Gruss, E. W.

English

Texas A&M University

GIFT 
MAR 6 191-3 
* BULLETIN 
OP T H E 
A G R I C U L T U R A L A N D M E C H A N I C A L 
C O L L E G E OP T E X A S . 
O C T O B E R , 1915. 
D N I V £ K S \ T V ) 
E X T E N S I O N S E R V I C E 
B U L L E T I N B 11 
Land Bedding as a Method 
of D r a i n a g e in the 
Gulf Coast Region 
of T e x a s 
Address C larence Ousley, Direc tor E x t e n s i o n 
Serv ice , Col lege Stat ion, T e x a s . 
\ 
Co-operative E x t e n s i o n W o r k in Agr icul ture and 
H o m e E c o n o m i c s , Agr icul tura l and Me-
chanica l Col lege of T e x a s and Uni ted 
S t a t e s D e p a r t m e n t of Agri-
cul ture Co-operating. 
BLANK PAGE IN ORIGINAL 
L A N D B E D D I N G A S A M E T H O D O F D R A I N -
j- A G E IN T H E G U L F C O A S T R E G I O N 
O F T E X A S . 
B y E . W . Gruss , 
U. S . D e m o n s t r a t i o n Agent , Galves ton County. 
F a r m e r s a r e coming m o r e and m o r e to 
rea l ize t h a t b e f o r e t h e y can hope to r a i s e crops 
with r e a s o n a b l e ^ss^uranoe of s u c c e s s t h e y 
must have dra inage . T h e y k n o w t h a t t i le drain, 
age is the method t h a t t h e y m u s t look to ulti-
mate ly . However , it c o s t s m o n e y to insta l l 
t i le , and m a n y f a r m e r s a r e not in a po-
s i t ion to expend t h e i r funds on t h i s s y s t e m of 
dra inage a t this t ime . P e r h a p s the n e x t b e s t 
th ing to t i le dra inage , provided t h e f a r m 
d i t ches a r e in good order, will be w h a t is k n o w n 
as " land bedding . " 
L a n d bedding is accompl i shed b y throwing 
the soil up in " l a n d s " f rom for ty to e ighty f e e t 
in width, pushing t h e soil to t h e c e n t e r of t h e 
beds f rom y e a r to y e a r unt i l the soil is l i t e ra l ly 
" l i f t e d up out of t h e w a t e r . " M a n y f a r m e r s 
whose soil is low and poorly drained t r y to 
o v e r c o m e t h e t rouble by throwing the i r land 
up in r idges t h r e e , four or f ive f e e t in width. 
T h i s is done f rom y e a r to year , and no perma-
e n t i m p r o v e m e n t is wrought . T h e work m u s t 
be done over e a c h y e a r and a f t e r m a n y y e a r s 
of hard w o r k of throwing the land b a c k and 
for th t h e f a r m is not worth a penny m o r e f rom 
t h e s tandpoint of e f f e c t i v e dra inage t h a n it w a s 
when f i rs t placed in cul t ivat ion. 
R a t h e r t h a n spend so much t i m e and labor 
e a c h y e a r a t a t a s k f o r e v e r hopeless , so f a r 
as p e r m a n e n t dra inage is concerned , why not 
apply the s a m e t i m e and va luable labor with 
s o m e def ini te purpose in v iew t h a t will give 
posi t ive r e s u l t s . I t cos ts no m o r e to t h r o w the 
land up in wide beds than i t does to r idge it , 
and by the s y s t e m of bedding h e r e i n descr ibed 
t h e soil is s lowly but sure ly ra i sed and t h e level 
of s tanding w a t e r in the s u r f a c e soil is lowered 
and the cropping condi t ions a r e corresponding-
ly improved. 
No t e c h n i c a l qua l i f i ca t ions a r e n e c e s s a r y on 
t h e part of a f a r m e r to es tab l i sh a s y s t e m of 
3 
beds in h is f ield. All t h a t is n e c e s s a r y is to 
lay off t h e f ield into lands 40, 50 or 80 f e e t ijL 
width. T h e lands should lie in the direct ion! 
of t h e s lope and not a c r o s s it . T h e s lope c a n 
be d e t e r m i n e d by the f low of s t o r m w a t e r . 
B e d s of 40 f e e t a r e not des i rab le e x c e p t on v e r y 
low land or in c a s e s w h e r e t h e c o s t of land is 
not a n i t em to be considered. In a l m o s t e v e r y 
i n s t a n c e f a r m e r s who s t a r t e d beds 40 f e e t in 
width h a v e found i t m o r e des i rab le to t h r o w 
two n a r r o w beds into one a f t e r two y e a r s of 
bedding. B e d s 80 f e e t wide a r e bes t and should 
be t h e a v e r a g e . 
Having de termined upon t h e width of beds 
to be used, beg in in t h e middle of the land and 
plow out, a deep furrow m a k i n g one round with 
the plow. T h e second round r e t u r n s the soil 
into the f i r s t furrow opened and thus t h e plow-
ing cont inues unti l t h e e n t i r e land h a s b e e n 
turned over. T h e t e a m m u s t be turned to t h e 
moldboard side of the work. 
T h e c e n t e r of the bed, known as t h e back-
furrow, m u s t be plowed out deeply e a c h y e a r 
to prevent t h e f o r m i n g of a hard r idge in t h e 
middle of the bed on which plant growth would 
be v e r y u n s a t i s f a c t o r y . 
C a r e m u s t be e x e r c i s e d a t the t ime of e a c h 
plowing t h a t the dead-furrow a t e a c h side of 
t h e bed is not deepened below the level of 
th&-run-off which c o n n e c t s all the dead-furrows 
a s well a s any w a t e r furrows t h a t m a y be be-
t w e e n t h e plant rows. W h e r e such a run-off 
does not e x i s t it i s r e c o m m e n d e d to l o w e r t h e 
turn-road suf f i c ient ly t h a t it m a y be uti l ized a s 
the run-off . W h e r e bedding is s t a r t e d with t h e 
opening of a new field it will be u n n e c e s s a r y 
to do any e x t r a w o r k on the turn-road. All t h a t 
is required is to avoid dragging t h e soil down 
into t h e roadway. 
In order to keep the di tches and dead-furrows 
open a t al l t i m e s and thus p e r m i t t h e w a t e r 
to be carr ied off without delay i t is a d v i s a b l e 
to build a levee pusher , known in some local i -
t i e s a s a "go-devil ." ' T h i s s imple and inexpen-
s ive i m p l e m e n t wil l give e x c e l l e n t s e r v i c e in 
k e e p i n g t h e w a t e r w a y s open, and do i t quickly 
and cheaply . I t c a n be m a d e b y a n y f a r m e r 
who c a n use a saw and drive a nai l or bore a 
hole . I t is m a d e of two p i e c e s of 2x12, one 10 
f e e t long and the o ther 6 ; or one 9 f e e t long 
and the o ther 5. S e t on edge and saw one end 
4 
to a beve l so t h a t t h e r e a r end of t h e s h o r t e r 
J^iece will b e a b o u t 3 or 4 f e e t f r o m t h e 
longer piece . B o l t t h e b e v e l ends s e c u r e l y 
and b r a c e in s e v e r a l p l a c e s to p r e v e n t i t s b e i n g 
c losed in the c o u r s e of work . About t h e cen-
t e r of t h e long p iece bolt a s t o u t upr ight to b e 
used in t i l t ing t h e i m p l e m e n t w h e n w o r k i n g 
in a n a r r o w di tch . W h e n opera t ing , h i t c h t h e 
t e a m so t h a t t h e long p i e c e wil l run s t r a i g h t 
wi th t h e side of t h e ditch while t h e shor t p iece 
p u s h e s t h e loose d ir t upon t h e plowed land. 
I f t h e r e a r e bumps or m o u n d s in t h e f ield, it 
m a y be n e c e s s a r y t o t a k e a spade and dig 
t h r o u g h t h e s e mounds to t h e f u r r o w beyond. 
A l i t t l e a t t e n t i o n g iven to t h e s e and to your 
dead-furrows a f t e r e a c h ra in wil l s h o w w h e r e 
t h e o b s t r u c t i o n s o c c u r and wil l e n a b l e t h e 
f a r m e r to i n c r e a s e t h e e f f i c i e n c y of h is d i tches . 
I t i s i m p o r t a n t to g ive s o m e a t t e n t i o n to the 
dead- furrows and run-of fs a f t e r each plowing, 
r e m o v i n g all o b s t r u c t i o n s i m m e d i a t e l y , so t h a t 
in c a s e of r a i n s al l s t o r m w a t e r wil l run of f 
a s soon a s poss ib le a f t e r fa l l ing . 
Owing to the f a c t t h a t one or two y e a r s ' w o r k 
wil l n o t r a i s e t h e land to a n y g r e a t degree , i t 
i s a d v i s a b l e to r a i s e s l i g h t r i d g e s on t h e b e d s 
and on t h e s e r idges p lant t h e crops . A f t e r t h e 
th ird y e a r t h i s r idging can b e d iscont inued and 
t h e f a r m e r c a n p lant his c rops on the broad 
level beds wi thout t h e use of t h e n a r r o w 
r idges . 
In order to g e t t h e b e s t r e s u l t s run t h e rows 
with and not a c r o s s the beds . H o w e v e r , i f for 
a n y r e a s o n i t i s i m p r a c t i c a l to run t h e r o w s 
with the beds it wil l be n e c e s s a r y to run t h e 
l e v e e p u s h e r t h r o u g h t h e dead-furrows a f t e r 
e a c h cu l t iva t ion in order to r e m o v e al l loose 
soi l or o t h e r o b s t r u c t i o n s . 
A s i d e f r o m t h e b e n e f i c i a l r e s u l t s t h e f a r m e r 
wil l g e t f rom b e t t e r d r a i n a g e by t h e use of wide 
beds h e wil l f ind t h a t the dead-furrows m a y b e 
ut i l ized w h e n t h e t i m e c o m e s for the ins ta l la -
t ion of a t i l e d r a i n a g e s y s t e m . In such c a s e s 
t h e dead-furrows, wi th addi t ional deepening , 
m a y be used for t h e loca t ion of l a t e r a l s of t h e 
t i le dra ins . T h e run-off d i t c h e s m a y be deep-
5 
ened to rece ive the mains or sub-mains. In 
laying off a fa rm into a ser ies of lands, i t ijL 
well to keep this u l t imate end in view. 
In conclusion, let it be s ta ted that no f a r m e r 
should expect resul ts the f i rs t year . In the 
second year improvements will begin to be 
noticed. Af ter that t ime conditions will visi-
bly improve as the beds grow higher . Nor is 
there any danger t h a t the beds will grow too 
high very soon. F ie lds in which bedding has 
been pract iced for more than ten years do not 
show any sign that they are get t ing too high, 
but on the other hand show increased ef f ic iency 
each year . If, however, they should become 
too high, all tha t needs to be done is to plow 
them down each a l ternate year and thus delay 
fur ther rais ing. It is doubtful if any f a r m e r 
who has bedded for tha t length of t ime will be 
willing to undo what has taken him y e a r s to 
accomplish. 
T h i s is farm improvement without the outlay 
of a single penny. It is nothing more nor less 
than turning to account an annual recurr ing 
labor expense so that it will yield dollars and 
c e n t s both in the production of b e t t e r and 
more abundant crops and increas ing the value 
of the farm. 
Approved October 4, 1915, E . C. Gee, Profes-
sor of Agricultural Engineer ing, A. & M. College 
of T e x a s . 
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Land Bedding as a Method of Drainage in the Gulf Coast Region of Texas.

https://oaktrust.library.tamu.edu/bitstream/1969.1/154931/7/Bull0011a.pdf

Land Bedding as a Method of Drainage in the Gulf Coast Region of Texas.

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