Show I r rI r IT F r rA A Barnyard Scene on nn the tho North Tract Henry Freese has good stock slack and makes them pay Drainage Systems o of the e a van Valley Drainage in Large Irrigation Pr Projects Have Become Foregone Conclusions The lIw Valley Valley- is Building For the Future Three Future Three Systems Under Way IVay We have in Millard County the two largest drainage districts to be found in the arid regions as well as several smaller districts In our broad flat country it would have been possible to have made all these drainage areas into one large district had all been ready at once and of one mind Many people have looked upon our drainage activities as an evidence evidence I that west Millard County lands are worthless or at least ver very able The is quite quito the con con- The extensive scale on which we propose to drain our country is not an evidence that the land is bad but that the people vho who have settled here are a wide awake and farsighted ed people They re realize lIze that the lands are level and in time will be water They also realize that the crop of one productive year will pay for tor the drainage so they have I decided that the tile shall be in the ground ready for tor operation when the I water-table water rises to a height that may prove damaging to the fertility of the land The farmers of the entire irrigated West Vest are are now just to see seethe seethe seethe I the truth in the warning sent out for tor years by scientific men in irrigation practice The result of at their slowness to take expert advice Is that hundreds hundreds hundreds hun hun- of at thousands of acres of once productive land is now sterile due to the seepage and accumulation of at al alkali alkali alkali al- al kali on the surface That our lands would in time be beIn bein bein in this condition we now are able to see plainly and we are administering the ounce of prevention rather than waiting fr the pound of cure after the damage is done There Is now about seventy-five seventy thousand acres organized into drainage drainage drainage drain drain- age districts in l County and of this amount about ten thousand acres are now drained In a very short time every acre of the irrigated portion of this great valley will be drained and therefore cannot become I spoiled This should encourage every farmer to build permanently and well on his land This should make the look toward Millard l County as the safest and surest proposition proposition proposition pro pro- position to be found in the great Intermountain intermountain intermountain in- in country The principal effects of drainage are 1 It firms up the soil by removIng removing removing ing the free tree soil soU water 2 It Improves the granulation or of the soil making it easy to prepare a good seed bed 3 It Increases the capacity of the soil to hold moisture in quantities available to the plant Too much water in the soil soU being more Injurious injurIous injurious ious to plants than not enough 4 It Improves the aeration of the soil by drawing off at the gravity water thereby increasing the porosity of the soil permitting air all circulation Air circulation is also Increased t through r ugh the tile For this one reason alone aeration many agronomists are advocating advocating advocating ad ad- tile the draining even for tor the dry 5 It raises the temperature of the soil since the specific of water is higher than that of at soil soU This makes germination of at seed more uniform and more rapid 6 It promotes growth of soil bacteria bacteria bacteria bac bac- teria which means so much to fertil fertil- ity 7 It Increases available supply a by increasing water-holding water capacity b by chemical changes due to improved aeration and c by making soil able to sustain nitrogen fixing bacteria 8 S. It enlarges the tho root zone of the soil 9 It reduces heaving frost-heaving of soil soU which breaks the roots of many plants 10 It removes injurious alkali salts so common in the arid regions 11 It increases crop yields 12 It Improves sanitary condi condi- Here then are twelve good reasons reasons reasons rea rea- sons why we weare are doing the right thing at the right time by draining our lands All the in this country are easily dissolved in water and therefore easily taken away by drainage We Ve hope that our irrigation companies companies com com- panics will soon become as alive to conditions as the rest of the population population i tion and cement certain canals which are seeping excessively With the successful completion of or orthe the tiling of the lands now in drainage drainage drainage drain drain- age areas Millard County will havethe have havo the largest and most productive sugar beet and alfalfa section in the Intermountain intermountain inter inter- intermountain mountain West |