TRACTORS • MACHINERY •  DRAINAGE • IRRIGATION • SOIL CONSERVATION
BUILDINGS    •    FARM ELECTRIFICATION    •    CROP DRYING AND PROCESSING
Purdue University
Agricultural Extension Service
Lafayette, Indiana
Mimeo AE-60
LAND SMOOTHING SYSTEM OF SURFACE DRAINAGE
Donald R. Sis son, Extension Agricultural Engineer
surface prater means delayed farming operations
and poor crops.
The land smoothing system of surface
drainage consists of a smoothed land surface
with collection drains at proper intervals
across the slope of the land.   The collection drains are usually about parallel.   The
purpose of this system of surface drainage
is to provide complete removal of surface
water from the field leaving no pockets of
standing water.   In this system of drainage
every crop row is a miniature drainage
channel.
This system works best on land that
has a very slight but uniform slope.   The
land surface is not graded or changed other
than to smooth it with a land leveler.   This
drainage system is of greatest value on
heavy soils where tile drainage is not used.
Sometimes tiling may be used to supplement
fte land smoothing system of surface drainage.
Planning
In almost all cases the field should be
surveyed with an engineer's level to determine the directions and amounts of land
slope.    This system will work if the land
has as little as 1 inch slope in 100 feet.   If
the land is flatter or if there are large depressions that cannot be filled with a land
leveler, then land grading or some other
system is necessary.
Layout
1. Collection drains should be laid
out across the slope but never with less fall
than 1 inch in 100 feet    Han crop rows to
run in the direction of greatest field slope,
across the collection drains.
2. Space the collection drains from
300 to 600 feet apart according to land slope
as follows:
Land levelers may be used to smooth the ground surface
between collection drains to provide complete surface
water removal.