DRAINAGE ESSENTIAL

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20821, 3 June 1939, Page 26 (Supplement)

DRAINAGE ESSENTIAL

IMPROVEMENT OF SOIL KEEPING DISEASE AT BAY Modern farming necessarily means the utilisation of every available inch of ground. It precludes the presence of miniature swamps or patches of boggy land, and where these exist they represent a black mark against the efficiency of a farmer. Not only L> swampy land useless (although it is reckoned the same as fertile land for taxation purposes), but it is a definite danger to stock and obviously prevents a farm from being managed in the most efficient manner. There are too many farmers who look upon drainage as a spare time job and 'like too many jobs of this nature it is never actually done. However. no matter how small the piece of boggy land, it is really something that requires urgent attention for after al: anything that represents a subtraction from profits is not a matter to be put off lightly. Many New Zealand farmers are adopting tile draining as the best means of getting rid of wet patches on the farm, and they are finding that it repays them handsomely. Lessens Disease Danger Every wet patch on a farm is a potential breeding place for all sorts of parasites that represent a definite danger to the health of the stock. Disease is taking an increasing toll of our dairy stock and consequently it behoves every farmer to take one of the first steps in the prevention of it, that is, by draining the surplus water off his land. There is no

farmer who is not familiar with the saying that prevention is better than cure and surely in any programme for the prevention of disease one of the essential items should be to stop the breeding of harmful microbes.

Well-drained land has very many advantages over badly drained land. It spells the difference between success and failure. Fertilising badly drained land is merely a waste of time because the soil is in such a condition that it cannot make use of the fertiliser. Drainage lets air into the soil down to the water level. The space occupied by every drop of water, which is passed out through the drain, must necessarily be replaced with air in the interstices of the soil down to the bottom of the drain. Air in the soil, the home of the roots is absolutely necessary. if the roots of plants do not breathe like animals, they at least require a constant supply of air to promote the growth of the plant. Easier to Work Well-drained land is easier to work for drainage renders it friable, easily pulverised and yielding to the plough, thus requiring less labour in cultivation. Drainage warms the soil to such an extent that it is ready for the plough many days sooner than cold, wet soils; besides, the seeds, when deposited in the soil, find all the conditions necessary to ensure germination and growth. Other advantages of drainage may be summarised as follows:—It deepens the soil. A shallow soil underlaid with a cold, wet sub-soil compels the roots of growing crops to seek food near the surface in soil perhaps already exhausted by former crops to a considerable extent. It lengthens the seasons by enabling the farmer to plant sooner, and the increased temperature of the soil protects it against the early frosts of autumn, adding probably thirty days to the length of the season for the growth and maturity of crops. It increases the production and the value of producing a better quality crop or pasture, while it discourages foot-rot, which stock contract on wet and water-log-ged ground.