Land Drainage and Reclamation

THIS work is of the nature of a text-book and as such is particularly designed for American State colleges, in that the usual problems associated with each subject are asked at the end of each chapter. Survey with levelling is taught and then the technique of drawing, the open ditch method and the use of earth dams being especially carefully explained. Land clearing by grazing, cutting and burning encourages soil erosion which has to be controlled. This leads to the consideration of the terracing of fields and the use of check dams in gullies. Finally, sub-surface draining is considered, and the use of mechanical means in the cutting of the necessary trenches for drain pipes. Where there are wide areas of similar land as in Iowa and Texas the methods recommended can be applied. In Great Britain, with its much greater variation in topography and geology, this book will only be helpful in suggesting methods, the consideration of the drainage of each farm being a little research of its own. Land Drainage and Reclamation Prof. Quincy Claude Ayres Prof. Daniels Scoates By. (McGraw-Hill Publications in Agricultural Engineering.) Second edition. Pp. xi + 496. (New York and London: McGraw-Hill Book Co. Inc., 1939.) 26 s .