet. The object of drainage was to fit the land at a minimum of expense for the production of hay and grains of various kinds. It should be observed that the drains were staked out in a systematic manner. As shown on the plan (Figure y^), each line is designated by some name by which it is distinguished from others. Its length, as well as its junc- tion with other lines, is indicated by the mSt"ro®d%nf i^t ... , , , . . . sections alternately Station number or the number of feet from red and white. the outlet point, in each case. This plan also illustrates various methods of location and arrange- ment of drains ordinarily required. The drains of this tract have been in successful operation for fourteen years, with DRAINAGE i6S no repairs or stoppages of any kind during that time. The land is an open black soil with joint clay sub- soil which drains quite readily. The final outlets, as shown, are open ditches leading to the larger water course. — After C. G. Elliott. Machinery and implements. — Much improvement in machinery and implements used in the con- struction of drains is constantly taking place. There are many situ- ations in which machinery cannot be economically employed and hand labor must be resorted to. Thus in .peaty Figure 68. A. grade stake to set beside the ditch. B. hub to be driven with its top even with the surface of the ground beside the tall stake. A, to serve as a con- stant point upon which to rest the leveling rod in cases where great accu- racy is required. lands where roots ob- struct the drainage plow the earth must be thrown out of the open ditch by means of hand tools. Like- wise in lands where stones are encoun tared and in short ditches where the in- troduction of ma- chinery is not profit- able only hand tools are practicable. But in the free soils of most bottom lands of the upper Missis- sippi valley and other localities, machinery, operated even by steam, may Q^J) Figure 67. A, side view of leveling rod closed up, for tak- ing measurements of points not far below the line of sight. B. front view of rod closed up. When the rod is closed the figures are read on the front side through the hole in the disk. Figures show the height to which the disk has been raised to be in the line of sight with the eye at the back end of the telescope and with the horizontal cross-wire. C, rod opened up. Tlie disk is now set at the top of the rod, and the adjusting done with the set screw at D. Figures are now read nn the side of the upper section at the up- per end of the lower section of the rod and from top down. by horses or oxen or be effectively used. i66 FARM DEVELOPMENT Drain tiles. — Extensive experience in America has led to the adoption of the cylindrical drain tile. In Figure 74 are shown drain tiles of the various sizes, from 2 inches to 12 inches in diameter. Other forms have been recom- mended at various times, but there is apparently no advantage of these forms over the cy- lindrical, while there are some manifest disad- vantages. Straight tiles, 3 to 12 inches in diameter, are usually made one foot long, but occa- sionally in two- foot lengths ; while 12 to 24- inch tiles are made in two- foot lengths. Tiles with a shoulder (as shown in Figure 75), made like sewer pipes, are manufactured in two-foot lengths, of all sizes. Drain tiles are made of clay similar to that used in the manufacture of ordinary brick. The clay or mixture of clay and sand must be of a nature to " burn " under high heat in such a manner that when the tiles are exposed to the action of moisture and frost, they will re- main intact and not scale nor crumble. In nearly all parts of America where drainage has been needed, clays Figure 69. Map of drains. A simple plan of mapping to record the location of a tile drain and its branches, giving the lengths of tlie lines and the angles of divergence is shown in this figure. Tlie location of outlets and of the points of in- tersection of tile drains may also be shown on a map by means of measurements from the sides of the farm or from other per- manent points. In some cases it is practicable to mark an in- tersection of drains by a permanent monument, as by a large stone nearly buried. DRAINAGE 167 have been found which can be manufactured into good tiles. The manufacture of drain tiles requires consider- able skill as well as a due amount of business ability. Some experimentation is necessary in making drain tiles from any untried bed of clay. Chemical analysis is a general guide as to whether the clay is of a suitable Figure 70. Portion of a drainage map. nature to " burn " and not be broken to pieces by the action of the atmosphere nor by the freezing of the water absorbed in the body of the burnt tile. It is always wise to ship some of the clay to a factory already estab- lished and have it tested, with a view of finding methods of preparing and burning it, before going to the expense of building a factory beside a given clay bed. Very often it is necessary to mix together the surface soil and a layer of clay lower down. In other cases, a layer of mixed sand and clay found near at hand, when put with the clay from the main layer, will give a mixture of the 1 68 FARM DEVELOPMENT HfLL right quality. In still other cases, a mixture of pure sand with the clay is an advantage. All this experi- menting incurs expense and should be done by persons who have a knowledge of the business. Often tile factories have been built where it has been found impracticable to make good tiles from the avail- able clay, and thus a serious loss has been incurred, both to the promoters of the factory, and to the farmers who need, in their vicinity, a factory from which they can get tiles at a reasonable cost and without the expense of long railroad, water or wagon trans- portation. Tile factories prop- erly inaugu- rated and oper- h a V e usually been profitable, and there are many new sections in need of factories to supply drain tiles with which to improve the large areas of wet lands. In some sections of Minnesota, for example, the farmers buy tiles from factories so far distant that the cost of railway transportation is greater than the cost of the tiles at the factory. Cost of drain tiles. — Under the conditions of labor at the beginning of the twentieth century, three-inch and four-inch drain tiles have cost, at the factories where large quantities are made under favorable conditions, in the neighborhood of $9 and $13, respectively, per thousand feet. The table on page 169 shows, relatively, the average cost, weight, etc., of drain tiles, as given by a manufacturing firm near Elgin, 111., for the several sizes ordinarily made from 3 to 15 inches in diameter. Figure 71. Drain through pond, with lateral on right to in tercept seepage water from hillside and another on left to drain a t C d a flat area. Pnc^ DRAINAGE list of drain tile I Diameter Price Branches, Area Weight inside per each, in per foot, measure 1000 feet cents inches pounds 3 $10.00 12 7 5 Si 12.50 14 9h Si 4 16.00 15 m 7 5 22.00 20 19 9 6 30.00 25 28 12 7 40.00 25 38 15 8 50.00 30 50 18 10 75.00 40 78§ 24 12 130.00 80 113 32 IS 200.00 95 178 46 169 15 in. tile 2 feet lengths; all other in 1 foot lengths. These figures were only general, and were subject to a 10 per cent discount, and since the weight of the tiles depends upon the character or specific gravity of the clay from which the tiles are made and also upon the thickness of the walls of the cylinder, they must not be taken to apply to particular cases. Where one wishes to figure the cost of transportation on tiles from any given factory, he should learn the exact weight of the tiles of that particular brand or make. In sending some distance for the tiles, quotations should be secured from the railway or water transportation company for the rate per ton for freight ; or the diflferent factories bidding on bills of tiles should be asked to quote prices, including the freight, at the farmer's home station. Quality of drain tiles. — There is a great difference in the quality of drain tiles from different factories, and even of the individual tiles from the same factory or kiln. In ordering, one should buy by sample, or on the guar- antee of a reputable firm. Where the purchaser can visit the factory, judgment can be passed on the quality of the tiles. They should be straight and square on the ends so as to come close together in the ditch. When two tiles are knocked together, they should have a clear ring. Cracks in a hard tile are objectionable, but much worse 170 FARM DEVELOPMENT is the quality of scaling or crumbling. The presence of lumps or flakes of lime which will slack when wet, causes tiles to disintegrate and become worthless. Ques- tionable tiles may be tested by placing them where they can be partially covered by water during winter and al- lowed to freeze and thaw re- peatedly. Tiles that crumble by springtime when treated in this manner are not suited to tile draining, especially in a cold climate. The best Figure 72, System of tile drains oa a 160 -acre farm. j • .-i dram tiles are thoroughly vitrified throughout, showing that there has been some fusing or melting of the clay under the in- tense heat of the kiln. Many manufacturers glaze their tiles, just as the old-fashioned stone milk crock was glazed, by placing salt in the kiln. If the tile is properly burned, glazing adds little or nothing to its value, though the cost is inconsiderable. The fear entertained by some that glazing retards the flow of water through the sub- stance of the tile into the drain tile, is not well founded. Little water goes through the body of any properly made drain tile. There is ample room for the water to seep through between the ends of the tiles, and practically all of it enters at these places. It is also proven that nearly all the water enters the tile at the lower half of the DRAINAGE 171 Figure 73. Map showing the drainage of 480 acres of land in IroQuois county. 111., on which 69,700 feet of drain tile were laid 3 and 4 feet deep. —Elliott. cylinder. Only that water which falls immediately over the drain, as a rule, percolates down through from the upper side. Water from rain percolates directly down- 172 FARM DEVELOPMENT ward from the surface of the ground to the surface of the ground water, and then seeps sidewise into the Figure 74. Common drain tiles. stream running through the bottoms of the openings through the row of tiles. Since the ground water out- side of the tiles is little higher than that inside, the seep- age movement is nearly horizontal. Survey for Construction While the general inspection of the land referred to on a previous page might result in a choice of the approximate location of the main drain and its branches, it is necessary, on nearly level land, to attend to the details for the exact location of the line of the ditch. Where a slough or hollow with gentle jslope is to be drained, it is often wise to supple* Figure 75. Union tiles. ment the "bird's-eye" survey with a series of levels taken at intervals of 50 or 100 feet along the proposed line of the ditch. In some simple cases all that is necessary is to determine the height of the land at either end of DRAINAGE 173 the ditch and the depth of the ditch at these two points. Where the line is long and there is a variation in the slope of the surface of the ground, however, it is better to take a level at each stake placed every 50 to 100 feet alongside the line of the proposed drain. A line of levels Figure 76 Collared drain tiles or sewer pipes. thus taken and figured to express the height above datum, as will be explained later on, will serve as a basis for locating the exact line and depth of the proposed ditch. From the first line of stakes where the levels were taken, other levels may be taken at points on either side. A new line with slight or considerable deviation from the first line may be projected here or there, and by placing stakes along the new line and taking several levels, its practicability may be compared with the first location. In this way the best place for the main drain may be Figure 77. Branched collared tiles. accurately determined in low areas where the problem is a comparatively simple one. It is generally wise to have open ditches follow the lowest levels. This is especially true in the northern 174 FARM DEVELOPMENT lO'paa- JC 16 :lt LA. i£&a ana. Ida ., If \7 . , If ajt. I£!ka IC 13 iCUb States, where snow and ice accumulate in open ditches, often clogging them when the surface water begins to run in the early spring. At the points where the open ditch passes through slight elevations of land, the snow accumulates by drifting and serves as a dam to prevent the early movement of water, whereas, if the drain follows the lowest level, even if the ditch is full of snow and ice, this soon melts or is worn away by the water from the higher sur- faces which runs over it. A cross sec- tion or contour survey is some- times necessary on a nearly Figure 78. Elevations on a flat 40-acre field used In locating i-.* an open ditch and branch tile drains. The outlet of the open leVCl area. PlSf- drain, which Is 3.2 feet belo.w the general surface at A, ' '^ was taken as 100 feet above datum, and all figures show the lire '7^ rPDrC- elevation of the respective points above that datum plane. i^v.- /«-> xv-j^v.. sents a 40-acre Here, in a large area nearly level and difficult icu ti\a iCi^ icir. ICA.3 |£1X tract. to drain, cross-sectioning was found necessary, that the main drain might be placed to the best advantage and that the least expensive method of laying lateral tile drains, to drain the low spots, might be devised. This level area is shown, with the levels taken every 132 feet each way. To map out the drains, the contour map may be used to great advantage. In many cases, the drains can be laid out on this map by studying the map alone ; in other DRAINAGE 175 cases it will be necessary to traverse the land with map in hand, and by inspecting both the map and the land, the drains may be placed in the most practicable posi- tions. In some cases it will be necessary to accompany the general inspection of the map and land, with meas- Figure 79. The curved contour lines, drawn through points of similar eleyation, show the height of each part of the land above the outlet of the drain A. The slope of the land Is at right angles to the contour line. urements of the heights of points along the trial line? made by leveling instruments, and, where the expense is considerable, it will be wise to make profiles showing the amount of digging required in case of each of two or more ditches projected in the preliminary surveys. Since the whole system of drainage must be taken into 176 FARM DEVELOPMENT consideration at one time, the main drain and the prin- cipal laterals cannot be fully decided upon, either as to nr r~ Flguro 80. A "section," 640 acres, of level land drained by surface drains. location or depth, until the laterals have been sufficiently measured or inspected to determine v^hether they will properly discharge water into their mains. In case of DRAINAGE 177 the tract of land shown in Figures 78 and 79, the flood water, coming through the northeast portion of the farm from farms beyond, necessitates the construction of a large open drain. Since water does not flow upon the tract from any other watershed of considerable extent, it seemed wise to make all other drains by the use of the tiles. Thus, while the slough entering the drain from the northwest, received some water from the farm be- yond, it could best be drained by means of three lines of tile entering the open drain. The method of placing the drains in flat areas at either side of the open drains in the center of the farm illustrates how low areas may be reached with economy of labor and tiles. Surface drains may sometimes be used to supplement tile drains, in countries where the ground freezes deeply. Thus, a broad, flat ditch thrown out with the reversible road machine, or even a dead furrow, will take the sur- face water from a low area before the ground is suf- ficiently thawed out to allow it to percolate downward to the under drain, and thus permit this low area to become dry as early in the spring as the surrounding areas. A section of land with surface drains. — In Figure 80 is shown a section of land drained wholly by surface drains. This land is located in the Valley of the Red River of the North, some distance from a stream. Since there is a fall of only two to four feet per mile from this land to the river, it seemed impracticable to use tile drains until surface drainage was first thoroughly tried. Besides, this land is not often too wet except while frost is leaving the ground in the spring. This region being far north and the growing season short, it is necessary for the best results to get the crops into the ground as early in the spring as possible. Figure 80 shows the general level character of this section of land. The drainagre of this section for a prac- 178 FARM DEVELOPMENT tical farm illustrates numerous problems in the drain- age of very flat, dense lands in a cold country. The slough or lake, F-G, in flood times, receives a large amount of water from the south which overflows its eastern banks, spreading out over the farm. With a large canal at A-B, this flood water will not overflow upon the farm. The figures giving the height of the several "forty" corners as compared with the lowest point at the middle of the north line, taken as a bench mark at 100 feet above datum plane, and the contour lines, dividing areas for each foot in height, show the direction of the very slight grades in the surface of this level farm. This land is very dense and water per- colates slowly downward. Further, the level character of this land would necessitate tile drains being laid with such a slight grade that large-sized tiles would be required to carry oflF any considerable amount of water, and the cost of the tiles might be so great as to make their use impracticable, besides no outlet could be secured without carrying the main drain some distance to the river through lands belonging to other people. It is probable that this land would be materially benefited by tile drainage, and ways may be found of arranging the outlets for tile drains by extending and deepening the large canals being constructed to carry off the surface waters. Since surface drains could best be used in this instance, it was necessary to construct them so as to have them work rapidly and effectively very early in the season, and also be in repair to remove the excess of water at any time throughout the summer. This land being nearly level, the gentle slopes were easily determined when water was seen standing on parts of the land. In this case, cross-sectioning with the leveling instruments was hardly necessary, because the standing and the flowing water had shown the levels. That the reader may better appreciate the very level DRAINAGE I 79 character of the main part of this section of land and other facts complicating its drainage, on the map have been placed cross-section notes representing levels at points 80 rods apart each way. The large slough shown, running through the section north by northwest, is really a long, narrow, shallow lake without outlet except over the nearly level land at the north end. To drain this, a large canal A-B, i6 feet wide and 8 to lo feet deep, was necessary, and was constructed running from the north end of the lake a mile and a half across the nearly level country to a river. This canal, if made lo feet deep, would be sufficient to drain the lake entirely, thus transforming it from a shallow lake, which, in a dry series of years, becomes entirely dry, into a hollow which could be plowed nearly to the center or could be used for meadow or pasture. Tile drains could then be laid, placing the main outlets in this large drain. The surface drainage. — The water on the main part of the section may all be carried out in one of three ways. The lowest point of this farm being at the middle of the north line of this section, at E, the flood water de- livered at E could best be carried away from the farm by an open ditch, E-S, running northeast, following the natural depression across the neighboring farm, or could be carried through a rather deep ditch, E-A, westward to the canal at A, or it could be carried beyond the north- east corner of the farm through heavy road ditches and thence along the road either to the north or the east to the adjacent lower areas at S or K. If carried eastward, the water would flow into a new channel at K, and this might require the consent of the adjacent landowners. If carried northward, D to S, from the northeast corner of the farm, it could be emptied into the channel of the low area at S, which naturally would carry this water. If the discharge were made at the center across the adjacent farm toward S^ a ditch running northeast across l80 FARM DEVELOPMENT the neighbor's land would be necessary, and consent, on the part of the neighbor, to construct the ditch would be needed. This plan has the advantage in that there are no deep ditches to be clogged by ice and snow early in the spring. Carrying it westward along the road and dis- charging it into the canal seemed to be the most feasible plan. This, however, has proven to have the objection of not following the lowest levels, but requiring a rather deep, narrow ditch through a higher area, thus making a place in which the water is held back in early spring by the accumulated ice and snow. In most cases, a neighbor can be induced to agree to a ditch being made through a low area on his land, since it is advantageous to him to have his own land better drained and to have the flood waters from neighboring lands confined to definite channels, which rapidly carry them ofif. It would be economy for the owner of the farm to pay for the right of way of this ditch and construct it at his own expense, if this were necessary to secure the consent of the neighbor. On the other hand, its value to the neigh- bor should cause him to give free consent, and even to assist in making the ditch and in keeping it in repair. This illustrates the many cases where liberal co-opera- tion of adjacent landowners is not only necessary to effect a good system of drainage, but is also right as between man and man. Roadside ditches. — Having now decided upon the way of conducting the water from the lowest point at the middle of the north side of the section, we come to the problem of how best to conduct the surface water to this lowest point. This farm being a mile square, the public highway bounds it on all sides. By inspecting the cross section levels, as recorded in Figure 80, it will be seen that the land is highest near the shallow lake. This lake often became a stream which sometimes overflowed its banks. Doubtless the land adjacent to DRAINAGE l8l the lake was slightly built up from century to century by this flood water spreading out in the grass, where it rested so quietly as to deposit whatever solid particles the flood water had accumulated. This very slight increase of fine clay and silt, year after year, was probably sufficient to make this portion of the section a foot or two higher than the other portions. It is interesting to know that in the level valley of the Red River of the North, and in the case of many other rivers, the land within half a mile of the rivers and streams is usually higher than the land some distance back, since these rivers frequently overflow; the cause mentioned in the previous paragraph seems to be the explanation. Consequently, there are large, wet, level areas found, from a half mile to several miles back from the Red River of the North and from the banks of the streams which flow into it through that level country. There are, occasion- ally, openings in these broad flat banks through which the flood water can run into the streams, but these are so few and the land is generally so nearly level that the drainage, on the whole, is often poor, and must be arti- ficially improved much after the manner illustrated in the discussion of section of land mentioned in Figure 80. In making a plan for surface drains, it was found necessary to begin on the south side of the farm, and instead of running the water toward the lake, now made into a stream or canal, to conduct it along farm ditches and public road ditches to the lowest point at the center of the north line, and from there carry it westward to the canal. Thus a large roadside ditch was provided around the south, east and north sides of the area to be drained. When more expense can be afforded, a deep ditch to carry the water westward along the south side of the section will be a valuable improvement. By making broad ditches along roads dividing the farm into forty and eighty-acre fields, drainage water from l82 FARM DEVELOPMENT this level land is discharged at points along the borders of the farm into these ditches. While the outside drains along the highway and the broad farm drains leading into them, of necessity, have very slight fall, the water can pass through them rather quickly, because they are broad and will hold a large volume of moving water. The drains inside the farm, conducting the water to these large roadside ditches, were placed so as best to conduct the water off the land, and they were located with refer- ence to the arrangement of the fields into which it was decided to divide the farm. Thus, the north half of the section was divided into four 8o-acre fields, and the southeast portion of the farm was divided into five 40- acre fields, with two triangular fields on the east border of the lake. The triangular portion on the west side of the lake was arranged for a single field and was drained in much the same manner as is described for the fields of the main portion of the farm. The ditches between the several fields were made by means of the reversible road machine. Instead of mak- ing a ditch and throwing the earth out on either side, two flat ditches were made, throwing the earth to the center between them, just as in throwing up a grade for a road. This gave a place to deposit the earth, with- out placing it between the ditch and the level field to be drained. Since the very fine textured clay soils of this region are often drifted before the wind into the drains, this plan makes it practicable to clean the drains out occasionally with the road machine and provides a place to put the earth. If the area between the two ditches becomes too elevated or too much rounded, it is remedied by carrying the ditch farther out, thus making the rounded strip between the two ditches broader. The fence line can be placed on top of the roadlike bank, or, if there is no fence between the two fields, this can be used as a road over which to draw the loads of grain. DRAINAGE 1 83 In case the two fields are planted with the same crop, it can be sown continuously through the ditches and over the flat embankment, or, if different crops are grown in adjacent fields, each crop may be planted to the cen- ter of the embankment. In many cases of level land, these side ditches may be made so broad that, even if more than a foot deep, since they are so flat, the plow and cultivating and harvesting implements may be operated across or through them. Care should always be taken, however, not to plow or cultivate in such a manner as to fill the ditches. On most nearly level farms these broad flat double ditches should follow the lowest places rather than as lines with which to divide the fields. Wire fences crossing them are easily removed, when it is de- sirable to use the reversible road machine to clean the accumulations of drifted soil out of the side ditches. Dead furrows. — To conduct the water from the fields into these broad partition ditches, each field is laid off in lands about lOO feet wide. Each year the back furrows are started in the same place or within one or two feet of the same line, thus bringing the dead furrows, year after year, at the same place. These dead furrows are thus made into broad flat ditches. Where slight depres- sions occur some rods across and a foot or less deep, the road machine may be used to deepen the dead furrows, and thus grade their bottoms so that the water in these low areas will all drain out into the broad ditches be- tween the fields. In some cases, it is necessary to make short broad ditches from low areas within the one-hun- dred-foot-wide lands into the dead furrows between. Care is necessary to keep the dead furrow clear of rub- bish, and in some' cases to open it out and grade its bottom smoothly in the fall. Where this open- ing of ditches has been neglected until spring, a man with a shovel connects the low places and shallow ditches with the dead furrows and cleans out 184 FARM DEVELOPMENT the dead furrows to connect them with the larger ditches. In some cases the reversible road machine, or the slush or wheel scraper, should be used in these broad dead fur- rows to lower them through slightly higher places, thus making a uniform grade, that the water may run out better. By thus making a system of flat open drains and keeping them in repair, the farmer in the level lands of the Valley of the Red River of the North is sometimes able to plant his crops a week or two earlier in the season. He thus insures a better crop and gets his grain planting out of the way so that he may have the oppor- tunity to plant his other crops in a seasonable time. Surveying the line of the ditch. — Most drainage oper- ations begin at the lower end of the ditch, the work pro- ceeding upward, first along the main drain, then from the chosen points in the main drain where the branches are to have their junctions to the upper end of the respec- tive branches. With the point and elevation of the out- let determined, a stake should be placed at points 50 or 100 feet apart along the line of the proposed drain. These stakes should be placed a foot from one side of the proposed ditch, that they may not be disturbed in ex- cavating. Where the work must be very accurate, it is wise to use small stakes, 8 inches long and 2 inches square, for hubs. These are driven even with the sur- face of the land, beside the taller stakes which mark their position. See Figure 68. The leveling instrument is then to be used in finding the relative height of the successive points marked by the stakes and hubs along the line of the proposed drain. Some point should be chosen for a bench mark. Any natural object which is not likely to be moved, as a large bowlder, or a stone firmly buried beside a post in a fence, will serve as such. The instrument should now be set up where the leveling rod can easily be seen when placed on the point chosen for the bench mark. See DRAINAGE 185 Figure 58 and notes. For some purposes the long mason's level may be used, and levels may even be determined by setting stakes above the water level in a pond or lake. By having the tops of these stakes all extend the same distance above the water, a level line may be projected by sighting across their tops. Use of the datum plane. — In comparing the height of the different points along the main drain, and also along Station Back Height Fore Eleva- tion Ground FaU of Drain Eleva- tion Drain Depth No. Sight Instr't Sight Drain B.M. '5.32 10S'.32 .... 100.00 .... 9.43 95.89 Outlet .... .... 5.82 99.50 Surface 9"5".89 "3.61 1 5.54 99.78 0.30 96.19 3.59 2 .... .... 5.02 100.30 " 96.49 3.81 3 .... 4.60 100.72 '• 96.79 3.93 4 '.'..'. .'..'. 5.07 100.25 •• 97.09 3.16 5 8.41 110.63 3.10 102.22 " 97.39 4.83 *6* .... y.84 102.79 Y.66 98.39 "4.36 7 .... 7.07 103.60 99.39 4.21 8 6.43 104.20 *• 100.39 3.81 9 .... .... 5.63 105.00 " 101.39 3.61 10 5.23 105.40 " 102.39 3.01 11 '.'..'. 4.38 106.25 •• 103.39 2.86 12 .... .... 3.93 106.70 " 103.79 2.91 13 "6.66 113'.36 3.39 107.24 . . 104.19 3.05 14" .... 5.36 108.66 '".46 104.59 "3'. 41 IS 5.00 108.30 104.99 3.31 16 .'. . . .'. . . 4.70 108.60 . . .'. 105.39 3.21 17 4.05 109.25 105.79 3.46 18 3.90 109.40 106.19 3.21 19 .... .... 3.57 109.75 106.59 3.14 20 3.13 110.17 106.99 3.18 Fig. 81. Blank form used in recording notes of levels taken while planning for a drain. its branches, some method is necessary by which the relative heights of all these points may be ascer- tained. There are several ways of doing this, but what is wanted is a simple plan of calculation which will be accurate and will clearly show the relative height of points with each other and es- pecially with the outlet. The following plan is in common use, and with practice can be employed 1 86 FARM DEVELOPMENT to good advantage. After having carefully leveled up the telescope of the instrument, direct it to the meas- uring rod standing on the point chosen for a bench mark near the outlet of the proposed drain; indicate to the rodman v^ho is holding this rod, to move the disk up or down until its center is in line with the eye and the horizontal cross hair in the telescope. The rodman should then read on the measuring rod the exact dis- tance from the bench mark up to the center of the disk and record same in field notes, as in Figure 8i. This gives the height of the instrument above the bench ^iCTi^ [ B »y--£,---Zi--<>%r»7 -^. ,^- - ^ jfj^juL^^-^r^^ 1 ' , 1 ' 1 1 \ 5 ^ ; ; i .I-...J__.X >eoo >aoo tocc liii tVTT^ I i 1 1 : 1 1 III ! H^ 1 1 1 1 1 ' ^^ 1 ' ' 1 ( ' ' 1 1 ' 1 ' ' ' 1 I i . ' , . 1 1 1 1 • . 1 ?i 1 1 1 1 1 ^1 1 1 1 1 • 1 Si 1 h 1 1 ! Ill 1 n 1 ! if :!::;. ]i ::,',: ;i _L...J.. J... JL., J... J_...lL.. X...J-...-L.. l...J....±..i±. too soo eoo TOO aoo aoo 'ooo i/oo aoo isoo /-too noo tteo iroo Figure 81a. Showing manner of using leveling instxument in planning a dralH. mark. It is a simple matter now to assume that the bench mark is lOO feet above an imaginary level plane, which, for convenience, is termed " datum plane " or " datum." The height of the instrument above this imaginary plane is lOO feet plus the distance above the bench mark to the disk on the measuring rod, which is level with the eye at the instrument. To make the illustration more complete, we will assume that the reading in a given case on the measuring rod was 5.32 feet. Adding this figure to the height of the bench mark above datum, i. e., to 100 feet, we have the height of the instrument above datum — 105.32 feet. DRAINAGE 1 8/ In some cases it is more convenient to find the height of the instrument in its first position above the point determined upon for the outlet of the proposed drain, and then assume the datum plane lOO feet below the outlet. Then all figures showing elevation of points on the surface or the bottom of drains may be compared with the outlet by merely subtracting the loo, which can be done by inspection, saving calculation with pencil. Now, turning the telescope toward the proposed point of outlet for the drain, where the rodman will place the measuring rod, the disk is again moved until it is in line with the eye and the cross hair in the leveling in- strument. We find that the reading on the rod now is 9.43 feet. To find the height of this point of outlet above " datum," we have only to subtract this reading from the height of the eye at the instrument called " height of instrument " above datum, thus 943 feet from 105.32 feet equals 95.89 feet; that is, the outlet of the drain is to be 95.89 feet above the imaginary level plane. Next a measurement is taken on the surface of the ground immediately above the outlet, which may be called Station o, and this is found to be 5.82 below the instrument, or 99.50 above the datum plane. These measurements and the calculations from them are all placed in the note book ruled in the form for field notes, as in Figure 81. This form makes it practicable to carry forward all the calculations and to make a permanent record as the taking of levels proceeds. Now, proceeding to the next stake, Station i, there being 100 feet between the stakes, the reading is taken in like manner, and it is found that from the instrument down to the hub at the surface of the soil is 5.54 feet; subtracting this measurement from the height of the instrument, 105.32 feet, we find the height of the ground at Station i to be 99.78 feet above datum. The instrument is next turned upon the third 1 88 FARM DEVELOPMENT Stake, which is Station 2, and the reading shows 5.02 and by subtracting we have 105.32 feet, minus 5.02 equals 100.30 feet as the height of Station 2 above the imaginary plan called datum. Again, proceeding to Station 3, the rodman holding the measuring rod re- ports that the disk has been stopped in line with the telescope at 4.60 feet. This measurement, subtracted from the height of the instrument, shows that Station 3 is 100.72 feet above datum. Station 4 shows that the line is 5.07 feet below the instrument, or 100.25 feet above datum. Station 5 is found to be 3.10 feet below the instrument, or 102.22 feet above datum. Getting the new height of the instrument. — As a mat- ter of convenience or of necessity, to see the disk on the measuring rod at a long distance, the instrument is moved forward so as to be nearer the successive points along the line of the proposed drain, the heights of which are to be determined. The operator proceeds several stakes beyond the rodman, who remains at the last stake, the height of which was last measured. When the instru- ment is again set up, it is turned upon the measuring rod standing on the hub, the height of which was last determined with the instrument in its previous position. The rodman moves the disk until in line with the in- strument in its new position. He then finds that the measurement is 8.41 feet. The instrument is now con- siderably higher than in its original position. Since the hub on which this measuring rod is standing is known to be 102.22 feet above the imaginary level datum plane, and the eye at the instrument is on a level 8.41 feet above the hub, the height of the instrument is now 102.22, plus 8.41, or 110.63 feet above datum. With this new height of instrument, it is now practicable to proceed to Station 6 and determine its height above datum. Here the rodman, after moving the disk until told that it is level with the instrument, reports that the DRAINAGE 1 89 Stake is 7.84 feet below the point where the disk has been placed level with the instrument, which is 110.63 feet above datum; Station 6 is then 110.63 ^^^t» minus 7.84 feet, or 102.79 feet above datum. In like manner, the height of Stations 7, 8, etc., are successively measured; or when the earth at the stations is higher than the level of the instrument, the operator must again move the instrument, and, sighting back (getting the " back sight ") to the point last measured, again find the new height of his instrument. In this manner we proceed to Station 20; that is, 2,000 feet from the outlet. That we may now illustrate the method of getting the new height of the instrument when going down grade, and, where necessary for great accuracy of checking up the work already done, we will begin at the upper end and check the levels at the successive stations back to the proposed outlet. By referring to Figure 81 it will be seen that the elevation of the surface at Station 20 is 1 10.17 feet; and that the instrument standing in its last position is 3.13 feet above the hub at this point, or is 113.30 feet above datum. Now, turning again on Station 19, the rodman reads 3.57 feet, and subtracting this from the height of the instrument above datum, we have as the height of Station 19, 109.73 ^^^t. Proceed- ing to Station 18, the rodman reads 3,90 feet; at 17, 4.05 feet; at 16, 4.70 feet; at 15, 5 feet; at 14, 5.30 feet. On account of the distance, it is now deemed advisable to get a new height of instrument, and the instrument is moved down to the neighborhood of Station 9. When the instrument is properly leveled up and turned on Sta- tion 14, the rodman finds his disk in line with the in- strument at 2.47 feet. Since the height of the surface at Station 14 is 108 feet and the instrument is found to be 2.40 feet higher than at this point, the new height of the instrument is calculated to be 110.40 feet. 190 FARM DEVELOPMENT When directed to Station 13 the rodman reports the measurement from the instrument down to the hub as 3.16 feet, making the elevation of Station 13, 107 feet. So far the measurements have proven the original survey correct, since upon taking the measurements from the level of the instrument down to the several stakes, their respective heights above datum figure out the same as when measured up grade. By thus pro- ceeding downward to the outlet, changing the instrument once more, if there is but little variation found in any of the measurements the first survey is proven accurate, and when the height of datum is measured, it is found to Station Back Height Fore Elevation Fall of Depth No. Sight Instr't Sight Ground Drain Drain B. M. .... .... 113.30 .... .... '26* 3.13 110.17 .... 19 .... 3.57 109.73 18 3.90 17 4.0s .... 16 .... 4.70 .... IS .... S.OO 14 5.30 108.66 13 110.4( ) 2.47 3.16 107.24 12 11 .... .... 10 .... .... .... 9 8 Fig. 82. Same as Fig. 81, witli measurements of levels taken down grade. be 99.99 feet above datum plane or practically correct. See Figure 82. By testing the adjustment of the in- strument before starting out and doing the work accu- rately, the experienced man can usually depend upon his levels. But if a great difference is found between the two surveys, the measurements should be again made with accuracy, and, if still an error appears, the instru- ment should be tested and, if needing adjustment, a competent person should be employed to repair and adjust it. DRAINAGE I9I " Back sight " and " fore sight " or " plus sight " and "minus sight." — In the tabulated statement, Figures 8i and 82, the measurements from points of known heights up to the instrument are called back sights, or some- times plus sights; that is, we add the height from the surface up to the line of sight through the instrument to the known distance above datum of the surface where the leveling rod stands in order to get the new height of the instrument. There is a column in the table headed fore sight, some- times called minus sight. In this column are placed the measurements from the height of the instrument down to given stations, the height of which it is desired to know. Since the instrument is always higher than the point we wish to measure, we always subtract the measurement from the height of the instrument down to the point in question so as to determine the height of that point above datum. These measurements, which are to find the height of the surface of the ground, are properly termed minus sights, to be subtracted from the height of the instrument, as distinguished from the plus sights, which are added to the known heights of given points, which are always used to find the height of the instru- ment. Back sights are often abbreviated B. S. and fore sights F. S., in the tabulated notes. How to use measurements of levels. — Now that the levels of the successive stations along the proposed line of the ditch have been determined, a method of using them is necessary. Where there is considerable fall, very little surveying or calculation is needed since an experienced person can determine the depth the ditch should be at each station by merely inspecting the figures and the land. In cases, however, where the pro- posed drain is long, where the grade is slight, or where slight elevations requiring deep ditches necessitate con- siderable expense, or where the connection of lateral 192 FARM DEVELOPMENT drains with a drainage system complicates the problem, it is sometimes wise to use profile paper in making what is termed a profile of each of the proposed ditches. The profile is a great help in devising the proper grades for long drains on very flat areas so as to have them sufficiently deep in the lower places, not too deep where the digging would be considerable and yet have the most practical grades for eflfectually carrying off the water at the least expense for construction. How to make a profile. — The figures representing the height of the successive stations above datum, as re- corded in Figure 81, are used to show the surface of the Figure 83. Profile showing surface and the grade line of the ditch, thus glTlng the depth of the ditch. land at each station. Figure 83 shows how the heights above datum are mapped into a profile to show the sur- face of the earth along the line of the ditch, from its out- let to its head. This line having been mapped in, an- other line beneath the surface can be drawn, showing the bottom of the ditch, whether tile drain or open ditch. By careful inspection and measurement, or by counting the lines, this line representing the grade of the ditch can be so placed that the ditch will not be made un- necessarily deep and expensive, nor yet too near the sur- face at any point. It will be observed that points have been chosen along the line of the ditch where the grade is slightly changed. Between these points straight lines are drawn, showing that the grade is to be uniform between the chosen points. By using a soft pencil, these points for changing the grade may be located and trial lines made, and, if not in the right place, they may DRAINAGE 1 93 be erased and other trials made, until the depth of the proposed ditch at the various points is so arranged as to make an effective system of drains without unneces- sary expense. In case of branch drains, it is sometimes necessary to make profiles of the several branches before finally deciding upon the. grade and depth of the main drain, showing their relations to the main drain, in order that the entire plan of the drainage system may be so mapped out as to make all parts fit together in a manner that will insure practical slants, or grades, for carrying the water from all portions of the land, and yet will not necessitate deeper and more expensive drains than necessary. The profile in Figure 83 shows the surface line of the ground at each station on the line of a proposed ditch, as determined by the use of the level, the leveling rod and the calculations, Figure 81. This profile is so made that the vertical lines represent the stations 100 feet apart, O representing the outlet. Each horizontal line represents a foot in height. The hori- zontal line A-B represents a line 100 feet above datum. It may be seen from this profile that between Stations O-5, 5-1 1 and 11-20 the profile of the ground surface presents three different grades. While it would be possible to give the ditch a uniform grade between Stations O and 20, as indicated by the dotted line, it would be impracticable, as it would bring the ditch too near the surface between Stations 1-6 and too deep between Stations 10-16. To avoid this the ditch is run on three separate grades, which give it a nearly uniform depth and still allow sufficient slope to carry off the water. By deciding upon the depth of the drain at each point chosen for a change of grade, the amount of fall per 100 feet can be determined between each of two points of 194 FARM DEVELOPMENT change. Then, by subtracting the depth of the ditch at each point of change of grade from the elevation of the surface of the ground above datum, the elevation, above datum, of the bottom for the ditch at these points can be placed in the column for Elevation of Drain. The dif- ference in the elevation of the drain above datum be- tween two points divided by the number of stations lOO feet apart gives the grade per loo feet. By beginning at the lower point and adding this amount to the height of each station, the height of the next station is deter- mined. The depth of drain at each station is then determined by subtracting the height of the drain above datum from the height of the surface of the ground above datum at that station. These records can be copied from the notebook upon stakes and thus show the depth to dig the ditch at the respective stations. Deciding upon amount of slope or grade. — In deciding the most practical grade, or slant, of the line of the drain, and the size of the ditch or the diameter of the drain tile, rules are of some use, but very often these matters can best be determined by one who has had practical ex- perience under similar conditions. In rare cases, a steep grade causes an open ditch to be gullied out by the swift running water, and a more level grade with an occasional waterfall buttressed with stones would be better, but generally on flat lands the effort should be to secure a rapid fall in the grade. In some cases, for example, in the Valley of the Red River of the North, in Holland, and in other very flat countries, large open drains must, of necessity, be made nearly level. It is astonishing how much water will be removed by an open drain that has only a few feet of fall per mile, or a tile drain that has only 2 to 4 inches fall per 100 feet. Width of the ditch, or diameter of drain tile must largely make up for lack of fall, since water that has so little speed must be carried in a larger drain —/60ffOD3 — Figure 84. Showing system of mapping drains and sizes of tilea in low places on a 240-acre farm. The double curved line south of the highway is a creek; the double line on the north of the highway is an open ditch. The tile drains open into the creek and open ditches. The rainfall is about 30 inches, and except in line of the open ditch no large amount of flood water need be provided for. (See notes at bottom of page 196.) 196 196 FARM DEVELOPMENT in order to remove the volume of flood water or rainfall. The minimum grade for tile drains is usually considered as about 2 inches to the 100 feet. Generally, tiles need not be laid at a less grade than 4 to 6 inches fall to the 100 feet. The size of tiles to be used is important, because drains which are too small to carry a given amount of water at a given grade will not drain off the water rapidly enough to avoid injuring the crops, and the use of tiles larger than necessary is a waste of money. The amount of rain which annually falls in a locality, the flood water received by the wet area from surrounding lands, the distance apart of the drains, the presence or absence of seepage or spring water in the subsoil, the character of the subsoil, the amount of fall, or grade, given the drain, and sometimes other considerations, make the problem a complicated one. In the notes under Figure 84, the sizes of tiles to be used in the various main and branch drains there mapped are specified, together with the Main I, from 1 to 12, has a grade of 4 inches per 100 feet; and 4-inch tiles are used from 1 to 11, and from 10 to 12. also from 12 to 13. Branches 11, 12 and 13 have grades of 4 inches per 100 feet, and 3-inch tiles are used. Main 2 and its branches are all laid at a grade of 8 inches per 100 feet. A 6-inch tile is used from 2 to 21, 5-inch from 21 to 211, 4-inch tiles from- 21 to K, and 211 to M, and 3-inch tiles thence to the upper ends of the two branch drains. Main 3 has a 6-inch grade to K, thence 10 inches. Sizes tiles used: 6-inch, 3 to 32, and 3-inch beyond K. Branch 32 and sub-branch 321 have a grade of 8 inches, and 322 a grade of 8 inches to F, and 12 inches from F to the upper end. Sizes used: 5-inch on 32 to 321, 4-inch on 321 to S and 322 to F; 3-inch above F and S. Branch 31 and sub-branch 311 have a grade of 6-inch to P and E and beyond 10 inches or more. Sizes used: 4-inch, 31 to 311; beyond, 3-inch. Main 4 and its branches, 8-inch grade; 4-inch tile 4 to 41, and beyond 3-inch tiles. Main 5: Grade 5 to X, 3 inches, 5-inch tile; grade X to upper end (springy hill- side). 10 inches, 4 -inch tile. Main 6: Grade 6 to 62, 10 inches, tiles 4-inch; grade branches 61 and 62. 8 Inches, tiles 3-inch. Main 7: Grade 10 inches, tile 5-inch; branch 71, grade to L, 6 inches, and beyond 12 inches or more; tiles 4-lnch from 71 to L, and beyond L 3-inch; branch 72, grade to M. 8 inches, and beyond 10; tiles 4-inch from 72 to M, and 3-inch beyond. Main 8: Grade, 16 inches; size. 3-inch. Main 9:. Grade to R, 10 inches; tile, 5- inch; grade R to S, 6 inches, tile, 4-lnch' grade beyond S, 12 inches; tile, 3-inch; branch 91, grade. 8 inches; tile, 91 to C 4- inch; C to upper end, 3-inch. Main 10: Grade 10 to 101, 10 inches; beyond, 14 inches; branch 101, grade, 36 Inches or more (the upper end tapping a spring with considerable water); tiles 10 to 101, 8-inch, beyond 3-inch; tiles, 101 to F, 6-inch, beyond 4-inch. Main II: Grade to B, 18 inches, beyond B 20 inches; tiles, 11 to B. 4-inch, beyond B 3-inch. Main 12: Grade 12 to 121, 20 Inches, beyond 121, 24 inches: tiles 12 to 121 4-inch- beyond 122. 3-inch; branch 121, grade 36 inches; tUe. 3-inch. DRAINAGE 197 length and grade, showing how maps and specifications can be made. Depth to make drains. — The roots of nearly all cul- tivated plants grow best where the surface of the ground Figure 85. Showing elevation of the soil above datum, also elevation of drain at stations 50 feet apart, as entered from surveyor's blank. water is at the depth of 3 to 6 feet or more, so that they can spread in soil containing only capillary water with the interspaces filled with air down to at least some feet. Tile drains may be laid 3 or 4 feet deep rather cheaply, but deeper than this the expense increases rapidly. Extensive experience has led farmers to lay tile drains at the depth of 3 or 4 feet where there are no special reasons for laying shallower or deeper. In some cases where the water percolates through soils very slowly, it is best to lay the tiles not deeper than an average of 2 feet. Since the drain must have a nearly uniform fall Figure 86. Depth of ditch at each station, from height of surface on surveyor's blank. secured by subtracting height of ditch regardless of the contour of the surface of the ground, and at all points must slope toward the outlet, the drain is necessarily deeper at some points than at others. In low places, it is sometimes necessary to bring the tiles nearer the surface; always, however, keeping them sufficiently deep that they will not be disturbed by the plow. 198 FARM DEVELOPMENT Where deep subsoiling is practiced the top of the tiles should be at least 15 inches deep, and, in no case, even in rather open soil, which v^ill not need subsoiling, should the tiles be laid nearer the surface than 10 to 12 inches. In case of very dense subsoils, where fine, dense clay is thrown back into the ditch over the deeply laid tiles, the surface water may be prevented from reaching the drain quickly, especially if it be laid too deeply, and the drain be, therefore, of little service. If the ditch be filled with gravel or other porous material, the water Figure 87. Cross section through two tile drains showing direction the water fol- lows in reaching the openings in the tiles. After a heavy rainfall the surface of the ground water rises to the line X. As this gradually seeps sidewise into the bottoms of tlie tiles the surface of the water sinks, as to the line T. can get into the deep drain quite as readily as if it were nearer the surface. This precaution is necessary only in rare cases. Special survey notes. — In surveying out the line of the ditch, special notes should be made of all unusual fea- tures, and of the exact points at which laterals branch off, and, where practicable, the location of the drain at diflFerent points, as where crossing a line of land survey, or near a monument which has been recorded in previous land surveys; these should be carefully noted, showing the exact distances and directions to given points, so DRAINAGE 199 that the under drain may be easily located at any time. Notes on grade stakes. — In making careful surveys with grade stakes every 50 or 100 feet, the depth to which the ditch is to be dug at these points should be marked on the stakes. Thus, in Figure 86 are shown stakes; at the first stake the cut is to be 4 feet; at the next stake it is to be 4.35 feet, etc. Surveyor's notes should be preserved. — Where the drainage problem is sufficiently complicated and dif- ^^ ^ ficult to require a careful survey, the notes should be systematically re- corded and drawings and profiles should be so made as to make a per- manent record of the survey and of the fin- ished drain. The plat of the land should show the general land survey. — In cases of large drainage enter- prises, a copy of the government land survey may be made, and to this the surveyor's notes added, making such contour maps as are necessary, and locating the lines of the main and lateral open and tile drains. A system of naming or numbering the main and laterals, such, for example, as is carried out in Figure 84, should be adopted. The daily notes in platting and leveling can be taken in a notebook and should be at once transcribed upon the map upon which the drain is to be platted. Simple drawings made on pages of the notebook will aid in keep- ing a record of the linear measurements and angles while making the general land survey and the leveling meas- urements, also in making the profile. The profiles of the Figure 88. Earth removed from A X to B with reversible road machine; from X to Y with spade. 200 FARM DEVELOPMENT main and of each lateral drain should show all eleva- tions, grade lines and bridges ; and, in case of tile drains, any special features, as silt wells, etc., should be given. THE CONSTRUCTION OF TILE DRAINS Much effort has been expended in the construction of machines for making underground drains which open out the ditches and, at the same operation, lay the tiles and return the earth into the ditch. While some sub- stantial progress has been made with this class of ma- chinery, it is at best adapted only to long lines of ditch to be made in land free from stones. The man with the spade must continue to make the tile drains in all difficult places and in cases where the line of the drain is not suf- ficiently long to warrant the use of machinery. Opening with spade. — Like the sur- vey, as a rule, the work should begin at the lower end or outlet of the drain. In some cases, the upper 8 to 12 inches of earth may be easily thrown out by means of a common plow or the rever- sible road machine. To make the line ,/,n%fd uT^tchet of the ditch straight, a cord may be "^^^^ ti. i^HZJ. Tll\ used to mark one side of the ditch. S' tS 'KS u \l Those who have not had experience S" ^r^X^k 't 'Z will be surprised that the ditch should ZdTand maRfn^it 2'f";t ^^.1 ,1 . . , . , wide at the top adds two- not be more than 10 to 12 mches wide thirds to the earth at the top for a ditch 3 or 4 feet deep. Figure 89, with notes, illustrates the fact that much less earth is handled in the narrow ditch. Experience will convince anyone that there is no serious inconvenience in working in a narrow ditch. In fact, the sides being I5 DRAINAGE 201 perpendicular and near together, is an advantage in enabling the spademan to work loose his spadefuls of earth. Figure 87 shows the movements of rainwater in its course into the tile drain. The curved line, T-T, repre- sents the surface of the zone of ground water. Above this, the rainwater is represented by the dotted lines as percolating directly downward. When it reaches the surface Figure 90. Tile or ditching spade, r .v cfotirlintr iAra+<=.r anrl aHHc blades made 18, 20 and 22 inches long. OI tnC StanQing WatCr aUQ aQQS 6 to 7 inches wide, and much curved, . ., 1,^:^1,4. 4.U ^ ^-^^-^^A ,,,«4.^^ as shown in cross section at A. This tO itS height, thC grOUUd WatCr is a surprisingly useful tool in open- _ . • j • . j ing tile or open drains in many easily flOWS laStcr SiaeWlSC tOWarCl worked soils. By turning it at an i • i i • i angle as shown in Figure 93 the bot- thc tllcS, whlCh arC SO laid aS torn of the ditch may be made as ' narrow as desired for a 3 or 4-inch ^q alloW it tO floW betWCeU their ends and flow away through the tiles, and thus prevent the ground water rising higher and sniothering the roots of the plants. In case of a very heavy fall of rain, the ground water accumulates more rapidly than it can seep sidewise to the tiles, or possibly is in such quantity that the tile can- not carry it all off, even though running full. The line X shows how the water rises be- .^ tween tiles laid at intervals of ^^^ ^ -^ several rods apart. The pOSi- Figure 91. Small tne spade, Wade •■^ i,. 1^ inches long, 4% inches wide at top, tlOn of the lower curved hne "^^d in bottom of narrow ditch for 2 or 3-inch tiles. Not much used, as and the water within the tiles *[}« S^'better?*' ^^*"* ^"' ^^^'^^^^ illustrates the fact that the water passes into the lower half of the tile and that it can seep in through the openings between the ends of the tiles, not needing to pass through the walls. In Figure 93, A shows the manner of sinking the spade in taking out the successive courses in opening a tile drain by hand in a free soil. B, C, D, E and F represent suc- ceeding courses. By thus ^'racking" the spade, each block of earth is broken loose from the side, leaving a square, even bank. Since only one side is broken loose and that 202 FARM DEVELOPMENT with a revolving motion, it is removed with a small expenditure of force. Being broken loose so easily, it is not so much crumbled up and the spademan gets out nearly all he has broken loose. The succeeding courses are removed in a similar manner. In case of lower courses, D and E, Figure 94, if the ditch is narrow, there is economy of labor in using a spade with a long, narrow blade, tak- ing a deep thin slice or block from the edge of Figure 92. Tile hoe for grading bottom of tUe the COUrSe,CUt diagonally ditch. t. 1- • r by each previous use of the spade. While apparently a small matter, a trial of this idea will illustrate the wisdom of constantly exercising intelligence in finding easy ways of doing the plain, hard work of the farm. In Figure 94, the man A is cutting the sod at either side line of the ditch. B, C, D and E are spading out successive courses of earth, F is grad- ing the bottom of the ditch to a true uniform slant, using the grading staff, H, to keep the bottom of the ditch par- allel with the steel wire stretched at the desired slant at a given distance above the grade. The arm on the grading staff is adjustable to whatever distance the steel wire is placed above the bot- tom desired for .the ditch. I is laying tiles by hand in the bottom of the ditch. adTSbie''"o Sh^^or At J a branch drain enters the main ^""' drain. K is laying tiles with a tile hook, as on a bottom too soft to bear a man's weight. L is filling in several inches of earth over the tiles, tramping it compactly over them. M is filling in the bulk of the earth with a shovel. Grading the bottom of the ditch. — Making the bottom DRAINAGE 203 of the ditch uniform in grade, or fall, toward the outlet is the only difficult part of constructing a tile drain. Where water gently oozes out into the ditch from the surround- ing soil and runs toward the outlet, it can be used by the experienced man as a guide in grading the bottom of the ditch. The eye soon learns to judge by the rippling of the water in the bottom of the ditch whether or not the grade is uniform. If the stream lies smooth and sluggish in one place and flows rapidly in another, the tile hoe is used to make the ditch deeper at the upper portions of the rapids, and thus the grade is made so even that the water runs with a uniform speed throughout the entire length of that part of the drain which is being constructed on a given grade. Where the grade changes, as in changing the grade below a given station to another grade above, the eye must be trained to adjust the new grade to the flow of water. If the depth of the ditch at the separate stations has been placed on stakes, by measuring down when the new station is reached the grade can be corrected, as each stake is approached, so as to keep it at that depth Fig. 93. Method of spading out successive courses in opening a ditch for tiles. 204 FARM DEVELOPMENT decided upon in working out the survey notes. In grad- ing with water, the safest way is to go too shallow rather than too deep, as it is not always practicable to fill in with loose materials under the tiles in running water. This can, of course, be done by using gravel or coarse stones which will not be displaced by running water. Many practical ditchers require no survey whatever if there is water in the ditch, and ample fall, since they Figure 94. Ten men performing successive operations in opening the ditch, grading the bottom and filling the ditch. can lay out the general plan of a drain with the eye, and by carefully using the water as an indicator can make a thoroughly practical drain. The triangular tile drain grader, shown in Figure 95, may be made any suitable length, as 10, 12 or 16^ feet. When the lower board is level, a large nail is driven in its upper edge immediately under the point of the plumb bob. If it is a rod long, it may be adjusted to grading 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, etc., inches per 100 feet by using blocks one-third of an inch thick under one end, driving a nail under the point of the plumb bob each time the upper end is raised by the addition of one of DRAINAGE 205 these blocks, just as the device shown in Figure 96 is adjusted to similar changes in grade by moving the bolt supporting the upper board into holes one-third of an inch lower. If the device is shorter than 16^ feet, the size of the blocks used in placing the nails should be proportionately thinner. Thus, if 10 feet long, the blocks should be one-fifth of an inch thick. Figure 96 illustrates a grading frame used in leveling ditches. A, spirit level; B, hinged end of board at back or lower end of frame ; C, loose end of board at front of frame, which can be lowered or raised, so that, when the spirit level stands level, the bottom board, D to E, will have the desired slant to give the bottom of the ditch the proper grade. The frame is pulled forward as fast as the ditch is lowered sufficiently to allow of its being moved without ^ throwing the spirit bulb out of level. A change for a steeper grade is made by putting the pin at C in a lower hole, and to a slighter grade by putting the pin in a higher hole. Grading devices. — In Figures 95, 96, 97 and 98 are shown different forms of leveling devices found useful in making the bottom of the tile drain at a uniform grade. Proceeding from one station to another, the accuracy of the grading frame is tested by measuring down from the stake at the new station. If the grade has been too great, and the ditch is not sufficiently deep, the grading frame should be readjusted to a slightly less grade, and if the ditch is too deep when the forward station is reached, the frame should be readjusted to a greater slant. A small steel wire, such as is used in wrapping brooms, Figure 95, Triangular tile drain grader. 206 FARM DEVELOPMENT stretched from station to station, 50, or even 100, or more, feet apart, and placed at a given distance above the desired grade, serves as a line from which to measure down to the bottom of the ditch. The ends of the wire can be placed at the same distance above the desired grade and parallel to it. The depth for the ditch at each point being known, the wire can be attached to each stake high enough to make the wire a given distance above the desired bottom of the ditch, say 7 feet. It will be convenient to have it high enough to be out of the way of throwing out the spadeful of earth. To find the proper depth to make the ditch, an L-shaped meas- Figure 96. Grading frame used in leveling the bottom of tile ditches. uring rod may be used to measure down from the wire, which may be placed at one side. By using stakes, as in Figure loi, the wire can be stretched so tightly that it will not sag. Laying tiles in the ditch. — Where the material in the bottom of the ditch is not too soft, laying by hand, as shown at I, Figure 94, is the better way of placing the tiles in position. When placed by hand the tiles can be so turned and adjusted that the ends will be sufficiently close together to prevent earth falling in between. Where material under the bottom of the ditch is so soft that treading on the tiles displaces them, it is necessary to DRAINAGE 207 Figure 97. Mason's level. lay the tiles with the tile hook, as shown at K, Figure 94. By exercising a little dexterity, the tiles can be placed, and even revolved on the hook, so as to make the unions fairly tight. There is rarely danger of having the ends too close together, as a very narrow opening will allow the water to enter. As soon as the tiles are laid, they should be covered with a few inches of earth and tramped so that they will not be displaced. If the earth forming the side of the ditch is not fine sand, or if it has sufficient clay in it to bind well, sufficient to pack about the tiles can be cut loose with the spade by the workman standing in the ditch and tramped firmly about the tiles. Where the branches lead off from the line of the ditch, the unions should be carefully made. Union tiles, as shown in Figures 75 and J "j, are used for this pur- pose. Where these are not available, as in case of breakage or long dis- Figure 98. Shows the manner of marking the upright of Figure 96 so that the holes may be bored at the desired distance apart. A horizon- tal line is drawn through the center of the hole which supports the top board when it is par- allel to the bottom board, and another at each Inch further down for several inches. Then each Inch is divided into three equal parts by lines and three vertical lines are drawn an inch or more apart. By boring a hole at each inter- section, the holes are made at intervals of one- third of an inch apart, sufficient to give an added tanre from fartorv unions rise in the grade of 2 inches per 100 feet, the ^^^^^^ iiUUl idCLUiJ, U111UU5. bottom board being 16% feet long. ^^^ ^C made by CUttiug a hole with a cold chisel in a tile on the main line and fitting to this hole the end of a tile on the branch line. 210 FARM DEVELOPMENT This is rather expensive, as the labor is considerable, and several tiles may be broken in the attempt to make the desired fitting. To insure a close joint, broken pieces of tile or stones may be laid or fitted about the rather crude opening. Protecting the tiles from the roots of trees. — Where the line of drain tile passes under a willow hedge or near other trees the roots of which grow readily in wet ground, there is danger that the roots may enter between the ends of the tiles and by branching within the drain close it up so as to stop the flow of water. Bunches of roots thus formed within a tile drain are shown in Figure 105. By using sewer tiles with shoulders, and closing the ends with cement, these roots may be kept out. This, of course, is not desired in land needing drainage, since the water could not penetrate into the tiles, and is only necessary to thus protect a length of several rods where a tile drain must carry its water past trees. Filling the ditch. — In some instances, the hand shovel is the most practical tool to use in filling the tile ditch. The slush scraper, as shown in Figure 106, may be used to advantage. A chain, 10 or more feet long, is necessary that the team Figure 101. The depth of the ditch having been recorded on the stake at each station, or only in the notes, measurement can be made from the station to a given point above the proposed bottom for the drain, say 7 feet, and a small steel wire, "broom wire," can be stretched between the two stations parallel to the bottom of the ditch. It is then a simple matter to measure down with an L'-shaped measure set to determine the proper depth to grade the bottom of the ditch with a tile hoe. Figure 102. Quiet water in a sag in a drain tUe allows sedi- ment to settle there and clog the drain. DRAINAGE 211 may be backed up near to the ditch. Where the ground is solid, the eveners may be carried on the front wheels of a wagon, or better still," by means of the hind wheels of the wagon, supplied with a tongue. The hind wheels being larger can be backed up more easily. One man can some- times do this work, but a second man is usually neces- sary to drive the team, at least until it is taught to turn and back at command. A specially con- structed scraper, as shown in Figure 107, with a long tongue, can also be used in filling a ditch by having the team on the op- posite side of the ditch from the ridge of ex- cavated earth. Some reversible road machines are so built that they can be used to fill the ditch very cheaply, as shown in Figure 108. Before filling with team power, the tiles should be covered by a workman who fills in several inches of earth and treads it firmly about the tiles. Fiprure 103. Agricultural high school students laying tile drains, showing how a man can get down into a narrow ditch. 212 FARM DEVELOPMENT Opening the ditches with machinery. — In a previous paragraph, plowing out furrows with the common plow was advised; in some cases the capstan ditching plow can be used for throwing out the first i8 to 24 inches of earth, thus greatly lessening the amount of hand digging for tile drains. Tile-ditching machines which throw the dirt to one side of the ditch have been invented, and some of them have been used with more or less success. Others have been devised to carry the dirt backward and throw it again in the ditch behind a man who lays the tiles ; and still others which automatically lay the tiles have also been projected and made almost successful in soils which are free from stones and on which the machine can be run without sinking too deeply into soft earth. The grade of the bottom of the tile is Figure 104. Tile controllcd, iu case of machines for open- hook, handle 7 feet ' ^ long, hook 10 inches j^g the drain, by means of levels marked on stakes, above the line of the ditch, with cross bars at a given distance above the desired grade of the bottom of the drain, the operator on the machine keeping the depth of the ditching device under control by sighting from a point on the machine to these cross bars of the successive stakes. Figure no shows a mole tile-ditching machine with attachment. A, capstan; B, mole ditching machine; X, man control- ling grade of the drain with a wheel and keeping the marker, mounted on the mole coulter in line with markers, O-P, on two stakes so placed as to be parallel with the line of the desired grade. A man sitting in a pit lays tiles on the steel ribbon, F, which is attached to the large steel mole, M, and they are drawn into place. These pits are placed every 50 or 100 feet. These DRAINAGE 213 mctchfnes have not had extensive use. Capstan mole ditchin^CT machines without tiles are also sometimes used in tough clay subsoils, in which the drain may remain open for some time. Outlets and silt wells. — Outlets need to be carefully arranged, so that stock coming to the mouth of the drain Figure 105, Masses of maple roots taken from 3-iuch drain tiies. to drink cannot disturb the ends of the tiles by tramping, and it is wise to place a wire screen over the opening, that rabbits and other small animals may be kept out of the drains. Stones laid at the outlet, or masonry built at this point, are sometimes necessary. 214 FARM DEVELOPMENT Figure 106, Filling tile ditch with drag or slush scraper. In other places, instead of the tiles coming entirely to the end of the drain, the last lo feet may be a board box which cannot easily be displaced by animals tramping upon it. In cases where the outlet of the tile drain must be very low and there is very great need of Figure 107. FUIing tile ditch with an especially constructed scraper.. DRAINAGE 215 keeping the ditch below it clear, it is necessary to build a fence to keep hogs and other anirnals from inter- fering. Cost of laying tile drains. — Where labor costs $1.25 to $1.50 per day, the cost, though varying greatly in dif- ferent soils, is approximately 10 cents per rod for each foot of depth for tiles laid 2 to 5 feet deep, where the work is all done by hand. Experienced ditchers can make good wages at this price, while inexperienced men will find it very hard to make moderate wages. Where machinery can be used for part of the work, the cost can be materially reduced. In laying 3 and 4- inch tiles that cost an average of $10 per thousand, or one cent per foot, the cost of the tile per rod of ditch is 16^ cents. The cost of digging an average ditch 33^ feet deep is 35 cents, making a total of 51/^ cents per rod for the completed ditch. Where the tiles must be shipped on railways the cost will be con- siderably higher, and for larger sizes of tile the cost is greater. (See Cost of Drain Tiles, page 169.) The cost per acre. — The cost per acre where tiles are laid at regular intervals apart can be closely estimated by using the prices per thousand for drain tiles and adding to this the above estimates for the cost of labor. There are many cases where tile drains are economical where it is difficult to figure the cost per acre, since instead of systematically covering flat areas, the drain follows some low slough or carries Figure 108. Filling the tile ditch with the re- versible road machine. 2l6 FARM DEVELOPMENT the water from some low or otherwise bothersome spot in the field. Here the cost and probable benefit must be compared in some general way, rather than by using the acre as the unit. MAKING OPEN DRAINS Capstan plow ditchers. — Very large ditching plows are used for making open ditches in sloughs and in level lands where there are long stretches of alluvial till or Figure 109. Tile-ditching macliine opening a 4-foot ditcli. clay sufficiently free from stones to cause no serious interference to the coulters or lay of the capstan plow ditcher. Generally, the power can be applied in a direct line from the capstan to the machine. In some cases, how- ever, the capstan set in a direct line with the line of the ditch and directly in front of the machine will not give good footing to the horses or oxen on the capstan sweep, and it is necessary, by means of heavy stakes set in the DRAINAGE 217 ground, to locate a pulley firmly in the line of the ditch around which the cable can pass to drier land where the horses or oxen can operate the capstan. These same ditching plows are sometimes drawn by twenty to thirty oxen working in pairs or four-ox teams, the teams arranged tandem on the cable. The oxen can pull through rather soft land ; yet where the mud is too de&p, a long cable must be used and by passing it around a pulley, as before mentioned, the cattle may Figure 110. Mole ditcher. do their pulling on solid ground on one side of the line of ditch. In tough soils the ditches will remain effective for several years, but finally fill up and become of little service. Such surface drains should be placed at one side rather than on the center of the line, where a per- manent drain should some time be placed. A ragged open drain is much in the way in making a permanent tile drain. It is often much easier to construct the permanent drain on a new line where the soil and sur- face are uniform. Ditches may be made with these implements at a very low cost, often at lo cents per rod, or even less. These ditches will sometimes last for a dozen years, or 2l8 FARM DEVELOPMENT Outlet to tile drain or to earthen until the farmer can afford a broader open ditch; or still better, a tile drain. In making ditches with the capstan ditching plow, care should be used to have the grade uniform so that the water will run with equal rapidity throughout the varit)us parts of the drain, as this insures more rapid removal of the water and it also prevents the excessive washing which is apt to occur at points of the steepest grades. Wherever washing occurs, there is a certain amount of debris cut loose from the bank, and this debris and other debris washed in from sur- rounding land is car- ried forward and deposited in the bottom of the ditch further on and eventually fills it. The slush scraper is also useful in opening out large drains and in filling tile drains. The Fresno scraper is a modified form of the drag scraper much used in the western states. It can be ad- justed to shaving off a thin layer of earth and to dis- tributing in a thin layer. It has a great advantage over the slush scraper in moving earth down grade, because Figure 112. Outlet to drain protected by masonry. DRAINAGE 219 more than enough to fill the scraper can be shoved forward. It is made in two and four-horse sizes, and should be rapidly introduced. The wheel scraper is an improved form of the scraper mounted on wheels, and is adapted to work where the earth must be drawn longer distances than will warrant the economical use of the slush or the Fresno scraper. The common field plow and the heavy road grading plow are sometimes used in opening out the first portion of small drains and loosening the earth in large ditches Figure 113. Outlet which of necessity opens under the surface of a stream or pond, thus endangering the tiles from splitting by freezing, when filled with water. A few rods of the drain next to the outlet might better be made of oak boards nailed together so as to form a square box. where other machinery or even spades are used to take up the loosened earth. The reversible road machine has come to be recog- nized as a very important implement in making open drains. With this machine, broad, flat drains can be made which will carry large volumes of water and which can easily be cleaned out by using the same machine. In many cases crops can be grown over the banks and within the broad flat ditches, thus making the drain useful for removing the flood water without seriously injuring the area useful for the common crops of the field. In other cases, these broad, flat drains may be sown to permanent grass and mowed two or more times annually. This insures a ditch free from debris and 220 FARM DEVELOPMENT often crops of valuable forage. Since the use of road machines is described more in detail under the heading of road making, a discussion of their operation will not be necessary here. In Figure Ii8 is shown the cross- section of a ditch made with a reversible road machine where it is desirable to have the ditch next to a fence with one side not rounded so as to be crossed with teams and im- plements. The side next to the fence can be left nearly vertical, as at A; it can be made slanting, as shown by the dotted line, B ; or, if it is de- sired even thus close to the fence, it can be made rounded as at the dotted line, C. The earth taken from the ditch can be left in a sharp ridge, as at D; can be thrown up into a rounded form, as at F; or can even be smoothed down by carrying it back on the adjacent land, as at E. This class of machine is not adapted to making very heavy ditches, though, in many cases, the upper portion of the ditch may be opened by means of the road machine. The elevating grader is very useful in opening large drainage canals. This machine does heavy work at a comparatively low cost per cubic yard of earth handled. Ditching plow. — A very strongly constructed plow Figure 114. General plan of a siH well, two branch tiles entering and main discharging. The silt accumu- lating at O by settling in the nearly QUiet water should be cleaned out as required, lifting the stone. X, for that purpose. Figure 115. Drag or slush scraper. DRAINAGE 221 Figure 115a. Fresno scraper. made to resemble somewhat the common stubble plow and very useful in drainage operations. Either this or the common plow is often used to break up the soil before carrying it to one side with the reversible machine, or Figure 116. Wheel scraper, lowered for filling. picking it up with the wheel or slush scraper, or throw- ing it into wagons with the shovel or spade. Vertical and special drains. — While most farm drainage can be accomplished by means of either open drains or 222 FARM DEVELOPMENT Figure 117. Reversible road machine making lateral ditches which run into a large drainage canal made beyond by the elevating grader. tile drains, there are other forms of drains which are useful for special conditions. Drainage wells are useful where vertical drains can be made cheaply through impervious layers of clay or stone which hold the water in the saucer-shaped area, thus carrying the water downward into the nonwater-bearing stratum of gravel or sand below. In Figure 131 the hills surround- ing the low area are so high that a horizontal drain under the ad- joining hill would be very expensive. A well is sunk at one side, or if a dry time can be found when the low area is dry, the well can be sunk in the midst of the wet area. Drain tiles, laid from i to 3 feet under- Figure IIS. Showing forms of ditch beside a fence line, as at the side of a puhlic highway. A-D, ditch made with steep bank and dirt left in high ridge. B-F, ditch made with slanting outer bank and ridge rounded down. C-E, ditch rounded and earth spread out so that land can be mowed or even cultivated to the roadway, as at P. DRAINAGE 223 neath the surface, receive the water, thoroughly filtered and clear of sediment, and carry it to the drainage well by which it is carried through the impervious layer and Figure 119. Elevating grader opening large ditch. enters the loose gravel or sand layer below. If the water were allowed to run from the surface into the drainage well, so much debris would be carried in that the well would soon become clogged and water would Figure 120. Floating dredge. Longitudinal view showing scoop taking earth out of the ditch in front of the boat. Cross-section showing scoop iki position to deposit earth on the bank of the canal. no longer sink freely through it. However, in some instances, where the impervious layer is near the sur- face and is not thick, drainage wells may be left open 224 FARM DEVELOPMENT to receive the surface water, and as soon as one is clogged up another can be dug. Where these drain- age wells must be dug to a considerable depth, they must be walled with brick, stone, sewer pipe, iron pipe, or even with tubing made of boards. In case of expensive wells, they should be Figure 121. Open ditch with banks 1 to 1, A-A; 1% to 1, B-B; and 2 to 1. C-C. very carefully gu ar d e d at the surface to avoid the entrance of dirt, and the tile drains leading into them should be so con- Figure 122. Proper form of surface ditch where earth is firm. structed that all water coming into the wells may be most thoroughly fil- tered by first passing down- ward through a few feet of soil. It is es- sential to know that the stratum into which the water is to be drained has an outlet and sufficient carrying or storage capacity at all times to care for the water which will be brought . Figure 123. Cross-section of ditch made with capstan ditch- ing plow. DRAINAGE 225 to it. This cannot be determined by the effects of drainage wells upon other similar strata, but only by a knowledge of the very same bed of material which receives the drainage for which disposal is sought. Sewers used to drain lands. — In some situa- ations outlets for open drains can be secured only with difficulty. The water must be car- Figure 124. The dotted lines mark the cross- section of a deep, narrow ditch made with a ditch- ing plow, and the wavy line the angle of repose sought by the banks when they have fallen in. ried long distances through neighboring fields or along road- ways, and possibly the fall is insufficient to allow the water to run off freely. A deep drain through an adjacent portion of higher land, with a low area on the Figure 125. Cross-section of ditch through soil OPPOSitC sidc, may prO- which tumbles or is washed m easily. . ^ 1 Vide a short but ex- pensive outlet in the form of an open ditch or a covered sewer. In this case, the sewer is not only less expen- sive, but sometimes better than the wide open ditch, the tiles and narrow ditch costing less than the open ditch. Either drain tile or sewer tile may be thus used to receive surface water at the Figure 126. Cross-section of ditch made with spade through peaty soil. 226 FARM DEVELOPMENT upper end, if sufficient fall can be provided so that the water will run with rapidity and make the ditch clean itself of silt and not become clogged. The distinc- , T- fl^<4^B Figure 127. Narrow deep ditch with braced poles protecting the sides from washing. tion between a sewer and an underdrain may be stated as follows: The sewer receives surface water contain- ing solid materials, while the underdrain, the upper end of which is usually closed by a stone or broken piece of Figure 128. A, drainage well beside a pond. Ing water from the pond into the well. tile drains conduct- DRAINAGE 227 Figure 129. Drainage well beside pond; B, tile drain discharging into drainage well; C, porous earth; D, impervious stratum through which the water cannot sink; E, layer of gravel into which the water entering the well will sink. tile, receives its water only after it has filtered through a few feet of soil and carries very little solid sediment. In cold countries, the sewer will sometimes allow the water to flow through much earlier in the spring than will the deep open drain under the conditions just men- tioned, since the ice and snow that will accumu- late in the deep ditch must be melted before the accumulated water can begin to flow. This difference often makes it wise to use the sewer rather than the open drain in carrying surface water through higher portions of land. The cost, however, must be very care- fully calculated because large tiles and the deep excavations for such sewers are expensive. Stone and board drains. — In the earlier history of drain- age, before earthen tiles were used, stone and wood, and even pieces of sod and peat, were used in the construction of underdrains. In Figure 131 are shown drains made of stone laid in different ways. In Figure 132 is shown the V- shaped drain in the bottom of the ditch covered with a plank laid on shoulders of earth, this plank sustaining the weight of Figure 130. Vertical outlet for tile the earth thrOWU back iutO drains through impervious stratum i »• t -i into stratum which will receive the the ditch, also Other methods water from the tile drains. ' ^ 228 FARM DEVELOPMENT of using stones and boards in making underdrains. Underdraining peaty lands. — Instead of tiles laid in the bottom of the ditch in peaty soils, continuous bundles of crooked hardwood poles are sometimes so laid that the water can pass among them and thus run off. See Figures 133 and 134. Figure 131. Drains made by laying floor stones in bottom Where t h e S 6 of the ditch, and covering either by laying cover stone on wall stone, as at A, by leaning two stones together, as at B, or by Hraiim are laid constructing an arch of small stones, as at C. yictiiia cti c laiu in peaty lands covered with heather, or with other low shrubs, small woody plants can be used to place first over the bundles of poles thus preventing the rotted peat, with which the remainder of the ditch is filled, from sifting down among the poles and clogging the drain. In many cases the tiles may be laid at sufficient depth to be in the hard ground beneath the peat. Dikes, pumps and gate s. — As our lands become more valuable the reclamation of fields now covered with water, at the edge of lakes, along rivers, or bordering on the ocean, will repay for drain- ing. Here dikes to keep out the flood water are some- times necessary. These can be thrown up by means of machinery heretofore mentioned, as in Figure 120. In case of heavy grading works, tram cars drawn by horses, A B C D ^-^r^fn--'^-' -^'^p^' V *.' ' L <<>;' w^m^, ,'.". : -^'''^"r^^y '/^ ^^<# ^''' -. :.,......;, .r, tJ.rz^^m Figure 132. A, drain made by covering a V-shaped groove in the bottom of the ditch by a board resting ou siioulders and supporting tlie eartli returned to tlie ditch. B. C, D, other methods of securing free drainage without tiles. DRAINAGE 229 or by other power, may be the practical means of moving the earth. The immense dikes, in part built generations ago, reclaiming large portions of Holland, have thor- oughly demon- strated that if the area is large very ex- pensive drains may be eco- nomical. Along the Mississippi river immense areas have been reclaimed from flooding b y 1 .■,■,. J., Figure 133. buikhng- dikes, u^ „ r - -u ^ ' or levees, connnmg the waters to the natural chan- nel. Along many of our streams, beside lakes and along the ocean coast lines, there are large areas which are occasionally flooded or are daily afifected by high tide, and as great damage often results to the growing crops, their use for farms is not practicable without con- trol of the water. In Figures 135, 143 and 144, with the subjoined notes, is shown how drainage and irrigation may be combined. By dik- ing and draining with open and tile ditches to a pit from which the water is pumped Figure 134. Figures 133 and 134. Longitudinal and cross-sections of pole drain in peaty land. X, poles; Y, heatlier or other small shrubs or small branches of trees; filling the ditch. c, peat^ soil into the lake, Fields H and I, 230 FARM DEVELOPMENT Figure 143, are transformed into arable land. Here the same pump serves for both drainage and irrigation. This is a small illustration of how drainage is carried out on a large scale in districts with lands subject to flooding from ocean, lake or river; and it serves also to show how irrigation may be economically arranged on some lands in countries subject to an occasional drouth. In some cases, co-operative associations are able to undertake the construction of these dikes ; in other cases, the county, state, or even the natior^ must co-oper- ate in their con- struction and maintenance. Where diking Figure 135. S, roadway and embankment between low area • ^lonp fli^rp and stream which discharges into the lake; E, pumping engine; ^^ uuiic Luci c T, pit into which drains discharge and from which tiie water ,v./^*,r»-«1U, is pumped; W, water discharging into the lake; N, open ditch are generally flowing into the pit; X. embankment beside the lake. , some supple- mentary arrangements necessary for taking care of the water from the rainfall, and also of the flood water from drainage areas in a direction opposite to that from which the main flood water is held back by dikes. In some cases, water can be drained oflf in open ditches nearly parallel to the line of the dike, and follow the river to a lower level. In other cases, as along lakes and by coast waters, there is no opportunity for carrying off this surface and flood water, except by elevating it to the other side of the dike by means of machinery operated by wind, steam or other cheap power. The engineering problems of diking and drainage to elevating stations, while representing large interests, do not present un- usual difficulties. As a rule, the most difficult problem is to determine the relation between cost and benefit, though in many cases in America, as well as in other DRAINAGE 23 T countries, there are extensive areas where the cost of diking would be only a small fraction of the increased value of the reclaimed land. Back water gates are often necessary where diking and draining are combined. Where fresh water is kept off the land by means of dikes, a system of irrigation often can readily be intro- duced in combination with the drainage. Open drains should be kept free from obstructions, such as grass, growing weeds and weeds blown in from sur- rounding fields. The accumulations which arise from banks caving in, or from earth or material washed into the ditch by water or blown in by the wind, as dust from plowed lands, should be early removed, since obstructions of this kind tend to accumulate still more of similar ma- terials. The grade should be kept uniform that any sediment coming into the running water may be carried on to the outlet. Thus, in a ditch carrying considerable water, a slushing device which will stir up the loose mud and help the water carry it forward is sometimes a practical means of clearing the ditch. In some cases a device with shovels, as those from a common cultivator, will answer. A broad board faced with a steel cutting edge and held upright by means of a tongue or by han- dles, is sometimes used. This kind of a device will not work well except where there is current enough to carry the dirt forward, as finely divided particles, in the water. Much depends upon the kind of soil also. Some kinds of fine clay may thus be carried off rapidly in the water. Tile drains should be inspected occasionally. The outlet should be visited to learn whether the water is running freely. In cases where portions of drains have been laid through quicksand, which may filter in and fill the tiles, or where for other special reasons clogging is feared, investigations are occasionally necessary to see that all parts of the drains are carrying away the sur- plus water. Silt wells^ or even peep holes^ aid in this 232 FARM DEVELOPMENT inspection. Tile drains which are no longer working must be dug up and repaired. Thus drains which have been clogged by roots of trees growing in and filling them with the fibrous mass, must be taken up or, if the trees must remain, sewer pipes should be laid with the collars packed with cement. Properly laid tiles very rarely fail to continue to be indefinitely efficient. In a wide ex- perience the writer knows of only relatively very few tile drains which have become obstructed. Drainage education. — Education in farm subjects is now making such rapid strides that anyone needing a knowledge of a particular subject can find some means of gaining information along the desired line. The national government at Washington is taking an active part in drainage and other rural engineering subjects. Fifty or more agricultural colleges are dealing with the subject of drainage from the standpoint of the needs of the respective states. Some of these colleges have de- partments of agricultural engineering, and in these schools men are trained with a general knowledge of rural en- gineering, who can easily master the subject of any drain- age project so as to be useful in planning and super- intending the construction of large drainage and diking enterprises. Traveling farmers' institutes are adapted to encouraging neighborhoods where drainage is needed that have not undertaken the reclamation and improvement of wet lands, giving the knowledge, not only of how to unite on some co-operative plan, but also the knowledge of how to secure information as to the details of how drains improve the farm and how the plans can be made and the construction be carried out. The agricultural press contains articles on this subject and agricultural editors will gladly answer questions from farmers as to methods, etc. Bulletins and reports from the United States Department of Agriculture, from the state experi- ment stations and agricultural colleges of the different DRAINAGE 233 states, also the annual reports of the farmers' institutes and state agricultural organizations contain reports on the subject. Associations of manufacturers of drain tiles, of drainage machinery and of farmers and engineers interested in land drainage have done much to promote this subject. CHAPTER X IRRIGATION Since ancient times, irrigation has been practiced in semi-arid and arid countries. Applying water to grow- ing crops by carrying it out into the fields through ditches and allowing it to spread over and percolate into the soil, has assumed immense proportions in the more arid regions of the United States. Even in the states further east than the Mississippi river, irrigation is found very profitable under some conditions. The national government has inaugurated a very large scheme of co-operation in which, through an organiza- tion called the Reclamation Service under the Depart- ment of the Interior, it joins with many landowners and aids prospective purchasers of public lands in the construction of immense systems for irriga- tion. In some cases canals are built taking water directly from streams to the land. In many cases dams are necessary to raise the level of the water in the streams from which the water is drawn. In other cases immense dams are made to create great storage reser- voirs in which supplies of water are accumulated to be used when the crops most need them. The United States Department of Agriculture also is doing much in co-operation with private parties or organizations who are irrigating lands. This department is aiding not only in making plans for irrigation plants both by the gravity plan, and by pumping by wind or other power, but it is also studying methods of distributing the water to the farmers and to their crops, and is investigating methods of farm management under irrigation. The engineering plans being worked out by the Reclamation Service alone involve many millions of dollars and with the co-opera- tion of the United States Department of Agriculture 234 IRRIGATION 235 will make many thousands of irrlg-ated farms available for farmers. Care is being used that these lands may be divided into family farms and thus made to serve well the largest possible number of people and to increase the number of America's farm homes. This constitutes the most extensive irrigation scheme ever undertaken, and is one of the most ambitious engineering feats ever entered upon. It is a public enterprise which will again prove the ability of a republican form of government to Figure 136. Sliovving ditch from stream, lake or reservoir tlirougli excavation, on an embankment, across a low area, and tlirougli land at grade. carry out large national movements which benefit the whole people. Through this work the United States government is extending its policy, inaugurated through the national homestead law, of dividing the land into family farms. Not only is irrigation profitable in arid and semi-arid countries, but also in countries where the rainfall is not evenly distributed throughout those months in which crops make their greatest growth. Irrigation on a large scale is practicable only where streams, lakes, rivers, /^??r- r^iij'iTT^ ^^^^^j^^ Figure 137. Shovring ditch extended across a low place through an Iron conduit sup- ported on trestle work. IRRIGATION 237 artesian wells or artificial storage reservoirs furnish large supplies of water. Someone has illustrated the limita- tions of irrigation in the great arid West by comparing the whole droughty plains and intermountain areas in which the rainfall is light to a twenty-acre field with one furrow plowed across it, the furrow representing Figure 139. Portable engine used for pumping water for flooding rice fields in Texas. that proportion of the whole for which the water is avail- able for irrigation. The semi-arid area on which dry- land farming must be carried on is very extensive, and farm management there must be planned to conserve, for the use of crops, the small amount of water annually precipitated. In many places the windmill, or steam or gasoline engine to pump water from wells upon limited areas, as near buildings, will help make possible the development of a homelike farmstead on large ranch-like 238 FARM DEVELOPMENT farms in semi-arid regions, and will give some food for man and beast, even in the exceptional years of least rainfall, and v^ill help make the farm pay in all years. In regions like Minnesota, on the other hand, the many streams, the thousands of lakes, the large quantities of available w^ell water, the less amounts of water required for irrigation where the rainfall is nearly sufficient, and the possibility of storing surface water in large artificial reservoirs, will make it comparatively easy to irrigate large areas of land. Good lands have been so cheap that farmers and gardeners have only begun to appreciate the fact that at no distant date the higher price of lands, together with the cheapened machinery and possibly cheaper labor, will make irrigation profitable in many places where the rainfall has been heretofore wholly depended upon. Sources of water. — The bulk of irrigation is now done where the water is obtained from mountain streams or rivers so situated that the water may be led out, by means of canals and ditches, to lands which are nearly level, in the valley lower down the stream. These ditches are usually laid out with a very gentle slope, through the low lands or around the borders of the hills. Branches from the main canal are led off to the various tracts of land to be irrigated, where the ditches are further branched and the water carried to the farms and fields. In many cases, lakes and reservoirs are employed in which to store up flood water for use during the dry season when the water in the streams is low. In other cases, the storage capacity of lakes has been very greatly increased by means of dams across their outlets. Storage reservoirs are being made in many places by building dams across valleys, thus conserving large quantities of water which can be led out and spread over the fields in times of drought. As a rule, these IRRIGATION 239 storage reservoirs are filled by the flood water which naturally flows through the valley in the springtime, but which is saved up for use in the summer. In some cases the water which is used to fill the reservoirs is provided by springs and artesian wells. These form comparatively small streams during the entire year, hence storage reservoirs are necessary to store up their water that it may be available for use in the season of plant growth. In some instances the water from springs and wells, instead of being carried to tanks or other reser- voirs to be used for garden and orchard crops, or even for field crops, is spread directly upon the fields. Where vegetables, fruit or other crops which bring large amounts of money per acre, are grown, a large ex- pense per acre can be put into irrigation with profit. These valuable lands, under intensive cultivation, require a large expense for seeds, manures and labor. Rather than risk the loss of these investments, it is often wise to invest sufficient money in an irrigation plant to water the crops, and thus insure the larger yields and high quality which will bring an income sufficient to pay ex- penses and leave a larger profit. In dry years, when other growers have short crops, the farmer who is pre- pared to irrigate secures both a large crop and high prices for his produce. Legislation. — A prominent jurist recently said that irrigation laws were becoming one of the most com- plicated features of American jurisprudence. No at- tempt will here be made to more than analyze the gen- eral principles upon which these laws are constructed. The water of streams which passes through the lands of many owners is recognized as belonging to the public rather than to individual citizens ; at the same time, this water is for the use of whoever can utilize it. Since expense must be incurred in preparing to use water, either for irrigation or for power to be employed in 240 FARM DEVELOPMENT manufacturing, the public must recognize that landown- ers who build irrigation ditches, or manufacturers who construct dams, are entitled to consideration, and that they acquire rights which the public must respect through suitable legislation and court decrees. Thus, if one man or firm builds an expensive irrigation canal through which is conveyed all the water from a Figure 140. Stationary engine raising water by steam power on rice fields in Texas, where thousands of acres are irrigated by means of very large pumps. Stream and makes use of it upon fields, a wrong would be done if another man or firm were to make a similar irrigation canal further up the stream, thus intercepting the flow of water and causing the first party to lose the value of the expenditure in making the first canal. The second party, however, might properly make a canal further up the stream if he used only part of the water, allowing sufficient to flow to the first canal to furnish IRRIGATION 241 all the water there needed. In case of large streams still other canals can be built and eventually the public can recognize through its laws and court decrees that each party has a right to a certain amount of water. In case of successive years of small rainfall, there might be water sufficient only for the needs of the farmers along the canal first built. In this case, the parties interested in the canals constructed at a later date must properly give way and allow the water to be used by the parties who made the first ditch, even though it is further down the stream. In years when there is not water enough for all, the proper division of the available water is a difficult matter, and in many cases laws have been designed .under which officials of the state act in making an equitable division of water according to the rights and needs of the several parties interested. While priority of right is thus recognized, it has been found difficult to frame laws under which the rights of all can be respected and the best interest of the largest number served. The land which is available to irrigate with any given supply of water is entered at different times; having been purchased or homesteaded from the government or secured in other ways, as by grants to railways, etc. The irrigation ditches are begun by the government, by individuals and by corporations, who in turn subdivide their lands by selling to individual own- ers. The relations among promoters of irrigation ditches, and between these and owners of the land, become very complicated. The various states of the arid west have enacted many laws to deal with these complicated con- ditions. These laws have generally been made by piece- meal and are sometimes aptly termed " patch quilts." The decisions of courts in dealing with litigations in individual cases have been numerous and often conflict- ing. Thus, the network of legal relations concerning many of the irrigation enterprises in the West are ex- 242 FARM DEVELOPMENT ceedingly intricate and in many cases most embarrass- ing, often stopping the utilization of valuable water supplies because of the unsettled legal problems con- nected therewith. The general government is not only studying these problems, but has entered upon a vigor- ous policy of overcoming the difficulties of co-operation in making the best possible use of the available supplies Figure 141, Flowing artesian well in Nebraska. With nine wells, with 6-inch pipes, 112 acres are irrigated for very slight cost. ',U. S. Geol. Survey— Irrigation Paper 29.) of water. States which have not as yet enacted laws relating to irrigation have a great advantage in that they may start with general laws in which are recog- nized the general principles as emphasized by the best business and legal experience in the drouthier states which earlier began the use of irrigation waters. Irrigation laws should recognize, in some comprehen sive way, and in sufficient detail to meet the varied con- IRRIGATION 243 ditions, the priority of the right to use water as acquired by those first entering upon such use. That the state should, in some instances, reserve the ownership of the water and the right to regulate its use, or even after a certain date demand a rental price, is advocated by some people. These laws should contain regulations under which public officers and officers of co-operative associations and private irrigation companies must work in distributing the water to the various citizens and individual users. Proper provisions should be made for the appoint- ment of competent officials under some system of civil service. Suitable means for locating, altering and even discontinuing irrigation ditches and aqueducts should be provided. Comprehensive laws should deal with the construction and maintenance of public irrigation canals and the distribution of the water to the adjacent land. However comprehensively a state may devise its general law, special and minor laws will be necessary. Penalties for injury to canals or gates and for the un- authorized use of water are necessary. In all states where irrigation waters are likely to be used, laws under which water rights can be secured should be passed, and the county or state engineer should be required to make surveys with proper records of all claims at the time the rights are entered upon for water available for irri- gation, and these records should be evidence of priority of rights. These records should include a record of the size of ditch used in leading the water away from any stream or lake. Water rights often conflict with the rights of those interested in transportation by water. Especially is this true with owners of water powers and with logging com- panies who desire to use the flood water from rivers, lakes and reservoirs to aid them in floating their logs to the mills and near to their markets, tioSTnirei-StS^KSL^en\\ntlc"uK ^^"^' '''' ^^^^ '' Experiment Sla- 244 IRRIGATION 245 Most efficient arrangements are being worked out to meet all the conditions of law, of ownership of water rights and lands, of irregular supply of water, and of seasonal needs of crops under large irrigation canals. By combining storage reservoirs with the regular sum- mer water flow, by arrangements for exchange of rights to water at given times, and by other devices, associa- tions of water users, through their officers, can utilize water to the best possible advantage. The building of reservoirs in which to store up flood water has only begun to utilize the vast resources of this class of waters. Surveying and mechanical appliances used in irrigation construction are mainly the same as those used in mak- ing drainage systems, as illustrated on previous pages. Irrigation canals must have sufficient fall so that they will carry the required amount of water, but should not have so much fall that the water, in rushing through them, will wash or destroy their banks. The aim is to give a velocity that will prevent the deposit of silt in the main canal and not cause serious erosion. Three feet per second is the usual maximum velocity. The grades of western canals and ditches vary from 6 inches to 50 feet per mile. The more nearly level the grade, the larger must be the cross-section of the ditch. The engineer must make the calculation in each individual case and decide upon the plan which will accomplish the desired results in the best manner and at a minimum expense. In case of aqueducts of wood, stone or metal, where the danger of injury from rapidly flowing water is slight, much is gained by having the grade steep so as to have a larger amount of water flow rapidly through a com- paratively small, and therefore less expensive, aqueduct. Wood and iron aqueducts. — In many places it is neces- sary to carry the water across low areas. In some cases, aqueducts can be made by building a grade of earth or of masonry, as in Figure 136. In other cases the depth is FARM DEVELOPMENT SO great that aqueducts of wood or iron are necessary. Most of the irrigation, however, can be accomplished by means of earthen canals, though, in many cases, more expensive structures have been made to produce hand- some profits IRRIGATION 247 Machinery for elevating water. — Much is being done to devise methods of elevating water by machinery. Steam and gasoline engines and windmills perform the great bulk of this work. In the rice-growing regions of Texas and in arid regions, large engines are used to pump the water from streams or reservoirs, or from wells, thus, in some cases, directly supplying vast tracts of land when the crops especially need the water. In other cases the water is pumped into reservoirs to be available when needed by the crops. Windmills and small engines are often used on farms to utilize a small amount of water from wells or other sources to irrigate the farmstead and perchance a small area of fields. Especially is this advantageous in dry regions where most of the land is used for pasturage, or is subject to years of serious drouth. Here the limited acreage of irrigated land greatly aids in tiding over the dry years, as well as adds to the products in the years of more ample rainfall. The storage of pumped water and its distribution through open ditches is carried out much as in case of water secured by gravitation. In Figure 143 is shown a farm with four large fields, A, B, C and D; three small fields, E, F and G; and two very rich fields, H and I, from a reclaimed swamp, the surface of which is practically on a level with the water in the adjoining lake. All fields are fenced. The area surrounded by the line, K, incloses all the land which drains into this low area. The stream, P, P, receiving the water also from the stream, S, S, was not well de- fined from T to T. If straightened and deepened be- tween these points, and if the earth excavated be used for an embankment, U to U, the water can be carried directly to the lake without longer flooding the flat area. Since the flat area receives only the water from its own surface, and from small parts of fields, B, D and G, and since the subsoil is too dense for seepage water to come 248 FARM DEVELOPMENT in from the adjacent streams and lake, it can be drained by draining it into a pit and pumping out the water, as shown in Figure 144. The drainage is accomplished by means of a system of tile drains M and N, or N (Figure 143) can be an open drain, all leading to the pit, O, from which the engine at W can raise the water a few feet and discharge it into the lake (as shown at W, Figure 143), across the road embankment, which keeps the water out of the low area, or send it through a pipe (as shown at L, Figure 144), to the crown of the low Figure 144. E, pumping engine; T, pit into which drains discharge, and from which irrigation water is pumped; B, bridge across stream; S, roadway; N, open ditch along roadway; X, embankment confining the stream; L, line of pipe, through which irriga- tion water is carried to fields. hill at K, K, K, where it can be spread out through open ditches and used for irrigating fields, F, E. C and G. When the drainage ditches from fields H and I do not supply water for irrigation, water can be pumped from the lake or from the stream, P, P. Farm irrigation schemes. — The layout of a farm which is to be irrigated is often a more complicated engineer- ing proposition than the organization of a farm in a climate where the natural rainfall is depended upon. The main field supply ditches often are the best field boundaries. A system of ditches, furrows, check sys- tem embankments and ditch openings must be de- IRRIGATION 249 vised for each field and each orchard. Often a system must be provided to remove seepage water from lower lands, and, where seepage waters evaporate, even to pre- vent or cure alkali. In planning the irrigation scheme a plan of crop rotation should be also devised which will arrange for the most profitable use of the land and water. ffi^fut nn>fii.— A^ AL^Al^A,fli W'¥VAT£/9 W=lltfll0»T/OAt 'i5=i» •^CMBANKMUJri ¥ from Above Figure 152. Details of weir board. IRRIGATION 257 with perfect freedom and uniformity. The miner^s inch is also used, especially in regions where miners have become accustomed to distributing water to be used in mining. The miner's inch is the amount of water which /h will flow through a square inch of opening in a second with the water held at a given height above the open- ing. The exact conditions for measurement are defined 258 FARM DEVELOPMENT by law in most of the western states, the conditions dif- fering in different states. In Figure 153 is shown the construction of a box for measuring the flow of water in miners' inches. Formulae are also used for the calculation of the amount of water flowing from weirs of a given construction with the water above standing at a given height. The United States Department of Agriculture, the State experiment sta- tions of Colorado, Wyoming and other states, have pub- lished bulletins treating of the measurement of irriga- tion water, which can be secured by those needing detailed information. As a unit of measur- ing water for irrigation purposes, the miner's Figure 154. Flank scraper for opening irrigation inch is UOt SO S^enerallv used as the cubic foot per second, or the acre foot. In recording measure- ments of large quantities of water, the miner's inch, although fairly accurate, is too small a unit. " The miner's inch is a unit of rate of the discharge of water expressed in terms of a standard orifice or outlet opening, usually i inch square, and a standard head."* In different states this head varies from 3 to 9 inches, but the head most commonly used is 6 inches. " Under a head of 6 inches and coefficient of 0.62, the discharge through a i-inch orifice would be 0.0244 cubic feet per second or 0.183 United States gallons (of 231 cubic inches). Usually the orifice is of fixed depth and ad- justable length." (See Figure 153.) The standard head of 6 inches (in sketch the head is marked by block B, 6 inches long and tacked on side of box), or whatever head it may be, is maintained by the gate C. This gate is placed securely in the ditch bank and raised or lowered * Trautwine's Engineer's Pocket Book. IRRIGATION 259 according as more or less water is being drawn above the orifice. The amount of water let through under the constant head is regulated by the slide A shown in Figure 153. An acre inch means sufficient water to cover an acre of land an inch deep, and is 226,875 pounds, 28,359 gallons, or 886 barrels of 32 gallons each. Constructing farm supply ditches and field ditches. — The location and construction of ditches to carry the water to the fields can be done with the reversible road machine, Fresno scraper, especially devised scrapers, the Figure 155. Showing plank scraper in use, placing tlie embankment all on one side of the ditch. road plow, the common stubble plow, the spade and other suitable implements. In many cases the earth from the ditch can be made to serve as an embankment in checking oflF nearly level fields or in terracing the hill- sides with slight fall so as to hold water in flooding. Locating field laterals. — In making shallow laterals through the farm, and often temporary ditches through the fields, it is necessary to curve about small eleva- tions so as to have only very slight grade to the ditches. 26o FARM DEVELOPMENT Figure 156. Supply ditch as made with reversible road machine or with plow and scraper, as in Figures 117 and 155. The biped level shown in Figure 158 is used in map- ping out field laterals around slight elevations. Laterals nearly level make it possible to take v^ater out through small openings in their banks into the furrows between rows of cultivated plants or trees or upon , grain or meadow fields. In constructing this homemade level it may be adjusted to read level by means of a screw arrangement, or even a wedge, to raise or lower one end of the spirit level on the rail, and two stakes i6j4 feet apart, driven at first as nearly level as the eye can judge. By repeated trial, by reversing ends and driving down the higher stake, the tops of the stakes can be made the same height and the instru- ment adjusted to read level. The extension leS" at one end can then Figure 157. Ditch for farm laterals as plowed '^ out by means of ordinary stubble plow or double he Inwered arrnrdinP" moldboard or finished by means of a V-shaped uc luwcicu cH„L.uiuiiig scraper, as in Figure 163. to the grade to be given the ditch, as follows: One-eighth inch per rod giving a grade of 40 inches per mile; %, 80 inches; %, 120 inches, or 10 feet, etc., as regulated by the figures on the adjustable leg, shown in Figure 160. To mark out a grade for a ditch leading from the sup- ply ditch, place the shorter, stationary, leg at the point of taking in the water; dig a place for the longer, adjustable, leg to a depth at which the bulb will read level. Moving the leveling device forward place the short leg in the last hole and dig another hole sufficiently deep so that when the long leg is placed in it the bulb again reads level. By following a slope requiring holes of nearly equal depth IRRIGATION 261 the ditch will be made the desired slant with the mini- mum amount of excavation and nearly uniform in depth. By means of this biped level the ditch can be carried along that course around a hill which will provide the desired gentle slope, with the ditch made at a uniform depth at all points, thus making it possible to open the ditch out with plows or other cheaply operated machines. Since it is necessary that field la*terals shall be built with embankments so that the surface of the water in them shall rise high enough to flow out on the land when the banks are cut, they must be shallow. On a hillside the earth should all be thrown out on the lower side, but on level or nearly level land it should be ■lQ}irj, Figure 158. Biped leveling device. See adjustable leg in Fig8. 159 and 160. thrown out on both sides. A double moldboard, or listing plow, as shown in Figure 162, will often make a suitable ditch with once or twice passing. More often some such device as that shown in Figure 163 is neces- sary to follow the double moldboard plow throwing the earth out on either side, or the single moldboard plow used to throw two or more furrows either side, forming a dead furrow. Where more depth and a larger ditch is required, the "A" can be used to further open out the first dead furrow and a second dead furrow can be thrown out along the same line, again shoving the loosened earth up on the banks by using the "A." The leveling device shown in Figure 161 can be used in grading the bottoms of ditches. Often water flowing in the ditch can be used to secure the desired slant. 262 FARM DEVELOPMENT T'igure 159. Manner of using biped leveling device Taking the water from ditches upon the land. — There are various devices for allowing the water to leave the field side ditch and run into the field, and to flood the land from the ditch located within the field. The normal level of running water in the ditch is raised by means of dams made in a variety of ways. In small ditches some spadefuls of earth serve to stop the flow of water, or a part of it, and a small notch cut through the embankment allows a stream of the desired size to flow into the field furrow or to be spread out to flood the land. A canvas dam, fashioned like that shown in Figure 164, and used as in Figure 165, often serves the purpose. A few shovelfuls of earth hold the canvas in place. A dam made like that shown in Figure 166 is often useful. Several dozen pipes made of half-inch boards, with openings 2x2 inches and 3 feet long, with gate ; or for small amounts of water, four half laths nailed together, and inserted through the bank, with upper end 2 inches below the surface of the water and the outer end leading into the row ditch or into the field, will often en- able a man to work more rapidly, and to distribute the water more equitably into furrows or upon the field of grain or grass. The character of the land has much to do with its needs for irrigation, and also with the method which must be employed in the use of the water. Thus, upon sandy or gravelly lands more water is required than on lands & Figure 160. Detail of adjustable leg of biped leveling device. IRRIGATION 263 i^itsH'^;«J*>«i>dKJfett£t«ukMM«iti which will better retain water received from rains or ditches. They become droughty in a moister climate earlier in the spring and sooner after rain. They must be irrigated more frequently than the lands better prepared to conserve moisture. It is difficult on such lands to dis- tribute the water because of the great amount of waste by rapid percolation down below the area reached by the roots of plants and by seepage, and in many cases it is not practicable to use the water on this land, when the same water might be of S'reater use on lands Figure lei. Grade level of light planed " boards, made accurately as shown. To estab- better adapted to irrig-atlOn. ijf^ ^ 2 per cent grade, for example, bring i o the instrument to a level along the line of the r^analc mariA *->■? fViic l^inrl mf drain by use of spirit level, F; mark center, \^d.Iiaib nidUe UI tniS KinU 01 ^ ^. ^hen raise the updrain end through a canrlir onrl o-ro^r^lKr mai-fx distance one-fiftieth of the length of the Sanay ana graveiiy mate- base llne, a C The plumb llne win cross • « i'T_ij_itT t''6 board D E, in some line away from the rial are liable to leak large center, a b. Mark tMs crossing, as X y. The - i 1 • same grade can then be found at any point in amounts 01 water, and this the drain by leveling till plumb line crosses at ' a b, and then raising the updrain end till the is also true of laterals and SaS cS%ZTe SiiSe!/' ^ ""*'°^" farm ditches. In some cases it is practicable to place clay in the bottom and along the sides of ditches made of open soil, or to allow them to become coated with sediment from muddy waters that the denser walls thus formed may enable the canal better to retain its water. With some such materials, puddling, i. e., working the clay layer in the ditch when wet, will make it much more retentive. But the greater difficulty in sandy lands lies in getting the water to flow over the field and moisten the surface rather than to sink away immediately and do little good. Heavy clay soils, on the other hand, Figure Listing plow, useful in making shallow ditches on level land, as it throws t'le Sr'^"''^ °"^ ""^ ^°*^ serve nicely to carry the water forward 264 FARM DEVELOPMENT in canals and field ditches without serious waste till it is evenly spread over the soil and allowed to percolate slowly downward. On these soils leaching is reduced to a minimum and most of the water supplied is conserved to be taken up by the roots of plants, or is lost by evaporation from the surface of the soil. These heavy soils require intel- ligent management to make them produce well, whether in a region of heavy rainfall or under irrigation. They are liable Figure 163. Ditching "A." used for flnlBh- iiig small lateral ditches. PENING, to become baked and in poor mechanical condi- tion for producing good crops. Medium textured soils of mixed sand and clay are best for irrigation, and more money can be profitably invested in irrigating these soils than for the very light or the very heavy soils. The water can be spread over them without great loss ; they will absorb and retain large quan- tities of water and will supply it gradually to the growing crops; they may be cultivated and kept in good mechanical condition without large expense; find they are usually productive. Figure 164. Canvas dam. 266 FARM DEVELOPMENT Alkaline soils under irrigation must be handled with special care. In many drouthy regions the alkaline soils become still more alkaline when irrigated. This may be due to the water used bringing, in solution, ^;:s=====5v large portions of Jl ^ JL . the alkaline compounds ^ — ^ ^ * which, upon evapora- tion, are left in the sur- face soil. In other cases it is due to the absorp- tion of soluble alkaline compounds from the subsoil by the water, which upon rising to the surface and there evaporat- ing leaves the surface soil with an increased amount of these alkaline substances that are in- jurious to plants. In yet other cases seepage water from irrigated areas at higher levels absorb large quan- tities of alkaline compounds and seeping forward through porous underlayers, carry them to the surface on lower areas where the alkaline salts are deposited upon the evaporation of the water. In cases of this kind it some- times happens that irrigation water applied to one farm Figure 166. Metal dam or tappoon. Figures 167 and 168. Small boxes to conduct water from farm ditch into furrows. will thus flow underneath to another farm and injuriously affect the neighbor's field. In many localities where alkaline soils are irrigated, the conditions must be con- stantly watched and special care taken not to use more water than is necessary. In this way the fields which IRRIGATION 267 might gradually become so alkaline as to be worthless may for a long time be kept suitable for the growth of crops. By using large quantities of water with natural or artificial underdrainage the excess of alkali may be slowly washed out of some soils. In some areas the entire engineering plan for irrigation needs to be ar- ranged with drainage systems so as best to avoid the accumulative injuries of alkali deposited by irrigation or seepage waters. Crops needing irrigation — All farm, garden and horti- cultural crops may profitably be irrigated, where wat-er Figure 169. Turning water from field side ditch into furrows among garden crops. is inexpensive, at least in dry seasons. Under rare con- ditions, forest crops may be irrigated profitably. Where water is expensive and the rainfall is sufficient during most years, irrigation can be afforded only for such expensive crops as small fruits and vegetables. The time of the year in which to apply water to the various crops, is a matter of detail which can be decided only with a knowledge of the local conditions of any crops and of the methods of farm management of any given area. It is often necessary to apply water at or before planting time so that the seeds will germinate 26'^ FARM DEVELOPMENT and the plants get their roots well developed to enable them to secure water from the subsoil as they mature. In cold regions winter grains should have sufficient water in autumn that they may develop strong roots which will endure the severe conditions of winter. Irri- gation in cold latitudes should not be so late as to encourage late maturity of trees, or in case of winter crops as to stimulate too late growth, causing the plants to be in poor condition for winter; better have the ground fairly dry when freez- ing begins. In some soils the "heaving" of clover and wheat plants from the freez- ing of the soil is much worse if it is thor- oughly saturated with water than if com- paratively dry. Grasses, clovers or other peren- Pigure 170. Flooding from field laterals without nial Or biennial CrOOS furrows. " should have only suf- ficient water to enable them to go into the winter with strong, well-matured roots and crowns. In the spring, most cultivated plants need an ample supply of water with which to enable them to start out a vigorous growth. Grass crops are usually benefited by rather large supplies of water frequently applied. Winter and spring cereal grains respond to goodly supplies of water in their earlier growth, and as the period of ripening advances, they do quite as well if given only a medium supply of water. Such luxuriant growers as alfalfa will give an abundant harvest every few weeks if at the time of each mowing they are supplied with several inches of water — an inch meaning sufficient water to cover the surface an inch deep. Indian corn thrives best with a IRRIGATION 269 sH 1 ail I IliiM III medium amount of water applied throughout its grow- ing season. Being a southern plant adapted to warm, open soils, it does best if not watered too heavily at one time. This is particularly true on soils which are dense and cold. The experience of local growers and the instruction emanating from the agricultural colleges, state experiment stations and the United States Depart- ment of Agriculture should be of the greatest value to those who are studying how and when to apply water and the quantities best to use at each application. Ex- tensive studies of when to ir- rigate each crop, how to apply the water, how much, to apply and the manner of after cul- tivation are being made by the United States Depart- ment of Agri- culture and by various state experiment sta- tions, and by a letter of inquiry the farmer or teacher can easily find how to secure literature giving these facts. Very often the farmer cannot entirely control the time of application of irrigation water: the needs of other farmers, the priority of rights, the available supply of water in stream or reservoir, and his own convenience in looking after the application of the water in connec- mm mM ill ii iiill Figure 171. Flooding from ditches running down the slope. 270 FARM DEVELOPMENT FIELD DITCH FIELD DITCK tion with carrying on other work on the farm, all make the problem one which requires constant thought and must be solved at the time with all the facts in mind. Where it is known there will be a scarcity of water for irrigation in midsummer, as in some parts of Oregon and Arizona, the practice of filling the subsoil with water in winter and spring and making this serve as a reserve supply has been largely followed with great success. The time of day to apply water is relatively of greater moment when applying small amounts, as with the water- ing pot or sprinkling hose, than where the farmer places several inches of water on a growing crop. Water applied in the morning with the sprinkling pot penetrates only an inch or two into the soil and the hot, dry air of the sunshiny day will- evaporate a large por- tion of it. The same amount of water ap- plied in the evening has Figure 172. Ditch at the foot of an irrigated field , . , • 1 which catches and carries off the seepage water a lOnSfCr timC lU WnlCll wliich otherwise would seep into the low area and upon '^ ^ evaporating would leave so much of salts as to make -j^q penetrate the SOil in it too alkaline for crops. i^ response to the force of capillary attraction, and a less amount is left at the surface to be taken up by the atmosphere the following day. But where several inches of water are run upon land from ditches, less attention can be given to the time of day of its application, and, indeed, there is very little difference since the soil is kept wet at the surface for some time while water is slowly percolating downward, under the influence of capillary attraction aided by gravitation. IRRIGATION 271 Irrigation and special cultivation. — Adjacent fields with or without irrigation require different cultivation. That on which large amounts of water are applied should be plowed deeper, and subsoiling is sometimes necessary in heavy soils, receiving much water. Irrigation tends to make the soil denser, less porous, colder and heavier to handle with tillage implements. In regions so drouthy that irrigation is necessary, lands not irrigated are quite as well managed if they are not plowed so deeply, and they are kept mellow with much less cultivation than is sometimes necessary in lands heavily watered. Among corn and other crops which may be cultivated between the rows, the surface should be broken up with the cul- tivator as soon after applying the water as the soil is sufficiently dry to be handled. This cultivation pre- vents the rise of the water to the surface, and conserves it for the use of crops and provides suitable mechanical conditions for the roots of the crops. Coarse and green manures, also artificial fertilizers, are especially profit- able where the land can be kept so uniformly moist that it is adapted to the best use of the available fertility. Subirrigation. — Various forms of subirrigation have been devised. A very simple form is one in which the water is supplied from below, as in greenhouse benches. Supplying water is also accomplished by means of tile drains laid one or more feet below the surface in the fields. Instead of these drains being used to run the water out of the soil, they serve to carry the water into the soil. This method has the advantage of not causing the surface to bake, as in surface irrigation, where dry, bright weather following the application of large quan- tities of water to a surface of heavy soils causes the sur- face soil to become baked and hard. This form of irriga- tion, however, is limited to gardens where valuable crops are grown, and where water is plentiful, or to green- houses where the water is under full control. CHAPTER XI ROADS AND BRIDGES Prior to 1850 all progressive countries were putting forth great eiforts in making common roads. The ex- pense being very large, the work progressed slowly. These roads were needed for the arts of peace and in times of war. Military rulers often found it necessary to use their autocratic powers in constructing permanent roads in times of peace that they might have a mccins of more rapidly moving their armies and munitions dur- ing times of war. The older countries, having been long under these conditions, had succeeded in making sub- stantial roads along many of the principal lines of travel, as between towns, though little had been done for the greater proportion of the mileage of roads among and within farms. Prior to the above date the local communities of the United States, in some cases aided by the state and even by the nation, were bravely strug- gling to inaugurate a system of good roads. The coun- try was new, the distances great, making the total mile- age of wagon roads very large in proportion to the capital invested in farms, or even in proportion to the total capital of the entire country. It looked as though centuries would be required to make a network of good roads throughout this vast country. Modern road building. — The people looked back to the times when the Romans built great military roads lead- ing from Rome toward different parts of the world. They observed with interest the natural and historical evidences of roadways among some of the ancient peo- ple of South America, notably the Incas of Peru. They studied with great interest contemporaneous road build- 878 ROADS AND BRIDGES 2/3 ing in Europe. They projected and partially completed a great national highway from the Atlantic seaboard westward, finishing it into Indiana. They built road- ways between large cities and planned many more. In addition to this, the farmers were making efforts to con- nect their farms with nearby towns and villages, with the great turnpikes, and with the markets on seaboard, on the larger lakes and on rivers and canals. In many instances, the only means of securing roads was for companies to construct them and charge toll, such com- panies often securing a bonus from villages and towns. During the first half of the nineteenth century, the im- provements of transportation were in three directions; namely, wagon roads, canals and rivers. But about the middle of the century railway transportation began to assume great importance as a practicable feature, and it grew so rapidly that the development in other lines of transportation took minor places. Recently electric roads across the country have also entered the field, and again attention is drawn by the steel track from the wagon road and canal. But this is much more than counteracted by the new vehicles, the bicycle and the automobile, which have helped to awaken a new en- gineering era in highway building. The improvement of canals, rivers, harbors and water shipping generally has also taken on wonderful activity. Water transporta- tion on lakes and canals, especially, is proving important as a means of cheaply moving such bulky freight as coal, iron, grain, lumber and stone, and in many cases fur- nishes corrective competition to railway transportation. The intercontinental highway project was abandoned, as were also most of the plans for making superior wagon roads between cities and towns. In half .a century several railroads have connected the Atlantic with the Pacific, and many railroads have connected the North and South^ while innurnerable branch lines and trolley 274 FARM DEVELOPMENT roads have gridironed all the states, connecting cities with cities, cities and lakes with the ocean, and even paralleling canals and rivers. This kind of good roads has been in such great demand by the people that for the time being they were looked upon as the main solution of the road problem. Freight is more cheaply hauled on steel railways than on macadamized roadways. Freight rates have been marvelously reduced. People are able to travel many times faster than on wagon roads, Figure 173. The road the pioneers traveled. and at the same time with far less expense, and with much greater comfort and even with greater safety, though the bicycle and the automobile are adding a new importance to the well-made highway. These steel high- ways have also revolutionized the distribution of mails and made possible the widespread circulation of news and greatly increased the entire activities of the whole people. The competition of railways has forced traffic on waterways into new activity and into developing ROADS AND BRIDGES 275 Speed. Especially has ocean transportation received impetus from this new form of steam and electric high- ways. The world has become as a state and the state as a county in respect to distances or the time required to travel or to transport materials and spread the world's news. Wagon roads, on the other hand, have become only the terminal branches, the capillaries, to the great transportation or circulatory system of the country and the world. The people have been eager for railway Figure 174. The same road as in Fig. 173, prepared with macadam stone surfacing for a civilization with consolidated rural schools. accommodations. They have contentedly paid high freight and passenger charges, and railroading has been sufficiently profitable to attract capital so that railroads have been built into all sections of the country, often reaching out far beyond settlements, thus carrying civilization to the wilderness. Towns and counties have voted bonds to attract railways, the contest often run- ning high between towns desiring the location of the new lines. Thus the attention of the people has been directed toward securing the superb system of railway 276 FARM DEVELOPMENT transportation now well advanced toward completion. Road building must be pushed forward. — While the people have done much during this half century of rail- way and shipbuilding to build up the country highways, there is need of very much greater energy applied in this direction. A new and mighty movement like that which built up a system of railways is needed and seems to be impending. The people are coming to the con- clusion that the farm home and the farm business must not remain walled in by miles of mud. The prosperity accompanying cheap railroad transportation and the con- sequent enlargement of our cities has given the farmers and the states much larger means wath which to build wagon roads; and the people, now that they have the railroad transportation in a nearly satisfactory condi- tion, are showing their readiness to take up the making of wagon roads as a general movement and are pushing their construction forward. While the building of rail- ways was a stupendous undertaking, the construction of high-class wagon roads, generally, over the vast stretches of roadway is even a more difficult problem. In half a century our railways have been developed, but it is questionable if the permanent construction of our high- ways can be dealt with in so short a time. Many believe that only by the general co-operation of the national government, the state governments, the local govern- ment and the farmers can this be brought about, with- out too serious loss in waiting for facilities the country cannot afford to be without. Road building has been neglected. — During the period of railway building the making of good wagon roads was left almost entirely to the tarming communities. until during the present century. Now state and national movements looking to general co-operatiou have been started, though not yet generally well organized. The cities, having grown very rapidly, have been occupied in ROADS AND BRIDGES 2.^^ building their own roads, the streets, and their task in that line is only well begun. The government and states, as well as counties and towns, have devoted large subsidies to railways, but, as a rule, the county has until recently been the largest unit to appropriate money for wagon roads. In many cases the whole burden has been left with the township or with the sub-district within the township. Railways have been pushed forward by im- mense capital aggregated in the hands of corporations or individuals, while the construction of wagon roads has been left to the votes of the people not well organ- ized into co-operative bodies. Capital invested in rail- ways has been profitable to the capitalists, and to the people as well. Money and labor invested in country roads have been valuable to the people, but in a way which has not been fully recognized by the persons doing the work or paying the taxes. The self-interest of the individual farmer has not been sufficient to induce him to do more than his minimum share toward making good roads. The wisdom and the leadership of our largest co-operative units, the state and national gov- ernments, have been called for by those directing the movement to secure much more attention to a large and systematic movement in highway improvement. Investment in good roads pays. — Cases where money has been invested in properly built country roads with- out the people feeling that the investment has paid, are rare. Our expenditure in country road building has been very much underdone. We could afford to expend an- nually two to four times as much in bettering our roads, and we can expend it in a far better manner if we will. Good roads help the farmer. — ^They increase the farm value of his marketable products. They enable him to market bulky products which he could not market with roads over which he could not easily transport them. They help him by reducing the cost at the farm of purchased 2/8 FARM DEVELOPMENT products. Better roadways in the neighborhood leading to a village, to the church and to the school, increase the value of the land. Good roads make life more pleasant on the farm. The business of farming can be done in a more agreeable and less cramped v^ay if there is an easy way of com- munication with others. Intellectually, life is more pleasant, interesting and elevating if the means of com- munication with neighbors and with the outside world are made better; if free transportation of pupils is pro- vided, and if mail can be received daily. Socially, farm life is improved by good roads since they lessen the isolation and make visiting between families more fre- quent; they result in more frequent reciprocal visits with friends in village or city, and aid in building up rural social organization. Churches and co-operative business organizations can be more highly developed, both in rural communities and in villages. Rural de- livery of mail is a twentieth-century improvement, the value of which can hardly be compared to any other public service in which the farmers and the nation are interested, and it is made more practicable by improved roads. Good roads and country life education. — The most im- portant agricultural problem, and the most important educational problem, now up for solution is the peda- gogical organization of the splendid practical and scien- tific body of knowledge concerning farming and home making being accumulated by experiment stations and departments of agriculture, and the development of schools adapted to carrying this knowledge to all farm youth. Here, as in city life education, three grades of schools are being organized — rural schools, agricultural high schools and agricultural colleges — parallel to the city primary schools, city high schools and the colleges of the university. The most important §t^p in this, work ROADS AND BRIDGES 279 is the redistricting and consolidating of the rural schools in all regions where good farming lands warrant this increased expense for school facilities. Hauling rural pupils to the consolidated rural school out in the open country and to the village and town school is the most expensive item of this necessary system, and to make it practical and not too expensive the roads must be pass- able at all times. Good roads help cities and villages. — By making farm- ing more prosperous, and rural life richer, the resources of villages and cities are increased. The city and coun- try are brought into closer communication. The city needs an easier way of communicating with the coun- try, as well as the country with the city. With good roads the markets of the city are more regularly sup- plied with foods and other farm products. Business is generally accelerated in the city by being placed in more easy communication with the country. A more active market is provided for manufactured and imported products. Professional and expert services are in greater demand because the farmers can better reach the city, and physicians, artisans and others can more easily serve the country. In villages, especially, business, schools, churches, societies, etc., are better built up since the number of people who can easily reach these smaller centers of population is widened by better roadways. Good country roads make better carriage, bicycle and automobile ways for city people as well as for country people to use and enjoy. Good roads help transportation companies. — If we could now have the bettered roads which the next half century will see, we would add greatly to the profits of railway and other transportation companies. Prod- ucts hauled to the railway, canal or river stations would be greatly increased. Farmers could market more of those bulky products which bring more freight receipts. 280 FARM DEVELOPMENT Besides, they could purchase products of heavier bulk. By enabling farmers and others to get to and from the cities more easily passenger traffic v^ould be increased. With good roads there would be no muddy time in spring or fall when crops could not be marketed, thus congesting traffic at other seasons of the year, and less rolling stock would be needed on railroads for emergen- cies. As we increase the ability of the farmer to go about among his neighbors and to distant towns and cities, co-operation among farmers and between farmers and corporations becomes more practical and there is less opportunity for friction ; there is a closer fellowship everywhere. Road legislation. — In some respects the making of laws relating to public highways in most American states is decidedly behind the times. Some of the gen- eral principles which must be recognized in a public movement for building roads are not found in the laws of most of the states. As a rule, there is no adequate provision contemplated in our laws for the surveying and making of general plans for systems of roads nor detailed engineering plans for their construction. Neither do the laws sufficiently arrange for superin- tending the construction and maintenance of roadways. The work is too often left to men with very short tenure of office not trained in that phase of engineering which has to do with planning, building or maintaining these important arteries of commerce. Laws should provide more liberally for educating men in road making and for seeking the best methods of building roads. A detailed knowledge is needed of where good road material is to be found, how secured and how used. Too little is known of the use of diflferent kinds of gravel, stones or other materials useful in road surfacing, and even the nomenclature of materials useful in road surfaces should be better developed. Men edu- ROADS AND BRIDGES 28 1 cated in road improvement and maintenance are the public's advisers and they should be made responsible for conservative leadership in inaugurating movements for raising the funds and arranging for the construction of improved roadways. Most encouraging progress is, however, being made. A number of states have highway commissions or bureaus, and the office of public roads of the United States Department of Agriculture is devoted to the de- velopment of the science of road work and to giving advice and assistance to road bureaus, to road officers and to private parties in the various states. A class of men trained in road building is being developed, and annually there is progress in laws relating to the im- provement of roads. The amount of money being invested in road construction and road maintenance is being in- creased, though not so rapidly as would be profitable. Highway funds. — The procuring of funds for the large expense which must necessarily be incurred in the gen- eral improvement of our highways is a serious matter. Heretofore in most states the farmers have paid almost the entire expense. This has become so nearly the cus- tom that it has seemed revolutionary to talk of other methods. It has been recognized that the county should pay for large bridges and for special improvements, as macadamizing the principal roadways. It is only re- cently that public opinion has turned to the states and even to the nation as sources of additional funds for con- structing roads, and especially funds for studying out the best plans for making highways, for finding the best materials for road surfaces, for making the necessary surveys preparatory to road building and for superin- tending the work of constructing roads. If the state furnishes part of the means with which to improve the roads, she gains the right to assist in superintending the work. Farmers have been loath to 282 FARM DEVELOPMENT give Up this right. Some have feared that giving up this right would take away from them the opportunity to earn wages in road construction, and would entail upon them larger expense annually, in road improvements. But since the benefits wilt be so very much greater than the cost, there seems no general reason for doubt but that a fairly general plan of state aid will, in the end, greatly benefit the farmers and also the state at large. Even the plan for national aid in road building has gained in popularity during the first decade of the century. The method of taxation. — Whatever money the state provides to aid a locality in building a road may prop- erly come from general state funds. It is quite proper, however, for the state to create special funds for high- way improvement. So, in some states, the constitution devotes to its road and bridge fund such funds as accrue from interest on certain investments, as from lands given by the national government to the state for internal im- provements. Likewise some assert that the state might properly devote the proceeds of special inheritance taxes or taxes on the income of large transportation, and other corporations. In most states the county draws upon its current ex- pense fund, or places upon its tax levies a special tax for the construction of bridges and roads to aid townships or localities. In many states the township levies a special property tax, also in some cases a personal tax called a poll tax is levied, to be used in the construc- tion of roads. Formerly the general plan prevailed of giving each man the privilege of paying his poll tax in cash or of working its equivalent out on the roads. Under a more businesslike arrangement of road con- struction and maintenance, it seems wise to have all taxes paid in money, that the work may be in the hands of superintendents and laborers, who, with experience, become expert in building and caring for roads. ROADS AND BRIDGES 283 Pike district, as here used, means the legal co-opera- tive organization of the people owning land along or near to the leading road which they desire to have mate- rially improved. Laws can be framed to facilitate the organization of such districts in a way that the first cost of the improvements to be borne locally can be equally distributed over the adjacent and nearby lands which will be greatly benefited by the improved road. The law should also contemplate drawing upon county funds and even state funds to aid communities that are thus situated, and thus provide a co-operative organization — the landowners, the county and the state — which will pay the larger portion of the ex- pense of making a superior road. One of the greatest advantages of a state highway fund is that the state government can use it to induce farmers and even cities and villages to unite in co-operative associations to im- prove the roads. One of the greatest functions of gov- ernment is to lead its communities to enter upon larger needed enterprises than they alone would undertake. The opportunity to secure state funds will induce the people of a locality to forget their own differences and unite for the larger objects. Cities sometimes aid. — In the improvement of roads, state laws should also contemplate requiring aid from cities. In many cases cities pay for part of the roads radi- ating from their centers, as they are thus placed in better communication with the farm communities; and without laws looking to co-operation between city and country, the city must often do without good roads leading to the surrounding country. Private funds are often used for making roads. It would be quite proper for the laws to recognize parties who will invest money in roads by abating part of their road taxes for a series of years in return for their advancing means with which to build a road in which they are especially interested, but by 284 FARM DEVELOPMENT which the public is also benefited. Care must be taken, in framing this kind of legislation, to prevent abuses, but it would seem quite right to enable a board of county commissioners to make a contract with a landowner under which he might make a much-needed road, with the understanding that he should be for some specified time exempted from a large portion of his road taxes. Requiring the county board to secure the consent of the state highway officers to legalize such contracts with pri- vate parties would be an ample safeguard. Co-operation in road making should be encouraged by the state. — Thus the state, the county, the township, the pike district and the individual should all be brought into co-operation. This principle has not been fully recognized by our law makers. A state highway bureau, with even a small amount of money at its command, and with liberty to use this money to help those who are ready to help themselves — who are anxious to make roads under the best possible plans — does a great deal of good in bringing about co-operation and in developing a far better system of highways. Such a bureau in- duces counties to co-operate better in building intercity railways. It induces the organization of co-operative pike districts, and aids in finding the best materials for making roads and devising the best plans for construc- tion and maintenance. It advises where to get the best road machinery and aids in selecting road engineers, county engineers and superintendents of road main- tenance, capable and honest, who will serve the public well. The office of public roads of the United States Department of Agriculture likewise is of much service, since, with a small fund, it aids in promoting the co- operative construction of the roadways. Speaking broadly, there are in the United States 2,225,000 miles of public highways. On these there is spent annually approximately $90,000,000, or $1 per capita for ROADS AND BRIDGES 285 the whole people, or $3 per capita for those classes con- cerned directly with agriculture. Of this sum the larger part is used for maintenance and the smaller part for construction. The cost of construction averages approximately $500 per mile for earth roads, $1,500 for gravel and sand-clay roads and $6,000 for stone, macadam roads. For the purposes of estimating the cost of further construction, it may be assumed that there are yet to be constructed 10 per cent of the entire mileage, or 225,000 miles of macadam; 30 per cent, or 675,000 of gravel and sand-clay roads; and 40 per cent, or 1,000,000 of earth roads. Using the above figures, the total cost of macadam roads will be $1,350,000,000; of gravel roads, $1,012,500,000, and of earth roads, $500,000,000, or a total of $2,862,500,000. To this may be added an estimate of $187,500,000 for the construction of bridges and permanent culverts, making a total of $3,000,000,000. By making the expenditure for construction alone $100,000,000 annually, this construction work could be completed in 30 years. The more highly developed road surfaces will cause an increase in the cost of maintenance also, but the increase in population will, on the other hand, help to keep down the cost per capita. The increased value of farm lands which will result from the construction of a system of good roads will alone more than justify the expense. Improved plans for farming; better farm machinery, plants and animals; improved railway and water trans- portation, rural mail delivery, rural telephones and the greater wealth-producing non-agricultural industries, are all so enormously increasing the country's wealth that there is coming an abundance to draw upon for the needed sums to invest in permanent roadways in rural as well as in urban communities. If the rural communities can- not with sufficient rapidity organize and improve their 286 FARM DEVELOPMENT roads, the state and national governments, in the interest of the whole people, should aid in organizing them. By- providing a portion of the money, the larger co-operative unit can purchase the right of the local community to aid in administering road affairs in which the interest of the state and national governments is as clearly de- fined, though not to the same extent, as the locality. SURVEYING AND MECHANICAL APPLIANCES The road engineer requires a special education in civil engineering, in surveying, in devising practical plans and in superintending construction work. Those responsible for the construction of public highways should be more enterprising in employing men trained in planning and superintending construction. The annual loss from plans poorly made is much more than sufficient to pay a sufficient number of highway engineers to place our road building on a scientific basis. The preliminary survey. — Too many of our highways have been located by persons who were interested in roads accommodating a particular point or person rather than by county or state officials who take into consider- ation the greatest benefit to the largest number of people at present and in future. The first thing to be con- sidered in locating the line of the road is the preliminary survey, which decides in a broad way the general location of the road, and locates bridges and culverts and deter- mines the cost as compared with other proposed lines. Since the hauling of surfacing materials is often a very expensive operation, consideration should be given to the proximity of materials which will make a good sur- face for the future finished road. Locating pioneer roads. — In hilly lands the pioneers locate their roadways along the lines of easiest travel, or along the lines where it requires the least work to ROADS AND BRIDGES 287 make an opening. The road is often made to go around some wet place or to escape a sharp hill. Soon, how- ever, the settlement of the lands and farms results in the road being placed along the straight lines around the " sections," as surveyed a mile square by the na- tional government, or along subdivision lines of the section. Thus it has occurred that the roads of the prairie states follow straight lines, requiring the travel to be around square corners, making longer distances, though on the other hand making the fields of the farmers rectangular and more easily tilled. In hilly countries it is especially advantageous to have the county board, in pioneer times, select the routes so as to make the grades fairly easy. And it is often neces- sary, in later years, for the county to straighten the lines at considerable expense. The distance around a hill is often no greater than the distance over it, just as the distance is no greater to follow the bail from one side of a pail to the other, whether it is erect or lies flat on the top of the pail. Ofttimes the heavy grades of a hill can be saved by going little or no further, around or near the foot of the hill. It is not so important in hilly coun- tries to have square fields ; in fact, not so practical, as in a gently undulating or level country. Some attention should be given to the ease of making the pioneer road and it is sometimes advisable to make a temporary loca- tion, but the general plan should provide for its being straightened out, as means can be afforded. The gen- eral plan should be recorded that it may sometime be followed out. The relocation of roads should be done with great care, since the construction of permanent roadways often requires the expenditure of large sums of money. In swampy countries the roadway should often be located where the combined advantages of having a road and draining the swamp will best serve the united inter- 288 FARM DEVELOPMENT ests of the traveling public and those interested in com- bining the draining of the adjoining swampy fields with the drainage of the roadway. The road line should be located where the moving of materials needed to cover the roadway in the swampy land will not be too expen- sive. In the beginning only a few general roads should be made at rather wide intervals across large swampy areas, the cross roads being constructed later on. Survey for construction. — Once the line of road is deter- mined, and in a general way the depth of the cuts and fills decided upon, there should be a survey for construc- tion. Specifications should be made, even if only cheaply surveyed in cases of light grades, for the depths to excavate each cut and to fill each grade. Likewise, specifications should be made for the kinds of material to use in constructing the surface, the depths to place each layer of surfacing material, and the manner of lay- ing, mixing and packing these layers. Specifications should be made for bridges and culverts. In determin- ing upon the grade many things must be taken into consideration. The rule followed by some railroad engineers that a certain grade, say 20 feet to the mile throughout the entire line, shall not be exceeded, is not quite so important in highway engineering as in railroad construction. Horses drawing a load, or men propelling a bicycle, have stored up energy, which by an extra effort may be utilized in larger amounts for a short time. This enables the horse or bicyclist to mount unusually steep grades if they are not too long. As automobiles come into general use for carriage and freight purposes, and rural electric railways are used, there is greater need of avoiding steep grades in our wagon roads even for short distances. A copy of the profile and of the notes showing the depths at the cross-section stakes should be furnished to the contractor or superintendent of con- struction. ROADS AND BRIDGES 289 In cases where much grading is necessary the road- way should be surveyed and stakes placed at either side of the proposed road. On stakes at the sides of the roadway are placed figures showing how deep to cut or how deep to fill at each successive point along the line of the road. Diagrams should also be made showing the width of the road bed and the slope of the banks in cuts and in fills. Frequently the width for the road can be determined only with a knowledge of several factors ; the importance of the road and the amount it is used, the means available for its construction, the kind of surfac- ing material to be applied, and the volume of water to be carried by the ditches beside the road. The slant to be given the banks in cuts, or slope on the sides of the grades in fills, will be determined by the character of the material of the banks. Solid rock may be left vertical, loose sand or running clays must have a very low slant. Ordinary mixed earth of sand and clay re- quires a slant of 30 to 45 degrees according to its ability to stand. Sometimes fertile soil which will retain moisture may be placed on the surfaces of embank- ments and planted to grasses, which will prevent them from being washed down by rains. Specifications for the surface. — While hauling the heavy material for surfacing has become a comparatively simple matter, few road contractors or superintendents under- stand how to secure the best material for the surface or how to place it on the roadway in the best manner. There is greater need of engineering knowledge and experience at this point than at any other. The available materials are so varied in character and may be combined in so many ways that the plans for making the earth road, the gravel surface, or even the macadam roadway, cannot usually be made in a theoretical or ofifhand way. In some cases, the most economical and best way for man- aging the construction of the road surface can be deter- 290 FARM DEVELOPMENT mined only after the grade has been nearly finished. Materials uncovered w^hile excavating cuts, or materials found in outside areas from which earth is secured in constructing the grade, are often best to use alone or in combination with materials brought from outside in making up the road surface. In some instances it is best to give the contractor, and the superintendent (representing the public) who daily inspects the work, some latitude, stating the specifica- tions for the construction of a road surface of a given quality and character in general, yet binding, terms. In giving the contract for the formation of the grade or substructure, it can be specified that the best mate- rials for subsurfacing found within the cuts be spread on top of the substructure as a foundation upon which the surfacing materials are to be laid. Thus, by using gravel from cuts, such a well-drained solid top can be put on the substructure that the superstructure need not be made so thick nor so expensive as if such poor materials as soft clay were left at the top, or if the upper part of the substructure were made up of alternating patches of soft clay, coarse gravel, sand, or sand and clay mixed, giving a foundation variable in rigidity and uneven in its capacity for removing water from the super- structure or for allowing surface water to percolate through it. Where the surface is- to be made of macadam, brick or other hard substance, and something is known of the availability of sand or gravel desired as foundation under these surfacing materials, the specifications are easily written. ROADS AND BRIDGES 291 NOTES BY MAURICE O. ELDRIDGE COST DATA It is impossible to fix a price at which certain types of roads can be built. A macadam road which may be constructed in one part of the coiintry for three thousand dollars per mile cannot be duplicated in another part of the country for less than ten thousand dollars per mile. The cost of roads varies with cost ot labor, teams and materials, the distance the materials are hauled, amount of grading done, etc. On some roads the grading will cost as much as all of the other items entering into the cost of the road, while on another road of the same type there may be no rough grading at all. The cost of labor on roads varies all the way from seventy-five cents to two dollars per day in the dif- ferent parts of the cotmtry. In many places materials can be secured gratis, but in others they have to be paid for by the ton or cubic yard. Suitable materials are frequently found imme- diately adjacent to the road to be made, but in many instances, materials have to be brought long distances by rail or boat. The rates charged for hauling road materials by the railroads in some of the middle western states are given below. The rate given for Iowa is the same as that charged for soft or slack coal, which is the lowest rate given for any material. Railroad Rates on Road Materials Rate per 2000 poimds Miles Missouri Illinois Iowa So. Dak. Minn. 25 $1.00 $0.80 $0.37 $0.90 $0.80 50 1.20 .98 2-10 .52 1^0 1.20 75 1.40 1.13 4-10 .64 1.40 1.40 100 1.60 1.26 8-10 .74 1.60 1.60 200 2.40 1.69 2-10 1.04 2.50 2.40 300 3.00 1.99 1.24 3.10 3.00 The cost of hauling rock from the crusher or the railroad station to the road, measured one way, is usually about twenty-five cents per cubic yard per mile. If the rock is being hauled from bins where the stone is loaded into wagons automatically, about seven or eight cents per cubic yard should be added to the total cost of hauling for loading and unloading, lost time, etc. If the rock is hauled from the railroad station, about fifteen cents per cubic yard should be added for loading and unloading, lost time, etc. A wide difference in the cost of roads is shown by the following table, which gives the total cost of roads constructed under the direction of the Office of Public Roads of the United States Depart- ment of Agriculture in several different states dxiring the year 1904-05. 292 FARM DEVELOPMENT . -^roooOfOoo'^ioo\00t^ •d pT § t» O CN O "^_"^ (N ■<4< ■rtroOOvOO'-rMvOrOt^'^ S3 '*oo'>oroor ■rH-r-<*c«5'4<'vd"\o' t<)fT^y-* "n ° n< 00 O 0 •*i cn_:"^tNOvrO'-'io-^r-.rO'rtOOOOOfOOOi^rO'^ g i^'P'^ '*iO'^OO-'-iCNc0' ^o" ■ ■ ■-; CO 0> ■^ 0\ -O O t^_ >0^(> 00 1-. p^Q- -.^^^ . J:; ,^±i .-*fNiotN'Ovo>oov3oo»otN-*«"*oooo\«N •5 Cr< O^OOO-^OOiovooOOOOOioOJOOO (U'iS . C> O 00 -^"^ OOO \00 •^lor-i 00 ■rt '-«0«*5io o ** g bfl ■•-> ■^_>o CN »o_'^_^-^_^oo_o vo T}< 00 o fo Q^ "e be 53 <3 «1 ft, U >,0(N(NO ^' 0(N E a 6.|||a r+1 O T) §• Bid I sill g s^ ttU ^1 s|-H § H-S ^ e 6 f^ 3 «5 S^ S-S rt « > rt c^ o ^c c s c :2 rt^^^ ft>- \2k$ ACPt FARM I60 ACRE FARM more for public highways. In many cases these could be cut down, and thus add to the area of the farmers' productive fields. The width of the surfaced grade depends upon various condi- tions. — In case of a much traveled road the part available for teams should be 24 feet or even wider, the ditch being outside In case of cross roads 16 feet is a good Farm roads entering private lands f-m r / Figure 195. Both road and farms drained by a deep ditch. A, B, made by road officials and farm- ers co-operating, into which drains from the swamp and from the roadway lead. this width average width usually need to be only 8 to 12 feet wide, and simple cartways to the fields only wide enough to accommodate the ordinary wagon, 7 or 8 feet, while for bicycle paths a width of 2 to 4 feet is sufficient. In some cases where drainage is extensively united with road making, as in very flat lands where heavy roadside ditches are needed, the crown of the road is often made 40 or more feet wide, as a matter of con- venience in throwing up earth necessarily taken from ROADS AND BRIDGES 313 the broad drains which form the roadside ditches. In other cases, as in the semi-arid regions of the central West, only a single team path or narrow roadway, rounded up with the reversible machine, making shallow side ditches, is all that is required because teams can easily turn out on either side on the solid earth. In prominent roads, the important subject to be taken into consideration in deciding upon the width is the kind of surfacing material which will be used later on and its position on the crown of the road, whether on the cen- ter or at one side of the center. These materials are expensive and are usually laid from 9 to 16 feet wide, though wider on very prominent roads. ECONOMIC HANDLING OF EARTH In no part of road making has machinery been so well developed for saving labor and for making possible im- proved roads, as in carry- ing dirt from roadside ditches to the rounded roadbed in making the 1 • J Figure 196. Cross-section of a grade across OrdmarV country dirt road, peaty land. The clay layer. O, is only a foot •^ , -^ thick, and is covered with 8 inches of gravel. nrVizi r<=»v«=»rml~>lf roan ma- This grade is not too heavy, and has a stiff xiic Acvcisiuic iKjaKj. Ilia bottom zone, which will not be crushed into chine is by far the most "^« p^^*- ^« ^^ ^'^'^ i^^- important machine in road building. The elevating grader is also a very important invention, and when large amounts of earth are to be taken from ditches on either side of the road and built up into an embankment it is „ , very useful. While the greater adaptability of the reversible machine makes it better for lighter grad- ing, the less cost per cubic Figure 197. Heavy grade built across a yard of earth handled, marsh. Tlie weight compresses the peat at K, ^ ^ and in some cases causes it to ooze out and wherC the SfraueS are iieavy lulge up, as at M, displacing and even ^ , . -^ breaking culverts laid to carry water from nnn InnC P"1VP«; PTPat ITTI- shallow ditches under the grade. '^"^ ^^ilgj glVCb giCdL mi 314 FARM DEVELOPMENT Figure 198. Railroad plow used in breaking up hard earth preparatory to handling with scraper or reversible machine. portance to the elevating grader. The slush scraper, long used for making rounded road surfaces, is now use- ful only where the reversible machine cannot be used, as where, owing to short length of roadway or other dif- ficulty, the reversible machine cannot be successfully handled. The cost of moving earth from shallow ditches to the center of the road with the slush scraper is so much more than the cost of removing it with the reversible road machine that the latter is usually more practicable. The reversible road machine. — In Figures 198 to 201, inclusive, are shown methods of handling earth with the the reversible road ma- chine. While no general rule can be laid down ap- plicable to all conditions, yet the plans given in the figures mentioned will il- lustrate the subject so that the operator of the revers- ible machine will be able tc figure out for each soil and roadbed a method of plow- ing up the earth, carrying it to the center with the blade of the reversible machine and mixing it, or laying a chosen portion on the surface, as will best economize labor and furnish the most useful roadway. In some cases the material taken from the roadside ditches is suitable for making a fairly good Figure 198a. Reversible machine doing its own plowing. ROADS AND BRIDGES 315 surface, but In the majority of instances the material thus rounded up makes a good road only when the weather is dry. Figure 198X shows the road machine doing its own plow- ing in starting a ditch. Usually the better way is to first throw out a furrow-slice with a road plow, shown in Figure 198, or with a common stubble plow, then carry it over toward the center with the blade of the reversible machine. Figure 199 shows a reversible road machine shoving a furrow-slice toward the center of the turn- Figure 199. KeversiDle road macliiiie moving a furrow-slice towanl the center of the road. pike. The blade is like an extended moldboard, which carries the earth over two or more feet each time around. These machines are called reversible, because there is a mechanism for placing the blade with the end now dis- charging the slice of earth in front, and the end now in front behind, thus enabling the machine to plow right-hand in one direction and, turning about, serve as a left-hand plow and throw the same furrow slice over still further. On a road with a level cross-section, 310 FARM DEVELOPMENT where a ditch is made either side, the machine is not reversed, the teams going up one side and down the other, making the roadway into a large backfurrow. Where the roadway follows a hillside the reversible feature enables the machine to throw the dirt in the same direc- tion one way whether drawn away from or toward the starting point. But the immense benefit to our roads by the use of the reversible road machine, even before special surfac- ing is applied, is indeed very great. Mere wheel tracks cut into the surface of the native sod, and ruts and miserable mire holes in low areas are becoming things of the past, and rounded roadbeds, from which the water runs into the roadside ditches, are a very great improvement. As the desires and demands for better roads increase, onA T, u, ^ u- and as the profits of our Figure 200. Reversible road machine carry- ^ Siter^o/the rS ^"^^^'"^^ '^"''^' ^""^^""^ ^^^ farms and other industries accrue so that the expense can be borne, these roadbeds will serve the most im- portant purpose of well-formed and properly drained substructures upon which to place a surface of gravel or harder material. The reversible road machine is the forerunner of the gravel car, the stone crusher and the paving brick kiln. Even the iron rails adapted to carry- ing the rural electric car as well as the wheels of the produce wagon are seeking roadbeds made by the re- versible road machine. Rural mail delivery, the rural industries and the social life of rural communities owe much to this simple machine. ROADS AND BRIDGES 317 The elevating grader. Figures 202 to 204, inclusive, is used in a manner similar to that described for the revers- ible machine in grade construction. While plowing is sometimes necessary to loosen the earth that it may be easily moved by the reversible machine, the elevating grader has its own plow. Eight to sixteen horses are required to operate this powerful machine. It is managed by one man, while each driver guides four or even eight horses. It does not place the earth in position to form a well-rounded road and the reversible road machine must be used to finish the crown of the grade. In Figures 205 and 206 are shown how the earth is piled in one or two ridges accord- ing to the width between the ditches and the length of the elevating belt in use. The dotted lines in these two figures show the curved surface when the reversible road ma- chine has been used to smooth the ridged sur- face left by the elevating grader. The drag or slush o/»r-o«*»*. /r.^^ T?:^.-- ■r^^\ • Figure 201. Reversible road machine cut- SCraper (Seerigurel06),in ting away a bank to widen an old road, 1 J-.. . , . sliowmg how the blade may be set so as to aaaitlOn to beme^ a more "^ach out beyond the wheels and cut down ° the bank. expensive means of car- rying the earth from the ditch to tne center of the road, is not so well adapted to making a good road surface as either of the machines mentioned above, though it is an indispensable implement to use in many places where it is not practicable to use the larger machines men- tioned. The material thus placed in the center does not pack or wear evenly and ruts soon form in the wheel tracks. Where the reversible machine can be procured, 3i8 FARM DEVELOPMENT roads which have been formed by the slush scraper can be worked over and made into much better form. In Figure 207 is shown the form of the ditch and the crown of a road originally made with the slush scraper and re- Flgure 202. Elevating graders are made in different sizes. The elevators are adjust- able so as to deliver the dirt near or far from the plow, or to elevate it into a dump wagon. Figure 203. Elevating grader, very cheaply elevates eartli out of ditches or upon long grades. modeled with the reversible machine. The slush scraper can be advantageously used in some instances to carry the best material for the road surface to the top of the roadbed. If the best surfacing material exists in ROADS AND BRIDGES 3I9 the top soil, this can be placed on the surface by carrying the subsoil forward and placing it in the bottom of the grade and carrying the surface soil backward and plac- ing it on top of the new grade. In rare cases the dif- ference in the quality of the material for the surface will make it economy to use the slush, wheel or Fresno scraper rather than the reversible machine, that the earth may be assorted and the best placed above, where it is Figure 204. Elevating grader starting to plow out two roadside ditches and elevate the earth to the middle of the roadway. utilized in making a better surface. In such cases the road can be finished by passing over several times with the reversible machine, thus shaving the grade down to a uniform line. When the road has been used for some time and the uneven packing has resulted in an uneven grade line, this can be remedied by the reversible machine. By setting the blade nearly at right angles to the line of draft, earth is carried from the high places in the road and left in the low places, thus making a smooth and uniform surface. The expert operator, with a good re- versible machine, can remodel or repair the surface of very rough earth roads to a nicety. (See Slush and Fresno Scrapers, Figures 115 and 115a. Excavating cuts and building grades. — AVhere the earth is to be moved not more than five rods the slush 320 FARM DEVELOPMENT •ya. FT Figure 205. Earth as left by the elevating grader in two ridges on a wide road where the belt is not long enough to carry it to the center. By means of the reversible machine these ridges are easily distributed along the sides and in the center, making a rounded crown as shown by the curved line. or the Fresno scraper may often be used economically. Where the material is to be moved lo to 20 rods, the vvrheel scraper serves a most excellent purpose. Where material must be draw^n much more than 20 rods, v^agons or carts, filled by shovel or spade or with a dump upon v^hich the earth is drawn by scrapers, are to be preferred. Where the amount of earth to be handled is large, and the distance long, dump cars on a narrow, movable iron track are more econom- ical than wagons. Loaded cars may often be run by gravitation from the cut to the fill, a team being used to draw the emptied train back to the pit. By means of side switches or double tracks two or more trains can be operated at once. In some cases the wire cable may serve as a track for carry- ing iron hanging barrows full of earth across places where it is not practicable to use wagons nor to build a track for dump cars. Placing the materials of the grade. — For the bulk of a heavy grade any solid earthy material will serve the purpose, unless it be quicksand, which will not stand up. In some in- stances earth which will not be washed out by rain and is adapted to supporting grass with a strong sod, should be placed on the outer slanting edge of the grade. But there is much room for choice in selecting the material for the upper layer of the subsurface and for the material of the surface of the roadbed. Materials from the cut Figure 206. Earth as left by the elevating grader in one ridge on a narrow road. The dotted line shows the curve over the crown after the reversible machine has been used to finish the surface. ROADS AND BRIDGES 321 should be so chosen for the upper part of the substructure that the gravel or other surfacing material may have a dry, firm bed to lie on. By this means, the amount of surfacing materials needed will often be reduced and the expense of a good road be made less. Placing the materials systematically, and carefully tramping each load, is necessary in some cases, but where the grade may be given a year in which to settle before placing a permanent surface, it may easily be leveled down with a reversible road machine before the final surfacing is laid. The crowns and side ditches. — The form of the cross-section differs with ,1 r • ^ • 1 J Figure 207. The solid line shows the the SUriacmg materials used rough roadbed as left by the slush, Fresno . , , , . or wheel scraper. The dotted line shows and with some other COndl- the graded and rounded surface after it is dressed up with the reversible road ma- tions. In case of loose ^i^^e- gravel and of clay the steepness of the crown should vary from ^ inch to i^ inches to the foot. Where the center of the road is made up of materials which will be compacted or rapidly worn by travel, the slope from center to side is made considerable. Where the surface is hard and durable, thus forming a perfect watershed, the road Figure 208. Heavy side ditches with outer ^^Y ^C mOrC ncafly IcVcl banks 54 feet apart, with 20-foot roadway Kooonc/a if ic Koffot* fz-w and small side ditches, A and B, at top of L'cCd.u^C IL IS. UCLLCI L(J high grade, with grass seeded on sides of 4-t~^^ra^ /^tr^*- i*^ -t-Uics r^^^-^Al grades A, C and B, D. Often in very heavy traVCl OVCr lU thlS COnOl- clay roads these grassed sides can be used j.' t .1 j when the roadway. A, B, is wet and soft. tlOU. lU SOme Carth rOadS which are built very broad, because of the large amount of earth from large drainage ditches at either side used in draining nearly level lands, it is necessary to use special means of draining the center of the roadway. In Figure 208 is shown how " top 322 FARM DEVELOPMENT ditches " may be used to allow a sharper crown to be made in a narrow roadway in the center of the wide grade. Small spade ditches from these top ditches will carry the water to the drainage ditch below and, by proper management, the area between the top ditch and the main ditch can often be used for travel. In level countries made up of fine clay which is likely to drift be- fore the wind and leave a deposit in the large ditch along the sides of the road, these top ditches sometimes serve as a temporary expedient in repairing the road until such time as the main drainage ditches can be cleaned out and the grade dressed up anew. Top ditches may sometimes be advantageously used between the main roadway and the bicycle path to prevent teams being driven on the grassy or improved bicycle path on the slope. CONSTRUCTING THE ROAD SURFACE A complete catalogue of the materials used for sur- facing roads would be extensive. The attempt here will be to discuss only the several groups of these materials. Common earth and sand are, of necessity, as yet, more used for roadways than are all other classes of materials, since the soil or subsoil thrown up beside the road is easiest utilized for the roadbed. Soils composed largely of clay, when wet, are so soft, so easily cut into deep ruts, and cling so tenaciously to the wheels of vehicles and to the feet of animals, that they are the most unsatisfactory of all raw materials ; yet when dry and hard they make most excellent roads. Fine sand, on the other hand, is nearly as objectionable as soft clay. The sand becomes pulverized when dry, allow- ing the wheels of vehicles to sink so deep that they are dragged forward with great labor by draft animals which have a poor footing; bicycles and motor vehicles traverse such roads with great difficulty. When clay ROADS AND BRIDGES 323 and sand are found mixed in the proportion of about one part of clay to three parts of sand, or when this mix- ture is artificially made, the road is very much improved. (See note on cost of sand-clay roads, page 295.) Gravel as surfacing material. — While gravel does not make as durable roads as crushed stone, it is prepared much cheaper, is very widely distributed, and can be so cheaply procured, in many cases, that it is our most widely useful road-surfacing material. Very many grades or forms of gravel are to be found ; some coarse, others fine ; some round, others subangular ; some soft, as limestone pebbles ; others hard, as pebbles of granite or trap rock. The sharper and harder the gravel the better, as a rule. The size which is most desirable differs somewhat with the hardness, form and other characters of the gravel. Some gravels have clay and other binding materials mixed in with them. In some cases gravel has been found containing sufficient iron so that the roadbed composed of it became cemented and hardened into a stonelike crust. Stones which are valuable for roads. — The trap rock of the palisades near New York City, owing to its hard- ness and wearing ability, is freighted hundreds of miles by canal and by rail to be used on road surfaces. The immense deposits of trap rock at Duluth and at other points in Minnesota will likewise be of great value in making roads in the west. The rock at Duluth might be transported by rail ; and by boat it could be cheaply freighted to Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo and other cities on the great lakes. From Taylors Falls, in addition to the railways, the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers furnish a cheap waterway for floating trap rock to the cities along the banks of the Mississippi river. The difficulty in making macadam and telford roads is the immense cost of quarrying, crushing and trans- porting the heavy rock. While there are many streets 324 FARM DEVELOPMENT and roads leading to the country from large towns, and prominent roads between towns, on which the travel is sufficient to warrant the county and city, aided by the state, to make stone roads, still, owing to the cost, this form of structure can be used on but a small proportion ol our roadways. We must be content to use gravel on many of our improved roads, only slowly changing the most important roads to macadam. Wood and metal are used to a small extent in making Figure 209. Wlieelers, and plow, carrying earth from cut to grade. roadways. Wood lacks the quality of endurance, and is becoming more expensive. Iron is very desirable, but its great cost precludes its use except in very limited quantities in special cases. Artificial stone, such as is used in city streets and walks, has not been found prac- tical for country roads. Paving brick, however, is com- ing into use in some important roadways, and is, no doubt, destined to be of great use in road making. This material, laid in strips 8 or lo feet wide in the center, or at one side of the center, of the road, makes a very satis- ROADS AND BRIDGES 325 factory driveway. Where ashes can be procured, they make a most useful substance for hardening the surface of the road and to use as the lower portion of the surface in bicycle paths. Mixing surface materials. — The mixing of materials in making up the surface of the roadway until recently has been but little studied from a scientific standpoint. As a general proposition, however, under the ordinary climatic conditions of the United States, it may be said that a mixture of about equal parts of gravel, sand and Figuit 210. Dump wagon, with lever and chain gear to open and close drop bottom. clay forms a good compact road surface, when the sub- soil is not miry. The road builder must constantly use his judgment in mixing the best materials secured from cuts, from the roadside or from adjacent fields in mak- ing up the dirt, gravel or sand-clay surface of the road- bed of the common road. Where the top of the substructure is made up of mixed sand and clay, and pos- sibly some gravel, the problem is how to add gravel or other coarse material which will make the road carry a heavier load without cutting, will be smooth and hard on the surface, and will endure the constant wear of S26 FARM DEVELOPMENT travel. If the mixed soil contains considerable clay, coarse gravel mixed in it will improve the body of the crust of the roadbed, and if on top of this is placed some fine hard gravel, a fairly good road will result. If the surface is composed largely of fine clay with very little sand or gravel entering into its composition, a still larger Figure liii. Giadiiig sui .-.ii utaure for a iniiciul:!m surface, witli shoulders against which the rock rests. Figure 212. First course of stone on a macadam road as it appears wlien spread ready for rolling. amount of gravel will be necessary to give the solidity or carrying strength required by the road surface. If, on the other hand, the surface of the grade is com- posed of sand, it will often be best to use gravel, or gravel into which a small amount of clay is mixed, or clay alone may be mixed with the sand. Sand really Figure 213. Three courses of a macadam surface, 8 to 12 inches deep. Figure 214. Section of macadam 5urface. A. 2 to 3-inch rock; B, 1 to 2-inch sizes; C, fine rock and dust. makes a better substructure than clay, because any water that penetrates the surface can easily percolate down- ward, leaving the roadway dry. Where gravel, sand, clay, ashes, shells or other sim- ilar materials are hauled from a distance, much ex- pense can often be saved by using only that amount which, when mixed with the earth already on the road, ROADS AND BRIDGES 32/ will make a good surface, instead of building up the entire road crust out of the material hauled. Quantities of gravel for roads of different widths and depths From the New Jersey Road Report is quoted the following table which gives the numbsr of cubic yards of gravel required in the construction of one mile of gravel road of widths varying from 6 feet to 20 feet and depths from 6 to 11 inches. These quan- tities should be multiplied by 11-2 to give the number of cubic yards of loose gravel required to make the depths given below of compact gravel. Number of ft. Number of cu. Number of cu. Number of cu. in width, road yds. in road yds. in road yds. in road 1 mile long 6 in. deep 7 in. deep 8 in. deep 6 586 2-3 684 4-9 782 2-9 7 684 4-9 798 14-27 912 16-27 8 782 2-9 912 16-27 1,042 26-27 9 880 1,026 2-3 1,173 1-3 10 977 7-9 1,140 20-27 1,303 19-27 11 1,075 5-9 1,254 22-27 1,434 2-27 12 1,173 1-3 1,368 8-9 1,564 4-9 13 1,271 1-9 1,482 26-27 1,694 22-27 14 1,368 8-9 1,597 1-27 1,825 5-27 IS 1,466 2-3 1,711 1-9 1,955 5-9 16 1,564 4-9 1,825 5-27 2,085 25-27 17 1,662 2-9 1,919 7-27 2,216 8-27 18 1,760 2,053 1-3 2,346 2-3 19 1,857 7-9 2,167 11-27 2,477 1-27 20 1,955 5-9 2,281 13-27 2,607 17-27 9 in. deep 10 in. deep 1 1 in. deep 6 880 977 7-9 1,075 5-9 7 1,026 2-3 1,140 20-27 1,254 22-27 8 1,173 1-3 1,303 19-27 1,434 2-27 9 1,320 1,466 2-3 1,613 1-3 10 1,466 2-3 1,629 17-27 1,792 16-27 11 1,613 1-3 1,792 16-27 1,971 23-27 12 1,760 1,955 5-9 2,151 1-9 13 1,906 2-3 2,118 14-27 2,330 10-27 14 2,053 1-3 2,281 13-27 2,509 17-27 15 2,200 2,444 4-9 2,688 8-9 16 2,346 2-3 2,607 11-27 2,868 4-27 17 2,493 1-3 2,770 10-27 3,047 11-27 18 2,640 2,933 1-3 3,226 2-3 19 2,786 2-3 3,096 8-27 3,405 25-27 20 2,933 1-3 3,259 7-27 3,585 5-27 Spreading and compacting earth and gravel surfaces. — One very important consideration in constructing the 328 FARM DEVELOPMENT wearing surface of a road is evenness. The materials should be so mixed that the w^heel tracks will wear evenly. To accomplish this result requires that a uniform mixture be made and that it be spread evenly and thor- oughly compacted. Thus, in making a mixture of coarse gravel, sand and clay, which should be 6 to 12 inches deep accord- ing to the quality of the substructure and to the re- Flgure 215. Heavy telford road surface. A. nilirpmpnt ' or blocks made of sand and cement, about frairpl Viae rt-\ctr\(^ fhf^ cur- 4 x 6 x 12 inches, with 6 x 12-inch surface travel nas maae tne SUr ^ laj^ on a layer of gravel or sand. face rough, and at such times as teams can best be spared for this work. The road will thus be kept relatively smooth throughout the year, and will become better compacted from year to year. This device will serve on many gravel roads quite as well as on earth roads. This repair work should be done at public expense. Each section of road can be ar- ranged for under a contract with a farmer. The road officer can call the contractors out by telephone or post- card, thus making repairs when most profitable. Wide-tire wagons are recognized by the laws in some ROADS AND BRIDGES 345 States as being useful in helping to pack the roadway and keep the surface in a smooth, hard condition. The pub- lic can well afford to exempt such wagons from taxation. Repairing macadam and telford roads. — Here "a stitch in time saves nine" is even more applicable than in the maintenance of earth roads. The great advantage in these roads lies in the hard, smooth surface, which should become still harder and smoother as a result of the wear of travel. If slight depressions are at once filled with crushed rock similar to that forming the surface of the road, these places will soon be worn smooth and uni- form with the other por- tions of the track. If, how- ever, ruts are allowed to remain, each passing wheel drops into the rut, grind- ing to powder more and more of the rock, and the deeper it cuts the more forcible the blow of the next wheel. Where the rut has become deeper and much of the material has been ground to powder, the dust should be taken out before filling with crushed rock. The raveling or loosening of stones from the surface of the stone road, to be kicked about by passing teams, requires attention, and ofttimes the road roller must be again applied to make the surface more firm.- Stones Figure 231. Roadway paved with flat rocks, preferably supported, if on a clay roadbed, witti a layer of some inches of gravel or sand. Figure 232. Roadway paved with cobblesto nes laid on gravel makes a very rough, but very durable, hard roadway. thus loosened should be removed from the surface, lest wheels striking them cause them to .disturb the roadbed. Expensive roads should be patrolled at regular inter- vals by a laborer who understands the keeping of the road in repair. By having a contract with some resident 34^ FARM DEVELOPMENT farmer or laborer, this work can usually be done in wet times when other work is not pressing, and at slight cost to the community. A badly worn stone road needs its surface recon- structed. — In Figure 236 is shown a road roller in the act of tearing up a macadam roadway. Spikes are placed in the roller wheels in such a manner that the weight of the machine causes them to sink into the hard crust, thoroughly crumbling it. In some cases it Figure 233. View of steel rails laid for wagon road. is unnecessary to procure new material for the addition of a layer of surfacing, but the old surface layer may be thoroughly worked over by using the spiked roller to break it up, the common harrow to complete the mixing, and the roller to again thoroughly compact and harden the surface. In case of badly worn roads it will be found necessary to add a new layer a few inches deep, this to be placed on top of the surface of the old material after it has been thoroughly reworked and compacted. Snow roads. — In the Northern states, where there is a heavy fall of snow, the problem of making snow roads ROADS AND BRIDGES 347 on the right of way, also through adjacent fields, becomes an important part of the year's road work. Where the wind makes hard drifts, it is often necessary to shovel out the roads with hand shovels. Deep level snow can be shoved to the sides and a nice track left by a device made of two planks fastened together in V-shape, and a cross plank to hold the wings apart. Uneven tracks, full of what in New England are called " thank-you- ma'ams," may be smoothed easily by using the reversible road machine or a device especially constructed to tear off the high places and fill in the low ones. Better than either of these methods, however, is the use of the snow roller. In many of the New England states where the snowfall is very heavy the roads are rolled and packed after every storm and no attempt is made to clear a path by plowing. These rollers are pushed over the roads by a number of teams just as the header is pushed through the grain field. Bicycle paths. — The popularity of the bicycle as a social fad has passed away; but as a vehicle for practical use it will continue to be an important means of convey- ance in many localities. Bicycle paths will not be made in most roadways ; hence, where practicable, so constructed of hard a good bicycle path ; but The split log drag. Figure 235. King drag with steel edges bolted on the split logs. the wagon road should be materials that it will make since this is at present generally impracticable, special 348 FARM DEVELOPMENT paths may be made for bicycles along many roads. They may be placed between the ditch and the wagon track on wide grades, or on the bank between the ditch and the fence. In some cases it will be necessary to cut and fill so as to avoid excessive grades. However, since these paths must be made cheaply and bicycle riders can walk up an occasional steep place, or by extra exer- tion overcome steep places, it is not practicable to change the grades as much as in making a track for wagons. The path can be constructed in a very sim- ple manner. In many cases the sod should be removed and an excavation made a few inches deep. Into this gravel, or better, coal cin- ders, should be placed, bringing them up even with the sod. This should be thoroughly packed by rolling and on top should Figure 236. Steam road roller. Spikes In bc olaccd fine gfravcl whlch wheel used to break up macadam surface that '^ ^ the broken stone may be remixed, rolled and {^ ^Um should bc rollcd, resurfaced. ' making a fine, hard sur- face. The line of grade should be evened up so as to avoid any sudden depressions or elevations. In cross- ing roadways, the bicycle path should be constructed with more care, making the hardened surface sufficiently deep and substantial so that wagons will not cut it up. A sidewalk or bicycle path 2 feet wide outside the ditch along a country road may be con- structed in several ways : and equalizing rough places. (2) By excavating 2 to 4 Figure 237 Sidewalk and bicycle path be- tween road ditch and fence. (i) By smoothing the sod ROADS AND BRIDGES 349 inches deep and filling with gravel or cinders, using fine gravel for the surface. (3) If the soil is sandy, clay may be mixed with the sand and a thin layer of fine gravel used on top. Placing this walk or path on the grade is not usually practical, because teams will dis- turb it unless it is protected by the ditch bank. Lumbermen's ice roads are an important feature of modern lumbering operations in cold regions. In north- ern Minnesota, for instance, the lumbermen cut out a road from the woods where the trees are felled to the local sawmill or to the lake or river where the logs are to enter the water to be floated to their destination, or to the side of the railway which is to carry them to the lumber mills. These roadways are cleared out and made fairly level before .. ..„„., ,». ^^u. ■' . i<'igure 238. Bicycle path or walk between the soil is frozen, or if not wheel track and ditch. made until freezing, they are leveled up by means of snow. Water is then hauled in large tanks and used to sprinkle the surface of the runner track, making it solid ice. These roads are made sufficiently wide so that the horses walk inside the grooves where the sled runners glide on smooth ice. By occasionally going over these roads during the winter with the sprinkling Figure 239. Cross-section of a ford across . < ^ r „p ^^^^^^.U a creek. Ordinary water levelin a stream taUK, a SUriaCC OI SmOOtn is maintained over with shown. The dotted lines represent ford graded down and surfaced with stone. In ICC many instances the bed of the stream is , . . . solid and the stone surfacing is necessary whlCh thC horSCS only at the outer edge of the water, as at R-A or x-Y. sharp shoes can draw im- mense loads of logs at comparatively very small expense per thousand feet. Fords. — Fords are a necessity in pioneer communities, and often remain permanently, both in public highways 350 FARM DEVELOPMENT and in farm roadways. There is no place where a little intelligent work will count for more than in the proper improvement of the roadway by improving the banks of a ford across a stream. At the point where the edge of the water keeps the earth moist there is nearly always a mud hole, or at best deep ruts, through which the wheels of a wagon or buggy must pass. The necessary lift to bring the wheels out of these ruts often greatly limits the load which can be hauled, for " one link deter- mines the strength of the chain." A hard stone surface at this point, if properly placed, transfers the ford from a dreaded place to one which may be passed in comfort and safety. Since it is not wise to build a grade across a stream, as it is likely to be washed out, it is necessary to excavate the bed of the road a foot or less, at the bot- tom of the stream. This can be filled in with hard ma- terials which will hold up the wheels of the passing vehicles. In many cases coarse gravel will answer very well in the middle of the stream, though broken stones or even flat stones are better. The excavation can be made in warm weather by men and teams working in the water. Where the road leaves the water's edge the banks should be cut down so that there is not too steep a grade, and the cut should be made about a foot lower than the proposed finished grade. This also should then be filled with crushed rock, small stones, coarse gravel, or other material that will not be easily washed about and will form a perfectly hard roadbed. Since fords are nearly always considered- temporary expedi- ents, and often are not on the line of legally established roadways, road officers do not feel free to improve them and they are usually left in a very poor condition. A " ford bee," where interested neighbors might spend a summer day " stoning the ford," might do much good to such neglected places. It is an almost unwritten law that public officers can use some public funds, in aiding ROADS AND BRIDGES . 35 1 in these special cases, where the letter of the law would not allow the road officials to take the entire responsibility of the expense of improving a roadway which has not been legally acquired by the public. These ford roads should not be too narrow and should be properly marked by means of tall posts near the ends, so that in times of high water, passers can avoid leaving the line of the grade and getting into the soft earth on either side. Roadside weeds, if allowed to ripen, are a nuisance to the farm and a nuisance to the public, and withal are obnoxious to an otherwise beautiful country. The pub- lic should encourage the farmer to keep the weeds down. As to whether the law should require the farmer to keep the roadside reasonably free from obnoxious plants, or whether the road officials should be required to look after all roads systematically the care of which is not assumed by farmers in growing crops upon them, there is some question. As a rule, public property should be managed in such an exemplary manner that a good example is set for the citizens, and the road officials should be held responsible for keeping the roadway clean of weeds. While the expense would seem considerable, systematic care of the roads by public officials would doubtless pay. If the public would thoroughly assume this responsibility, the roads could be so constructed that banks and grades could be rounded down, seeded to grasses and then be mowed and kept In neat condition by the use of machinery. Since the general advent of wire fences, there Is far less excuse for weedy roadsides than when the old-time zig-zag rail fences were com- mon. The use of the mowing machines and a seeding of such grasses as Kentucky blue grass and Bermuda grass will give little chance for weeds. Roadside trees and hedges add greatly to the beauty of a country, and the public should encourage land- owners to plant and care for them. In many instances 352 FARM DEVELOPMENT the public could well afford to have the farmers plant a TOW of trees several feet from the outer line on the road property, giving the farmer the crop from the trees. In some countries, as in western Germany, apples and other fruit and nut trees, planted by public officers along the roadway, produce crops of fruit which are sold for nearly enough to pay for the maintenance of the road- way. This might be a practical source of income in some sections in the United States. The crop of fruit or nuts is usually sold by contract before it is ripe, the purchaser harvesting the crop. When our lands become much more valuable, it may be possible for the public to rent the land on the right of way of our broad high- ways to such an advantage that the renter will not only keep the roadside in a neat manner, but will also help to keep the road in repair. In case of earth roads of heavy clay, trees. should not be planted where they will prevent the road surface from drying or cause impassable drifts of snow to form in northern climates. Relation of farmers to the roads. — The farmer has a special interest in the roads adjacent to and leading from his farm. In some cases, he can unite with the officials in building or draining a road and in making a co-opera- tive drain which will be very useful to his fields. In many cases it is to his interest, as well as to the interest of the public, for the farmer to extend his field operations into the right of way, always leaving sufficient room in the center of the highway for travel. If the farmer will keep the roadside in grass and mow it or pasture it, so as to prevent the growth of weeds, the roadway will be much improved. In some cases, where the road be- comes very muddy, the grass border is useful for pedes- trians, for bicycles and even for wagons and automobiles. Traveling this roadside is not conducive to a good crop, and people should recognize the interest of a man who takes good care of a roadside and not unnecessarily in- ROADS AND BRIDGES 353 jure his crops. In many sections of the country, the grasses which are grown do not yield well for more than four or five years, when it is necessary to plow the land and again sow it to grasses and clovers. In this case, the farmer finds it wise to grow one or two crops of grain in rotation with the grass after long intervals, so that he may again seed the grass down with a crop of grain. In many cases our roadways are much wider than necessary and common consent should allow the farmer to use the land within a rod of the center of the road, and in some cases he should be permitted to place his fence nearer the center of the roadway. Good roads education. — There are many agencies in the United States through which a better knowledge of roads can be disseminated to the people. The largest single agency is the national department of agriculture with its office of public roads, which is doing much to develop a better sentiment among the people concern- ing the need of good roads and a better knowledge of how to secure these roads in the different sections of the country. The national department is supplemented by the experiment stations and colleges of engineering of each state. Agricultural high schools, where a large number of young men who are to become farmers at- tend, are well adapted to giving instruction in this line so far as the farmers' interests are concerned. To schools of agricultural engineering in our colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts, and to general, engineer- ing schools, however, we must look for trained road engineers, superintendents, contractors and builders. Traveling farmers' institutes, county fairs and the pub- lic schools are agencies through which much can be done to disseminate correct ideas on this subject. Practical road engineers are rapidly building up a body of knowl- edge, and a literature which is helping to place our public road service on a permanent high basis. 354 FARM DEVELOPMENT Good roads literature. — Printed matter in books, also the agricultural and daily newspapers, contain much information, while bulletins and reports issued by the general government, by the state experiment stations and by the state highway commissions are being multi- plied and contain much useful thought on the subject. Associations such as national and state good road associations, county good road societies, wheelmen's and automobile clubs, both national and state, and the associations of manufacturers of road machines and motor vehicles, all help create an intelligent interest in this subject and help promote the idea of building good roads. As our great country develops its resources it accumulates vast wealth with which it can make permanent improvements. Our highways, being per- manent in their nature, are in part the gift of one generation to the next. In many cases the roads should be built and part of the cost left to be paid by future users ; but it is highly important that the people at once begin more liberal yearly expenditures in constructing a gen- eral system of good roads. The general government, the states, the counties, the cities and all the people should co-operate in this work. This promises to be one of the problems in which the whole people must work together in one long, strong effort. The develop- ment of country life demands superior transportation facilities; with this supplied, country life will continue to develop in the United States as nowhere else in the world. More and more our annual increment of wealth should be used in making permanent improve- ments. Good roads, substantial farm homes, barns, rural schoolhouses and country churches, next to the soil itself, are our permanent country investments. These forms of permanent wealth are not receiving their due attention as compared with city homes, public buildings and struc- tures for trade and commerce. CHAPTER XII FENCES During the last quarter of a century the cost of fenc- ing fields has been greatly reduced by the discovery of new fence materials. Fences have been devised which are much more durable and which will better restrain stock of all kinds than any rail, post, board or hedge fences. The reduced price of wire and the manifold inventions for drawing wire and making it into forms suitable for fences, have brought about an iron age in fence building. A half century ago most of the American farms were fenced with laboriously made stone walls or rail fences, the latter sometimes named worm fences, and aptly called by foreigners " The Yankee zig-zag." Now one can travel across the continent without seeing a newly made fence rail; and in many places the rock crusher is grinding up the stone fences for material with which to macadamize the highways. Iron wire was one of the great aids in opening up the vast prairies of the Mississippi basin for agricultural purposes ; it now has a very large influence in promoting the live stock and general agricultural interests. Barbed wires were invented at the proper time to enable the farmers to subdue the great prairies on a scale of extensive farm- ing. Smooth-woven wire has now taken such a prac- tical form and is obtainable at such reasonable prices that more comprehensive field and farm management, with live stock as a leading feature, is being inaugurated as the permanent system of management on American farms. Nowhere is there such an opportunity for carry- ing out the broad principles of scientific farm manage- ment as on American farms, and nowhere else is 356 FARM DEVELOPMENT there such a comprehensive plan of combined farming and homemaking, nowhere else such a great, rising race of farmers. The wire fence stands with the modern rail- way, the plow, the cultivator, the reaper and the thresher as a large factor in promoting our extensive and pros- perous agriculture and the unsurpassed country life of our American family farms. The great variety of materials and uses, also the vary- ing conditions under which fences are built, give the farmer the opportunity to exercise considerable ingenuity in devising structures to best meet his needs. The fence should efficiently do its work, be easily kept in repair, and economical of construction, enduring if may be, good to look upon or at least not conspicuously offensive to the eye. A X 3 c f eo RO( )5 ZO RODS ♦o* rod's' '" ' O R 6 Flgur* 240, Fence line placed in the wrong place. The first step in building a fence is to secure the exact location desired throughout the entire line of the fence. Where practicable, the two points where the fence is to end should be located with care, and the fence line laid out on a line between them. Thus, in Figure 240, the corners of the farm, A and D, should be first established and the fence line staked off in a straight line between. If first in fencing field O a slight error is made in plac- ing the corner at B, and the fence line thus established is projected forward in a straight line to D, the error will have been multiplied, placing one-eighth of an acre on the wrong side of the fence. If a post and wire fence is to be built the planting and bracing of corner and end posts is a matter of most careful consideration. If the wires, or ribbons of wires, FENCES 357 can be attached to an unyielding post at the corner, they do not sag, and they serve to hold all the other posts in line. These end posts need to be planted deeply in the ground and thoroughly anchored by cross pieces fastened to their bottoms and braced, as with a rather long timber, lo to 14 feet, reaching some distance along the line of the fence, and placed at not too wide Figure 241. Driving sharpened fence posts with sledge and stand. an angle with the horizontal, so as to avoid pulling the corner posts out of the ground. The line posts for wire need not be placed so deep in the ground nor set so firmly as is necessary in the case of wooden fences. This is particularly true in the case of barbed wire, since animals do not rub against the wires so much as against wooden fences. The winds do 358 FARM DEVELOPMENT not blow wire fences down, and animals running into them do not press against a single post, but the strain is equalized among several along the line. Reel devices are very useful in distributing and rolling up a single strand of barbed wire, and rolls of wire fence ribbons. Setting posts. — The old art of digging post holes with a spade, setting the posts in line and tamping the re- turned earth solidly about them is hard work. But even here there is opportunity for system in cut- ting the sod, in pulverizing the soil in the bot- tom of the hole, and in lifting out the spadefuls of earth. Some men will quickly dig a post hole with half the — ""'iff fl'' ton/."" * expenditure of Figure 242. Device for pulling fence posts with the aid of a team, energy reqUireCl by another who has not learned how to handle the spade to the best advantage. It is difficult to give instructions without a spade and a place to make a post hole. Post-hole augers and some other form of implements for digging post holes save much labor. In many cases the best way to set posts is to sharpen them with a sharp ax, dig the holes one spade length deep and then drive the posts with a heavy maul or sledge. The workman can stand in the back end of a wag"on, or better, on an especially con- FENCES 359 structed bench, and drive the posts to a depth of 2 or 2^ feet. Especially where the fence is temporary is it worth while to sharpen the posts that they may thus easily be driven when set in the new location. Where the post is not sharpened it is important that the earth be tamped very firmly about the bottom of the post and also at the top of the hole so that it will be held firmly. Pulling posts with a horse, chain and simple lever avoids heavy lifting. (See Figure 242.) With suitable tools for withdraw- ing or breaking the staples, with a handy device for roll- ing up the wires and again unrolling them along the new line rind -w/itVi Figure 243. Woven wire fence for horses, cattle, sheep and swme. good wire stretchers, any wire fences can be moved at a cost of only a few cents' worth of labor per rod Repairing fences. — An occasional inspection of wire fences with hammer, nails, staples, small pieces of wire, and wire stretcher a t hand will avoid loss from in- jury to fences, injury to crops and often avoid trouble with neighbors, and sometimes prevent great injury to animals. A fence is like any other structure : it is likely to get out of repair, and when in such condition it should be repaired at once, as nowhere else does the " stitch in time save nine " to better advantage. ■^-tr" — .'...;^M ^— * — ' « , .— . . 7 ' ' ■^ '' — ' • ' ' — ,. — I 3 a-* ^ SS i:^ ~ ^s — "ZZ !ZI ' 3 ii Figure 244. Woven ribbon with only one barbed wire above. 360 FARM DEVELOPMENT Barbed wire fences. — For cattle, sheep and swine, barbed wire strung on posts from one to two rods apart makes a cheap and most effective fence, and for very large pastures barbed wire is fairly well suited for re- taining horses. There has been a great deal of criticism of barbed wire fences, the larger part of which is un- called for. Many critics who have seen only the senti- mental phase of the question have insisted that it is cruel to inclose animals by a fence which is liable, accidentally, to make wounds and cause pain. Barbed wire fences may oc- casionally in- jure horses so that they become less salable, and sometimes even Figure 245. Hog and cattle fence; 26-inch smooth wire hog Crioole them, ribbon, with three barbed wires above. _^ Barbs often slightly injure the skin of cattle, reducing its value for leather. But when we put against these objections the immense saving in the cost of barbed wire fencing as compared with other forms of fences, the smaller expense of keeping them in repair and their greater effectiveness over most other kinds of fences in restrain- ing animals, the barbed wire has the advantage for many purposes. It is safe to say that more animals are in- jured and suffer from breaking through wooden fences and gaining access to crops of grain or very succulent crops; from getting out of place and being chased by dogs, than from any injuries or cuts due to barbed wire cuts. With properly built wire fences stock quietly submit to their confinement and feed much more con- tentedly and profitably than when they are surrounded by fences which they are constantly trying to rub down or climb over. FENCES 361 Woven wire fences are manufactured by many firms and sold through their local dealers in large rolls of 20, 30 and 40 rods. Smooth, and also barbed, wire fences may be made up for cattle or horses alone, in which case the lower wire is a foot or more from the ground ; while fences reaching to the ground are suitable for restraining hogs and sheep as well as the larger animals. Barbed and smooth wires may be combined, and in many cases this is an economical arrangement, especially in making fences which are to restrain both large and small animals. With barbed wire, smooth wire, or even with smooth and barbed combined, fences may be woven at the time it is tacked on to the posts by machinery devised for that purpose. The three-wire barbed fence (Figure 248) is one of the large factors in American cattle raising. It costs about ten cents per rod for iron, ten cents for posts and a few cents for labor. The wires last more than a lllllilitlllll N0.7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Figure 246. Actual size of wires by numbers, 7 to 20. quarter of a century, and good posts more than ten years. The annual expense for repairs is very light. The interest account and the maintenance account are very small, and if occasionally inspected and repaired, this fence is very secure for the larger animals. The posts are usually sharpened and driven with a heavy sledge in the hands of a man standing on a sledge stool. Wooden fences. — Board fences were very much in use a few decades ago, but are now very rapidly giving way to wire. Fences made of 6-inch pine boards are very satisfactory when new, but the boards become brittle and are not safe. Tight board fences are entirely too 362 FARM DEVELOPMENT expensive for fencing, unless in exceptional situations, as about small paddocks near the barns, and even here heavy woven wire is better, except where tight fences are especially needed to serve as protection from cold winds. Rails and poles in the place of boards serve the purpose of the pioneer with whom the poles are some- times more easily procured than the money with which to purchase wire. Thus, tamarack poles often serve a good purpose in wooded districts, as do also poles from the quickly grown willow and other trees in the prairie regions. But fences made in this way are short lived, and, at the best, are Figure 247. Anchoring fence ribbon between posts nOt UCarly SO Safc aS miikts it possible to use fewer posta. . ;. are wire fences. The old-fashioned rail fences are made up in a number of dif- ferent ways, but cannot be classed as very satisfactory fences. They are often blown down by heavy winds, are rubbed down by cattle, require considerable labor to keep them in repair, and are not very durable. Hedge fences have been much used in mild climates, as in England and in some of the middle and Southern states, but they have almost dropped out of use for field fences, and wire is supplanting them. They add much to the beauty of the landscape if kept in repair and travelers think they add much to the country, but they are usually poor field fences. Where a portion of a hedge dies out animals can pass through the gap ; besides, gaps soon make a fence look ragged and weak. Very many FENCES 363 of the hedges in beautiful England, where they are valued for their landscape effect, are mere weeds encumbering the ground. Either a wire fence must be placed along- side them, or else the fence must be used in a patched- up way that makes it anything but efficient in restrain- ing animals and far short of attractive. Besides, in the end, they are nearly always expensive, since the labor of caring for them is considerable. In many cases part of the plants die out and form harbors for weeds. They Figure 248. Three-wire barbed cattle fence. require some land, and take some fertility from the ad- joining fields into which they spread their roots. Hedges should be used much more for ornament on the farm- stead, but less for field fences, especially less for fencing against live stock. Many theoretical propositions have been presented to the American farmers by designing hedge-fence companies and nurserymen who desire to sell hedge plants; but nothing practical comes out of these propositions. A hedge costs more to plant and care for until large enough to serve as a fence than the 3^4 FARM DEVELOPMENt price of a wire fence. Besides, a wire fence is neces- sary to protect the hedge and restrain the animals while the hedge is passing through the first few years of its growth. There are particular places where a hedge is useful as an ornament as well as to serve as a fence, and the purposes of ornamentation may properly be combined with the useful about the farmstead. In some cases growing willows, or other trees, may serve as posts to which wire fencing may be at- tached, thus in part serving as a hedge. But, as a rule, the better way is to purchase posts or grow the posts in the forest plantation in the farm- stead or on a separate part of the farm, or use reinforced cement posts, and then make simple post and wire fences. Stone fences were much used in the earlier times to inclose those fields which sup- plied an abundance of this kind of fencing material, but unless the stones are of such form and size that they can be so laid that the fence can stand long without repairing, this kind of fence is expensive to construct and costly to keep in repair. As a rule, it is economy, even where stones are abundant, to collect them into piles neatly laid up, and use posts and wire for fences. Unless stones are very abundant on the farm, or in the neighborhood, there will be other and more practical uses for them. Paddock fences. — Within the farmstead special fences Figure 249. Tool for splicing wires. FENCES 365 are needed. Stronger fences are required for keeping animals closely confined than for keeping them on a larger range. Barbed wire is objectionable for the pad- dock fences, because in the small lots where many animals may be confined there is danger of the younger, weaker or more timid animals being crowded into the fence and injured. Until recently the problem of pad- dock fences was a hard one, but the advent of heavy woven wire oflfers a complete and satisfactory solution. Ribbons made of wire of medium weight, and of light poultry wire, may be purchased nowadays at very rea- sonable prices. It is not wise to use wire of too small a diameter in paddock fences, or even for poultry yards, because small wires sooner rust so as to break. Properly galvanized wire is more durable than painted wire. Heavy woven wire ribbons are sold which \vi\\ not easily be rubbed down by strong cattle when closely confined. Fences made by nailing boards horizontally on posts, or running stringers on the posts and nailing on the boards in a vertical position, are expensive and not very durable. However, if no other protection from winds can be afforded in a yard, the tight board fence has an important use. In stony sections the exposed side of the lot may be protected by a stone wall. Such walls are much more satisfactory if they are built up with mortar, but a very good wall may be built without mortar if the base stones are well laid and the wall built high enough to keep the animals from knocking oflF the top stones. Woven wire for paddock fences should not only be higher and heavier than that used for field fences, but the horizontal and vertical wires should both be woven closely together. A good plan is to have the strands woven the same as poultry fence, only using heavier material. Strong, durable posts should be firmly set not over 16 feet apart, and great care must be exercised to get the corner and gate posts securely anchored and braced. 366 FARM DEVELOPMENT Hurdles or portable fences are useful in caring for small flocks of sheep, young pigs, calves or young chicks Figure 250. Light portable fence used In pasturing sheep. One piece 1x6 and three 1 z 4, 16 feet long, for horizontal bars; three pieces 1 x 4, 42 inches long, for up- rights; one piece 1 x 6. 42 inches long, and two 1 x 4, 60 inches long, for, braces. when on the pasture. By means of hurdles the animals may be moved frequently, giving them a constant supply of fresh feed. Hurdles can be made of boards, wires Figure 251. A beautiful experiment at Minnesota Agricultural College. Numerous well-trimmed hedges growing side by side. and boards, or wires and slats, some form of device for holding the hurdle up being adapted to each kind of hurdle. Where areas to be fenced are of considerable size, movable barbed wire or woven wire fencing to be FENCES 367 attached to posts, is cheap and easily adapted to the purpose. Pastures of annual crops, or shift pastures, as pasturing the stubble after a crop of grain, may be sur- rounded by temporary fences. The cost of moving fences is often less than the loss sustained by allowing stock to remain in pastures which are short of feed Figure 252. Bucbthora hedge beside roadway. while in the adjoining field some green crop is going to waste. Ornamental fences. — On the farm, fences designed to be ornamental should be rather plain and substantial, not necessarily expensive, and should be of a kind easily kept in repair. Iron fencing of a plain, strong design makes a fence pleasing to the eye and quite durable. 368 FARM DEVELOPMENT Some of the forms of smooth woven w^ire fencing are so made up as to be very inconspicuous, a really ex- cellent feature, as heavy fences hide the beauty of the trees, shrubs and open lawn. Wire-and-picket fencing is usually not so desirable, as it is heavy and difficult to keep from sagging. The slats add no beauty and the fence is not as durable nor has it as pretty an effect as a fence of smooth galvanized wire. Strongly built woven wire fences serve to run vines on, often with Figure 253. A, mold for making posts 7 feet long, 5x5 Inches at the bottom and 3x5 at the top; also mortar box. shovel, tamping rod and gauge for leveling Uic first layer of tamped mortar preparatory to putting in the first two wire cables; a, ends; b, dividing blocks; c, division boards; d. outer tie; e, leveler. B. C, D, pallets each with five posts. 7 feet 5 inches by 5 inches and 5 inches by 3 inches, from which the molds have been lifted as left to cure. E, pallet with five posts, 7 feet 6 inches by 6 Inches and 6 inches by 4 inches. Molds for posts of diflferent lengths and diameters may be used on the same pallets; thus, posts 6 feet long, 4x4 inches, 3x3 inches; posts 8 feet, 6x6 inches, 6x4 inches, etc. (After P. L. Wormley, Farmers' Bui., U. S. Dept. Agr.) most attractive effect. Where stones are abundant and can be built into a fence, a very pretty effect can be pro- duced about a lawn, especially as they serve to train Virginia creepers or other vines. Where a retain- ing wall and fence combined are needed, a hand- some fence can be produced by combining these fea- tures. In some cases, a wire fence can be added above to reinforce the low stone wall, much reducing the ex- pense and yet combining beauty and utility. Too little has been done to embellish the immediate surroundings of the average American farm home. There is no part FENCES 369 of the United States, unless in those sections in which the rainfall is too deficient, that we do not have shrubs suitable for making a low handsome hedge. The Buck- thorn, for example, endures the severest winters of the northern parts of Minnesota and Dakota. The experi- ment farms of Brandon and Indian Head, Canada, North of Dakota and Montana, have abundantly demonstrated that beautiful hedges can be grown far north and far 5-3- ^ ■, Y H 1 k. u. 1 ji i u. ii -^ /■■ T 1 ..^..^ ' ■ f ' L mi -TJ "17 » 7/, Figure 254. A, 7-foot concrete post, 6x6 throughout; B, 7-foot, 6 x 6 at bottom and 6 X 3 at top, hole near top for wire loop to hold staple strip, cross-sections of ends of B showing positions of twisted wire reinforcements; C, 7-foot, 6 x 6 at bottom. 6x3 at top, corners rounded; D, 7-foot, 5 x 5 at bottom, 5 x 3 at top, cross-sections of ends of D; E, corner post molded in place, underground part 11 x 11, above ground part 8 X 8 at bottom and 7 x 7 at top, length 8 feet, holes near top in both directions, cross-section of E at ground line showing four two-wire cables; F, cross-section of corner post showing lugs molded to hold braces; also wire or steel rod reinforcement. out into the dry plains country. As we proceed south- ward, the number that are hardy is increased. Among those plants making a pretty and at the same time dur- able hedge are the Buckthorn, Buffaloberry, Red Cedar, 370 FARM DEVELOPMENT White Cedar or Arbor Vitae, Russian Mulberry and many others equally pretty, but less practical and hardy. Wooden ornamental fences still have their place, though much restricted by the use of the cheaper, more durable v^ire fences now available for inclosing lawns. There is hardly an excuse remaining for inclosing coun- try lawns, school grounds, church yards or cemeteries with a board fence, which will rapidly decay, and at best is not a thing of beauty. Plain woven- wire fencing can be used for most of these fencesi. Where it is desirable to obscure from view objection- able features this can be done by training Vir- Figiire 255. Comer post built in place with base Pfinia CreePCrS, Kugflish tamped in hole enlarged at bottom, and cement brace ^ . set with enlarged end molded in place. Both post ivv AAfilH PTanP*; OT and brace are reinforced with double twisted wires. ^^ J > vviiva gia,pv,o wi Other vines on fences. In making a landscape by means of trees, shrubs, lawn grasses and other living forms, the modern wire fence enables us to have an inclosure without obstructing the view, or by growing vines on it we can frame the picture or otherwise make it ornamental. (See Figures 251-252.) Poultry fences. — For inclosing yards or small fields for poultry, woven wire is by far the most satisfactory of all forms of fencing. In some places, as between small inclosures, it is necessary to place boards at the bottom to a height of 2 feet to prevent cocks from fight- ing. For outside fences, bottom boards are not neces- sary, and rather strong woven-wire fencing, with i or 2- inqh mesh, may be used. For temporary purposes light FENCES 371 poultry fencing- can be utilized, though it is not sub- stantial and is not so easily moved to new posts as the ribbons of heavier wire. The latter kind of fencing is more easily kept from sagging and is more durable. The boards at the bottom of the fence can easily be renewed when too much decayed to be of further use. Sections of woven wire attached to rectangular frames, say 2 by 6 feet, made up like hurdles, are exceedingly useful in caring for broods of young chicks which have l)een hatched in incubators and are raised in artificial Figure 256. Filling the mold with cement after the wires have been placed inside. Hole left for the end of the brace mold. brooders. Some of these may be used as covers of small yards to inclose hens with their broods. Posts. — Few posts have been used of other material than wood, but there is a rising demand for a more dur- able material. While wooden posts do not last many years, they have been so much cheaper than either iron posts or cement posts that their use has generally been the most economical. For lawn fences, iron or cement are in some cases more practical than wood, and in a few cases stone may be utilized to advantage. White oak, Z7^ FARM DEVELOPMENT white cedar and red cedar are prized because they will last many years, while posts of such species of trees as tamarack, basswood and white willow last only a few Figure 257. A, cement post; B, wooden stay on face of post to which wires are stapled; C, block set In groove in face of post to hold stay from being puslied up or down. D, hole near top of post to receive wire holding upper end of stay firmly in place; E and F. wires about post to hold stay in place. Woven ribbon at base. Barbed wires above. Figure 258. Wire loops sticking out of the face of the posts. No. 7 gal- vanized wire is suitable. They can be placed ver- tical or horizontal, ow- ing to method of fasten- ing wire fencing to them. years. Wooden posts are so easily replaced in wire fences and the top is still useful for fuel, that very poor wood in the end is not very expensive. FENCES 373 ■ '-'jf Cement corner post carrying an iron gate. Cement posts. — Posts made of cement and reinforced by steel are destined to rise in favor with the increase in the price of wooden posts. Especially for end posts of" permanent fences will it pay to use reinforced cement,, and in many permanent fences line posts of these materials are in the end more profitable than posts of wood or other ma- terial. If well made, they grow strong with age ; the cement not only increasing in strength with age, but also protecting the steel from rusting. Line posts are ordinarily quite strong enough if reinforced by placing in each corner a cable of two wires, twisted together, of the same size as that used in double barbed wire, No. ii or No. 12, or even ordinary new barbed wire may be used, weighing rather less than two pounds for the four cables. Unless extra strength is re- quired a suitable size for line posts is 6x6 or 5x7 inches at the base,, ^ and in either case Figure 260. Cement corner post, B, iuul brace post. A, with diagonal cement cross braces constructed in place. 1 ^ f\ inrhpc iif flip' Forms should remain in place for at least a week, O ^ "^ iiiv,iit.a at nic. •374 FARM DEVELOPMENT top and 7 feet long-. Where strong posts are required the base can be made 6x8 inches and the tops 3 by 6. Shorter and longer posts, also with lesser or greater diameter, will fit particular con- ditions. With cement costing $2 per barrel, sand and gravel 50 cents per cubic yard, wire cable 6 cents per post, and labor 20 cents per hour, and allowing for cost of molds and miscellaneous expenses, the cost of the smaller of these posts should be rather more than 25 cents and the larger ones about 35 cents apiece. Corner posts 6 to 8 inches square, with two more wire cables, or rods, in the corners, will cost two tp five times as much as line posts, and 4 x 4 or 4 x 6-inch Figure 261. Stretching a ribbon of woven wire to attacli it to a corner post. Figure 262. Cement corner posts and braces molded in place. Figure 263. Cement corner post and braces, all made in place, for woven wire fence. braces, 8 to lo feet long, will cost 30 to 50 cents apiece. Cement corner posts with a large lower end, as in Figure 255, are very awkward to remove when broken and the amount of cement required is large. Made with straight sides, or with rough and slightly enlarged lower end, corner posts will serve their purpose quite as well and Figure 264. Well-braced cement corner post and cement line posts. 376 FARM DEVELOPMENT Fifeure 2G5. One of the very best systems of bracing wooden eJid posts. will cost less. Cement posts, unlike cement blocks, can- not well be made in a machine and carried aside on panels, because the pallets bend and the posts crack, perhaps only sufficient to al- low air in to rust the reinforcing wires. The pallets for line fences should remain in place until the post hardens, the sides and ends of the forms to be used in succession on station- ary bases. Narrow, three-cornered strips of wood are sometimes laid lengthwise in the corners of the mold, so as to round the corners of the post, but as the down- ward face of the post is the one to which the wire fenc- ing is attached this is not very important. The upper corners can be rounded with a trowel, if the mixture is not too wet. Painting the insides of the molds with soap is often wise. Four inches from the top of the post, make a transverse groove in the back of the post near its top to hold in place a wire which binds a staple board to the post; or, 8 inches below the top, lay horizontally a corn cob, a piece of Figure 266. Poor method of bracing corner posts. FENCES Z17 sumach wood, with large pith, or other material through which a wire can be punched, or a piece of soft wood, which can be driven out, and thus provide a hole through the center of the post for the stay binder. (See Figure 254.) Wire loops can also be inserted in the surface of the finished post before it hardens, to serve as attachments for the fencing. (See Figure 258.) In molding the posts, fill in mortar and work, or tamp, and dress down with the deep leveler shown in Figure 253. Figure 267. Good method of bracing wooden corner posts The apparatus used in making cement posts is sim- ple and inexpensive, as shown in Figure 253, A, B, C, D and E. Posts can be made of cement and any sharp, clean sand in the proportion of one to three. But where gravel about one-half inch in diameter, or broken stone of the same size is used, the posts will be both stronger and cheaper, using one part cement, two and one-half 378 FARM DEVELOPMENT Figure 268. parts sand and five parts gravel or stone. The cement and other materials can be measured by means of bottomless boxes set in the mortar box. The cement and sand should be thoroug^hly mixed dry ; a ''crater" should be made in the pile, the water poured in, the edges of the crater worked into the water and then the whole worked and shoveled over until thoroughly mixed. The mortar can then be spread out level and the gravel or crushed stone can be spread on evenly and the whole well mixed by shoveling over until uniform. Using a "dry m i x," which "must be tamped for some time before water shows on the sur- face," is not so satisfac- tory as a " moist mix " which " requires only a little tamping to bring moisture to its surface," or a " wet mix," which " can be poured " and it fills all crevasses." ^ Figure 269. only needs to be worked about till The reinforcing wires are retained in position with some difficulty if a too dry mix is used, and are liable to be forced so close to the corners that FENCES 379 slight chipping or transverse checking of the post will cause them to be exposed. Some experimenting will be necessary to learn the best proportions and the best man- ner of mixing each class of materials found available in a given neighborhood. La'y, in each of the two lower corners, a cable of two wires, twisted together and nearly as long as the post, less than an inch from the sides and less than an inch from the face of the post. Again fill in and work or tamp, and then dress dow^n with the shallow leveler, similar to E but shallower, to about three-quarters of an inch from the top. Place the other two cables in the upper cor- ner, less than an inch from the sides. Add the upper layer, dressing it down level with the side boards. Leave the forms in place for two days to allow the mortar to set, when the sides and ends can be drawn to serve again on other pallets, using care not to disturb the posts. The dividing strips between the posts should remain a week, as removing them earlier disturbs the posts. The posts should lay several weeks, or better, some months, without dis- Figuie27i. turbance. Frequent Figure 270. 38o FARM DEVELOPMENT Wetting down is useful to secure the best curing. In placing the posts on the wagon, care should be used not to crack them so as to let air in to cause the wires to rust off. Corner posts can usually best be made in place. The post hole should be rather large and deep, the bottom Figure 272. Common three-board slide gate in three-barbed wire fence, most widely used American cattle fence and gate. Tliis is tlie larger than the upper end, and a hole lo or more feet away should be made for the foot of the brace. The mold of the post and the mold of the brace should be put in place, and the concrete placed in them and worked Figure 273. Rustic and serviceable pioneer gate. down or tamped. Some care will be needed to keep the two or more double twisted wire cables upright and in place in each outer corner of the upright post. The post should stand some months before a heavy fence is strained upon it. (See Figures 259 to 264.) Where a brace post and cement cross braces are used they can easily be built in place. Care must be used in FENCES 381 liaving stiff temporary wooden supports under the long braces, and if of boards, they must be supported from below or by means of nails through the side pieces of the molding form. (See Figures 260 and 261.) Figure 266 shows a poor method of bracing corner posts in which only one brace is used. The corner post is easily loosened causing a sag in the wires. The lower end of the brace being too low tends to lift the corner post out of the ground. If placed higher i 1 • i witiiniif flif -v^Wp- Figure 274. Splendid swing gate. May be constructetl of VVILUUUL LUC Wlie ^ij^gp fo„j. ,jj. more V horizontal boards. from the top of the first line post to the bottom of the corner post the line post is often pushed over, thus allowing the corner post to follow the line post and thus loosen the wire. Bracing corner posts. — Where a single brace is used it should not be too slanting lest the strain from the wires, due to changing tem- peratures, caus- ing the wires to lengthen and shorten, pull the post out of the Figure 275. Western slide gate. Cheap, simple, serviceable o-rniind T Vi f» and durable; fairly convenient. giwuiiu. ± ii c plan of bracing wooden posts shown in Figure 265, is both cheap and effective. The two blocks on the post, one at fl m m j 4 1 • . j 1 1 i 1 1 1 4 M 1 n 'X _ 1 L-^ j —^ J 1 J : ^ i 1 38: FARM DEVELOPMENT the bottom on the far side and one near the surface of the ground, help the post to hold its load. The twisted diagonal wire i """ l ¥fflyvxyBkl)o(y;0(^^ prevents the brace post giv- ing way, and thus the brace PMgure276. Steel slide gate, made Of angle iron and woven wire. ^''^ nela 111 place and keeps the corner post from responding to the pull of the wires. In starting to erect a wire fence, the planting and brac- Figure 277. Single hinged drive gate of angle iron and woven VFire. ing of corner and end posts is a matter of most careful consideration. If the wires, or ribbons of wires, can be attached to an unyielding post at the corner they do not sag and serve to hold all the other posts in line. These end posts need to be planted deeply in the ground • * * • and thorOUcrhlv T'lsure 27S. A large, wide gate better adapted for an en- fc> J^ trance to the farm than for a common pasture or lane gate. FENCES 383 Figure 279. I'iuUlock gate made of 2 x 4 pieces. Figure 2S0. Hea\T paddock gate. 384 FARM DEVELOPMENT anchored by cross pieces fastened to their botton.i and braced, as with a rather long timber, lo to 14 feet, reaching some distance along the line of the fence, and placed at not too wide an angle with the horizontal, so as to avoid pulling the corner post out of the ground. Gates. — Gate devices for fences are very numerous and the patent office at Washington has very many ap- plications for letters of patent for special patterns on gates. Since simplicity is one of the first neces- sities in a gate, complicated forms have not become popular, and the styles of gates most in use are of ex- ceedingly sim- ple construction. ^ A number of forms which Figure 281. Stile across a wire fence; wires sliould lie liovp n r n ir p n wrapped witii clotli to avoid tearing clotliing. ikxxk:: ^j i u v c ii very useful are here illustrated. Since iron and wire are so much more durable and strong, and easily handled, gates made of gas pipe, or better, of angle iron and woven wire, or other forms of iron, should take the place of wooden gates in many situations. Where gates are not much used, combined wood and wire-hinged gates, and wood and iron sliding gates, answer every purpose, and have the great advantage of being easily made and easily re- paired. Rustic gates, as in Figure 273, may be made pretty; and gates of iron as inconspicuous and therefore not out of harmony with other features in making up a pretty landscape. INDEX Page Acre-foot, the. of water. ... • 258 Aeration, soil acceleration by cul- tivation and drainage .... /u Agassiz Lake, the Ancient 44 Agricultural sciences . •*" substances carry force 1^ technology r ' c ' Agriculture, Department, bee Department of Agriculture sciences related to. 2b technical education m g Air, movement in pla,nts o^ movement in soil o^ spaces in soil ^' the soil needs • • • • o» Alkali soils ;• v--^^^' ^^?' ^^^ excess of, washed out by im- gation 267 Ancient Lake Agassiz •••••• if. Animals' dependence on plants. . /U development from lower forms ^j latent energy • ^'■ Appliances, surveying and me- chanical 1 ^o Aqueducts, iron ^J^c wood f *^ Arable fields • 12U Ashes for road surfaces. ...... . . • ^^^ Associations, State and National good roads, promote road building .• ^^* Assorted till, value as soil w "Backsetting" sod. . . • .• ■ • • ,• l-'^ "Back sight" or plus sight , explanation i^^ Bacteria ^i,^ Bacteriology ,^^ Barbed wire fences. .... ^ov Bargain hunting m buying farm, v* Bam buildings. •••■■, in? Barnyards and paddocks lu' Bicycle paths ^*' Blanket, dust. . »^ Blank forms, drainage lo^ value 152 Board drams ^^' Botany ,^^ Bracing comer posts -soi Branch drains • }^^ Breaking prame sod ^^^ Breathing pores ■ • • • • • • o^ Bridges... 272,300. 301 Brushing the land. . \^' Buildings for specialties iu» Buildings, the bam 1 iJ Page Bureau of Soils, Department of Agriculture, surveys 93 Burning the surface peat 131 Business, farming a good 13 organization of the farm. ... yo plan should be stable 98 the farm the foundation of . . 89 Capillarity •.-••• -?2 Capstan plow ditchers 216 Cement posts. . . .^ ^'J' Chains, surveyors . . . ... •••••■• 1°^ Character of farm neighborhood . 91 Chemicals 125 Chemistry {' Chlorophyll •••••••••. ,5^ Cities aid m road building 28^ Cities, good roads help 279 Classification of soils 5i mechanical o^ Clay soils, heavy, notes on. 263 mixing sand into, beneht. . . 13/ Clearing up timber lands 127 Concrete culvert • ^^^ Construction, culverts and small bridge structures 301 ditches, farm supply and field 259 road surface 322 survey for. j^^ surveying for i';? tile drains 200 Contour survey or cross section . 1/4 Conveying water from source to farms • • " '-i'-" ' ' Co-operation in roadmaking, State encouragement of. . 284 Comer posts, bracing 381 Costs and profits, studv ......... 146 data, notes by Maurice O. Eldridge ...._ 291 Cost of clearing land of stumps. . 123 crushed rock ■^jZ drain tiles ]^° grading ..... f'/l laying tile drains... . ^1^ roads of various widths 29/ sand-clay roads 29b tiling per acre j'-; Country life education and good roads • • • • ^'^ institutions devoted to edu- cation for ,-.••■■> ' Crops, certainty and quality ot increase ^^^ need irrigation ■f « ' rotation, provision for 1 1^ 386 INDEX Page Cross section or contour survey . . 174 Crowns and side ditches 321 Crushed rock for macadam roads 330 Cultivation, accelerates soil aera- tion 70 irrigated fields require special 271 Culvert, concrete 301 Culverts 300, 301 Datum plane 185 Dead furrows 183 Department of Agriculture, bul- letin on measurement of irrigation water 258 Department of Agriculture, Bu- reau of Soils 93 taking part in drainage 232 Office of Public Roads, 281, 334, 353 reports of drainage 232 Depth of drains 197 Devices, grading 205 Dikes, co-operative care of 230 pumps and gates 228 Dirt mulch, value 51, 85 Ditchers, capstan plow 216 Ditches 163 field 259 opening with machinery. ... 212 roadside 180 side 321 Ditch, filling 210 grading bottom of 202 laying tiles in 206 surveying line of 184 water from, taking onto land 262 Ditching machinerv 212 plow 220 Drag, log 344 or slush scraper 317 Drainage 140 accelerates aeration of soil. . 70 agricultural colleges dealing with 232 benefits 149 education 232 effect on soil shown in vari- ous ways 150 Government taking active part in 232 land needing 141 legislation 146, 153 localities especially needing. 145 need, how to determine 141. 145, 147, 148 not needing 148 plats 162 relation of rainfall 148 reports of Department of Agriculture on 232 sewers 225 surface 179 Drain, clay as material for mak- ing 166 cost of 168 entrance of water into 170 injury by freezing 152 Page Drain, laying in ditch 206 price list of 169 quality of 169 size of 196 tile factories 168 tiles 166 Draining roadbed 307 Drains, branches of 193 construction of tile 200 depth to make 197 making 9pen 216 obstructions in 231 opening, with spade 200 private 155 section of land with 177 slope or grade of 194 stone and board 227 surface 177 making a plan for 181 tile, construction of 200 cost of laying 215 mapping out 174 surv^ey for construction . 172 vertical and special 221 Drift, glacial 38 Drouth, endurance by soil 90 Durability, roads, points in 305 Dust blanket 51, 85 jacket in stone crusher 338 Earth, economical handling of .. . 313 general movement of water in 85 geological history of 32 roads, common 322 Earth, surfaces, spreading and compacting 327 water, movements in 85 Earthworms, benefit to soil 68 Education, drainage 232 for country life 5 institutions devoted to. 7 good roads 353 in agriculture; technical. ... 3 Eldridge, Maurice O., notes on cost-data 291 Electricity, relations of to agri- culture 27 Elements required for growth of plants 62 Elevating grader 220, 317 Elevator machinery for water. . . 247 Entomology, relations of to agri- culture 29 Excavating cuts and building grades 319 Explosives, nature and use 124 Falls of St. Anthony, history of . . 44 the recession of 47 Farm, business organization of the 96 general foundation plans for the 96 healthfulness of 90 producing capacity of 90 home, racially most impor- 15 tant selection of a 89 INDEX 387 Page Farms, irrigated, model plans of. 250 irrigation schemes 248 Farm, neighborhood, character. . 91 planning the 96 proximity to markets 91 residence 109 supply ditches 259 the, foundation of the farm business 89 Farmer, help to, from good roads 277 Farmers, relation of to roads. . . . 352 value of a strong race of, to state 13 Farming, as a vocation 13, 17 enterprise in 100 Farmstead 101 defined 96 site of the 101 Fence posts 371 Fences, barbed wire 360 hedge 362 hurdle and portable 366 ornamental 367 paddock 364 portable 366 poultry 370 repairing 359 various kinds of 355 wooden 361 woven wire 361 Fertility, maintenance of soil. ... 58 Fertilizers, more profitable use of ISO Fertilizing peaty land 132 Field, ditches 259 laterals, locating 259 plans should be platted on paper Ill stone, uses for 129 Fields, making them arable 120 planning of Ill Filling the ditch 210 Film water 75 Flat lands 144 Flooding of low lands, suggestions 145 Fords 349 "Foresight", or "minus sight", explanation 191 Forms, blank nd notebook 162 Free water 75 Freezing, injury to tiles by 152 Fungi 125 Furrows, dead 183 Furrow slice 51 pan 51 Garden 108 Gates 228, 384 Gates, water 253 Geological history of the earth. . . 32 Geology 27 some interesting glacial .... 44 'Glacial, drift or till 38 geology, some interesting. . . 44 period 36 Glaciers, materials moved by. ... 42 Page Good roads, and country life edu- cation 278 education 353 farm life improved by 278 help cities and villages 279 help the farmer 277 help ^ransportation com- panies 279 investment in, pays 277 literature 353 Grades building of 319 formation 311 materials, and their placing. 320 or slope, deciding upon the amount of 194 stakes, notes on 199 Grader, elevating 220, 317 Grading, cost of 296 Grading, devices 205 ditch bottom 202 Grass lands, partial clearing for. . 126 Gravel, as surfacing material. . . . 323 many grades or forms of . . . . 323 surfaces, spreading and com- pacting 327 Grubbing, explosives used in. . . . 124 Health, consideration in locating farm , 90 Heavy clay soils 2-63 Hedge fences 362 Hedges, roadside 351 Highway fimds 281 Hills, formation of morainic .... 39 Hillsides, springy 143 terracing 138 Hilly cotmtries 287 Home, farm, most important. ... 15 selection of a farm 89 training 2 House, farm 109 Hurdle fences 366 Hydrostatic water 83 Hygroscopic water 83 Implements, drainage 165 Institutions, educational, for country life 7 Instnxment, new height of, fixing 188 Instruments, leveling 160 Sctrveying 158 Intercontinental highway project 273 Investment in good roads, profit. 277 Iron aqueduct 245 Irrigation 234 and special cultivation 271 Irrigation, crops needing 267 laws 242 schemes for farm 248 Lake Agassiz, the Ancient 44 Lake waters 142 Land, a section with surface drains 177 brushing 117 clay, notes on 263 clearing of stumps, cost per acre 123 drainage 148, 206, 215. 225 3^ INDEX Page Land, flat 144 need of drainage 141 peaty, clearing and cropping 130, 132 subduing the 117 surfaces, development of present 34 survey, plat of land should show 199 tillage with more ease and better profits 151 Lands, grass, clearing for 126 plowing and fertilizing peaty soU 132 sewers used to drain. ...... 225 vinderdraining peaty soils. . . 228 Lanes and roads 107 Latent energy in plants and animals 21 Laterals, field, locating 259 Lawn 108 Laws, irrigation 239, 242 Laying tile drains, cost of 215 tiles in the ditch 206 Legislation, drainage 153 irrigation 239 road 280 Leveling instruments 160 use of in planning drain .... 186 Levels, how to use measurement of 191 Light, sandy, gravelly or chalky soils 64 Line of the ditch, surveying the. . 184 Literature, good roads 353 Locating field laterals 259 Location, farmstead 101 Log drag 344 Lumbermen's ice roads 349 Macadam road, unit cost of object lesson 293 crushed rock for 330 placing the layers of 334 repairing 3\5 selection of material; for . . 332 Macadam stone roads 330 Machine, reversible road. . . .219, 314 Machinery, ditching 212 drainage 165 farm, for removing stones. . . 129 Machinery for elevating water. . . 247 Manuring peaty soils 134 Markets, proximity of farm to. . . 91 Materials, road, for the grade, and placing 320 surface, mixing 325 Mathematics as related to agri- culture 26 Measurement of levels, how to use 19 1 Measuring weir 254 cost of constructing 256 Mechanical, appliances and sur- veying 156, 245, 286 classification of soils 63 Mechanics as related to agricul- ture 26 Page Medium, soils 65 textured soils 264 Meteorology, remarks. 28 Mileage of roads in United States 284 Miners' inch 257 "Minus sight" or "fore sight," explanation 19 1 Mixing surface materials 325 Model plan of irrigated farm. ... 250 Modem road building 272 Moorlands, soil formation on ... . 56 Morainic hills, the formation of . . 39 Mulch, dirt, and dust blanket. . . 85 Natural history 33 Neighborhood, character of 91 Notebook, drainage 162 Object lesson macadam road, imit cost of 293 Obstructions, open drains should be kept free from 231 Open drains 216 should be kept free from obstructions 231 Orchard 108 Organization, farm business 96 Origin of the great prairies 41 Ornamental fences 367 Outlets, drainage 213 Paddock fences 364 Paddocks and barnyards 107 Pasturing, solidifying by 131 Paths, bicycle 347 Peat, burning the surface 131 Peaty lands, clearing of trees, etc. 130 . growing crops on 132 plowing and pulverizing. ... 132 underdraining 228 Peaty soils 65 manuring 134 Physics as related to agriculture 26 Physics, road 303 Pike districts 283 Pioneer roads, locating 286 Plan for surface drains 181 Planning, farm .♦. 96 Plans, farm, general foundation. 96 Plant compounds are storage batteries 19 Plants, air movement in 69 development from lower forms 32 latent energy in 21 Plants, and the soil water 71 animals depend on 70 . elements required for use of. 62 relation of air to soil and ... 67 substances used by 62 Plat, land, shovdd show the gen- eral land survey 199 Plats, drainage 162 Plow, ditchers 216 for ditching 220 Plowing, and subsoUing 71 breaking prairie sod 134 peaty land 132 Plowing peaty lands <32 INDEX 389 Page "Plus sight", or "back sight", explanation 191 Ponds 142 Portable fences 366 Posts 358, 371 Posts, bracing comer 381 cement 373 setting 358 Poultry fences 370 Power amount of, required to draw a load 342 Prairies, great, origin of 41 Prairie sod, breaking 134 . Preliminary survey 286 Price list of drain tiles 169 Private drains 155 Production, soil, capacity 90 Profile, how to make a, of level survey 192 Profits, and cost must be carefully studied 146 better, from land 151 Puddling of clay soils 304 Pumps 228 Rainfall, relation to drainage. . . . 148 Ravelling of stones from the sur- face of stone road 345 Red River of the North, valley of 145 Relation of farmers to roads 352 Repairs, fence 359 macadam and telford road . . 345 road 306, 342 Residence on the farm 109 Resistance to traction 305 Revolving screen in stone crusher 338 Roadbed 307 draining the 307 Road building, economy in hand- ling earth 313 modem 272 need of pushing 276 neglect 276 Road, legislation 280 machine, reversible 219, 314 surface, ashes useful for hardening 325 constructing the 322 specifications for 289 telford 336 width of 312 Roads, and bridges 272 and lanes 107 common earth and sand. . . . 322 repairing 342 cost of sand-clay 295 locating 286 lumberman's ice 349 macadam, placing layers. . . 334 metal 324 mileage in United States. . . . 284 of various widths, cost of. . . 297 physics of 303 pioneer, locating 286 relation of farmers to 352 repairing of 342 selection of material 332 Page Roads, snow 346 stone 330 stones which are valuable for 323 unit cost 293 wood 324 Roadside, ditches 180 trees 351 weeds 351 Rock, crushed, cost of 339 crushers 337, 338 for macadam roads 330 igneous 35 quantities required for differ- ent widths and depths. . 339 Rods, surveyors' 162 Root hairs 71 Roots, of field crops 72 removal from peaty lands. . . 130 trees, protection of drains from 210 Rotation, crop, provision for sys- tematic 112 Sand-clay roads, cost of 295 Sand, mixing into clay soils 137 roads 322 Sandy soils, light 64 Science, relation of to agriculture 25 Sciences, agricultural 30 Scraper, slush ,.. 317 Screen, revolving in stone crusher 338 Seepage water 138 Sewers, drainage 225 Shelter belts, farmstead 102 Side ditches 321 Silt wells in drainage 213- Sinkholes 142 Site of the farmstead 101 Slope or grade, deciding upon amount of 194 Sloughs 141 Slush scraper 317 Snow roads 346 Sod, backsetting 135 breaking prairie 134 Soil, aeration, acceleration by cul- tivation, and drainage ... 70 air movement in 69 assorted till, quality 40 body 61 classification 53 color of 65 cultivation, acceleration of aeration . 70 drainage, acceleration of aer- ation 70 effect of drainage on, is shown in various ways. 150 fertility 61 sustaining 58 formation 51, 52 agencies in 54 favorable conditions; . . 57 under difficulties 55 formation on moorlaruis. ... 56 production, capacity for. ... 90 relations 67 390 INDEX Page Soil, sponge-like action of 80 stratification of 1 48 substances, toxic, theory of. 60 survey 93 unassorted till, quality 39 water and the plant 71 Soils, air spaces 67 alkaline 66. 138, 266 areas of types of 53 Bureau of. Department of Agriculture 93 chalky 64 classification of 53 mechanical 63 clay, mixing sand into 137 drainage, effect shown in various ways 150 excess of alkali in, washed out by irrigation 267 formed in place 43 gravelly 64 heavy clay 263 hungry 64 judging, care needed 92 light sandy 64 manuring peaty 134 mechanical classification of 63 mediiun 65 medium texture 264 mixing sand into clay 137 Soils, movement of air in 69 peaty 65 puddling of clay 304 quality, discussion of 58 room for air in 67 *" solidifying by pasturing. ... 131 warm 64 water holding power varies with different 81 Sources, water 238 Spade, opening drains with 200 Specialized plants and animals. . 23 Specialties, building for 108 Specifications for the road surface 289 Split log drag 344 Spreading earth and gravel sur- faces 327 Springy hillsides 143 Stakes, grade, notes 199 sur\'^eyors' 162 St. Anthony Falls, history and changes 44, 47 State, benefit by strong race of farmers 13 co-operation in roadmaking shovild be encouraged by the 284 Stomata 69 Stone, drains 227 field, uses for 129 road, loosening of stone from the surface of 345 worn, reconstruction 346 Stones, removing 128 road, value 323 Stones, uses for field 129 Page Stratification, soil 148 Study, agricultural, interesting and useful 16 Stumps, burning to remove 126 clearing land of, cost per acre 123 Stump land, seeding to grass. ... 126 piillers, use of 121 Subirrigation 271 Subsoil 51 Subsoiling 71 Success, enterprise as factor 100 Surface, drainage 179 plans for 181 drains, a section of land with 177 making a plan for 181 grade, width of depends upon various conditions 312 materials, mixing 325 peat, burning the 131 road, specifications 289 Surfacing material, road, gravel as 323 mixing of 325 properties of 305 Survey, contour or cross section 174 of roadway 288 for construction of tile drains 172 land, plat of land should show 199 notes, drain, should be well preserved 162 preliminary 286 Surveying, and mechanical appli • ances 156, 245, 286 instruments 158 line of the ditch 184 new height of instniment, fixing 188 stakes and tapes 162 transit • 158 Surveyors' notes should be pre- served 199 Survey, special notes 198 Swamps 142 Swampy countries 287 Tailings from rock crusher 338 Tapes, surveyors' 162 Taxation, method of 282 Technical education in agricul- ture 3 Technology, agricultural 31 Telford road 336 roads, repairing 345 Terracing hillsides. . 138 Tile drains, construction of 200 cost of laying 215 mapping of 174 opening ditches for 200 survey for construction of . . 172 Tiles, drain 166 injury of by freezing 152 quality of clay used in 166 Tiles, drain, laying in the ditch. . 206 protecting from the roots of trees 210 union at branches of 207 INDEX 391 Page Tiles, size of 196 Till, assorted, soil value 40 glacial 38 Timber lands, fire as a means of clearing up 127 Time of the day to supply water. 270 year in which to supply water 267 Tools, farm 129 Toxic soil substances, theory of. . 60 Tractioi , resistance to 305 Transit, surveyors' 158 Transportation companies, good roads help 279 Tree roots, drain obstruction by 210 Trees, removal from peaty l^nd. . 130 roadside 351 Types of soils, areas of 53 Unassorted till formed good soils 39 Underdraining peaty lands 228 Undulating country 41 Unit cost of object-lesson maca- dam road, Springfield, Mo. 293 Value of soils, care in judging the 92 Vertical drains 221 Villages, help from good roads. . . 279 Vocation, farming as a 13 Vocations, farming is rising in the scale among 17 Wagons, wide tire 344 Water, acre-foot of 258 conveying from source to farms 252 entrance of into drain tile ... 170 film and free 75 Page Water, gates 253 general movements ©f, in the earth 85 holding power varies with different soils 81 hydrostatic 83 hygroscopic 83 machinery for elevating. ... 247 measuring of 254, 258 movements in the earth. ... 85 sources of . . 238 taking from ditches upon the land 262 time of the day to supply .. . 270 time of the year in which to supply 267 Waters, lake 142 Waterways, use and improvement of 151 Weeds, roadside 351 Weir, measuring 254 Wide tire wagons 344 Width of road 312 Width of the surface grade de- pends upon various condi- tions 312 Windbreaks, farmstead 102 Wire fence 361 Wood and metal roadways 324 Wood aqueducts, need 245 Wooden fences 361 Worms, earth, benefit to soil .... 68 Woven wire fences 361 Zoology 29 STANDARD BOOKS PUBLISHED BY ORANGE JUDD COMPANY NEW YORK CHICAGO Ashland Building People's Gas Building 315-321 Fourth Avenue 150 Michigan Avenue An^ of these books mil be sent by maiU postpaid, to an}^ part of the world, on receipt of catalog price. We are alrvavs happy to correspond with our patrons, and cordially invite them to address us on any matter pertaining to rural books. Send for our large illustrated catalog, free on appli- cation. First Principles of Soil Fertility By Alfred Vivian. There is no subject of more vital importance to the farmer than that of the best method of maintaining the fertility of the soil. The very evideni decrease in the fertility of those soils which have been under cultivation for a number of years, combined with the increased competition and the advanced price of labor, have convinced the intelligent farmer that the agriculture of the future must be based upon more rational practices than those which have been followed in the past. We have felt for some time that there was a place for a brief, and at the same time comprehensive, treatise on this important subject of Soil Fertility. Professor Vivian's experience as a teacher in the short winter courses has admirably fitted him to present this matter in a popular style. In this little book he has given the gist of the subject in plain language, practically devoid of technical and scientific terms. It is pre-eminently a "First Book," and will be found especially valuable to those who desire an introduction to the subject, and who intend to do subse- quent reading. Illustrated. 5x7 inches. 265 pages. Cloth. Net, $1.00 The Study of Corn By Prof. V. M. Shoesmith. A mjst helpful book to all farmers and students interested in the selection and im- provement of corn. It is profusely illustrated from photo- graphs, all of which carry their own story an^.^ contribute their part in making pictures and text mattet a clear, con- cise and interesting study of corn. Illustrated. 5x7 inches. 100 pages. Cloth Net, $0.50 n) The Cereals in America By Thomas F. Hunt, M.S., D.Agri.. Professor of Agron- omy, Cornell University. If you raise tive acres of any kind of grain you cannot afford to be without this book. It is in every way the best book on the subject that has ever been written. It treats of the cultivation and improvement of every grain crop raised in America in a thoroughly practical ana accurate manner. The subject-matter includes a comprehen- sive and succinct treatise of wheat, maize, oats, barley, rye, rice, sorghum (kafir corn) and buckwheat, as related particu- larly to American conditions. First-hand knowledge has been the policy of the author in his work, and every crop treated is presented in the light of individual study of the plant. If you have this book you have the latest and best that has been written upon the subject. Illustrated. 450 pages. 514 x^ inches. Cloth $1.75 The Forage and Fiber Crops in America By Thomas F. Hunt. This book is exactly what its title indicates. It is indispensable to the farmer, student and teacher who wishes all the latest and most important informa- tion on the subject of forage and fiber crops. Like its famous companion, "The Cereals in America," by the same author, it treats of the cultivation and improvement of every one of the forage and fiber crops. With this book in hand, you have the latest and most up-to-date information available. Illus- trated. 428 pages. 5J^x8 inches. Cloth $1-75 The Book of Alfalfa History, Cultivation and Merits. Its Uses as a Forage and Fertilizer. The appearance of the Hon. F. D. Coburn's little book on Alfalfa a few years ago has been a profit revela- tion to thousands of farmers throughout the country, and the increasing demand for still more information on the subject has induced the author to prepare the present volume, which is by far the most authoritative, complete and valuable work on this forage crop published anywhere. It is printed on fine paper and illustrated with many full-page photographs that were taken with the especial view of their relation to the text. 336 pages. 65^ X 9 inches. Bound in cloth, with gold stamp- ing. It is unquestionably the handsomest agricultural refer- ence book that has ever been issued. Price, postpaid, . $2.00 Clean Milk By S. D. Belcher, M.D. In this book the author sets forth practical methods for the exclusion of bacteria from milk, and how to prevent contamination of milk from the stable to the consumer. Illustrated. 5x7 inches. 146 pages. C4oth $100 (5) Bean Culture By Glenn C. Sevey, JhJ.S. A practical treatise on the pro- duction and marketing of beans. It includes the manner of growth, soils and fertilizers adapted, best varieties, seed selec- tion and breeding, planting, harvesting, insects and fungous pests, composition and feeding value; with a special chapter on markets by Albert W, Fulton. A practical book for the grower and student alike. 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Cloth $0.50 (6) Alfalfa By F. D. CoBUKN, Its growth, uses, and feeding value. The fact that alfalfa thrives in almost any soil; that without reseeding, it goes on yielding two, three, four, and sometimes five cuttings annually for live, ten, or perhaps lOO years ; and that either green or cured it is one of the most nutritious forage plants known, makes reliable information upon its pro- duction and uses of unusual interest. Such information is given in this volume for every part of America, by the highest authority. Illustrated. 164 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth. $0.50 Ginseng, Its Cultivation, Harvesting, Marketing and Market Value By Maurice G. Kains, with a short account of its history and botany. It discusses in a practical way how to begin with either seeds or roots, soil, climate and location, preparation planting and maintenance of the beds, artificial propagation, manures, enemies, selection for market and for improvement, preparation for sale, and the profits that may be expected. This booklet is concisely written, well and profusely illus- trated, and should be in the hands of all who expect to grow this drug to supply the export trade, and to add a new and profitable industry to their farms and gardens, without inter- fering with the regular work. New edition. Revised and en- larged. Illustrated. 5x7 inches. Cloth $0.50 Landscape Gardening By F. A. Waugh, professor of horticulture, university of Vermont. A treatise on the general principles governing outdoor art ; with sundry suggestions for their application in the commoner problems of gardening. Every paragraph is short, terse and to the point, giving perfect clearness to the discussions at all points. In spite of the natural difficulty of presenting abstract principles the whole matter is made entirely plain even to the inexperienced reader. Illustrated. 152 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth Net, $0.75 Hedges, Windbreaks, Shelters and Live Fences By E. P. Powell. A treatise on the planting, growth and management of hedge plants for country and suburban homes. It gives accurate directions concerning hedges; how to plant and how to treat them; and especiafly concerning windbreaks and shelters. It includes the whole art of making a delightful home, giving directions for nooks and balconies, for bird culture and for human comfort. Illustrated. 140 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $0.50 (8) Farm Grasses of the United States of America By William Jasper Spillman. A practical treatise on the grass crop, seeding and management of meadows and pastures, description of the best varieties, the seed and its impurities, grasses for special conditions, lawns and lawn grasses, etc., etc. In preparing this volume the author's object has been to present, in connected form, the main facts con- cerning the grasses grown on American farms. Every phase of the subject is viewed from the farmer's standpoint. Illus- trated. 248 pages. 5x7 iiches. Cloth $1.00 The Book of Corn By Herbert Myrick, assisted by A. D. Shambia, E. A. Burnett, Albert W. Fulton, B. W. Snow, and other most capable specialists. A complete treatise on the culture, mar- keting and uses of maize in America and elsewhere for farmers, dealers and others. Illustrated. 372 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $1.50 The Hop — Its Culture and Care, Marketing and Manufacture By Herbert Myrick. A practical handbook on the most approved methods in growing, harvesting, curing and selling hops, and on the use and manufacture of hops. The result o£ years of research and observation, it is a volume destined to be an authority on this crop for many years to come. It takes up every detail from preparing the soil and laying out the yard, to curing and selling the crop. Every line represents the ripest judgment and experience of experts. Size, 5x8; pages, 300; illustrations, nearly 150; bound in cloth and gold; price, postpaid. $1.50 Tobacco Leaf By J. B. Killebrew and Herbert Myrick. Its Culture and Cure, Marketing and Manufacture. A practical handbook on the most approved methods in growing, harvesting, curing, packing and selling tobacco, with an account of the opera- tions in every department of tobacco manufacture. The contents of this book are based on actual experiments in field, curing barn, packing house, factory and laboratory. It is the only work of the kind in existence, and is destined to be the standard practical and scientific authority on the whole sub- ject of tobacco for many years. 506 pages and 150 original engravings. 5x7 inches. Cloth ^2or> (y. Bulbs and Tuberous-Rooted Plants By C. L. Allen. A complete treatise on the history, description, methods of propagation and full directions for the successful culture of bulbs in the garden, dwelling and greenhouse. The author of this book has for many years made bulb growing a specialty, and is a recognized authority on their cultivation and management. The cultural direc- tions are plainly stated, practical and to the point. The illustrations which embellish this work have been drawn from nature and have been engraved especially for this book. 312 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $1.50 Fumigation Methods By Willis G. Johnson. A timely up-to-date book on the practical application of the new methods for destroying insects with hydrocyanic acid gas and carbon bisulphid, the most powerful insecticides ever discovered. It is an indis- pensable book for farmers, fruit growers, nurserymen, gardeners, florists, millers, grain dealers, transportation com- panies, college and experiment station workers, etc. Illus- trated. 313 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $1.00 Diseases of Swine By Dr. R. A. Craig, Professor of Veterinary Medicine at the Purdue University, A concise, practical and popular guide to the prevention and treatment of the diseases of swine. With the discussions on each disease are given its causes, symptoms, treatment and means of prevention. Every part of the book impresses the reader with the fact that its writer is thor- oughly and practically familiar with all the details upon which he treats. All technical and strictly scientific terms are avoided, so far as feasible, thus making the work at once available to the practical stock raiser as well as to the teacher and student. Illustrated. 5 x 7 inches. IQO pages. Cloth. $0.75 Spraying Crops — Why, When and How By Clarence M. Weed, D.Sc. The present fourth edition has been rewritten and set throughout to bring it thoroughly up to date, so that it embodies the latest practical information gleaned by fruit growers and experiment station workers. So much new information has come to light since the third edi- tion was published that this is practically a new book, needed by those who have utilized the earlier editions, as well as by fruit growers and farmers generally. Illustrated. 136 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth. $0.50 (10) Successful Fruit Culture By Samuel T. Maynard. A practical guide to the culti- vation and propagation of Fruits, written from the standpoint of the practical fruit grower who is striving to make his business profitable by growing the best fruit possible and at the least cost. It is up-to-date in every particular, and covers the entire practice of fruit culture, harvesting, storing, mar- keting, forcing, best varieties, etc., etc. It deals with principles first and with the practice afterwards, as the foundation, prin- ciples of plant growth and nourishment must always remain the same, while practice will vary according to the fruit grower's immediate conditions and environments. Illustrated. 265 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth. . $1.00 Plums and Plum Culture By F. A. Waugh, A complete manual for fruit growers, nurserymen, farmers and gardeners, on all known varieties of plums and their successful management. This book marks an epoch in the horticultural literature of America. It is a complete monograph of the plums cultivated in and indigenous to North America. It will be found indispensable to the scientist seeking the most recent and authoritative informa- tion concerning this group, to the nurseryman who wishes to handle his varieties accurately and intelligently, and to the cultivator who would like to grow plums successfully. Illus- trated. 391 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $1.50 Fruit Harvesting, Storing, Marketing By F. A. Waugh. A practical guide to the picking, stor- ing, shipping and marketing of fruit. The principal subjects covered are the fruit market, fruit picking, sorting and pack- ing, the fruit storage, evaporation, canning, statistics of the fruit trade, fruit package laws, commission dealers and deal- ing, cold storage, etc., etc. No progressive fruit grower can afford to be without this most valuable book. Illustrated. 232 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $1.00 Systematic Pomology By F. A. Waugh, professor of horticulture and landscape gardening in the Massachusetts agricultural college, formerly of the university of Vermont. This is the first book in the English language which has ever made the attempt at a com- plete and comprehensive treatment of systematic pomology. It presents clearly and in detail the whole method by which fruits are studied. The book is suitably illustrated. 288 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $1.00 (11) Feeding Farm Animals By Professor Thomas Shaw. This book is intended alike for the student and the farmer. The author has succeeded in giving in regular and orderly sequence, and in language so simple that a child can understand it, the principles that govern the science and practice of feeding farm animals. Professor Shaw is certainly to be congratulated on the successful man- ner in which he has accomplished a most difficult task. His book is unquestionably the most practical work which has ap- peared on the subject of feeding farm animals. Illustrated. 53^ X 8 inches. Upward of 500 pages. Cloth. . . . $2.00 Profitable Dairying By C. L. Peck. A practical guide to successful dairy man- agement. The treatment of the entire subject is thoroughly practical, being principally a description of the methods prac- ticed by the author, A specially valuable part of this book consists of a minute description of the far-famed model dairy farm of Rev. J. D. Detrich, near Philadelphia, Pa. On the farm of fifteen acres, which twenty years ago could not main- tain one horse and two cows, there are now kept twenty-seven dairy cattle, in addition to two horses. All the roughage, litter, bedding, etc., necessary for these animals are grown on these fifteen acres, more than most farmers could accomplish on one hundred acres. Illustrated. 5x7 inches. 200 pages. Cloth $0.75 Practical Dairy Bacteriology By Dr. H. W. Conn, of Wesleyan University. A complete exposition of important facts concerning the relation of bac- teria to various problems related to milk. A book for the classroom, laboratory, factory and farm. Equally useful to the teacher, student, factory man and practical dairyman. Fully illustrated with 83 original pictures. 340 pages. Cloth. 5^ X 8 inches $1.25 Modern Methods of Testing Milk and Milk Products By L. L. VanSlyke. This is a clear and concise discussion of the approved methods of testing milk and milk products. All the questions involved in the various methods of testing milk and cream are handled with rare skill and yet in so plain a manner that they can be fully understood by all. The book should be in the hands of every dairyman, teacher or student. Illustrated. 214 pages. 5x7 inches $0 75 (12) Animal Breeding By Thomas Shaw. This book is the most complete and comprehensive work ever published on the subject of which it treats. It is the first book which has systematized the sub- ject of animal breeding. The leadmg laws which govern this most intricate question the author has boldly defined and authoritatively arranged. The chapters which he has written on the more involved features of the subject, as sex and the relative influence of parents, should go far toward setting at rest the wildly speculative views cherished with reference to these questions. The striking originality in the treatment of the subject is no less conspicuous than the superb order and regular sequence of thought from the beginning to the end of the book. The book is intended to meet the needs of all persons interested in the breeding and rearing of live stock. Illustrated. 40.=; pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth. . . . $1.50 Forage Crops Other Than Grasses By Thomas Shaw. How to cultivate, harvest and use them. Indian corn, sorghum, clover, leguminous plants, crops of the brassica genus, the cereals, millet, field roots, etc. Intensely practical and reliable. Illustrated. 287 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $i.oc SoiUng Crops and the Silo By Thomas Shaw. The growing and feeding of all kinds of soiling crops, conditions to which they are adapted, their plan in the rotation, etc. Not a line is repeated from the Forage Crops book. Best methods of building the silo, filling it and feeding ensilage. Illustrated. 364 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $1.50 The Study of Breeds By Thomas Shaw. Origin, history, distribution, charac- teristics, adaptability, uses, and standards of excellence of all pedigreed breeds of cattle, sheep and swine in America. The accepted text book in colleges, and the authority for farmers and breeders. Illustrated. 371 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $1.50 Clovers and How to Grow Them By Thomas Shaw. This is the first book published-which treats on the growth, cultivation and treatment of clovers as applicable to all parts of the United States and Canada, and which takes up the entire subject in a systematic way and consecutive sequence. The importance of clover in the econ- omy of the farm is so great that an exhaustive work on this subject will no doubt be welcomed by students in agriculture, as well as by all who are interested in the tilling of the soil. Illustrated. 5 x 7 inches. 337 pages. Cloth. Net ■ . $1.00 (13> Land Draining A handbook for farmers on the principles and practice of draining, by Manly Miles, giving the results of his extended experience in laying tile drains. The directions for the laying out and the construction of tile drains will enable the farmer to avoid the errors of imperfect construction, and the disap- pointment that must necessarily follow. This manual for practical farmers will also be found convenient for reference in regard to many questions that may arise in crop growing, aside from the special subjects of drainage of which it treats. Illustrated. 200 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $1.00 Barn Plans and Outbuildings Two hundred and fifty-seven illustrations. A most valu- able work, full of ideas, hints, suggestions, plans, etc., for the construction of barns and outbuildings, by practical writers. Chapters are devoted to the economic erection and use of barns, grain barns, horse barns, cattle barns, sheep barns, cornhouses, smokehouses, icehouses, pig pens, granaries, etc. There are likewise chapters on birdhouses, doghouses, tool sheds, ventilators, roofs and roofing, doors and fastenings, workshops, poultry houses, manure sheds, barnyards, root pits, etc. 235 pages. 5 x 7 inches. Cloth $1.00 Irrigation Farming By Lute Wilcox. A handbook for the practical applica- tion of water in the production of crops. A complete treatise on water supply, canal construction, reservoirs and ponds, pipes for irrigation purposes, flumes and their structure, methods of applying water, irrigation of field crops, the garden, the orchard and vineyard, windmills and pumps, appliances and contrivances. New edition, revised, enlarged and rewritten. Profusely illustrated. Over 500 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $2.00 Forest Planting By H. Nicholas Jarchow, LL. D. A treatise on the care of woodlands and the restoration of the denuded timberlands on plains and mountains. The author has fully described those European methods which have proved to be most useful in maintaining the superb forests of the old world. This expe- rience has been adapted to the different climates and trees of America, full instructions being given for forest planting of our various kinds of soil and subsoil, whether on mountain or valley. Illustrated. 250 pages. 5 x 7 inches. Cloth. $1.50 (14) The New Egg Farm By H. H. Stoddard. A practical, reliable manual on producing eggs and poultry for market as a profitable business enterprise, either by itself or connected with other branches of agriculture. It tells all about how to feed and manage, how to breed and select, incubators and brooders, its labor- saving devices, etc., etc. Illustrated. 331 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $1.00 Poultry Feeding and Fattening Compiled by G. B. Fiske. A handbook for poultry keep- ers on the standard and improved methods of feeding and marketing all kinds of poultry. The subject of feeding and fattening poultry is prepared largely from the side of the best practice and experience here and abroad, although the underlying science of feeding is explained as fully as needful. The subject covers all branches, including chickens, broilers, capons, turkeys and waterfowl ; how to feed under various conditions and for different purposes. The whole subject of capons and caponizing is treated in detail. A great mass of practical information and experience not readily obtainable elsewhere is given with full and explicit directions for fatten- ing and preparing for market. This book will meet the needs of amateurs as well as commercial poultry raisers. Profusely illustrated. 160 pages. 5 x 75^ inches. Cloth. . . . $0.50 Poultry Architecture Compiled by G. B. Fiske. A treatise on poultry buildings of all grades, styles and classes, and their proper location, coops, additions and special construction; all practical in de- sign, and reasonable in cost. Over 100 illustrations. 125 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $0.50 Poultry Appliances and Handicraft Compiled by G. B. Fiske. Illustrated description of a great variety and styles of the best homemade nests, roosts, windows, ventilators, incubators and brooders, feeding and watering appliances, etc., etc. Over 100 illustrations. Over 125 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $0.50 Turkeys and How to Grow Them Edited by Herbert Myrick. A treatise on the natural history and origin of the name of turkeys; the various breeds, the best methods to insure success in the business of turkey growing. With essays from practical turkey growers in different parts of the United States and Canada. Copiously illustrated. 154 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $1.00 (18) Rural School Agriculture By Charles W. Davis. A book intended for the use of both teachers and pupils. Its aim is to enlist the interest of the boys oi the farm and awaken in their minds the fact that the problems of the farm are great enough to command all the brain power they can summon. The book is a manual of exer- cises covering many phases of agriculture, and it may be used with any text-book of agriculture, or without a text-book. The exercises will enable the student to think, and to work out the scientific principles underlying some of the most important agricultural operations. The author feels that in the teaching of agriculture in the rural schools, the laboratory phase is al- most entirely neglected. If an experiment helps the pupil to think, or makes his conceptions clearer, it fills a useful pur- pose, and eventually prepares for successful work upon the farm. The successful farmer of the future must be an experi- menter in a small way. Following many of the exercises are a number of questions which prepare the way for further re- search work. The material needed for performing the experi- ments is simple, and can be devised by the teacher and pupils, or brought from the homes. Illustrated. 300 pages. Cloth. 5x7 inches $i.-oo Agriculture Through the Laboratory and School Garden By C. R. Jackson and Mrs. L. S. Daugherty. As its name implies, this book gives explicit directions for actual work in the laboratory and the school garden, through which agri- cultural principles may be taught. The author's aim has been to present actual experimental work in every phase of the subject possible, and to state the directions for such work so that the student can perform it independently of the teacher, and to state them in such a way that the results will not be suggested by these directions. One must perform the experi- ment to ascertain the result. It embodies in the text a com- prehensive, practical, scientific, yet simple discussion of such facts as are necessary to the understanding of many of the agricultural principles involved in every-day life. The book, although primarily intended for use in schools, is equally valuable to any one desiring to obtain in an easy and pleasing manner a general knowledge of elementary agriculture. Fully illustrated. 5 1^2 x 8 inches. 462 pages. Cloth. Net . $1.50 Soil Physics Laboratory Guide By W. G. Stevenson and I. O. Schaub. A carefully out- lined series of experiments in soil physics. A portion of the experiments outlined in this guide have been used quite gen- erally in recent years. The exercises (of wdiich there are 40) are listed in a logical order with reference to their relation to each other and the skill required on the part of the student. Illustrated. About 100 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth. . $0.50 (17) r UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY BERKELEY THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW Books not returned on time are subject to a fine of 50c per volume after the third day overdue, increasing to $1.00 per volume after the sixth day. Books not in demand may be renewed if application is made before expiration of loan period. itIAf FEB 23 1919 ^^Hi m^ u DEC 1 6 '66 -4 Pft ^O : M DEPT 50m-7,'16 "l*iv: ■ Vi/ vy /«^\yc- aM464 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY