There are many acres of land which contain too much water in the area that roots should penetrate to permit of optimum plant growth. Roots of most plants will not penetrate where there is an excess of water, and air cannot circulate where moisture is superabundant. Usually these conditions exist where the soil is of a clayey nature. The abundance of water may be caused by the inability of surface water to percolate through the soil. It may take so long, due to the nature of the soil, for this water to pass through the lower depths of subsoil that the roots of plants are destroyed by lack of oxygen. In such cases the application of lime, increasing the humus content, and deeper plowing will be found helpful. Occasionally, the discharge of dynamite or blasting powder in the area, if it appears to be in the form of a pocket, will break up the hard pan subsoil and permit the water to escape. Less dependence is now being placed on this means of correcting a wet condition of the soil than was the case some years ago.
A similar condition of overabundant water in soil may be due to the presence of springs or to a high water table. Little can be done to correct a condition where the water table itself is so close to the surface as to inhibit plant growth and this is assuredly one of the factors to be looked into before a tract is purchased. Where the surplus water is evidently being supplied by a spring, an underdrain made of tile pipe, 3 or 4 inches in diameter, can be laid as a means of conducting the water into a ditch or adjoining drain. In laying such a drain, it should be placed above the area where the wet soil surface is most evident. If such a drain is laid 18 inches to 3 feet deep above the wet area, it will cut off the water seeping down underground and carry it away. Good results cannot be secured if the drain is laid directly in the area of extreme wetness or if it does not cut off the flow of water before it reaches the area that is consistently too wet for plant growth.
From what has been said in this brief description of soil treatment and soil improvement, it is evident that one must live with his soil for some time in order to understand it and to be able intelligently to correct its deficiencies, overcome its weaknesses and make it capable of supporting plants which are desirable from the owner's point of view. In the great majority of cases, the improvement process, while a slow one, is far from hopeless and almost any soil that is not extremely sandy or clayey can be so intelligently treated as to make it productive.