THE WILEY AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING SERIES - KrishiKosh

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THE WILEY AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING SERIES
EDITED BY
J. B. DAVIDSON, A.E.
Professor of Agricultural Engineering, Iowa State College
WILEY AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING SERIES
EDITED BY
J. BROWNLEE DAVIDSON
Professor of Agricultural Engineering
Iowa State College
Irrigation Principles and Practice
BY ORSON W. ISRAELSEN, Professor of Irrigation and Drainage,
Utah State Agricultural College. Illustrated. In Press.
Land Drainage
BY W. L. POWERS, Soil Scientist, Oregon Agricultural College
and Experiment Station; and T. A. H. TEETER, Extension
Engineer, University of Minnesota. Second Edition, revised
and enlarged. 353 pages, 6 by 9, 169 figures. Cloth.
Agricultural Machinery
BY J. BROWNLEE DAVIDSON, Professor of Agricultural
Engineering, Iowa State College. 396 pages, 6 by 9, 600
figures. Cloth.
Principles of Farm Mechanics
BY M. A. SHARP, Assistant Professor of Agricultural Engi-
neering, Iowa State College; and W. M. SHARP. 269 pages, 51/4
by 8, 339 figures. Cloth.
Farm Buildings
BY W. A. FOSTER, Assistant Professor of Rural Architecture.
University of Illinois; and DEANE G. CAHTEH, Professor of
Agricultural Engineering, University of Arkansas. Second
Edition, rewritten and reset. 358 pages, 51/4 by 8, 300 figures.
Cloth.
Dairy Engineering
BY JOHN T. BOWEN, Senior Electrical Engineer, United States
Department of Agriculture. 532 pages, 51 by 8, 163 figures.
Cloth.
Highway Engineering
BY GEORGE R. CHATBTJRN, Professor of Applied Mechanics and
Machine Design, University of Nebraska. 379 pages, 51/4 by 8,
186 figures. Cloth.
Farm Machinery
BY FREDERICK A. WIRT, formerly Head of Agricultural
Engineering Department, University of Arkansas. 162 pages,
51/3 by 8, illustrated. Cloth.
LAND DRAINAGE

BY
W. L. POWERS, Ph.D.
Soil Scientist, Oregon Agricultural College and Experiment Station;
Secretary, Oregon State Drainage Association and
Oregon Reclamation Congress;
Member American Society of Agricultural Engineers

AND
T. A. H. TEETER, B.S., (C.E.)
Associate Professor of Engineering, General Extension Division,
University of Minnesota; formerly Professor of Drainage
and Irrigation Engineering, Oregon Agricultural College;
Member American Association for the Advancement of Science

SECOND EDITION
REVISED AND ENLARGED

NEW YORK
JOHN WILEY & SONS, INC.
LONDON: CHAPMAN & HALL, LIMITED 1932
COPYRIGHT, 1922, 1932
BY WILBUR L. POWERS
AND THOMAS A. H. TEETER

All Rights Reserved
This book or any part there of must not
be reproduced in any form without
the written permission of the publisher.

Printed in U. S. A.
Printing Composition and Plates Binding
F. H. GILSON CO. TECHNICAL COMPOSITION CO. STANHOPE BINDERY
BOSTON CAHBRIDGE BOSTON
INTRODUCTION TO SECOND EDITION
During the decade which has passed since the first edition was
prepared, a number of notable developments have occurred in the
drainage field.
River and flood control have required attention of the national
congress; soil erosion and terracing has become a problem of
national importance; war salvage explosives have been extensively
used in drainage and clearing; drainage in irrigated sections by
means of pumping from wells has found wide application; progress
has been made in developing pumping and excavating machinery, in
building ditches with the aid of a scarifier in connection with
running water, and in the use of vertical drainage.
It has been the aim in making this revision to adhere to the plan
of providing a concise drainage text, with the least practicable
encroachment upon other related fields. Laboratory exercises will
need to be modified to fit local climatic conditions, and have not
been developed in detail. References indicate sources of further
information, and are not necessarily specific citations.
Numerous persons have given valuable suggestions and criti-
cisms, and the authors are especially indebted to S. H. McCrory, M.
R. Lewis, Lewis A. Jones and L. T. Jessup for aid of this kind.
W. L. P.
January, 1932

iii
FOREWORD
This book deals with the subject of drainage primarily from the
agricultural standpoint, and the subject has been developed largely as
a matter of applied soil-physics. Drainage is considered herein as a
means of reclaiming additional areas and of making wet lands more
productive. Reclamation of arid and wet lands affords the chief
means of increasing our food producing areas and drawing a greater
proportion of our population into the rural districts.
The present volume is intended, first, as a text book for students
of general agriculture or agricultural engineering; second, as a
reference book for practical farmers; and third, as an aid to owners of
wet, overflowed, marsh, swamp or alkaline land who desire to
improve their holdings.
The information presented herein has been gathered by the
authors, as farmers, students and instructors, in the Corn Belt States
and later in the West, where preliminary feasibility surveys and
selection of lands for irrigation projects and drainage projects have
been an important feature of our work. Review questions, general
references and laboratory exercises have been included to help make
up the kind of a book that has seemed to the writers to be needed.

W. L. POWERS
CORVALLIS, OREGON
December 10, 1921
GENERAL REFERENCES
1. ALVORD, J. W., AND BURDICK, C. B., 1918. — Relief From Floods. McGraw-Hill
Book Co.
2. AYRES, Q. C., AND SCOATES, D., 1928. — Land Drainage and Reclamation.
McGraw-Hill Book Co.
3. CATO AND VARRO, 1913. — Roman Farm Management, p. 37. The Macmillan
Co.
4. ELLIOTT, C. G., 1911. — Engineering for Land Drainage, pp. 1-11. John Wiley
& Sons, Inc.
5. ELLIOTT, C. G., 1915. — Practical Farm Drainage, pp. 11-15. John Wiley &
Sons, Inc.
6. ETCHEVEHRY, B. A., 1931. — Land Drainage and Flood Protection. McGraw-
Hill Book Co.
7. JEFFREY, J. A., 1916. — Text-book of Land Drainage. The Macmillan Co.
8. JONES, E. R., 1908. — Notes on Drainage. Published by author, Madison,
Wisconsin.
9. KING, F. H., 1906. — Irrigation and Drainage, p. 1. Published by author,
Madison, Wisconsin.
10. LYON, T. L., AND BUCKMAN, H. O., 1929. — The Nature and Properties of Soils.
The Macmillan Co.
11. MILES, MANLY, 1903. — Land Draining. The Orange Judd Co., New York.
12. MUNN, B., 1860. — The Practical Land Drainer — C. M. Saxton. Barker &
Co., New York.
13. MURPHY, D. W., 1920. — Drainage Engineering. McGraw-Hill Book Co.
14. PARSONS, J. L., 1915. —Land Drainage. Clark Book Co.
15. PICKELS, G. W., 1925. — Drainage and Flood Control Engineering.
McGraw-Hill Book Co.
16. STEPHENS, GEORGE, 1834. — The Practical Irrigator and Drainer.
Wm. Blackwood, Edinburgh.
17. TEELE, R. P., 1927. — Economics of Land Reclamation. Shaw Co.
18. WALKER, R. D., 1929. — The Principles of Underdrainage. Chap-
man and Hall, London.
CONTENTS

PART I. —FIELD DRAINAGE
CHAP. PAGE
I. DEVELOPMENT, IMPORTANCE AND FUTURE OF DRAINAGE .. 1
II. BENEFITS OF DRAINAGE 13
III. RELATION OF SOIL TO DRAINAGE 23
IV. RELATION OF SOIL WATER TO DRAINAGE 31
V. TYPES OF DRAINS AND THEIR LOCATION 46
VI. MATERIALS FOR COVERED DRAINS 56
VII. DEPTH AND FREQUENCY OF TILES 69
VIII. MEASUREMENT OF DRAINAGE-WATER 83
IX. SIZE AND GRADE FOR TILES 102
X. CONSTRUCTION OF UNDERDRAINS 113
XL COSTS AND PROFITS OF TILE-DRAINAGE 130
XII. DEVELOPMENT OF WET LAND 142

PART II.— DISTRICT DRAINAGE

XIII. DRAINAGE DISTRICTS AND DRAINAGE LAWS 152
XIV. ASSESSMENTS OF DRAINAGE BENEFITS AND COSTS 165
XV. LARGE TILES vs. OPEN DITCHES 178
XVI. DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE OF OPEN
DITCHES 185
XVII. FLOOD CONTROL 210
XVIII. ESTIMATES OF COSTS OF LARGE DRAINAGE SYSTEMS 226

PART III.— SPECIAL DRAINAGE PROBLEMS

XIX. THE DRAINAGE OP TIDAL AND OVERFLOWED MARSH LANDS 234
XX. THE DRAINAGE OF IRRIGATED LANDS................................... 260
XXI. DRAINAGE BY MEANS OF PUMPING FROM WELLS................ 274
XXII. PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF EROSION, WITH SPECIAL
REFERENCE TO TERRACING................................................ 284
XXIII. MISCELLANEOUS DRAINAGE PROBLEMS............................... 297
ix
X CONTENTS

PART IV.— DRAINAGE SURVEYING
CHAP. PAGE
XXIV. DRAINAGE SURVEYING AND PRACTICE 305

APPENDIX
FARM DRAINAGE LABORATORY EXERCISES 330
TABLES FOR USE IN KUTTER'S FORMULA 334
U. S. CENSUS OF DRAINAGE — 1930 336
LAND DRAINAGE

PART I.—FIELD DRAINAGE

CHAPTER I

DEVELOPMENT, IMPORTANCE AND FUTURE OF
DRAINAGE

The removal of excess water from wet lands by drainage acquires a
more vital importance as a greater proportion of the naturally arable land
is brought under cultivation. Wet spots hinder farm operations and
transportation in occupied farming areas; and the drainage of such spots
grows more imperative as values become higher and agriculture more
intensive. The intermittent nature of rainfall, and the variations in soil
and topography necessitate artificial control of excess water. The
reclaimable marsh lands, in the United States alone, embrace
approximately 95,000,000 acres, or an area over twice that of the state
of Iowa, while the wet farm land includes several times this area.
Opened to settlement and cultivation, this land would increase, to an
almost incredible extent, the value of our possible annual crops. The
peoples of the earth must be fed; and the drainage of wet but fertile and
accessible lands is of fundamental importance in providing food and
homes for the increasing population., The public marsh lands in the
Central States were largely disposed of a generation ago at $0.01 to $1
an acre. These lands, where reclaimed, have acquired a value of $100 to
$200 an acre. It is evident from these figures that a comprehensive
public policy of reclamation should be perfected.
The working out of such a policy will disclose the fact that
1