Newspapers / The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, … / Oct. 8, 1910, edition 1 / Page 1
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COUGEnVATlOU OF THE VSATZR POl'SEPCPAGE C S SBj iP. A Farm and Home ' Weekly for North : and $ " South Carolina,Virginia, Tennessee, and Georgia .XXV. No. 40. RALEIGH, N. C, OCTOBER 8, 1910 Weekly: $1 a HovQ io Make the Waste Wet Acres Profitable. "PWTK DAKOTA TN an article published in the Mforld's Work some months ago James J. Hill estimated that there is in the United States nearly 120,000 square miles of marsh and swamp land which can be drained and added to the productive area of the country. This embraces only the wet areas large enough to be consid ered in Government estimates.. Of the uncounted smaller tracts, Mr. Hill says: In the eastern and central parts of the country most farms have a few acres of low ground which no attempt has betn maae to reaeem oecause mere is acreage enough without them. It seems reason able to belteve'fhat the aesfreeate of wet land available for cultivation by proper drainage will be far above the ', largest figure yet named. Professor Skater says that in Great Britain and Ireland futly one-fifth of the most fertile agricultural lands has been .reclaimed by drainage, and that one-twentieth of the now tillable land in Europe, was inundated and un fit for agriculture in the eighth century' The accompanying map shows the area of swamp lands in each State, and prac tically all of these lands. could be drain ed and brought under cultivation. It is estimated that the average cost of drain' age that is: - with t a arface ditches or these swamp lands w( uld be less than $10 per acre, and once drained they would be amotig the most - productive of ' all c ur soils. Most 6 f them are rich in hum-as and nlant foe da which have been largely drawn; in many cases, from the higher lands now beine cultivated. The drainage of these large tracts of swamp land must be done, in most cases, hiv hist enrnnraiinns nr hv the establishment ri , - -j , . ' 0 co-operative drainage districts. In some States, notably Florida, the State itself is taking an active hand; in others there nas not yet even been made any provision for the formation of drainage districts by those who mightwish to engage in the work. The, reclamation of these targe swamps is thus a public problem, but the redemption of the little wet patches of a few acres scattered here and there throughout the fields is a problem' ' tne inaivtauais w no own mem., Ivor ts it only zne lanas ioo we to cultivate at all that need drainage. Thousands and thous dands of acres of land which now produce poor crops and hich are in danger of flooding whenever a wet spell or a hard rain comes could be tile drained and made doubly productive, taking one year with another. Proper surface and underground drainage would solve the problem of washing for numberless folds. Indeed, the disposition of surplus water, is one of the peat fundamental problems which every Southern farmer has to solve. . . - . . .. i, - -.- We expect this fait and winter to treat the various phases o this subject just as fully aslour spacewtil permit. We shall have something to say about drainage la about drainage cs a 2??" Proposition, about .the j making of terraces and surface ytches, and so on: The special phase of? the subject we are king vp I just now? However is tile drainage. 'On page 2 Mr, French, t and: on pago 5, Prof. C. h.rjwmdn, tell each a, 1 jf j M I "T Jl'" . I -;J" v ' : .KANSAS MS SOUK V J V j l .. X ' ..-. ' :, l-n1tt " mtTCK 1HOWIM RCLATIVC TOTW. - Or SWM IAIN TO TBI OWW AAtA Or 0MIO,MOiN AHO ILUMOIft n ToTAkAxt II9.972S4M NEARLY 120,000 SQUARE MILES THAT CAN BE RECLAIMED BY DRAINAGE. little story showing just how tile drainage has paid. Nothing visionary or theoretical about either story, jut the simple ac count of what has been done ard what many another reader .could do with equal profit. Next week we shall begin a notable series of articles on tile drainage by Mr. French. In them Mr. French will go right at the practical side of the problem tell just how to do the work, what it will cost, etc. Then a little later we shctt publish an article telling and showing just how to make cement drain tile. Right now, then, is a good time for every reader fo took over his waste acres and wet fpofs and see if a little worfc aloni this line will not greatly help ' to increase, his profits another year. . FEATURES OF THIS ISSUE. BEEF AND DAIRY TYPES OF CATTLE CONTRASTED 12 COTTON WILT OR BLACKROOT 7 CULTIVATE THE READING HABIT 9 I1 ALL CARE OF THE PULLETS. . . . 10 80 BUSHELS OF CORN ON SAND-HILL LAND ............... 0 GETTING FULL VALUE OUT OF THE FRUIT CROP.. 10 nOW TO GET THE BEST GRADE OF TOBACCO SEED , 18 MAKING THE SOUTH THE HEALTHIEST PORTION OF AMERICA 11 . ONE CROP OF PEARS 7 PLOWHANDLK TALKS 14 PRESERVE THE WATER POWERS FOR THE PEOPLE ........ 4 THE BASIS OF ENDURING PROSPERITY 13 THE PROBLEMS SOME WOMEN HAVE TO SOLVE. 8 . THEt! REDEMPTION OF A WASTE ACRE 5 WItiT FARMERS , WANT TO KNOW 9 ' w; 7 . ' 4 v. ' " - ' ! ;
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
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Oct. 8, 1910, edition 1
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