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THE

PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE

OF

bAND DRATNAGE

EMBRACING

A BRIEF HISTORY OF UNDERDRAINING; A DETAILED EXAMINA:
TION OF ITS OPERATION AND: ADVANTAGES: A DESCRIP-
TION OF VARIOUS KINDS OF DRAINS, WITH PRAC-
TICAL DIRECTIONS FOR THEIR CONSTRUCTION:

THE MANUFACTURE OF DRAIN-TILE, ETC.

Illustrated by nearly 100 Engravings.

ey
By JOHN H. KLIPPART,

Author of the “ Wheat Plant,” Corresponding Secretary of the Ohio State
Board of Agriculture, Etc.

CINCINNATI:
ROBERT CLARKE & OCO.,

PUBLISHERS AND BOOKSELLERS.

1862.

Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1861,
By ROBERT CLARKE & CO.,

In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Southern District of Ohio.

CINCINNATI:
E. MORGAN & SONS,
Stereotypers and Printers, 111 Main St.

PREFACE.

_ Tuis treatise is presented to the public as a brief dis-
cussion of the most important considerations involved in
Land Drainage. The writer has not aimed to produce an
original work, but has endeavored to collate well ascer-
tained facts, and present them in as brief a space as the
nature of the subject would permit. The productions of
the best writers on the subject in Great Britain, France
and Germany, as well as the current agricultural publica-
tions of this country, whether serial or otherwise, have
been consulted in the preparation of this volume; while
the numerous opportunities which presented themselves
to the author, in fulfilling his duties in connection with
the State Board of Agriculture, for observing the prac-
tical details of the work by visiting places where draining
operations were conducted, tile manufactured, etc., have
been cheerfully embraced, and the results embodied in
the work.

It may not be improper to state that the work was un-
dertaken at the earnest solicitation of the Committee on
Agriculture of the Ohio Legislature, during the session
of 1858-9. ‘The engravings were ordered and the greater
portion of them finished before the appearance of Judge
French’s excellent work on the same subject; it was then
too late to abandon the project.

The work is respectfully submitted to the judgment of ©
the farmers of the Great Northwest, in the hope that it
may be found not altogether unuseful to them in their en-
deavors to improve their property.

tilt)

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eat: Fhe anes Gh far vx? he a

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CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTORY.

DeFIniTIon, ata We Sek a” Ret MNO reat Samer tag agt oc:
History of Drainage among the Ancients, - - ~— - : 4
Drain Pipes used in France, A. D. 1620, - - - - - 13
Drainage in England, - - - - - = = 15
Prdinete in Frances * 0 ee ON ne ee
Drainage in the United States, eR ORE RSE eg OE Mat Pee

PART L—THEORY OF DRAINAGE.

Introduction, - - - - - - - - - - 39
CHAPTER [. Properties of Soilea, - 9-9. - (.-: +. - 42
CHAPTER Il. How Drainage operates—How it affects Soils, 60
CHAPTER III. Drainage removes Stagnant Waters from the

Surface, - ayer hs - - - - 72
CHAPTER IV. Drainage removes Surplus Water from under

the Surface, ae - - - : 98
CHAPTER V. Drainage lengthens the Working Season, - 112
CHAPTER VI. Drainage deepens the Soil, ee a EO
Crapter VII. Drainage warms the Undersoil, — - - - 128

: (¥)

vi CONTENTS.
Cuapter VIII. Drainage equalizes the Temperature of the
Soil during the Season of Growth, - = -_-:135

Cuarter «IX. Drainage carries down Soluble Substances to

the Roots of Plants, - - - - 134
CHAPTER X. Drainage prevents “ Heaving out,” “ Freezing

out,” or ‘Winter killing,” - - - 144
CHAPTER XI. Drainage prevents injury from Drought, - 147

CuapteR XII. Drainage improves the Quantity and Quality

of dhe (Craps, = <= eb See
CuapterR XIII. Drainage increases the Effects of Manures, 165

Cuapter XIV. Drainage prevents Rust in Wheat, and Rot

in Potatoes, - - - - . - 169
CuarterR XV. Other Advantages of Draining, - - - Iii
Cuapter XVI. Will Drainage pay? - -— - + ate
Cuaprer XVII. What lands need Draining, » = 7) =e

Cuapter XVIII. On the Absorbing Qualities of Soil, and Ana-
lysis of Drain Water, - - - - 187

itis

CHAPTER

CHAPTER

CHAPTER
CHAPTER

CHAPTER

CONTENTS.

PART II.—PRACTICE OF DRAINAGE.

I. Practical Drainage, - - =

=-

Vii

Materials for keeping Open the Water-

coarses, > POR apr gee oS
Brush Drains, - - -— =
Plug, or Subsoil Draining, - ~ -

Wedge, or Shoulder Drains, -

Mole Plow Draining, - -_ -
Sheep Drains, Be etre ee P
Stone Drains, - - - -

Tile Drains, - - - - =

II. Size of Tile, . s a K

- 218

Caliber and Minimum Fall of Drain Pipe

Tile, fi ears tiara al) epee
Discharge of Water through Pipes,
III. Depth of Drains, - - - -

IV. Distance between Drains, - =

V. Manufacture of Tile, - - = -
Selection of Materials, - = -
The Pug Mill, os ig, UE eat oe
The Roller Mill, - - - = -
Tile Machines, wie Wane ta we
Pressing the Pipes, - - =
Deying Tile;.:-oisyec 1
Rolling and Rimming Tile, -

Tile Burning,» =; oe et

- 278

vill CONTENTS.

CHAPTER V. Manufacture of Tile— Continued.
Tile Kilns, - SOO SE OR nn ae
Fuel, - - - - -

CHAPTER VI. How Water enters the Pipes, -

CuapTeR VII. Durability of Tile,- - = -
Cuapter VIII. Laying out Drains, Bia rapa
CHAPTER IX. Main Drains, - - - :
CHAPTER X. Draining Tools, Instruments, etc.,
CuapteR XI. Digging Underdrains, -~— -

CuapreR XII. Time to cut Drains and lay Tile,
CuaPTeR XIII. Obstructions in Drains, - = -
AGRIC NONE = SRL a yy es eg

ApprenpIx—Laws of Ohio relating to Drainage, -

Ind ex, _ = bed ad = ° © 2

LAND DRAINAGE.

INTRODUCTORY.

DEFINITION.

Dratnace of land, or farm drainage, may be defined as
being a process by which wet and unhealthy soils may be
rendered arable and healthy, as well as to remove excess-
ive moisture in lands not generally considered too wet.

The word drainage, when used in an isolated sense,
means drying up, running off of stagnant water. It is
also applied to a series of works which are undertaken in
order to improve the sanitary condition of whole sections
of country or a large city, to change the course of a
river, and to protect its cultivated banks against floods.
General drainage is that which constitutes a whole sys-
tem of great works stretching over entire valleys, and
regulate all its running water; agricultural drainage re-
fers to fields only.

Drainage, as practiced at the present time, is an im-
provement, or a transformation of the old system for dry-
ing up moist soils by means of trenches or ditches, for
the discharge of water, which was known and resorted to
everywhere in former times.

It is, nevertheless, true, that the transition or change
from trenches or uncovered ditches filled with stones, to
the new mode of draining, was a slow process, which may

explain why many persons, when they learn of the “new”
2 1

2 LAND DRAINAGE.

drainage, will exclaim: ‘‘ But this is not new, that was
practiced by our fathers.” These persons are right.
But, as far as arts and science are concerned, all is be-
coming singularly perfect in our days, so that we do not
always recognize the starting point. This wag the case
with the new system of drainage which conducts the ex-
cess of water from tillable lands through earthen pipes
of moderate length, placed under ground at a depth of
from three to four feet.

But how can the water be led off through such earthen
pipes? we often have been asked. In 1852, Mr. Daniol,
a skillful agriculturist, at Clermont Ferrant, in France,
wrote to Mons. Barras, editor of an agricultural journal:

“New words used by scientific writers often cause embarrass-
ment to their readers. When the Journal of Practical Agriculture
indicates drainage as a potent system of rendering wet lands arable;
when you praised the advantages which are obtained in England and
Belgium, you excited my curiosity and highly engrossed my atten-
tion. But having discovered that drainage is the very thing we re-
sort to from father to son, and which we name like OLIveR DE
Serres, subterranean passages, I experienced a sense of satisfaction
and said to myself, is that all? what next?

‘Next, you indicate, for the purpose, earthen pipes as the most
efficient and economic implement! I vainly endeavored to per-
ceive how water in excess at the surface could penetrate into these
pipes. Doubtless, thought I, if this water springs up at a single
place and for want of exit spreads over the whole field, it is an easy
matter to collect it through waterworks introduced into the pipes
and let it run off at a lower spot. But otherwise, if you have seve-
ral springs to contend with; if the excess of water after the normal
saturation of the soil is produced by superabundant rains during
several years, how, once more, will the numerous little sources pene-
trate and find their way through the surface of, and into the pipes ?
I will suppose that the ends of the pipes are only contiguous, that
at first cracks will admit water, but earth will, in course of time,
fill up the joints; in both cases the work will be expensive and use-

less.”

DEFINITION. 3

Such doubts expressed by a very learned agriculturist,
prove that much has yet to be said in order to convince
our agriculturists of the utility of drainage, and to ren-
der its effects conspicuous to them. On the other hand,
numberless questions are addressed to us about the man-
ner of making pipes, the quality of clay, the kind of ma-
chines, baking or burning, cost, results to be expected,
and so forth. The work for laying the drains does not ap-
pear, in general, difficult to comprehend and execute; the
numerous writings on the subject scattered through the
agricultural and other journals, have enlightened the ma-
jority of cultivators. But many a point relating to the
execution, remains unexplained; we, therefore, have
deemed it proper to go over the whole subject without
neglecting that which practical men and publications have
heretofore elucidated.

Notwithstanding the origin of drainage may often have
been related, a sketch of its history and progress will not
be out of place here. The importance of drainage is the
sole point of the subject, which really should not require
any further discussion; it was prominently brought forward
by Mr. Martinelli, of Nerac (France), at a county fair, in
a few words, which we translate from the Journal of
Practical Agriculture, viz:

“Look at this flower pot. What is the hole at the bottom for? [|
ask you, because there is a complete agricultural revolution in that
hole. It affords a renovation of water by a timely flow. And why
must water be renovated? Because it gives either life or death:
life, when it merely traverses a layer of earth which retains the fe-
cundity with which water is pregnant, and beside dissolves nutri-
ments conveyed to the plant; death, when it remains in the pot, be-
- eause it will soon be corrupted, will cause the roots to become dis-
eased and prevent admittance to new water.”

The drainage of tillable land is a small hole at the bot-
tom, just like that of the flower pot.

4 LAND DRAINAGE.

HISTORY OF DRAINAGE AMONG THE ANCIENTS.

THE new system of drainage emphatically consists in
the use of covered causeways; we, therefore, will devote
no space nor time to the discussion of open trenches as a
means of removing superfluous water and rendering lands
arable, subject to this condition. ‘The idea of redeeming
from waste and of making available for cultivation the
surface occupied by gaping ditches, may be traced back to
the earliest ages. The Romans were acquainted with a
process of draining lands derived, doubtless, from ante-
cedent civilization. Nevertheless, among agricultural
writers, Columella is the first who speaks of underground
causeways; he lived in the reigns of Augustus and Tibe-
rius. Cato, Varro, and Virgil, advocate open trenches
only. Here is Columella’s text :?

“When the soil is moist, ditches are to be dug out in order to dry
it up and let the water run off. We know of two kinds of ditches:
those which are hidden and those which are wide and open; as to
the hidden ditches, one will dig out trenches of three feet in depth,
which shall be half filled with small pebbles or pure gravel, and then
the whole will be covered with the earth which was taken out from
the trench. Should there be neither stones nor gravel, then fascines
formed of branches tied together, of the same shape and capacity
of the trench, may be placed into it so as to fill up the cavity. When
the fascines have been sunk into the bottom of the canal, they must
be covered with leaves of cypress, pine, or any other tree, then shall
be superadded the earth extracted from the trench, and the whole
will strongly be compressed. At both ends must be placed in the
form of a buttress (as it is done for small bridges), two large stones
surmounted with a third one, in order to consolidate the sides of the
ditch and favor the fall and exit of the water.”

Palladius, who came long after Columella, thus describes
the underground causeways :”

‘‘ When the lands are wet, they wil] be dried up by digging trenches

——EE

1Lib. II, cap. 2. 2Lib. VI, cap. 3.

»~

DRAINAGE AMONG THE ANCIENTS. o

everywhere. Every one knows how to make open trenches, but
here is the way to make hidden trenches: One digs out across the
field ditches of three feet in depth, which are to be half filled with
small stones or gravel; after which they are filled up with the earth
from the digging and leveled. But the ends of those causeways must
lead in declivity unto an open ditch whither the water will run with
out carrying away the earth of the field. Should there be no stones,
one will lay at the bottom of the ditch fascines, straw, or briars of
any kind whatever.”

Thus, drainage, by means of underground causeways
through which the flow of water is secured by means of
permeable materials, like stones or branches, is an inven-
tion that no modern has any right to claim; though drain-
age, such as described by Columella and Palladius, has
long been used at numerous places in France. England
endeavored to ascribe to Captain Walter Bligh the inven-
tion of deep trenches. Walter Bligh’s only merit is the
reproduction of the precepts applied before him, and per-
fectly elucidated by the elder French writer on agriculture,
Oliver de Serres.

Even in Columella’s time, the importance was fully ap-
preciated of making the drains with sloping sides and nar-
row bottom. From this forward there was a slight step
only to actual ‘and thorough drainage. There is abundant
evidence to prove that the ancient Romans used clay pipe
as conduits for water everywhere where they established
themselves; that even in lower Austria, Saxony, and
other countries, a similar system of conduit by clay pipes
obtained, evidence of which is yet to be found in some of
the cultivated fields; there appears to be presumptive
evidence, at least, that drainage by clay pipes or tiles was
a Roman invention.

6 LAND DRAINAGE.

UNDERGROUND CAUSEWAYS AMONG THE GREEKS.

We said that the Romans were acquainted with a mode
of draining lands through trenches covered and filled with
stone. We did not derive the origin of it from more an-
cient civilization, because we do not consider the subter-
ranean canals built by the Greeks to remove enormous
reservoirs of water, which might have caused extensive
floods, as mere agricultural drains. M. Jaubert de Passa,
in his Researches on Irrigation among Ancient Nations,’
speaks thus :

‘Was the mysterious outlet of the Jake Stymphalide toward the
coast of Argos? the work of man or caprice of nature? It is known
that the water of the lake did run into two abysses situated at the ex-
tremity of the valley; when these openings were obstructed, the water
covered a space of over 400 stadii, or about thirty miles. The river
Stymphale, which the inhabitants of Argolida named EHrasinus, was
not the only one of which the course was partly under ground. The
Alpheus, after having several times disappeared from the earth’s
surface, plunged into the sea, according to traditions,* in order to go
into Sicily, where it mingled its water with the spring of Arethusa.
The plain of Orchomenes became marshy as soon as the subterranean
ducts, regular outlet of the water from Mount Trachys, failed to be
cleansed. The plain of Caphyes was sometimes .overflown by the
water of the Orchomenes. As a permanent protection for the coun-
try and the city, the magistrates of Caphyes caused the establishment
of a causeway along the flowing canal, behind which water from
various sources formed the river below.*

“The plain of Phenea, next to the others, remained for a long
time overflown. Ata remote, but unknown epoch, an earthquake,
according to some, a beneficent prince, according to others, opened
two abysses or zerethra, which let out the water and made the Jand
healthy ;° finally, the valley of Artemisium, situate near Mantinea,
and named Argos, on account of its sterility, became marshy as
oS SS SSS SS

1 Vol. IV, p. 36, 3 Pausanias VIII, 44, 54.

2Strabo VI, cap. 3 29, and VIII, cap.9 74. 4Pausanias VIII, p. 23.

5 Pausanias, VIII, p. 14, 19.

UNDERGROUND CAUSEWAYS. 7

often as water obstructed the gulf which was its outlet. This sub-
terranean duct extended as far as Genethlium, a city built at the
head of the lake Dine.” ?

Certainly, these immense underground works of the
Greeks must have had the drainage of extensive districts
for their object, but they were undertaken as a public
hygiene, and not to enhance the fertility of arable lands.
Agricultural drainage has this last as its special object;
but this can not always be attained without some general
work for the drainage of a whole valley.

We read, in Walter Bligh’s book, third edition, printed
in 1652 :? 3

“As to the drain trench, thou wilt make it deep enough so that it
may reach at the bottom cold, oozing, stagnant water. Say one
yard, or four feet, if thou wishest for satisfactory drain. And fur-
thermore, having come to the layer whereat rests the oozing spring,
sink further down about the depth of an iron shovel, no matter how
deep thou art already, if thou wilt drain thy land throughout. ... But
as to ordinary trenches, which are often dug out one or two feet, I
say that it is madness and lost work, and I will spare the reader
wherewithal.”

These injunctions certainly are pertinent, and may
serve as a guide even at this day; but one ought not to
conclude from them, as some modern writers did, that,
as no French agricultural author treated the subject as
a specialty, and with sufficient details, all the merit of
the introduction of open trenches belongs to England.
OLIVER DE SERRES, who lived before Walter Bligh, and
whose Theatre of Agriculture was printed in 1600, gives
a very complete description of the underground cause-
ways, strongly recommending the use of them. Not only
does he consider the single trench, as did Columella, but
SRT ee a eee Fy Ee eet! ere ts oe, Uae ee

1 Pausanias VIII, p. 7, 20, 21, 25.
2 The English Improver Improved, or the Survey of Husbandry Sur-
veyed.” 3

8 LAND DRAINAGE.

he goes further; he treats of many together, he is care-
ful to describe the main ditch as also covered, and every
precaution to be taken in order to secure effective drains.
As, Oliver de Serres was altogether neglected in the his-
tory of drainage, and his well-defined ideas having been
attributed to divers authors, we will give, in extenso, a
passage from the book of this great French writer on
agriculture :?

“To discharge noxious water, the usual way is to open ditches,
especially through plains and low places, these ditches becoming in-
closures for the land. Let the land then be dug around and give
the ditches proper width and depth, to fulfill both objects. They
must be cleansed every second year, some time previous to sowing
lands, on which shall be cast this detritus from the trenches, to be
used as so much manure. But, should it happen that the field be
full of springs, or underground oozing sources, external ditches are
no longer sufficient ; then will be required another and more pecu-
liar remedy as will be shown, in order to rid inner land of this in-
commodiousness. Inasmuch as the evil of too much water exceeds
in destructiveness, both that of shadow and of stones, to mend the
former will require greater labor than to correct the latter; of this,
finally, the profit as a recompense, comes out greater than from any
other reparation that can be given to the land, so fruitful is that
which relieves it from water; because thereby not only are wet
lands improved, but pools and swamps are converted into exquisite
plow fields.

“The examples serve us as good masters to do good husbandry.
Where is the farmer beholding the beautiful wheat raised on drained
swamps, that doves not desire, in emulation, to imitate such profit-
able husbandry? The cause of this comes from a superabundaince
of water, which prevented land from being worked for several years ;
at the end of which, finding itself reposed, and thereby to have ac-
quired fertility, returns it admirably and with profit. And how much
more hope you will have from this, which by the ancient subjection
to the springs, was never able. to produce, which you will find preg-
nant with fertility! Beside the income, there is no doubt that from
noxious water spread here and there, on your land, when collected

1 Theatre d’Agriculture, Second Lieu, t. 1, p. 97.

UNDERGROUND CAUSEWAYS. 9

in one place, you could make a fountain spring according to places,
so great and with such abundance of water, that it will suffice for
the irrigation of meadows, which you will make on account of that,
below the drained pieces, and indeed for erecting mills there, should
the ground and other circumstances requisite be favorable.

“The ground you desire to drain must have a declivity, either
small or great, without which the water could not run off. ‘his be-
ing presupposed, a large ditch must be dug from one end to the
other, always beginning at the lowest spot; into that trench many
others, but smaller, may be joined on both sides, in order to dis-
charge the water flowing from ali parts of the ground. By this
means, each supplying its portion, the large ditch collecting, the
whole will be discharged. The large trench is, on that account,
called mother trench, and the whole together, ‘hen’s paw, from the
figure of that animal's foot, whose claws stretch in toward its
trunk. The extent and surface of the land give form to the
ditches, because it is fit to make them longer and wider in propor-
tion as your land is extensive and flat, which you drain; and on
the other hand, they are required shorter and narrower, if it be
small and sloping; because, within a narrow compass, gene-
rally, not so much water is collected as in a large one, and as much,
nay, more of it will pour out of a narrow ditch with great declivity
than a wide, gently sloping trench. About the depth of the ditches,
itis not thus, for, in whatever part you dig, you must go about four
feet deep, in order to cut off the source of the springs, which is the
special aim of this business. According to the nature of the place,
must the trenches be disposed.

“Should there be a low vale, with high ground on both sides, the
mother must be dug in the middle and lower spot, lengthwise, as al-
ready said, into which must fall the other ditches from both sides.
But having to drain only one hillside, in that quarter there will be
some small ditches running into the mother trench, and disposed as
will seem fit for the best of the work and premises; as also the
length of all trenches is subordinate to the plan which dictates the
order of them, according to the surface and site. Having the plan,
reasonable fall and extent, a proper width will also be required for
the small ditches; the latter should be three feet, and the mother
five feet deep; by means of this guide, your intention will be ful-
filled. And to avoid any mistake, let there be as many ditches, so
long, so wide, without fear of excess on this seore, that no source

10 LAND DRAINAGE.

of spring, or small fountain, be overlooked, in order to drain your
land well, by the general gathering of its waters.

‘Those ditches, large or small, must be half filled with minute stones
and the other half with the earth previously dug out and leveled at the
top, so that no trace of it even will appear, for the commodiousness
of tillage, which should be executed very well, the plow finding
depth enough of earth before reaching the stones, through which
water will freely pass and flow out at the spot designed for it, leav-
ing the surface land free of all noxious moisture and fit to bring forth
all kinds of cereals.

“A similar work must be applied to all estates, vineyards, meadows,
orchards, and others which produce no fruit on account of too much
moisture. If you have on the spot none but large, flat stones for
supplying your trenches, before using them you must break them to
suit this kind of service, and they should be placed into the ditch
straight (upright) and not flat, fixing them beside so skillfully that
they will not be too tight to prevent the flow of water. ‘To have this
business well done, begin right, that is, artistically and with order;
through ease and without confusion you will succeed very well. It
will be easy to draw all your ditches, by cautiously observing the
places through which they are to pass; then you begin to dig them
out at the lowest spots, casting the earth all on one side of the trench,
leaving the other side free, to bring thither easily the stones, which
must be thrown in immediately, for fear that, by delaying, the trench
might cave in by effect of the wind, trampling of beasts, or any other
accident.

“Thus your undertaking shall be completed at one end, as soon as
commenced, in prosecuting it until you reach the highest spot of the
field. In the meanwhile the water will take its course as soon as the
upening of its way has been performed, which could not take place,
should you begin the work at the highest spot, for want of issue al-
lowed to water; even this would disturb the digging by discharging
inte it. You will mind, also, that the issues of water be well man-
aged, that they do not choke up afterward, because for want of issue
water might retrograde and render your labor useless. This will be
obviated by stones and mortar, put up by a master hand, so as to last
long, especially at the spot where the main or mother trench lets out
the water. You are finally advised that the extremities and ends of
your small ditches, at their highest parts, need not to be as wide as
in low places, not being compelled to collect there so much water as
below; this, nevertheless, remains at your discretion, because they

UNDERGROUND CAUSEWAYS. 11

can not be too wide in any place in order to receive not only water
springing from the bottom, but also that from the rain above, which
shall not be overlooked.

“This work produces several advantages, since at the same time an
excess of water and stones are removed from the ground, and that
water is made serviceable for meadows, mills, even for fountains, the
qualities of it being considered, for which usefulness it is rendered
commendable; also, that improvement ought to be prosecuted by all
husbandmen. Beside, nothing is lost in that performance; because
the trenches being filled up to their superficies, all the land is exposed
and fit for tillage, even to an inch; that can not be said when trenches
are left open, which occupy much ground, and, in contradistinction
to the others, are liable to need repairs from time to time.

“ Should stone for replenishing ditches fail on'the spot, do not have
them brought from afar, at great expense, but instead use straw,
which you may employ in this wise:

“The rye straw, on account of its strength, can be used, and this
failing, replace it with wheat straw. You will make with it a floor
in the ditch, in order, being suspended, to cause an empty space below
for the passage of the water, and above this floor you will put twa
feet of earth. The empty space should be one foot high, the thick-
ness of the floor another foot, and the two of earth will make four
feet depth of the ditch. These ditches must be only two feet and a
half wide, narrower by six inches than others, for the subjection of
straw, for fear of choking up the empty space below, by caving in on
account of its weight the earth put on the top. The mother trench,
recipient of water, must not be wider than the others, considering
the difficulties of the straw; but this may be overcome by using two
mother trenches, or only one so deep that it will suffice to collect all
the water directed to it. The straw ought to be arranged into bun-
dles one foot thick and two and a half long, tied up even at three
equidistant places.

“In order to lay these bundles as they ought be, you will make the
ditch narrower at the bottom than at the top, not in declivity or slope,
but perpendicular, contracting unto square at the place whereon the
floor is to be laid, to rest firm and secure as upon walls. The con-
traction at each side must be six inches; thus the lowest place of
the ditch will be one foot and a half, and two and six inches at the
widest part, which is the top. Should you suspect your ditches and
drains of being too small, the remedy is not to widen them, consider-
ine the difficulties of the straw, but it consists in their number; for,

12 LAND DRAINAGE.

as already said, you can not have too many of them, and you never
will remove too much water from a swamp or marshy ground. Thus
you must be careful to dig a sufficient number of them and so well
disposed, that they may discharge the ones upon the others by
branches connecting them, in order to conduct all the water of the
field into the mother trench and empty it at the proper place.

“Straw, thus employed, will last a long time; for it is admitted that,
being inclosed within the earth and without the effects of air, straw
remains sound over a hundred years. I am a witness that some
sound straw was found entire in the midst of an old, ruined house,
and the wall appeared to be the work of former ages. ‘Therefore,
use it without scruple, with the understanding that if it should rot
at the end of a hundred years, those who will come then, may change
it if they have a mind to.”

On the subject of the straw to replenish trenches, as
indicated by Oliver de Serres, Victor Yvart, in a remark
added to the edition of the works of the illustrious writer,
and published by the Agricultural Society at Paris, #. D.
1804, says:

“It might prove safe and cheap, in the above case, to use faggots
made of small alder tree branches, which keep well in water, and
for want of them, other branches, which, placed at the bottom allow,
through their interstices, free exit to water, and afford all the advan-
tages of straw, without its drawbacks,”

From the above important quotation, it follows that the
invention of underground causeways for draining tillable
lands can not be claimed by an English author, even a
Walter Bligh or an Elkington. The latter wasa Warwick-
shire farmer, gifted with an observing mind and great
perseverance, who, toward the end of the last century,
drained wet lands and was so successful as to attract the
attention of the parliament and to obtain very many
recompenses. But his method is not much different from
Oliver de Serres’ stone system. Elkington’s process does
not admit of mother trenches, in order to lead the water
out of the fields and appropriate it for divers uses.

DRAIN PIPES. 3

There are three manners of disposing of the water:

1. Water sinks into permeable, inferior layers, through
a well filled with stones.

2. Should the well require a depth of more than thirteen
feet, its office is supplied by boring a hole with a rod, until
it reaches a porous strata.

3. Water springs up, like in artesian wells, either by
means of shafts or wells conveniently situated, and then
removed through discharging pipes.

Lhis method named Elkington’s, consisting in the double
contrivance of wells and underground ditches combined,
requires special dispositions, according to the configura-
tion of the ground; it combines, also, drains with shafts
and artesian wells.

DRAIN PIPES USED IN FRANCE, A. D. 1620.

THE invention of drainage pipes has always been con-
ceded to England. Should the statement contained in
the following letter prove to be beyond controversy, we
ought to say, the English have shown the importance of
using underground pipes to drain the land, but this inven-
tion is of French origin :

“Sir: I read in the Journal of Practical Agriculture your essay
on drainage scarcely begun, and already full of interest; it foretells
deep attraction when it treats of its influence on crops, manures, etc.

“In the conclusions of your chapter on the history of drainage, a
contrivance known to antiquity, you show three degrees in the
periods of progress through which it came to us.

“The first, its origin, perhaps, was the practice of it among the
Romans, as related by Columella and Palladius.

“The second, in which our priority over England is established,
thanks to Oliver de Serres.

“The third, in which you abandon the whole conquest to the Eng-
lish, because they substituted tiles and pipes for other materials.

~

14 LAND DRAINAGE.

“The latter period is indeed capital; heretofore it was darkness;
now it is a science. The last improvement elevated drainage from
the rank of an agricultural drudgery to the sphere of industry;
caused men of genius to cluster around; attracted the attention of
men of the world and the powerful support of an enlightened, par-
tial government.

“This lucky improvement, this starting point, I may say, shall not
be denied by me to the English; it would be in bad taste to claim
glory for an invention, when we failed to make it fruitful. 1 will
only state that the same idea of this improvement was realized in
1620, about the time when Oliver de Serres published his works.

‘Within the town of Maubeuge, in my own neighborhood, was a
convent of monks; the epoch of its erection could easily be ascer-
tained; its chapel is still a pure specimen of gothic style. The convent
did not escape the republic of 1793, and the aspect and inmates have
changed, but its wide and splendid garden was respected. Was it
on account of its reputation? It is well known that, from immemo-
rial time, it was renowned for its fertility, the beauty and earliness
of its fruit and for the friability of its soil.

“The estate was sold, and last year the premises underwent re-
pairs: the prolific garden was turned into pleasure ground, park
with fountains, driving causeways, artificial elevations of ground,
and so forth. This overturning disclosed the secret of its marvel-
ous reputation.

‘Two complete and regular pipe drains extended throughout the
whole garden, at the depth of four feet.

“One of the drains had all its pipes radiating to a sinking well
situate in a central position; the other was made of pipes all paral-
Jel, ending at a collecting pipe which discharged into a cellar.

“The owner had the kindness to give me two pipes as specimens
of curiosity; they are about ten inches long and four inches in diame-
ter; one end expands into a funnel-shape, the other tapers into a
cone; they are made of an argilo-silicious composition like most of
our earthenware, which is very hard and becomes very much glazed
in burning, thereby becoming unalterable; all were found well pre-
served; they were evidently made by hand and lathe.

‘When was the drain constructed? No particular data is given.
MSS. left by the monks might solve the question; at any rate, some
tombs, placed over the drain in 1620, show it to be anterior; here,

DRAINAGE IN ENGLAND. 15

then, is an ancient drainage, made with masterly hands three hun-
dred and forty years ago, which, in its dimensions, system, and ma-
terials, is much like those of the present day.

‘To vouch for the truthfulness
of the facts, it remains for me to
_{ state that the particulars were given

; ; ig to me by Hon. Marchant, senator,

[Fig. 1. Pipe Drains of 1620, found at i
Maubeuge, France. ] owner of the estate, and by his son-
in-law, my brother, a distinguished agriculturist, who was present
when the excavations were made.

G. Hamorr, Member of the Ag. Soe.”

Having shown, at considerable length, the origin of
drainage in France, it may be well to ‘devote a few pages
to the introduction of this improvement into England.

The first work published on the subject by an English
author, Capt. Walter Bligh, already referred to. His
work, the Enerisu Ivprover Improven, or, Zhe Survey
of Husbandry Surveyed, was published in 1650. The
principles of drainage advocated by Capt. Bligh, are thus
expressed by Josiah Parkes, an eminent practical drainer
in England, in the 7th vol. of the Journal of the Royal
Agricultural Society:

‘In his instructions for forming the flooding and draining trenches
of water-meadows, the author says of the latter: ‘And for thy drayn-
ing trench, it must be made so deep, that it goe to the bottom of the
cold spewing moyst water, that feeds the flagg and the rush; for the
widenesse of it, use thine own liberty, but be sure to make it so
wide as thou mayest goe to the bottom of it, which must be so low
as any moysture lyeth, which moysture usually lyeth under the over
and second swarth of the earth, in some gravel or sand, or else,
where some greater stones are mixt with clay, under which thou
must goe half one spade’s graft deep. at least. Yea, suppose this
corruption that feeds and nourisheth the rush or flagg, should lie a
yard or four-foot deepe; to the bottom of it thou must goe, if ever
thou wilt drayn it to purpose, or make the utmost advantage of
either floating or drayning, without which the water can not have

16 LAND DRAINAGE.

its kindly operation; for though the water fatten naturally, yet still
this coldnesse and moysture lies gnawing within, and not being
taken clean away, it eates out what the water fattens; and so the
goodnesse of the water is, as it were, riddled, screened, and strained
out into the land, leaving the richnesse and the leannesse sliding away
from it.’ In another place, he replies to the objectors of floating,
that it will breed the rush, the flagg, and mare-blab; ‘only make
thy drayning-trenches deep enough, and not too far off thy floating
course, and I’le warrant it they drayn away that under-moysture,
fylth, and venom as aforesaid, that maintains them; and then be-
lieve me, or deny Scripture, which I hope thou doust not, as Bildad
said unto Job, ‘Can the rush grow without mire, or the flagg with-
out water?’ Job viii, 11. That interrogation plainly showes that
the rush can not grow, the water being taken from the root; for itis
not the moystenesse upon the surface of the land, for then every
shower should increase the rush, but it is that which lyeth at the
root, which, drayned away at the bottom, leaves it naked and barren
of relief.’ ,

‘The author frequently returns to this charge, explaining over and
over again, the necessity of removing what we call bottom-water, and
which he well designates as ‘filth and venom.’

‘In the course of my operations as a drainer, I have met with, or
heard of so many instances of swamp-drainage, executed precisely
according to the plans of this author, and sometimes in a superior
manner—the conduits being formed of walling stone, at a period
long antecedent to the memory of the living—that I am disposed to
consider the practice of deep drainage to have originated with Capt.
Bligh, and to have been preserved by imitators in various parts of
the country; since a book, which passed through three editions in
the time of the Commonwealth, must necessarily have had an ex-
tensive circulation, and enjoyed a high renown. Several compli-
mentary autograph verses, written by some imitators and admirers
of the ingenious Bligh, are bound up with the volume. I find, also,
not unfrequently, very ancient deep drains in arable fields, and some
of them still in good condition; and in a case or two, 1 have met
with several ancient drains six feet deep, placed parallel with each
other, but at so great a distance asunder, as not to have commanded
a perfect drainage of the intermediate space. The author from
whom T have so largely quoted, is the earliest known to me, who has
had the sagacity to distinguish between the transient effect of rain,

DRAINAGE IN ENGLAND. 17

and the constant action of stagnant bottom water in maintaining
land in a wet condition.”

The next important step in the progress of drain-
age in England, was by Joseph Elkington, an illiterate
Warwickshire Farmer; but a man who undoubtedly pos-
sessed more than ordinary ability, if not absolute genius.
His discovery and subsequent practice created such a
sensation throughout England and Scotland, but more es-
pecially in the agricultural circles, that at the solicitation
of the Board of Agriculture, Parliament in 1795, voted
him £1,000, as a reward for his discovery in the drainage
of land.

Elkington being incapable of writing out his discovery
and system of drainage, so that others might be benefited
by such a work, the Board of Agriculture appointed a
Mr. John Johnstone to visit Elkington’s principal works,
and study them carefully, and record it for the benefit of
others. Mr. Johnstone accordingly studied the Elking-
ton system of drainage, and wrote a treatise on it. Re-
cent writers charge Mr. Johnstone with giving his own
opinions in many instances, rather than those of Mr. Elk-
ington. |

He gives the following statement of Elkington’s dis-
covery:

“In the year 1763, Elkington was left by his father in the posses-
sion of a farm called Prince-Thorp, in the parish of Stretton-upon-
Dunsmore, and county of Warwick. The soil of this farm was so
poor, and, in many places, so extremely wet, that it was the cause
of rotting several hundreds of his sheep, which first induced him,
if possible, to drain it. This he begun to do, in 1764, in a field of
wet clay soil, rendered almost a swamp, or shaking bog, by the
springs which issued from an adjoining bank of gravel and sand,
and overflowed the surface of the ground below. To drain this
field, which was of considerable extent, he cut a trench about four
or five feet deep, a little below the upper side of the bog, where the
wetness began to make its appearance; and, after proceeding with

3

18 LAND DRAINAGE.

it in this direction and at this depth, he found it did not reach the
principal body of subjacent water from which the evil arose. On
perceiving this, he was at a loss how to proceed, when one of his
servants came to the field with an iron crow, or bar, for the purpose
of making holes for fixing sheep hurdles in an adjoining part of the
farm, as represented on the plan. Having a suspicion that his drain
was not deep enough, and desirous to know what strata lay under it,
he took the iron bar, and having forced it down about four feet be-
low the bottom of the trench, on pulling it out, to his astonishment,
a great quantity of water burst up through the hole he had thus
made, and ran along the drain. This led him to the knowledge, that
wetness may be often produced by water confined farther below the
surface of the ground, than it was possible for the usual depth of
drains to reach, and that an auger would be a useful instrument to
apply in such cases. Thus, chance was the parent of this discovery,
as she oftens is of other useful arts; and fortunate it is for society,
when such accidents happen to those who have sense and judgment
to avail themselves of hints thus fortuitously given. In this manner
he soon accomplished the drainage of his whole farm, and rendered
it so perfectly dry and sound, that none of his flock was ever after
affected with disease.

‘By the success of this experiment, Mr. Elkington’s fame, as a
drainer,,was quickly and widely extended; and, after having suc-
cessfully drained several farms in his neighborhood, he was, at last,
very generally employed for that purpose, in various parts of the
kingdom, till about thirty years ago, when the country had the mel-
ancholy cause to regret his loss. From his long practice and experi-
ence, he became so successful in the works he undertook, and so
skillful in judging of the internal strata of the earth, and the nature
of springs, that, with remarkable precision, he could ascertain where
to find water, and trace the course of springs that made no appear-
ance on the surface of the ground. During his practice of more
than thirty years, he drained in various parts in England, particu-
larly in the midland counties, many thousand acres of tani which,
from being originally of little or no value, soon became as weft as
any in the kingdom, by producing the most valuable kinds of grain,
an feeding the bet and healthiest species of stock.

“Many tele erroneously entertained an idea that Elkington’s
skill lay solely in applying the auger for the tapping of springs, with-
out attaching any merit to his method of conducting the drains.
The accidental circumstance above stated, gave him the first notion

DRAINAGE IN ENGLAND. 19

of using an auger, and directed his attention to the profession and
practice of draining, in the course of which he made various useful
disvoveries, as will be afterward explained. With regard to the use
of the auger, though there is every reason to believe that he was led
to employ that instrument from the circumstance already stated, and
did not derive it from any other source of intelligence, yet there
is no doubt that others might have hit upon the same idea without
being indebted for it to him, It has happened, that, in attempts to
discover mines by boring, springs have been tapped, and ground
thereby drained, either by letting the water down, or by giving it
vent to the surface; and that the auger has been likewise used in
bringing up water in wells, to save the expense of deeper digging;
but that it had been used in draining land, before Mr. Elkington
made that discovery, no one has ventured to assert.”

Johnstone sums up this system as follows:

“Draining, according to Elkington’s principles, depends chiefly
upon three things:

‘“], Upon discovering the main spring or source of the evil.

_ “2. Upon taking the subterraneous bearings ; and,

“3. By making use of the auger to reach and tap the springs,
when the depth of the drain is not sufficient for that purpose.

“The first thing, therefore, to be observed is, by examining the
adjoining high grounds, to discover what strata they are composed
of; and then to ascertain, as nearly as possible, the inclination of
these strata, and their connection with the ground to be drained,
and thereby to judge at what place the level of the spring comes
nearest to where the water can be cut off, and most readily dis-
charged. ‘The surest way of ascertaining the lay or inclination of
the different strata, is, by examining the bed of the nearest streams,
and the edges of the banks that are cut through by the water, and
any pits, wells, or quarries that may be in the neighborhood. After
the main spring has been thus discovered, the next thing is to ascer-
tain a line on the same level, to one or both sides of it, in which the
drain may be conducted, which is one of the most important parts
of the operation, and one on which the art of draining in a scientific
manner essentially depends.

‘Lastly, the use of the auger, which, in many cases, is the sine
qua non of the business, is to reach and tap the spring when the
depth of the drain does not reach it; where the level of the outlet
will not admit of its being cut to a greater depth; and where the

20 LAND DRAINAGE.

expense of such cutting would be great, and the execution of it

difficult.
“ According to these principles, this system of draining has been

attended with extraordinary consequences, not only in laying the
land dry in the vicinity of the drain, but also springs, wells, and
wet ground, at a considerable distance, with which there was no
apparent connection.”

About the year 1810, it was deemed advisable to change
the former system of draining. Flat and hollow tiles
were at first adopted. Tile drainage appears to have been
put in practice, for the first time, at Netherby, in North-
umberland, upon the estate of Sir James Graham. “A
tile and sole, with a few inches of stone, is the ne plus
ultra of draining :” thus reads the Journal of the Society
of Agriculture of England, vol. II, p. 298. It seems that
for a period of thirty years, there appeared no possibility
of improving on the method invented in 1810.

But it remained for the agriculturists of the nineteenth
century to establish a system of drainage in accordance
with scientific principles —to make it more general in its
application; to provide apparatus and machinery for the
more precise and uniform construction of the drains, as
well as the tile; and the entire art has been so much im-
proved that all previous experiments and systems vanish
into almost nothingness in comparison.

The ancient mode of draining, successful as it may have
been, yet inefficient as it certainly was, subjected those who
practiced it to many inconveniences, while itself was sub-
ject to many liabilities from which the modern or English
system of tile draining is exempt. Not only was that sys-
tem attended with many inconveniences in construction,
for want of proper materials, but even when constructed
was liable to become deranged in a comparatively short
period of time, and to repair them was attended with not
only great expenditure, but great inconvenience and labor.

DRAINAGE IN ENGLAND. 21

Beside, these drains, made of wood, stone, etc., served for
the single purpose of draining the springs and stagnant
surface water only, while the modern ones, made of tile, not
only serve this same purpose, but also accomplish some
other advantageous results.

It soon became manifest that these sodden and stone
drains were sadly deficient in permanency, and great pains
were taken to substitute something better. It was some-
what of an improvement when the plan was adopted of dig-
ging a canal or ditch, and covering the bottom with brick,
and then placing on these brick, to the thickness of a foot
or more, large-sized pebbles or brickbats. These drains
proved more durable and less liable to become deranged
than the previous ones, and while they drained a given
quantity of water in less time, they accomplished that one
object only.

This system was inturn abandoned, and a wooden pipe,
or boards forming a kind of covered triangular trough, was
substituted. When these troughs were fitted in the bot-
tom of the drain, the drain itself was then closed with turf,
sod or earth. But this system was found to be very ex-
pensive, and accomplished the one object only, viz: drain-
ing the surface water and the spring water, and this very
imperfectly.

Another great error was committed with this system,
namely, the ditches were made so shallow that even when
plowing with their shallow plows, the conduit was dis-
turbed. The result was that when the winters were se-
vere, the drains were frozen up, and were, in consequence,
not only worthless, but an actual damage, because the soil
underwent all the phenomena that it does in winter—kill-
ing wheat; and it was late in the spring before they were
in a serviceable condition. Hence, at the season when
they should have been of the utmost importance, they

bo

2 LAND DRAINAGE,

were entirely useless, because at that season there is not
only the most water in the soil, but it is also a period when
the water produces the most injurious results to the grow-
ing plants.

Mr. Baxter, an Englishman, was perhaps the first one
to indicate the disadvantages arising from shallow drains.
He describes the results as follows:

“In the year 1819, I drained an eight acre field according to the
old system. The pipes were laid from twenty to twenty-four inches
beneath the surface, and twenty-eight feet apart. 1 soon became
convinced that very little benefit would accrue from this system.
The crops were no better than before the piece was drained—the
tilth no better or easier, in spite of the best manures which I could
procure. These drains were filled with stone, and covered with turf;
but, being compelled to bring the stone some distance, it made the
drains very expensive. In 1832, I redrained the same field accord-
ing to the new system; that is, | made the drains three feet deep at
parallel distances of thirty-two feet. The advantages of this system
were at once apparent. The soil was sufficiently dry for purposes of
cultivation much sooner than that not underdrained; the water fur-
rows disappeared, and with them, the expense of keeping the field
clean after seeding. No more manures of any kind were applied,
and yet the product was fully one third more than previous to under-
draining. Since I have commenced deep or thorough draining, all
my crops yield fully one third more. By deep draining, the water
can at once flow unhindered from the field, and the soil is conse-
quently in a condition to be worked at a much earlier date aftera
rain than that whichis not underdrained, A given underdrained field
will sustain more cattle in a good condition than one which has not
been so treated. ‘Then, the crop, too, will ripen earlier, and the la-
bor, in clay soil, is lightened fully one fifth for cattle or horses,
while the soil itself is rendered in much better condition. The eli-
mate even is improved everywhere where deep draining is practiced,
It is the most effective means of radically removing miasma that can
be introduced.” |

The great advantages consequent upon deep draining
were then made manifest by actual experiment twenty-five
years ago. About the same time, another very important

DRAINAGE IN ENGLAND. 23

invention was introduced, namely, the clay pipe, or drain-
ing tiles. The credit of this most important discovery is
due to Mr. Smith, of Deanston, in Scotland. A distin-
guished mechanic and director of a cotton factory, Mr.
Smith, wondering at the infertility of a piece of ground
contiguous to that factory, after a minute observation,
came to the conclusion that an excess of moisture was the
cause of it, and without any knowledge of what had either
been written or done by former agriculturists, it occurred
to him that covered drains would answer an excellent pur-
pose to drain tillable lands. His success was great, and
much talked of in the neighborhood. ' In 1833, he pub-
lished a pamphlet under the title of Smith’s Remarks on
thorough Draining; and although he was not the first in-
ventor of this method, he rendered to England and Scot-
land the service of introducing his method of drainage,
which greatly increased the fertility of British lands. We
must acknowledge, in honor to that country, that land
owners and the government acted in this case with more
promptitude than is usual with them. Even Sir Robert
Peel, in 1840, had part of his estate at Drayton, Stafford-
shire, drained by Mr. Smith.

This new art of draining swept like a wildfire over
Great Britain, and drainage soon became more and more
general in England and Scotland. The great importance
of this system of draining was not only acknowledged and
advocated by the agriculturists of England, but the gov-
ernment gave the most substantial testimonials of its con-
fidence in the system as an augmenter of products. A
fund of two million pounds sterling, equal to ten millions
of dollars, was appropriated as a fund to be loaned to
farmers, to be expended in drainage—six and a half per
cent. of the loan to be annually refunded, but at the expi-

94 . LAND DRAINAGE.

ration of twenty-two years, the entire fund to be extin-
guished.

Not only landlords drained their lands, but the tenants
even, when their lease expired at the end of six years,
drained the land they cultivated with advantage and profit
to themselves. In consequence of the great advantages
arising from drainage in England, a law was enacted reg-
ulating the amount to be allowed tenants for draining the
landlord’s farm, also, a law fixing the increased value of
farms which are underdrained, for purposes of hypotheca-
tion, ete.

Tiles were at first made by hand. English inventive
genius was not long in forwarding this industry. As drain-
age spread, machines came in demand to supersede manual
labor. The first one, turning out flat and hollow tiles at
once, was made by Irving, during the year 1842.' Imme-
diately after this, the Marquis of Tweeddale, Mr. Ransome,
then Mr. Etheredge, invented other machinery for the
same purpose.’ But, to manufacture subterranean pipes
in two pieces was evidently useless complication. Mr.
John Read was then happily inspired with the idea of sub-
stituting cylindrical pipes for tiles. Therefore, this man-
ufacturer added to the ancient process of drainage, the
last improvement which it has attained. The first ma-
chinery of this kind was exhibited in 1843, at the Derby
Agricultural Fair. It won premiums of silver medals, and
was the object of minute and encomiastic descriptions by
Josiah Parkes, who was struck with its importance. Since
that time, every year ushers in new improvements on its
construction.

Elkington’s attention was specially directed to springs,
and the merit of his system consisted of relieving the

1 Journal of the Roya! Society of Agriculture, Vol. IV, p. 370 (1843).
2 Journal of the Royal Society of Agriculture, Vol. ITT, p. 398.

DRAINAGE IN ENGLAND. 25

arable soil from the effects of water issuing from below up-
ward. Now, it is well known that, in many places as
much injury is done to crops by the retention of rain water
in the soil as from springs. In cases where the soil re-
tained the rains, fields could not be drained by an auger
hole and a ditch or two.

Smith, of Deanston’s system consisted in cutting paral-
lel drains at regular intervals over the entire field, without
regard to springs or other sources of subterranean moist-
ure. His characteristic views were, in brief, as follows:

“1. Frequent drains at intervals of from ten to twenty-four feet.

“2. Shallow depth—not exceeding thirty inches—designed for
the single purpose of freeing that depth of soil from stagnant and
injurious water.

“3. ‘Parallel drains, at regular distances, carried throughout the
whole field, without reference to the wet and dry appearance of por-
tions of the field,’ in order ‘ to provide frequent opportunities for the
water rising from below and falling on the surface, to pass freely
and completely off.’

“4. Direction of the minor drains ‘down the steep, and that of
the mains along the bottom of the chief hollow—tributary mains be-
ing provided for the lesser hollows. The reason assigned for the
minor drains following the line of steepest descent, was, that ‘the
stratification generally lies in sheets, at an angle to the surface.’

“5. As to material—Stones preferred to tiles and pipes.”

From 1833 to 1854, several systems of drainage were
advocated throughout Great Britain. All, however, agreed
that ‘tile’ was the best material for a conduit for the
water; but these systems differed from each other in the
distance between as well as the depth of the drains. The
merit of each of these systems will be discussed in the
practical portion of this treatise.

Drainage was readily introduced into Belgium and Ger-
many, where it produced as happy results as in England.
The governments of these respective countries cheerfully
extented to the system all the encouragement which could

26 LAND DRAINAGE.

reasonably be expected. To such an extent did these
governments manifest their appreciation of the system,
that they actually purchased tile machines, manufactured
tile, and established depots for the sale of them at low
rates, 80 as to place them within the reach of almost all
tenants and landholders. The impulse thus given by
government itself soon produced the happiest results.
Experiments conducted here and there, at the instance of
the government, convinced even the most skeptical of the
great advantages to be derived from underdraining ; the
praises of the system found an echo in every nook and
corner of the country ; and nothing ever was so universally
practiced in Germany in so short a time from the period
of its first introduction as thorough draining.

—

DRAINAGE IN FRANCE.

From returns gathered about the middle of 1856, it ap-
pears that there were then about 80,000 English acres of
thorough-drained land, and 396 tile works in France.
The money expended in draining, from 1850, when this
improvement was begun in France, up to the summer of
1856, accordingly amounts to $8,000,000; the expense of
draining being about $20 per acre.

During the draining season (autumn) of 1856, up to
January 1, 1857, no less than 85,000 acres were drained.

Of these 165,000 acres, only 45,000 acres were drained
by care or assistance of the government; the remainder
is the work of private enterprise. When will American
farmers become convinced that thorough draining is one
of the most important aids to agriculture !

DRAINAGE IN THE UNITED STATES. 27

DRAINAGE IN THE UNITED STATES.

THE introduction of tile drainage in the United States
may be given in avery few words. The following account,
prepared by a correspondent of the New York Tribune,
and corrected and revised by the editor of the Country
Gentleman, is perhaps the best account that has yet been
written on the subject. It is true, we might state, that
“Mr. John Johnston, of Geneva, N. Y., introduced tile
draining on his farm in 1835; that, in 1848, John Dela-
field of Seneca county, N. Y., introduced the first tile
machine (Scragg’s patent, imported from England) ;”’ and
with this passing notice proceed to the next chapter.
But those for whom this treatise is written will naturally
inquire, “‘ What induced him to drain? Where did he ob-
tain tile? How much and in what manner did he drain?
What did it cost? Did it pay?” and a host of other
questions. It will, therefore, be satisfactory, even at the
expense of some space, to present a detailed statement of
all the circumstances surrounding and attending his
efforts.

JOHN JOHNSTON’S SYSTEM OF DRAINAGE.

Mr. John Johnson, near Geneva, N. Y., at one time
esteemed a fanatic by his neighbors, has come of late
years to be generally known as “ the father of tile drain-
age in America.” After thirty years of precept and twenty-
two of example, he has the satisfaction of seeing his favor-
ite theory fully accepted, and, to some extent, practically
applied throughout the country. Not without labor, how-
ever, nor without much skepticism, ridicule and contro-
versy has this end been attained; and if, now that his
head is whitened and his course all but run, he finds him-
self respected, and appealed to by persons in every state
of the Union, he does not forget that it has been by much

I8 LAND DRAINAGE.

tribulation that he has worked out this exceeding great
weight of glory. Mr. Johnston is a Scotchman, who came
to this country thirty-nine years ago, and purchased the
farm he now occupies, on the easterly shore of Seneca
lake, a short distance from Geneva. With the pertinacity
of his nation, he staid where he first settled, through ill
fortune and prosperity, wisely concluding that, by always
bettering his farm, he would better himself, and make
more money in the long run than he could by shifting un-
easily from place to place in search of sudden wealth. He
was poor enough at the commencement; but what did that
matter to a frugal, industrious man, willing to live within
his means, and work hard to increase them? And so,
with unflagging zeal, he has gone on from that day to
this.
HIS FARM.

His first purchase was 112 acres of land, well situated,
but said to be the poorest in the county. He knew better
than that, however, for although the previous tenant had
all but starved upon it, and the neighbors told him such
would be his own fate, he had seen poorer land forced to
yield large crops in the old country, and so he concluded
to try the chances for life or death. The soil was a heavy
gravelly clay, with a tenacious clay subsoil, a perfectly
tight reservoir for water, cold, hard-baked, and cropped
down to about the last gasp. The magician commenced his
work. He found in the barn-yard a great pile of manure,
the accumulations of years, well rotted, black as ink, and
‘mellow as an ash-heap.” This he put on as much land
as possible, at the rate of twenty-five loads to the acre,
plowed it in deeply, sowed his grain, cleaned out the weeds
as well as he could, and the land on which he was to starve
gave him about forty bushels of wheat per acre. The re-
sult was, as usual, attributed to luck, and anything but

JOHNSTON'S SYSTEM. 29

the real cause. To turn over such deep furrows was sheer
folly, and such heavy dressings of manure would not fail
to destroy the seed. But it didn’t; and let our farmers
remember that it never will; and if they wish to get rich,
let them cut out this article, read it often, and follow the
example of our fanatical Scotch friend.

This system of deep plowing and heavy manuring
wrought its result in due time. Paying off his debt, put-
ting up buildings, and purchasing stock each year, to fat-
ten and sell, Mr. Johnston after seventeen years of hard
work at last found himself ready to incur a new debt, and
to commence laying tile drains. Of the benefits to be
derived from drainage he had long been aware; for he
recollected that when he was only ten years of age, his
grandfather, a thrifty farmer in Scotland, seeing the good
effects of some stone drains laid down upon his place, had
said: ‘ Varily, I believe the whole airth should be
drained.” This quaint saying, which needs but little
qualification, made a lasting impression on the mind of
the boy, that was to be tested by the man, to the perma-
nent benefit of this country.

Without sufficient means himself, he applied for a loan
to the Bank of Geneva, and the president, knowing his
integrity and industry, granted his request. In 1835 tiles
‘were not made in this country, so Mr. Johnston imported
some as samples, and a quantity of the “horse-shoe”
pattern were made in 1888, at Waterloo. There was no
machine for producing them, so they were made by hand
and molded overa stick. This slow and laborious process
brought their cost to $24 per thousand, but even at this
enormous price, Mr. Jchnston determined to use them.
His ditches were opened and his tile laid, and then what
sport for the neighbors! They poked fun at the deluded
man; they came and counseled with him, all the while

30 LAND DRAINAGE.

watching his bright eye and intelligent face for signs of
lunacy; they went by wagging their heads and saying,
‘‘ Aha!” and one and all said he was a consummate ass to
put crockery under ground and bury his money so fruit-
lessly. Poor Mr. Johnston! he says he really felt ashamed
of himself for trying the new plan, and when people riding
past the house would shout at him, and make contemptuous
signs, he was sore-hearted and almost ready to conceal his
crime. But what was the result? Why this: that land
which was previously sodden with water, and utterly
unfruitful, in one season was covered with luxuriant crops,
and the jeering skeptics were utterly confounded; that in
two crops all his outlay for tiles and labor was repaid, and
he could start afresh and drain more land; that the profit
was so manifest as to induce him to extend his operations
each succeeding year, and so go on until 1856, when his
labor was finished, after having laid 210,000 tiles, or more
than fifty miles in length! And the fame of this individual
success going forth, one and another duplicated his ex-
periment, and were rewarded according to their deserts.

It was not long after the manufacture of the first lot of
tiles that a machine was contrived which would make quite
as well, and faster; and by #ts aid they were afforded at
quite as low a price as after an English machine was im-
ported. The horse-shoe tile has been used by Mr. John-
ston almost exclusively, for the reason that they were the
only kind to be procured at first, and on his hard subsoil,
finding them to do as well as he could wish, he has not
cared to make new experiments. He has drains that have
been in function for more than twenty years without need-
ing repair, and are apparently as efficient now as they
were when first laid. In soft land, pipe or sole tiles
would be preferable, or if horse-shoe were used they
should be placed on strips of rough board, to prevent

JOHNSTON’S SYSTEM. 31

their sinking into the trench bottom, or being thrown out
of the regular fall by being undermined by the running
water. He has not used the plow for opening his trenches,
for the reason that all his work has been let out by con-
tract, and the men have opened them by the spade; charg-
ing from twelve and a half to fifteen cents per rod for
opening and making the bottom ready for the tile. The
laying and filling was done by the owner.

HIS PRACTICE.

His ditches are dug only two and a half feet deep, and
thirteen inches wide at the top, sloping inward to the
bottom, where they are just wide enough to take the tile.
One main drain, in which are placed two four-inch tiles
set eight inches apart, with an arch piece of tile having a
nine-inch span set on top of them, was dug three and a
half and four feet deep, and this serves as a conduit for
the water from a large system of laterals. Drains should
never be left open in winter, for the dirt dislodged by
frequent frosts so fills the bottom that it will cost five or
six cents per rod to clear them; and, moreover, the banks
often become so crumbled away that the ditch can not be
straddled by a team of horses, and thus most of the fill-
ing must be done by hand. Mr. Johnston in draining a
field commences at the foot of each ditch and works up to
the head. He opens his mains first, and then the lateral
or small drains, but he lays the tiles in the laterals and
fills them completely before laying the pipe in the mains.
The object of this is to prevent the accumulation of sedi-
ment in the mains, which would naturally be washed from
the laterals on their first being laid. By commencing at
the foot of each ditch and working upward, he can always
get and preserve the regular fall, which may be dictated
by the features of his field, more easily than by working

o2 LAND DRAINAGE.

toward the outlet. A little practice teaches the ditchers
how to preserve the grade almost as well as if gauges
were employed; but before laying the tiles, the instrument
is applied to test the bottom thoroughly.’ The necessity
of this precaution will be apparent to any one who reflects
that if a tile or two in the course of a ditch be set much
too high or too low at either end, the water quickly forms
a basin beneath and around, sediment is washed into the
adjoining pipe, and ultimately even the whole bore is filled
and the drain stopped. When this happens it will be in-
dicated after a time by the water appearing at the surface
of the ground above the spot—drawn upward by capillary
attraction. In such a case the ditch must be reopened
and the tile relaid.
ILLUSTRATIONS.

Mr. Johnston says tile-draining pays for itself in two
seasons, sometimes in one. Thus, in 1847, he bought a
piece of ten acres to get an outlet for his drains. It was
a perfect quagmire, covered with coarse aquatic grasses,
and so unfruitful that it would not give back the seed sown
uponit. In 1848 a crop of corn was taken from it, which
was measured and found to be eighty bushels per acre, and
as, because of the Irish famine, corn was worth $1 per
bushel that year, this crop paid not only all the expense
of drainage, but the first cost of the land as well.

Another piece of twenty acres, adjoining the farm of
the late John Delafield, was wet and would never bring
more than ten bushels of corn peracre. This was drained
at a great cost, nearly $30 per acre. The first crop after
this was 83 bushels and some odd pounds per acre. It
was weighed and measured by Mr. Delafield, and the
county society awarded a premium to Mr. Johnston.

1T never used a leveling instrument. I always had water, which is the
best instrument.—J. J.

JOHNSTON'S SYSTEM. 33

Hight acres and some rods of this land, at one side, aver-
aged 94 bushels, or the trifling increase of 84 bushels per
acre over what it would bear before those insignificant
clay tiles were buried in the ground. But this increase
of crop is not the only profit of drainage; for Mr. John-
ston says that on drained land one half the usual quantity
of manure suffices to give maximum crops. It is not diffi-
cult to find a reason for this. When the soil is sodden.
with water, air can not enter to any extent, and hence
oxygen can not eat off the surfaces of soil-particles and
prepared food for plants; thus the plant must in great
measure depend on the manure for sustenance, and of
course the more this is the case, the more manure must
be applied to get good crops. ‘This is one reason, but
there are others which we might adduce if one good one
were not sufficient.

Mr. Johnston says he never made money until he
drained, and so convinced is he of the benefits accruing
from the practice, that he would not hesitate—as he did
not when the result was much more uncertain than at
present—to borrow money to drain. Drains well laid,
endure, but unless a farmer intends doing the job well he
had best leave it alone and grow poor, and move out West,
and all that sort of thing. Occupiers of apparently dry
land are not safe in concluding that they need not go to
the expense of draining, for if they will but dig a three-
foot ditch in even the driest soil, water will be found in
the bottom at the end of eight hours, and if it does come,
then draining will pay for itself speedily. For instance:
Mr. Johnston had a lot of thirteen acres on the shore of
the lake, where the bank at the foot of the lot was per-
pendicular to the depth of thirty or forty feet. He sup-
posed from this fact, and because the surface seemed very
dry, that he had no need to drain it. But somehow he

ot LAND DRAINAGE.

lost his crops continually, and as he had put them in as
well as he knew how, he naturally concluded that he must
lay some tile. So he engaged an Irishman to open a
ditch, with a proviso that if water should come into it in
eight hours, he. would drain the entire piece. The top
soil was so hard and dry as to need an application of the
pick, but at the depth of a foot it was found to be so wet
and soft that a spade could easily be sunk to the entire
depth of ten inches with little force. The ditches were
made, and in less than the specified time a brave lot of
water flowed in. The piece was thoroughly drained, and
the result was an immense crop of corn. The field has
regularly borne 60 or 70 bushels since. Corn was planted
for a first crop in this and the preceding instances, be-
cause a paying crop is obtained in one year, whereas if
wheat were sown it would be necessary to wait two sea-
sons. Healways drains when the field is in grass, if pos-
sible, for the ditches can be made easily ; and Spring is
chosen that the labor may not be interfered with by frosts.

To show how necessary it is to avoid planting trees
over drains, we quote a case in point. In a lot adjoining
his house are four large elms which are marked to be felled,
and for the reason that the lot was formerly so wet that
a pond of water stood upon it in winter, and throughout
the season the children skated and slid upon it. It was
drained, and all went well for a time; but after seven
years Mr. Johnston found his drains did not discharge
properly, and that in certain places the water came to the
purface, so as to destroy or greatly lessen the crop above
them. He could not account for the circumstances until
he dug down to the drain at each of these spots, when, to
his surprise, he found the tile [two four-inch tile with a
semi-circle of nine inch set on top of them,] completely
choked with fibrous roots of the elms.

JOHNSTON’S SYSTEM. 35

Mr. Johnston says he never saw one hundred acres in
any one farm, but a portion of it would pay for draining.
Mr. Johnston is no rich man who has carried a favorite
hobby without regard to cost or profit. He is a hard-
working Scotch farmer, who commenced a poor man, bor-
rowed money to drain his land, has gradually extended
his operations, and is now reaping the benefits, in having
crops of forty bushels of wheat to the acre. He is a gray-
haired Nestor, who, after accumulating the experience of
a long life, is now at sixty-eight years of age, written to
by strangers in every state of the Union for information,
not only in drainage matters, but all cognate branches of
farming. He sits in his homestead a veritable Humboldt
in his way, dispensing information cheerfully through our
agricultural papers and to private correspondents, of
whom he has recorded 164 who applied to him last year.
His opinions are, therefore, worth more than those of a
host of theoretical men, who write without practice. He
says that the retrogression of our agriculture in the older
states, is to be accounted for in our lack of drainage, poor
feeding of stock, which results in giving a small quantity
of poor manure, and in not keeping enough to make ma-
nure. He applies twenty-five loads of manure to the acre
at the beginning of a rotation, and this lasts throughout
the course. He learned from his grandfather that no
farmer could afford to keep any animal that did not im-
prove on his hands, and that as soon as it was in good
marketable condition it should be sold and replaced by
another. This theory he has always carried out, and as
a natural consequence, has always got higher prices for
his beef stock, and a ready market in the dullest of times.

Although his farm is mainly devoted to wheat, yet a
considerable area of meadow and some pasture has been
retained. He now owns about 300 acres of land. The

36 LAND DRAINAGE.

yield of wheat has been 40 bushels this year, and in fur-
mer seasons, when his neighbors were reaping 8, 10, or
15 bushels, he has had 80 and 40. We are informed by him
that there has been no such crop as the present since 1846,
either in yield or quality; and the absence of weevil is
remarkable. A variety of white wheat from Missouri,
sown more thinly than usual, has yielded 31 bushels to
something less than one bushel of seed sown. It headed
out a fortnight earlier than the Soule’s, but ripened later
—probably because thinly sown. Mr. Johnston thinks
we have been sowing too thickly for fifteen years past
upon rich land, and there can be no question but that he
is right. Still, it is better to take a medium course be-
tween thick and thin sowing, and thus avoid, on the one
hand, rust, overcrowding, and waste of seed, and on the
other, placing an entire crop at the mercy of insects which

may attack it. .
SALT FOR RUST.

As a sure preventive to rust, to give stiffness to the
straw, and to expedite the ripening of wheat, by four or
five days, Mr. Johnston sows five bushels of salt to the
acre, broadcast, after seeding. He thinks, moreover, that
for each of the five bushels of salt almost an extra bushel
of wheat may be expected.

SIZE OF TILES FOR MAINS AND LATERALS.

A too common error with improving farmers is that of
using too small tile for main drains, and too large for lat-
erals.” Those accustomed to the roomy conduits of ordi-
nary stone drains, suppose that nothing less than a three
inch bore will conduct the drainage from the surface into
the mains; and curiously enough the same persons, un-
mindful of the large area drained by each system of fate-
rals, err in using mains but little larger in bore than te

JOHNSTON ’S SYSTEM. 37

latter. If any are willing to look into the results of the
drainage on our Central Park, the most stupendous work
of the kind in the country, and one of the best conducted,
they will find that the one and a half inch and two inch
tiles there used for laterals do not run full even after the
most violent and protracted rains, and yet from a single
“system” of twelve acres, the discharge after a recent
rain was at the rate of 3,000 gallons per hour. This error
of using too large tile Mr. Johnston fell into, and now
that he has learned better after a twenty years’ experi-
ence, he cautions his brother farmers against using larger
than two inch tile for laterals. For mains each farmer
must provide as the quantity of water to be conducted is
greater or less. In many cases Mr. Johnston has used
two rows of four inch, in others six inch, and in one, semi-
circles of eleven inches, one as top and one as bottom,
making a pipe nine inches bore to discharge water. At
first he had many to take up and replace with large pipe
to secure a complete discharge. Main drains he makes
six to eight inches deeper than those emptying into them
—not with an abrupt shoulder, but leveled up, so that the
descent may take place gradually in the length of two
tiles—29 inches—and always giving the laterals a slight
sidewise direction at the end, so that their water will be
discharged down stream into the mains.

Another error he at first fell into was, in having too
many drains on lowlands, and not enough on the uplands ;
thus seeking to carry off the effect, while the cause—the
outcropping springs on the hillside—remained untouched.
Where the source of the water is most abundant, the
means for removing it should most abundantly be furn-
ished. Rain water falls on hills, sinks to an impervious
stratum, along which it runs until it either finds a porous
section through which it can fall to a lower level, or not

38 LAND DRAINAGE.

finding such, continues on the hard bottom of the side of
the hill, where it crops out in the form of a spring. If
this spring water is suffered to run down hill, it washes
the hillside more or less, and coming to the lowland, sinks
as far as it may into the soil, makes it sodden, and pro-
duces bad effects. To drain effectually, then, we must
cut off the supply above, and fewer drains will be neces-
sary below. Here is the whole secret of the thing, and
here we see why so much money is spent to so little pur-
pose by those who think that they should only drain wet
lowland. Appearances are deceitful, and we should not
suppose that a seemingly dry upland is really dry.

Tile works have been established at many places in New
York state, in several places in Massachusetts, in twelve
or fifteen counties in Ohio. Some five or six different
tile machines are in active operation at Cleveland, and are
unable to supply the demand; in fact so far as demand is
concerned, the same may be said of every place at which
tile are made in Ohio. Michigan, Indiana, Maryland and
several other states have tile works.

Considerable draining has been done in the north-west
part of Ohio, in that region more familiarly known as the
Black Swamp—a peculiar formation extending over sev-
eral counties—by means of open ditches. Brush, wood and
stone drains are not unknown in Ohio; and within a few
years past upward of four hundred miles of underdrain-
ing have been done in Union, Clark, Madison, Fayette,
Highland and Clinton counties, by means of the so-called
mole plow—a detailed description of this machine will be
found in an appropriate portion of this work.

ah ee

sees Berek

THEORY OF DRAINAGE.

6 fh
INTRODUCTION

Tue chief object of drainage is to liberate the super-
fluous moisture in springy land, or such lands as have an
impervious strata near the surface of the soil—the carry-
ing away of the water which accumulates on the surface,
from rains, snows, or freshets, is a secondary object only
of thorough drainage. Where there are springs, there is
a continued tendency of the water to force through the
superincumbent strata, so as to rise and spread over the
surface—such land must, even in times of drought, con-
tain more than a proper amount of moisture.

Where there is an impervious subsoil, it is there where
subterranean waters accumulate and remain a given
period, and then, perhaps, disappear. Asa general thing,
this ground water sinks the deepest, late in the summer;
in autumn it begins to rise, and in winter and spring it
attains its maximum hight. Now, when the winter and
spring waters, from rains and snows, from the surface,
find their ways down to the waters retained, and resting
on the subsoil, then the entire soil becomes too thoroughly
saturated with moisture to admit of tillage operations.
Winter grains will not succeed at all in such a soil, and
summer crops are at best very precarious. The roots of
winter plants, in quest of nourishment, penetrate to the
bubsoil, and finding a superabundance of water there,

become dropsical, and, consequently, perish; but if the
(39)

40 LAND DRAINAGE.

roots can possibly find their way into a drier portion of
the soil, even by returning toward the surface (they not un-
frequently do so), yet even then they become diseased, and
the plant becomes unthrifty and yields but a small pro-
duct; for, according to the natural tendency, every plant
pushes its roots downward, and if it does not succeed, it
is prevented only by the stony or watery condition of
the subsoil. But even when the water is withdrawn from
the surface of the field, there is still but little to be hoped
for in regard to cultivated plants; for the soil, previously
softened, now hardened by the influence of the sun’s rays
and air, does not permit the requisite circulation of air,
and prevents the extension of the roots. A very natural
consequence is, that the plants become diseased and yield
but little. ,

The same condition of things exists also with respect
to summer crops upon wet grounds. Late sowing, alone,
can succeed; the water-hardened soil is very difficult to
work, and, therefore, affords a very incompetent nidus or
bed for the growth of plants. Consequently, plants suc-
ceed badly, under all these circumstances; an entire fail-
ure of the crop, indeed, may occur, if a sudden violent
rain unites its influence with the rising ground water.

Now a rational agriculture requires that the spring
and ground water be removed; for, however necessary
moisture in the soil may be for the successful growth of
the plants, yet, as we have experienced, an excessive
moisture produces the opposite effect. An excess of
moisture in the soil, is recognized by certain water planta,
such as bent-grass, reeds, shave-grass,moss,ranunculace,
etc., growing, and gradually crowding out useful plants.
The color and condition of the plants themselves, also
indicate the superabundance of moisture in the soil.
They are generally coarse and reddish, when their plants

THEORY OF DRAINAGE. 41

vegetate in excessive moisture. The standing of rain or
snow water upon the surface, is also evidence of a super-
abundance of moisture, or if, afterward, rents or cracks
appear, or a crust of ice form in the furrows at the slight-
est frost. Finally, the appearance of the soil at certain
seasons, shows that it suffers on account of too much
water. If, for example, the spring winds have dried the
surface of the ground, so that one would think all the
moisture gone, and dark spots present themselves upon
the surface, this shows that much water stands there.

We will now proceed to give a chapter on soils gene-
rally, and their properties, then to state how drainage
operates, and also discuss the advantages of underdrain-
ing by demonstrating—so far as theory (not hypothesis), in
its proper sense, is susceptible of demonstration—that
drainage,

I. Removes stagnant waters from the surface.

II. Removes surplus water from under the surface.

III. Lengthens the seasons.

IV. Deepens the soil.

V. Warms the under soil.

VI. Equalizes the temperature of the soil during the
season of growth.

VII. Carries down soluble substances to the roots of
plants.

VIII. Prevents “ freezing out,” or “ heaving out.”

IX. Prevents injury from drought.

X. Improves the quality and quantity of the crops.

XI. Increases the effect of manures.

XII. Prevents rust in wheat and rot in potatoes.

CHAPTER I.

PROPERTIES OF SOILS.

In a work of this character, it may not be necessary
to describe the chemical composition of soils, although
very proper to state what properties are desirable
for remunerative cultivation. It not unfrequently hap-
pens, that the properties or qualities of soil are inhe-
rent: that is, the cause of productiveness is to be ascribed
to the peculiar combination of substances composing the
soil, which no chemical analyses have yet been able to
discover, and which has not been produced by any arti-
ficial combination or process. Scientific investigations of
the soil have accomplished little else than a determination
of the elementary substances or constituents, as well as
some inherent properties, such as color, weight, and fa-
cility of combination with other ingredients. A practi-
cal examination of the adaptation of soil for cultivation,
renders a consideration of some of the other properties
necessary.

The physical properties of the soil are of very great
importance, so far as the culture of plants is concerned.
It may, perhaps, not be asserting too much to say, that
the physical properties of the soil exert a more direct in-
fluence upon the plant, upon the atmosphere in contact
with it, and upon water, than do the chemical combina-
tions of its elements. The degree of fineness of the mine-
ral particles of the soil; its power of cohesion, moisture;
its adaptation to the percolation of water, and permeation
of atmosphere ; its power to absorb moisture by capillary
attraction, to absorb gases, to retain heat or warmth, ex-
ert, perhaps, a greater influence than is generally believed.

49

PROPERTIES OF SOILS. 43

Therefore, it is, why soils frequently are nearly identical
in their chemical analyses, yet differ so materially in their
productiveness. Underdraining proposes simply to affect
the physical condition of the soil without disturbing its
chemical composition.

Clay—Pure clay forms a very heavy and compact soil ;
but if it is burned and then ground, it forms a very
porous soil, and is much better adapted to the growth of
crops. A soil in which silicious (flinty sand), and calca-
reous (limey) earths predominate, becomes so hot and
parched, that the plants wither and die; on the other
hand, if these same substances are finely comminuted or
reduced to powder, they form a soil which absorbs entirely
too much moisture, and plants suffer in consequence.

One hundred pounds of calcareous earths in an ordi-
nary state, will absorb twenty-nine pounds of water, but
when finely comminuted, will absorb eighty-five pounds.!
Silicious earths, which usually retain no more than twenty-
five per cent. of moisture, when properly prepared in a
chemical laboratory, may be made to retain two hundred
and eighty per cent. of moisture.

The variety of colors in soil, is not very considerable,
generally brown or gray, changing into yellow; but some-
times it is found very red or black; sometimes it is
strongly inclined to white, blue or green, and sometimes
almost endless shades present themselves. The soils all
appear much darker in the field than in the laboratory,
because in the former place they are always moist, and in
the latter, dry. The predominating mineral constituent,
generally, imparts the color to the soil—thus, a soil in
which tron predominates, is of a reddish hue, an alumin-

1 Gerardin’s Views of Agriculture.

44 LAND DRAINAGE.

ous one, yellow, a calcareous one, bluish or whitish. When
humus (decayed vegetable or organic matter) is mingled
with a soil, it assumes a dark brown or blackish appear-
ance, so that, in course of time, the original color of the
soil will entirely disappear. Porphyry, mica schist, the
clay slates, and the various sandstone formations produce
a reddish soil. Basalt produces a brown or black; ser-
pentine, green; phonolite or clinkstone (a feldspathic
rock), white; sandstone, plaster and white lime produce
a whitish gray soil. Humus (when derived from turf
alone) produces at first a grayish brown, but eventually a
black soil. Luster occurs in connection with color, only
in instances where a moist clay has been overturned by a
polished plow or other smooth metallic substance. When
such polished surfaces occur on the soil, as it is being
plowed, they are unmistakable evidence of comparative
nonproductiveness, because they indicate a want of humus
and porosity. Soils in which mica, or small shining par-
ticles, abound, is generally not of good quality.

The color is of great importance in practical agricul-
ture, from the well-known fact, that dark colors always
retain the heat from the sun much longer than light
colored ones.

Dark soils are generally acknowledged to be more pro-
ductive than light ones—but this fertility is due to other
causes, perhaps, inas great degree, as to the color—they
generally contain humus, or at least some organic matter.
If, then, we assume the importance of the color of the
soil as a fixed fact, and as a condition having an influence
on temperature, we then have some data from which the
amelioration or improvement in a physical aspect is to be
determined.

Experience has taught that coarse dark particles of soil
retain warmth longer than fine particles; hence, intelligent

PROPERTIES OF SOILS. 45

gardeners often mix muck, fine coal, bonedust, etc., with
some calcareous soil, and distribute it among the soil in
the hotbeds, and between the grapevines, when they wish
to force fruits and fit them early for market. Sometimes
they strew bits of slate around the plantz—“ this is mainly
practiced on the banks of the Moselle, Nahe, Maas and
the Rhine.”! On a dark soil the vine always becomes
more juicy, and contains more saccharine matter than on
light soils in the same situation in all other respects.

Numerous experiments might be cited to prove that the
color of the soil varies the temperature nearly fifty per
cent. For example: if a calcareous clay soil is placed in
a white flower pot, and exposed to the rays of the sun, it
will increase sixteen degrees only in temperature, while
the same soil in a black pot by the side of it, will have in-
creased twenty-four degrees. Gerardin asserts that the
period of ripening potatoes is varied from eight to four-
teen days, by the color of the soil. In proof of this, he
planted, at the same time, an equal number of varieties
in different soils, and found that in white clay sixteen va-
rieties; in yellow clay, nineteen; in whitish sandy soil,
twenty, but in dark humus soil, twenty-six varieties, had
fully ripened at the same time.

As the density or compactness of soil is differently un-
derstood by different parties, we shall endeavor to be as
explicit as possible on this point. Generally, by density
or heaviness, is understood the amount of pressure which
one body exerts on another, or in other words, density
and specific gravity are regarded as synonymous. But
in agricultural literature, heaviness is rather synony-
mous with compactness or cohesiveness, than with weight.
By a heavy soil, is meant one that is difficult to work, on

=

1Yagoer’s Rodenkunde.

46 LAND DRAINAGE.

acceunt of its adhesiveness; the term is really applicable
to clay soils only, because they are capable of retaining
a large amount of water, and because clay, of itself, is

comparatively heavy; but, at the same time, a sandy soil.

is termed a light soil, although its specific gravity is
greater than that of the clay. Practically, the specific
gravity of a soil is of little importance. During a rise of
waters, the sandy particles always settle ut the bottom,
while the really fertile portions are deposited on the
top of the ground as the water recedes.

As a general thing, a soil of great specific gravity is
porous, while those really lighter, by weight, when dried,
are the heaviest to work. From the foregoing, it will be
observed that cohesion is of much more importance than
specific gravity. As the soil is composed of many par-
ticles. of different substances, it will either be tenacious
or mellow, compact or loose, in proportion as one or seve-
ral of the component parts predominate; therefore, as
soils are composed of almost all possible proportions of
these several elements, soils will be found of all corres-
ponding degrees of tenacity or porosity—hence, having
a knowledge of the combining elements to produce a soil,
we term a tenacious soil, a heavy one, and a mellow or
porous one, a light one without any regard to its actual
specific gravity.

The greatest degree of cohesion is termed tenacious,
strong, or impervious. Thus, we say a tenacious clay, a
strong clay, or an impervious clay. A compact soil is one
in which the particles adhere so strongly to each other as
to be difficult of separation, and that can not be crumbled
by the fingers. A tough soilis always a compact one when
dry; a tough soil is difficult to till when wet or moist, and
no less difficult when dry. A mellow soil is one that will
crumble upon slight pressure in the hand. Clay soils may

PROPERTIES OF SOILS. 47

be made mellow by the application of sand, humus, and by
frosts in the course of cultivation, but they are never mel-
low without the aid of man. |

The cohesion of the soil depends entirely upon the
amount of clay incorporated with it—the larger the pro-
portion of clay is, the more cohesive will the soil be, and
the more sand it contains, the mellower it will be. <Ac-
cording to Schuebler’s experiments, the following named
soils exhibited the degree of tenacity or cohesion placed
in the corresponding columns: |

Description of soil. Degrees of Cohesion according

cohesion. to weight.
Pure clay, - - - 100. 24.
Pipe clay, - . - - 83.3 19.
Brickmakers’ clay, - - 68.8 15.3
Common clay, - - - 57.3 13.2
Loamy clay, - - - 33. 7.5
Slaty marl, - - - - 23. 5.2
Carbonate of magnesia, - - 11.5 2.3
Humus, - - - - 8.7 1.6
Plaster of Paris, - - - Pe 1.2
Fine calcareous soil, - ; - 5. i.
Sand, - - - - 0. 0.

The more cohesive a soil is, the greater is its liability
to be adhesive in a moist state. This adhesion often ren-
ders an otherwise productive soil very undesirable, on ac-
count of the resistance it offers in tillage. Some German
writer, whose name I can not ascertain, instituted a series
of experiments to determine the positive as well as com-
parative amount of “ adhesive resistance” to implements
generally employed in agriculture, the results of which
"are embodied in the following table: bs

48 LAND DRAINAGE.

Degree of adhesive resistance to agri-
cultural implements exerted by a su-

Moist soils. perficial square foot, on

Tron. Wood.
Pure white clay, - - . 27. 29.2
Pipeclay, - - - - 17.2 18.9
Fine calcareous earth, - - 14.3 | 15.6
Gy pseous earth, - - - 10.7 11.8
Brickmakers’ clay, - - 10.6 11.4
Humus, - - - - 8.8 9.4
Common clay, - - - re) 8.9
Loamy clay, - - - - 5.8 6.4
Magnesian earth, = - 5.8 TA
Slaty marl, - - - - 4.9 5.5
Lime sand, - - . 4.1 4.4
Quartz sand, - - - - 3.8 4.3

Many other properties are connected with the cohesive-
ness of the soil, such as the permeability of water, capil-
lary attraction and retention of moisture, penetrability of
the atmosphere, retention of warmth, etc.

A cohesive or compact soil is, in consequence of its
tenacity and retention of moisture, always cool or cold,
because, in the first place, it is impermeable to the air, and
does not absorb and retain the warmth of the sun, but
loses its moisture through evaporation only; and it is a
well-known fact, that evaporation is a cooling process.
On the other hand, a mellow soil is warm, because it does
not retain moisture, and is not cooled by evaporation.

A cohesive soil contracts or shrinks when dried. This
contraction causes wide and sometimes very deep fissures
or cracks, while a mellow soil does not perceptibly either
contract or expand, but settles down and becomes more
compact. A pure humus soil contracts as much if not
more than clay, during a season of drought, but is held
together in masses by vegetable fibers, with which it is
interspersed ; but whenever sand is mixed with humus, it
ceases to contract. The best and cheapest method of
ameliorating a clay soil is to underdrain, and expose it as

PROPERTIES OF SOILS. 49

thoroughly as possible to the action of frost. For this
reason it should be plowed into ridges, even if very clod-
dy, in the fall, so that the frost may have the largest pos-
sible amount to operate on, and by spring it will be found
to be much ameliorated.

Retentiveness of Moisture.—The capacity to retain moist-
ure and exclude the permeation of the atmosphere de-
pends entirely upon the cohesiveness of the soil. A co-
hesive soil is almost impervious, while a mellow soil is
always porous. Pure clay will retain water until it is ex-
hausted by evaporation, while pure sand is so porous that
it may be said to swallow the water. Neither of these ex-
tremes is a desirable quality, but a medium or mean be-
tween the two is really what is requisite. It is always
better to have a soil too porous than to have one too com-
pact. <A well-tilled soil is seldom so compact as to retain
moisture in quantities to act injuriously upon vegetation.
Every effort, therefore, which will remove surplus moist-
ure, or such moisture as is in actual excess of the absolute
amount required for vegetation, is an effort to assist nature,
and consequently is in the right direction.

By porosity of the soil, must be understood not merely
its adaptation to permit water to filter through it, but also
the capacity to draw moisture from the subsoil by or
through capillary attraction. It is a well-known fact, that
mellow soils are, even in times of drought, more moist
than tenacious or compact soils are; they absorb moisture
from below, on the same principle that the sponge absorbs
and elevates moisture. Even a very sandy soil, resting
on an impervious or tenacious subsoil, is better adapted
for crops during a drought than a heavy clay soil, solely
on account of its capillary capacity.

But an essential quality of a good soil is, that while it

e

50 LAND DRAINAGE.

is porous enough to filter the surface water, and possesses
a proper capillary capacity, that it at the same time pos-
sesses another important quality, namely, the retention
of moisture. This latter quality appears to depend upon
the decomposition and comminution of the mineral sub-
stances, and the decay of organic materials of which the
soil is composed. Every kind or quality of soil will ab-
sorb or imbibe a certain amount of moisture, until it is
completely saturated, and the remainder will drip or flow
away. The amount imbibed is generally less than the
weight of a given quantity of the soil.

Schuebler, it appears, took a pound of the various kinds
of soil, after they were thoroughly dried, then saturated
them with water and weighed them ; the excess of weight
when saturated over the weight when dry, of course, would
give the capacity of retaining moisture. Thus, if a pound
of soil when dry weighed a pound, but a pound and a half
when saturated, it is very evident the absorbing capacity
of that soil is 50 per cent. From Schuebler’s experiments

we have compiled the following table : :

gee Lae

Soils. 865 Soils. 263

Be &. ad

rs 03
Quartz sand, - - 25 || Common soil (what kind ?) 52
Gypseous soil, - > fh 2F Pipe clay, - - 61
Lime sand, - - 29 Pure clay, - - 70
Slaty marl, - - 34 Fine calcareous earth, 85
Loamy clay, - - 40 Fullers’ earth, - - 87
Caleareous soil, - - 47 Humus, - - 181
Brickmakers’ clay, - 50 Fine magnesia, - + 256

This table presents several very striking facts. In the
first place, it shows that coarse particles, like sand, retain
less moisture than the same material when finely commi-
nuted. For example, the lime, when reduced to particles
of the size of common sand, will retain 29 per cent. only

PROPERTIES OF SOILS. 51

of moisture; while alimy soil (clay and lime) will retain 47
per cent., and the limy soil, reduced to powder, will retain
85 per cent. Now, as underdraining and culture reduce
the particles of soil, it is very evident that the longer soils
are cultivated the greater will be their retentive capacity.

Light clay soils appear the best adapted to retain moist-
ure, While at the same time they appear to have a more
desirable kind of porosity than either sand or heavy clay.
Humus absorbs the largest proportion of water, but when
it parts with it not unfrequently becomes so dry that it
floats on the water; it is not an active absorber.

Another quality which is possessed by soils, and proper
to be mentioned here, is the degree of rapidity with which
soils part with the imbibed moisture. It is very evident
that the sand will part with its 25 per cent., in the form
either of a filtration or an evaporation, much sooner than
brickmakers’ clay will, with its 50 per cent., or humus its
181 per cent. To determine this point precisely, Schue-
bler exposed soils containing 100 parts of water to a heat
of 66° F., during a period of four hours. He found the
water in

——————

Evapo- Evapo-

rated, rated.

Per cent. Per cent.
Quartz sand, - 88.4 Common soil (what kind?)| 32.
Lime sand, - - 75.9 Pure elay, - - 31.9
Gypseous earth, - 71.7 Fine calcareous soil, - 28.0
Slaty marl, - - 68.8 Garden soil (what kind ?) 24.3
Loamy clay, - 52. Humus, - - 20.5
Brickmakers’ clay, - 45.7 Magnesia, - - 10.8
Pipe clay, - - 34.9

As a laboratory experiment, this table may be very val-
uable, but in practical agriculture we do not consider it
very reliable, or of any absolute value. Every one knows
that the exposure toward the north or south, east or west,
would materially affect the retentive quality, so far as

52 LAND DRAINAGE.

evaporation by the sun’s rays is concerned; and equally
as much would they be affected by the winds. A sharp
north-west wind might “dry up” a clay soil as much as
the sun would dry up a humus soil. Then, too, if fur-
rows are plowed deep and narrow, more surface will be
exposed to the action of the elements than if plowed wide
and shallow. A sandy soil, covered with a mat of grass,
would not evaporate moisture as rapidly as an exposed
clay would. :

The property of expansion and contraction of soils is
intimately connected with the capacity of absorbing and
retaining moisture. Some soils, when fully saturated, do
not expand a particle, while others expand very much ;
those which expand the most when saturated, also con-
tract the most when the moisture is exhausted. The com-
parative expansive or contractive capacity of soils may
be very readily determined in the following manner: take
a common brickmaker’s mold, and fill it with thoroughly
saturated soil, as compactly as possible, with the hand,
then expose it either for days in unobstructed sunshine, or
else expose it to artificial heat, not exceeding 212° Fahren-
heit; when the soil is thoroughly dried, it will be found—
according to the kind employed—to have shrunk more or
less. Schuebler’s investigations indicated that

1000 parts of Will contract. 1000 parts of Will contract.
Parts. Parts.
Lime or quartz sand, 0. Pipe clay, - 114,
Calcareous soil, - 50. Carbonate of magnesia, 154.
Loamy clay, ~ 60. Pure clay, - 183.
Brickmakers’ clay, - 85. Humus, - - 200.
Slaty marl, - 95.

—_—

These experiments confirm repeated observations, that.
a soil in which clay predominates always contracts, and

PROPERTIES OF SOILS. 53

becomes full of fissures or cracks, when it is perfectly
dry; but that in sandy soil no such change takes place.
But every day’s experience contradicts the statement rel-
ative to humus in the above table; it is a well known fact,
that humus or turf never cracks, even in the hottest and
driest weather. There is no doubt that cracking is in a
very great degree due to the amount of moisture contained,
and the rapidity with which it is evaporated. The same
soil will contain many more fissues, if dried suddenly, than
if dried slowly. -

Another property inherent in soils must not be omitted,
namely: the capability of absorbing moisture from the
atmosphere. This property manifestly is dependent on
the porosity of the soil; for it is very evident that a soil
which readily absorbs a rain fall, will also absorb moisture
when it is presented in the form of fog or dew, or even
from the atmosphere direct. We must again refer to
Schuebler to ascertain the degree in which this property
is possessed by the various soils. He took 1,000 grains
of dried soil of each kind, and spread each kind respect-
ively on a surface of 50 inches, and found that

Absorbed in

Qa:rxrYr°re_e_—_—_—_—_—
12 hours. 24 hours. | 48 hours, 72 hours,
Grains. Grains. Grains. Grains.
Quartz sand, - - 0 0 0 0
Gypseous earth, - = 1 1 1 1
Lime sand, 2 3 3 3
Common soil (what tina ?) 16 22 23 23
Loamy clay, - - 21 26 28 28
Slaty marl, - - 24 29 32 33
Brickmakers’ clay, - 25 30 34 35
Fine calcareous earth, - 26 31 35 35
Pipe clay, - - 30 36 40 41
Garden soil, having ' per
cent. humus, 35 45 50 52
Pure clay, - - 37 42 43 49
Fine magnesia, - 69 76 80 82
Humus, - . - 80 97 110 120

eT

54 LAND DRAINAGE.

It will be seen at a glance that the greatest proportion
of the moisture is absorbed during the first twelve hours.
Soils in the fields seldom, if ever, become so thoroughly
dried as those employed in Schuebler’s experiments; hence
the absorption will necessarily be much less than the pro-
portion stated in the table. The experiments simply con-
firm every day’s observations, that the absorbing powers
of clay are increased by the addition of sand; but practice
does not confirm the statement with regard to humus. It
is a well known fact, that a piece of humus, so dry
that it will float, may lie in a damp cellar, or other moist
place, for months, without absorbing a perceptible amount
of moisture.

Porosity is, after all, of more importance than the prop-
erty of absorbing a large quantity of moisture, because
in a porous soil moisture can penetrate to a greater ex-
tent. Although quartz sand does not absorb any appre-
ciable amount of moisture, it is a well ascertained fact that
a moist atmosphere is productive of good results on a
sandy soil; plants flourish and grow well, while under the
same conditions they very soon die away in a heavy clay.
What practical benefit is then to be derived from the great
absorbing power of clay, if the moisure is confined to the
surface only; while in sand, with no power of absorption,
the particles of moisture can permeate everywhere? But
it is asserted that the air absorbs more moisture from the
soil than it imparts to it; however true this assertion may
be, the advantages to growing crops of moisture imparted
to the soil from the atmosphere, is acknowledged by every
intelligent and observing agriculturist.

The capacity of soils to absorb gaseous elements from
the atmosphere, is one of the most important properties.
The fertilizing properties of gaseous elements are so well
known, and generally acknowledged, as not to require any

PROPERTIES OF SOILS. Y3)

illustration or argument; the only object really accom-
plished by plowing is, a loosening of the soil, so as to
permit the permeation of the atmosphere, and conse-
quently absorption of gases and moisture from it by the
soil. The most important, as well as most universal of
these gases is oxygen; it combines chemically with moist
(never with dried) soil, as well as it combines physically
or mechanically with hydrogen to form water. ‘ Sprout-
ing,” or germination, would be utterly impossible without
oxygen; hence, seeds germinate much more readily in a
properly-formed seed-bed—that is, where the soil has
been reduced to mellowness and ordinarily well pulverized,
thanin asoil not soprepared. In proof of this assertion,
we need only refer to the fact that, in forests, seeds of in-
digenous plants frequently become so completely excluded
from the action of the atmosphere, that, when again ex-
posed to it, after a lapse of many years, they at once germ-
inate and grow.

Subsoils, or such soils as lie beneath the surface and
beyond the influence of the atmosphere, are termed
“‘ dead”’ or “wild” soils, and are, as a matter of course.
unproductive. But as soon as they are exposed to atmos-
pheric influences, and especially the action of the frost,
they become very productive. Some soils possess the
property of absorbing gases in a much greater degree
than others; blue clay, or hard pan, for instance, does
not possess this property in any very considerable degree :
hence, it must be exposed a very long time to atmospheric
influences before it becomes fertile. We must again refer
to Schuebler’s experiments for the precise degrees in
which the different soils possess the property.

56 LAND DRAINAGE,

ee

Absorbs. Absorbs.

Per cent. Per cont.
While humus,- - - 20 Clay slate, é 11
Rich garden soil, - 18 Brickmakers’ clay, ~- 1l
Magnesia, - Lag sli Fine calcareous soil, 10
Good arable soil, - 16 Yellow clay, - - 9
Pure clay, . - 15 Lime sand, - 5
Pipe clay, - - 13 Gypseous earth, - 2
Slaty marl, - - 13 Quartz sand, - |

No less important than any of the qualities already
enumerated, is the property of absorbing and retaining
warmth. This property depends entirely upon the color,
compactness, porosity, moisture, and the exposure to the
rays of the sun. We have already referred to the fact
that dark soils absorb and retain the sun’s rays, while
light colored soil reflect without absorbing them. In the
course of the succeeding chapters, we shall fully discuss
the effects of the absorption of warmth, and its conse-
quences; nothing further need be remarked here, than to
refer to Schuebler’s experiments for the degrees or pro-
portion in which the various soils possess the property of
absorbing and retaining heat.

i

Soils. Retentive Soils. Retentive

capacity. capacity.
Lime sand, - - 100 Arable soil (what kind?) 70
Slaty marl, ~ 95 Pipe clay, - 68
Quartz sand, - ~ 95 Pure clay, - - 66
Hard Pan, or ‘ Blue Garden soil (what kind ?) 64
clay,” - - 76 Fine calcareous earth, 61
Gypseous earths, - 73 Humus, - - 49
Brickmakers’ clay, - 71 Fine magnesian soil, - 38

From this it will be seen that a limy or sandy soil is
much warmer soil than the clays: hence, a loamy soil,
having a proper admixture of sand, is warmer than a clay
soil.

PROPERTIES OF SOILS. 57

Many persons suppose that the soil differs from the
subsoil, in no other respect than that the soil has been
cultivated, and has in consequence assumed a more po-
rous character. While this in some cases may be correct,
it can by no means be adopted as a rule. The subsoil,
as a general thing, is a distinct geological formation from
the soil itself—the soil may be a sandy loam, while the
subsoil is an impervious clay—or the soil may be a loam,
while the subsoil is gravel and sand. Where the subsoil
is gravelly or sandy, as a general thing, drainage is neces-
sary; yet, there are cases, which we will discuss in the
proper place, where gravelly subsoils require drainage as
imperatively as clayey ones do. If the subsoil were
always as porous as the cultivated soil, there would be
less occasion for thorough drainage, but as this is not the
case, drainage becomes necessary if not indispensable.

The crust of the earth is composed of rocks, or of the
material which once was rock, disposed in stata, one above
the other, like the concentric peels of an onion, but the
regularity of stratification has, in many places, been in-
terrupted by earthquakes and volcanic action.’

[Fie. 2.]

In passing over a region of country from A to e, Fig.
2, we may find at A, a deposit of shale, but it soon dis-

1 Voleanic forces have operated from beneath upon most of the older
rocks, whereby they have been bent upward. The weight of the ocean,
drift, etc., has bent them downward; gravity and other agencies more lo-
cal, have produced a lateral pressure, especially when the strata were highly
inclined; and these various agencies will account for nearly every case of
flexure, not only of the lamina, but of the beds also.— Hitchcock’s Elemen-
tary Geology, page 18.

a8 LAND DRAINAGE. '

appears, and we find we are traveling on limestone as at
w, then we find the limestone disappearing, and we are
on a heavy clay; at 6 we find ourselves on a sandstone
formation, then again on a heavy clay ; then ate we find it
gravelly, then shale, perhaps, and again a clay formation
at d. The soil which may be represented by a line just
above the upper edge of these formations, as from A to 0,
is, perhaps, a mixture of all the rocks on which it rests,
and demonstrates, very clearly, why the subsoil may be
different at different points, under the same kind of soil,
as at A anda, or 6 and ec. A farm situated at c, would
not require any drainage; while one situated between a
and 6, would not be of any great value without it.

CAAA

[Fie. 3.]

In the annexed Fig. 3, A and B, represent pertions of
strata clevated by volcanic action, forming a basin, B 3 f,
in which the strata, 1 and 2, have subsequently been
formed. Now, suppose 1 to represent a deposit of gravel,
2a deposit or formation of blue or yellow clay, 3 a lime
rock, and 4 a sandstone strata. The rains falling at B
and at f, will readily percolate toward the center of the
basin, because the strata is porous, while the rains from a
to d will penetrate the earth very slowly. A field situ-
ated at B, although actually lower than one at d, may,
nevertheless, be much drier, and in a workable condition,
while the one situated at d,is saturated with moisture.
All the rain falling between a and d, except that which
flows from the surface and that evaporated, will penetrate

PROPERTIES OF SOILS. 59

until it reaches the limestone strata, 3, which is imper-
vious, and of course, arrests its further progress—the re-
sult is, that at 6 a swamp is formed from the excess of
water which can find no outlet or means of escape.

This same figure may serve to illustrate the principle
of artesian wells. Strata No. 4, being porous, is con-
stantly saturated with water, and is what is termed a
water bearing rock. Now, if the strata 4 be penetrated
at a or b, the pressure from f will cause the water to rise
at a or 6, to the same level of f; at c, the water would
rise to the level of the earth only, being in the center of
the basin, the water would not rise higher than the out-
crop of the strata, as at B; at d, it would not rise to the
surface, and at 1 it would remain at some distance below
the surface.

GHAPTER #T-

HOW DRAINAGE OPERATES—HOW IT AFFECTS THE

SOIL.

Ir would be no difficult matter to collect a volume of
experiments, made in laboratories and elsewhere, which
were made to ascertain the precise workings of drainage.
One of the most cheap, simple, and at the same time most
satisfactory experiments, to determine the advantage of
draining, is the following: Take two ordinary earthen-
ware flowerpots, the one having a hole or perforation in
the bottom, and the other to be without any orifice in
either sides or bottom. Fill both with precisely the same
quantity and quality of soil, and plant in each, either
growing plants or seeds of any ordinary cultivated plants.
The perforated pot will represent a drained soil, while
the other represents an undrained one. Give to both the
same exposure, and the same quantity of water. If seeds
are sown in both, those in the perforated pot will germin-
ate the soonest, and the plants become the thriftiest and
hardiest; sometimes, though seldom, the plants in the
other pot will not germinate at all; but generally, they
do germinate, although they produce only sickly and slen-
der plants. In this manner, the effect of drainage is com-
pletely demonstrated.

If both flowerpots are placed in earthen saucers or
dishes, and water poured in the dishes, that pot having
the perforation will absorb the water by capillary at-
traction—the plant will receive its due proportion, and
thrive; while the unperforated pot will not absorb any

water, and the plant will suffer from drought; thus show-
(60)

HOW DRAINAGE AFFECTS THE SOIL. 61

ing the effect or benefit of drainage in times of drought.
But the best method of demonstrating the manner in
which drainage operates, is by the following apparatus :

' == ‘ill / ; = = = ZZ -
“= _ oT CCNA

[Fie 4.] '

Fill a glass vessel, E, with moistened soil, to the hight
of six or more inches—the bottom of the vessel being
provided with a stop-cock, K, which should penetrate
several inches into the soil, so as to represent a pipe-tile
as nearly as possible. The mouth of the vessel, EH, should
be firmly closed with a cork, C, through which is inserted
a tube, whose upper portion is a funnel, A, provided with
a stop-cock, B. This tube is for the purpose of introduc-
ing water on the soil within; and the cock, B, to prevent
the introduction of air from that source, after sufficient
water has been introduced. The other tube which passes
through the cork, ©, is luted to another tube at D. This
last is inserted at G, into the vessel, I, which is partially
filled with water; but the tube, G, should not be inserted
so deep as to touch the water. The vessel, I, is provided
with three orifices or openings; through one of these
orifices a tube is inserted at F, to admit air, in such a
manner, however, as to compel it to pass through the
water—the air being lighter than the water, will, of course,

62 LAND DRAINAGE.

rise through it in the form of bubbles; or rather, when
bubbles are rising through the water, it is an mdication
that air is entering through the tube, F, from without.
The orifice of the stop-cock, K, should be kept under
water in the vessel, J; Having completed these arrange-
ments, close the stop-cock, K, and open the one, B, and
through the funnel, A, introduce as much water as would
probably fall during an ordinary shower. It will be ob-
served, that the water so introduced does not at once dis-
appear, or be absorbed by the soil, but remains on the
surface, or penetrates very slowly. This i is the condition
and action of an undrained soil. Yi:

Now, to represent the action of rain on deeinved ml,
open the stop-cock, K, and bubbles of liberated gas will
soon be seen to rise in the vessel, J; these bubbles are
liberated gases from the soil—those who have analyzed
these gases, state that a large amount of oxygen, in com-
bination with gases deleterious to plants, is contained in
them; and are, therefore, of opinion, that less oxygen is
found in soil immediately after a shower, than before—
the oxygen being restored only as soon as evaporation
takes place. While the gases are being liberated through
K, bubbles will be seen rising in the water in I; thus it
is demonstrated that each shower furnishes drained soils
with new oxygen. As soon as K is opened, the water
which was on the surface of the soil, at E, sinks at once;
but as soon as it is being discharged at K, into J, the
bubbles cease, or nearly so, to rise in I.

A belief has obtained, that drains are of advantage or
beneficial to the soil only, when they.are conducting away
the surplus waters from showers. It certainly is a great
advantage to the plants to be relieved from surplus water,
as soon as possible, but it is, at the same time, no less an ad-
vantage to be supplied with new oxygen, and to have. the

HOW DRAINAGE AFFECTS THE SOIL. 63

old removed. An undrained soil can not make these
changes in its gases, for the benefit of the plant, as well
as a drained soil. This aeration of the soil is absolutely
necessary for the health and growth of plants. Plowing
is nothing more or less than aerating the soil; and every
one conversant with farming operations, is well aware,
that plants grow best on a finely pulverized soil—that is,
in other words, on a well aerated soil. "

Oxygen is no less essential to the roots of plants, than
it is to the lungs of animals; but if the oxygen is not
changed, the result is very unfavorable to the plants.
Every rain which falls on a porous or drained soil, brings
not only new solvents of the inorganic materials which
nourish the plants, that have already been oxydized,
and thus prepared for the advent of another rain, but
when it falls on an undrained or impermeable soil, it di-
minishes the amount of oxygen, and produces permanent
injury to the plants, by the excessive amount of stagnant
water, and by lowering the temperature for a longer
period than is consistent with the health of the plant.

No fear need be entertained that any clayey or loamy
soil can be over drained; or, in other words, that so much
moisture may be drained out of the soil, as not to leave
sufficient remaining for the use of any plants which may
appropriately be grown in the soil.

All soils have what is termed “capillary attraction,”
that is, the power to suck up, or elevate to the surface
mineral matters in solution, or moisture from the subsoil;
and the finer the soil is pulverized, the stronger the
capillary attraction. In proof of this position, the fol-
lowing, from the pen of J. H. Salisbury, an agricultural
chemist of New York, is here inserted:

‘“ Byrom numerous observations which have been made at different
times on the peculiar appearance of the surface of soils, clays, etc.,

64 LAND DRAINAGE.

during the warm summer months, and the fact that they, when
covered with boards, stones, or other materials, so as to prevent them
from supporting vegetation, become, in a comparatively short time,
much more productive than the adjacent uncovered soil, we have
been led to the belief that the soil possessed some power within itself,
aside from the roots of plants, of elevating soluble materials from
deep sources to the surface.'

“To throw some light upon the subject, in May, 1852, I sunk three
boxes into the soil—one 40 inches deep; another 28 inches deep,
and a third 16 inches deep. All three of the boxes were 16 inches
square. I then placed in the bottom of each box, three pounds of
sulphate of magnesia. The soil which was to be placed in the boxes
above the sulphate of magnesia, was then thoroughly mixed, so as to
be uniform throughout.

“The boxes were then filled with it. This was done on the 25th
of: May, 1852. After the boxes were filled, a sample of soil was
taken from each box, and the percentage of magnesia which it con-
tained accurately determined. On the 28th of June, another sample
of surface soil was taken from each box, and the percentage of mag-
nesia carefully obtained as before.

‘The result in each case pointed out clearly a marked increase
of magnesia. On the 17th of July, a sample of surface soil was
taken a third time from each box, and carefully examined for mag-
nesia; its percentage was found to be very perceptibly greater than
on the 28th of the preceding month. On the 15th of the months of
August and September following, similar examinations severally
were made, with tne same evident gradual increase of the magnesia
in the surface soil. .

“The following are the results as obtained :

Percentage of Magnesia.

Box 40 in. deep.|Box 28 in. deep./Box 16 in. deen.

May 25, - - - 0.18 0.18 0.18
June 28, - . - 0.25 0.30 0.32
July 17, - > 0.42 0.46 0.47
August 15, - - 0.47 0.53 0.54
September 15, - 0.51 0.58 0.61

1 Dr. Alex. H. Stephens, of New York, was, I think, the first to suggest
this idea. He speaks of it in his address, delivered before the State Agri-
cultural Society of New York, on the Food of Plants,in January, 1848. No
accurate experiments were performed, however, to fix it with a degree of
certainty, till these were made which appear in this paper.

HOW DRAINAGE AFFECTS THE SOIL. 65

“ Before the middle of October, when it was intended to make an-
other observation, the fall rains and frosts had commenced; on this
account the observations were discontinued. The elevation of the
magnesia, as shown in the above experiments, evidently depends
upon a well-known and common property of matter, viz: the attrac-
tion of solids for liquids, or what is commonly denominated capil-
lary attraction. This may be clearly illustrated by taking a series
of small capillary glass tubes, and insert one extremity of them in a
solution of sulphate of magnesia or chloride of ammonium, and break
or cut off the upper extremities just below the hight to which the
solution rises. Expose them to the sun’s rays; the water of the so-
lution evaporates, and the fixed sulphate of magnesia will be depos-
ited just on the upper extremity of the tube. As the solution evap- —
orates more of it rises up from below, keeping the tubes constantly
full; yet no sulphate of magnesia passes off; it all, or nearly all, re-
mains at or rises just above the evaporating surface. Just so in the
soil; as the water evaporates from the surface, more water, impreg-
nated with the soluble materials from below, rises up to supply its
place. As this evaporation goes on, it leaves the fixed materials be-
hind in the surface soil at the several points of evaporation.

“This explains why we often find, during the months of July,
August and September, a crust of soluble salts covering the surface
of clay deposits which are highly impregnated with the alkalies, or
any of the soluble compounds of the metals, earths, or alkaline
earths, also, the reason in many instances of the incrustations upon
rocks that are porous and contain soluble materials. It also helps
to explain the reason why manures, when applied for a short or
longer time upon the surface of soil, penetrates to so slight a depth,
Every agriculturist is acquainted with the fact that the soil directly
under his barn-yard, two feet below the surface (that is, any soil of
ordinary fineness), is quite as poor as that covered with boards or
otherwise two feet below the surface in his meadow; the former hay-
ing been for years directly under a manure heap, while the latter,
perhaps, has never had barn-yard manure within many rods of it.

“The former has really been sending its soluble materials up to
the manure and surface soil; the latter, to the surface soil and the
vegetation near or upon it, if uncovered.

‘The capillary attraction must vary very much in different soils;
that is, some have the power of elevating soluble materials to the
surface from much deeper sources than others. The pores or inter.
stices in the soil correspond to capillary tubes; the less the diame-

66 LAND DRAINAGE.

ter of the pores or tubes, the higher the materials are elevated.
Hence one very important consideration to the agriculturist, when
he wishes nature to aid him in keeping his soil fertile, is to secure a
soil in a fine state of mechanical division, and of a highly retentive
nature.

“Nothing is more common than to see soils retain their fertility
with the annual addition of much less manure than certain others.
In fact, a given quantity of manure on the former will serve to
maintain their fertility for several years; while the latter, with a
similar addition, quite lose the good effects of the manure in a single
season. :

“The former soils have invariably the rocks, minerals, etc., which
compose them in a fine state of division; while the latter have their
particles more or less coarse.”

The rich, clay soil contains very many small pores,
while the quartz sand, and especially the coarse, sharp
sand, has larger spaces, which are not properly capillary
pores. Like any other small apertures and spaces, the
small pores of the soil are capable of imbibing and retain-
ing water, contrary to the laws of its gravity. On the
other hand, in the larger spaces or pores, the water moves
entirely according to the laws of gravity. When we place
a flowerpot, filled with earth, in a dish filled with water,
the small or capillary pores will draw the water up, while
the larger spaces will be filled with water no higher than
they are under the surface of the water in the dish. And
if we pour water upon the earth in a flowerpot, we may
pour a certain quantity upon it without even a drop com-
ing out of the hole in the bottom of the pot, simply be-
cause it is retained through capillarity in the fine pores:
But when all the capillary pores are filled with water, then
the water poured on will flow down the larger spaces, and,
according to the laws of gravity, escape through the hole
in the bottom of the pot. As the quantity and extension
of the fine pores are very uhequal in the different kinds
of soil, the quantity of water which they are capable of

HOW DRAINAGE AFFECTS THE SOIL. 67

absorbing and retaining through capillarity (or their “re-
tentive power,” as it is called), also varies greatly. The
humus, or clay soil, retains most water; the coarse, sandy
soil, least.

In order that we may be clearly understood, when
speaking of the different kinds of soil, we have concluded
to adopt the following classification of soils from the
Mark Lane Express:

“The best classification of soils is a chemical classification, founded
on their composition according to the proportion of sand separable
by washing; it divides them into sands, sandy loams, loams, clay
loams and clays. It subdivides these again into fine and coarse
sands and sandy loams, according to the size of the particles of
sand, and into gravelly sands, loams and clays, according to the pro-
portion of pebbles or fragments of rocks. The proportion of calca-
reous matter indicates whether they are to be called marly or calca-
reous sands, loams and clays; while, if they contain a certain pro-
portion of vegetable matter, they are called vegetable soils. Hach
name should express some defined proportion of sand separable by
washing, and of caleareous or vegetable matter. In such a classifi-
cation as we advocate we should have:

1, Silicious soils, containing from 90 to 95 per cent. of sand.
These would be divided, on the same principle, into blowing sand,
coarse sand, good agricultural sand and calcareous sand.

2. Loamy soils, T0 to 90 per cent. of sand separable by washing,
subdivided into coarse sandy loam, fine sandy loam, loam, rich loam
and caleareous loam.

3. Clayey soils, with 40 to 70 per cent. of sand; divided into clay
loam, clay and calcareous clay.

Each of these soils termed calcareous sand, calcareous loam, ete.,
contain 5 per cent. of lime.

Marly soils constitute a fourth group, in which the proportion of
lime ranges between 5 and 20 per cent., and are divided into sandy
marls, loamy marls and clayey marls. ‘

Calcareous soils contain more than 20 per cent. of lime. They are
divided into sandy calcareous, loamy calcareous and clayey calcare-
ous. While in calcareous sands, clays and loams, the proportion of
lime does not exceed 5 per cent. The difference of composition de-
noted by difference of name is similar to the sulphates and sulphites

68 LAND DRAINAGE.

of chemical nomenclature, which contain different proportions of
sulphuric acid.

‘‘A ccording to the quantity of pebble fragments yielded by a square
yard, or by a cubic foot of the soil, they might be denominated gravels,
or gravelly sand, loams and clays.

“ Vegetable soils vary from the common garden mold, which con-
tains from 5 to 10 per cent. of vegetable matter to the peaty soil, in
which the organic matter is about 60 to 70 per cent. They will be
vegetable sands, loams, clays, marls, etc.” ;

Now, a sandy or silicious soil will absorb 20 per cent.
or one fifth of its own bulk of water before it is fully sat-
urated, or the water commences to drip from it; a loamy
soil will absorb 40 per cent., and a clayey soil will absorb
from 70 to 80 per cent. The coarser non-capillary pores
of the soil can not be filled with water, unless there are
impediments prohibiting the water from following its grav-
ity; thus, in the flowerpot, only when the hole below is
closed; in the arable soil, only when it is resting on or
inclosed by an impervious stratum; but in a properly-
drained soil the water descends as regularly as in the
flowerpot. Whenever the water can flow unimpeded, the
larger pores are filled with air; and, as this is necessary
in amarable soil, because every fertile arable soil must
contain a certain quantity of air, and, to a certain extent,
be in communication with the atmosphere, therefore, it
follows that, in any fertile soil, the sum of the capillary
pores must be in a certain proportion to the non-capillary
ones, as not to exceed a certain limit, without the soil
thereby assuming unfertile properties. If there is a lack
of coarser pores, as, for instance, in rich clay soil; or, if
the soil lacks air and communication with the atmosphere,
then there will appear all thé unfavorable properties char-
acteristic of rich clay soil: wetness, coldness, a retarded
decomposition of manure (inactivity), a propensity to
forming acids, ete. On the contrary, if there is a lack of

HOW DRAINAGE AFFECTS THE SOIL. 69

capillary pores in the soil, and a preponderance of the
larger ones, as in a sandy soil, the soil has too little re-
tentive power, 2. e., capacity of retaining water, and evap-
orates the little water it imbibes too soon; consequently,
it is affected with drought; beside, it suffers the manuring
elements to attain a state to decompose too rapidly, and
allows the soluble nutriments of the plants to sink too
readily with the atmospherical water into the subsoil, and
the volatile nutriments to ascend, with the evaporating
water, into the atmosphere. What proportion of the ca-
pillary pores to the non-capillary ones may be the most
favorable in any soil, can not now be defined, but experi-
ments for that purpose would undoubtedly result in many
_interesting discoveries.

Now, if we consider the distribution of atmospherical
water in the soil, we might, perhaps, be led to the suppo-
sition that the uppermost strata of the soil, through their
retentive power, must retain the water falling down upon
them, and give nothing to those strata lying below them;
thus, that the uppermost strata must be perfectly saturated
with water in the capillary way, while those lying below
them, being distinctly separate, must be and remain dry.

If, e. g., the retentive power of a soil is equal to fifty,
(or if 100 parts of the soil are capable of retaining 50
parts of water in a capillary way), and upon this soil falls
arain in such a quantity as to give one pound of water
upon. every square foot of the surface, then the uppermost
stratum of the soil, of about one fourth of an inch in
thickness (supposed to be perfectly dried), would com-
pletely retain the rain water in the capillary way, and the
soil lying below it would receive none of it. If air is
supposed to exist below the upper stratum of one fourth
of an inch in thickness, then, of course, it would be as
above stated, and no water would permeate; but if we

70 LAND DRAINAGE.

have a subsoil, the attraction of this earth changes the
condition of things; the upper soil does not remain sat-
urated but imparts to the lower one. ‘To what degree,
and to what depth? This depends upon the quality and
the kind of earth. On this subject one may readily learn
much by experiments. If we, for instance, put earth in
a flowerpot, and pour so much water upon it as is sufli-
cient to saturate, in the capillary way, the uppermost
layer or stratum of the soil, one inch in thickness, the
examination of the quantity of water in the earth, at the
different hights of the pot, will then show that the upper-
most layer is fullest of water, but not saturated in the ca-
pillary way; the water has penetrated to a certain depth,
and that the quantity of water is steadily decreasing from
the top down to this depth. The way of diffusing the
water depends on the chemical composition of the soil, as
well as on its physical properties. The fine quartz-sand,
for instance, when in a wet condition, parts with the water
pretty quickly; but when perfectly dry, it possesses, like
humus, especially when not completely decomposed, a re-
pulsive property to water, so that the water has to act
upon it a long time in order to produce saturation. If,
therefore, after a drought of long duration, an extra quan-
tity of rain falls upon a loamy soil and upon a fine sandy
soil, after a time the water will be found to have pene-
trated pretty deep into the former, while in the latter only
the uppermost layers are wet, but those lying below them
remain in a state of dusty dryness. Thus, the loam soil,
in spite of its far greater retentive power, diffuses the
rain water more perfectly and deeper; but the fine sand,
with its much inferior capillary power, retains it in the
thin uppermost stratum. " These relations become still
stronger when vegetable remains, but little decomposed,
are mixed with the sand. Also, the more or less pulver-

TIOW DRAINAGE AFFHCTS THE SOIL. 71

‘zed state of the soil has an influence upon the capillary
diffusion of water, but especially its being equally or une-
qually pulverized, so that usually the distribution is more
perfect throughout strata which are equal in this respect,
than throughout those which are unequal.

The distribution of the water, which is drawn up from
below through capillary attraction, is as unequal as the
different kinds of earth. If one puts flowerpots, filled |
with sand, loam and humus soil, in dishes of water, the
absorption of the same will take place in a very different
way; and the length of time within which the absorbed
water will appear at the surface will vary very much,
also.

CELA Edel died d TL.

DRAINAGE REMOVES STAGNANT WATERS FROM THE
SURFACE.

From the preceding chapter it will be seen that a
drained soil is necessarily more porous than an undrained
one; consequently, when a rain falls, the water which
does not immediately flow off from the surface, escapes
through the pores. On an undrained soil the water be-
comes stagnant, because the pores are already filled with
water which has no means of escape other than by evap-
oration. A hard impervious subsoil prevents it filtering
through it, and sinking down where the roots will be un-
injured by it. Furnish under currents for the water, by
means of drains, and there is no longer a necessity for
the water to remain above ground, until it becomes changed
from a healthful to a poisonous substance, by the contin-
ued action of heat and atmospheric air upon it.

The amount of water which may be evaporated from the
surface, under the various influences which cause and con-
trol this evaporation, as well as the quantity which passes
downward by means of filtration through the subsoil, or
into the drains, is a matter of the greatest importance to
every person engaged in the cultivation of the soil.

Chemists assert that fully four times the amount of heat
is required to convert water into vapor, that isrequired to
bring it to the boiling from the freezing point. It is no
uncommon occurrence that rain to the depth of one inch
falls in the course of a shower. The amount falling on a
single acre then would amount to 360 hogsheads, and to

evaporate this amount of water by sunshine, would require
(72)

REMOVAL OF STAGNANT WATERS. 73

an amount of heat that would convert upward of 1,500
hogsheads of water from the freezing to the boiling point.
Every one must know that this evaporation is a very slow
process, and that while it is going on the soil is kept wet,
and consequently cold; that vegetation is retarded, if not
absolutely checked, especially in the early spring time
Now, if these 1,500 hogsheads of water were carried off
by drains, this great amount of heat necessary to evaporate
would be saved, and would be applied to warming the soil.

Some interesting facts, in relation to this subject, are
furnished by Cuthbert W. Johnson, in a late number of
the Farmer’s Magazine. Observations were made for
eight successive years, in Hertfordshire, and the mean
amount of rain which fell, was found to be for each year
264 inches, of which over 11 inches passed into the soil
and was filtrated, and over 15 inches were evaporated from
the surface. During the colder months, the amount fil-
trated was from three to six times as great as the quan-
tity which passed off in the form of vapor. On the other
hand, the quantity evaporated during the hottest months,
was more than fifty times as great as the amount filtrated,
the latter indeed, not amounting during a whole month to
the twentieth of an inch.

The greatest quantity evaporated, in a single year, was
about 1,800 tuns per acre, and the greatest quantity fil-
trated was over 1,400.

The rate of evaporation is influenced by the amount of
moisture required by the different soils for saturation, and
the degree of exposure to sun and winds. Even the di-
rection of the prevailing winds, characterized by the
moisture they contain, has a material influence. Several
examples are given, by which it appears that the average
amount of rain at the places of observation, was about 25
inches per year; that the evaporation from water exposed

74 LAND DRAINAGE.

to both sun and wind, was about 35 inches per year;
shaded from the sun, but exposed to the wind, it was
about 23 inches ; from soz, when drained, about 20 inches;
and from undrained soil, saturated with water, about 33
inches, an excess of 13 inches of water to be charged
against an undrained soil.

These experiments were made with bare earth, free from
herbage of any kind. By means of other experiments
made with plants in pots, it was found that 22 square
inches of surface of bare mold, evaporates in twelve days,
1,600 grains of moisture, while a pot of the same size,
containing a polyanthus, evaporated 5,250 grains; show-—
ing conclusively the great rapidity with which plants carry
off moisture, and the great error of those who suppose
that weeds can be of any use in shading the soil.

Many persons presume that a comparatively small
amount only of the water which falls in rain, on the sur-
face of the earth, is retained by the soil, or is evaporated,
but are of opinion that nearly all finds its way into rivers
or smaller streams.

Some writers assert that almost the entire mass of
water, from rains, is absorbedin supplying springs, and
other subterranean streams. Marriotte, a celebrated
French writer, has examined the point, with direct refer-
ence to whether the quantity of rain water is sufficient to
feed all the springs and rivers, and so far from finding a
deficiency, he concludes upon the amount being so great as
to render it difficult to conceive how it is expended. Ac-
cording to observations which have been made, there falls
annually upon the surface of the earth, about 19 inches of
water; but to render his calculation still more convincing,
Marriotte supposes only 15, which makes 45 cubic feet per
square toise, and 238,050,000 cubic feet per square league
of 2,300 toises, in each direction. Now, the rivers and

REMOVAL OF STAGNANT WATERS. 75

springs which feed the Seine, before it arrives at the
Pont-Royal at Paris, embrace an extent of territory about
sixty leagues in length, and fifty in breadth, making 3,000
leagues of superficial area; by which, if 238,050,000, be
multiplied, he have for the sess 714,150,000,000 for the
cubic feet of water which fall, at the lowest estimate, on
the above extent of territory. Let us now examine the
quantity of water annually furnished by the Seine. The
river above the Pont-Royal, when at its mean hight, is
400 feet broad and five deep; when the river is in this
state, the velocity of the water is estimated at 100 feet
per minute, taking a mean between the velocity at the sur-
face and that at the bottom. If the product of 400 feet
in breath by five in depth, or 2,000 feet square, be multi-
plied by 100 feet, we shall have 200,000 cubic feet for
the quantity of water which passes, in a minute, through
that section of the Seine above the Pont-Royal. The
quantity in an hour will be 12,000,000; in a day 288,000,- .
000; and in a year 105,120,000,000 cubic feet. This is
not the seventh part of the water which, as previously
stated, falls on the extent of country that supplies the
Seine; the large remainder, not received by the river,
being taken up by evaporation, beside a prodigious quan-
tity employed for the nutrition of plants.!

Now, if this astounding calculation is true of France,
what must be the condition of Ohio, and many other states
where the annual rainfall is about 40 inches, or nearly
three times the amount assumed by Marriotte. Think
for a moment of the entire surface of Ohio, being an-
nually covered more than a yard deep, with rain water !
The autumn rains average about 10 inches, and generally
thoroughly saturate the earth with water, so that when

1 Gallery of Nature, page 263.

76 LAND DRAINAGE.

the winter precipitations take place they can not infiltrate,
or penetrate the soil—neither does evaporation take place
during this period of the year; so that when spring re-
turns the task upon the heat from the sun is not only to
evaporate so much of the 10 inches of spring rain as has
not flowed off by surface drainage, but the 8 inches of the
winter precipitations, and much of the autumn rains—is
it any wonder that the soil is not in a workable condition
much before the middle of May? Think of the spring
sun being obliged to evaporate about 3,000 hogsheads of
water from every acre of arable soil !

The following table shows the amount of rain and
(melted) snow which falls at fifteen points, in different
portions of the State of Ohio:

Notse—tThe rainfall is stated in inches and hundredths in the col-
umns of the respective months—thus, at Marietta the rainfall for

the month of July, is 4.56 inches, or a little more than four and a
half inches ; for the year at the same place it is nearly 43 inches.

TT

STAGNANT WATERS.

REMOVAL OF

.

—-_-——.

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78 LAND DRAINAGE.

How much of the amount of rain which falls can be
carried off by the drains is an all important question; and
upon the answer to this question depends, in a very great
degree, the benefit, or disadvantage of underdrainage.

The following table, copied from observations at Tha-
rand, in Saxony, will serve to show the influence of rains
on the discharge of water from drains:

Temperature of air. lquantity of Rain| Discharge of Increase com-

Jer day, per acre,| Drain Water, per} pared with the
Mini- Maxi- | in gallons. day, per acre,in | preceding day.
mum. mum, | gallons.

1853.
May 13) 37.4 54.5 16091 1198 401

ae 14; 39.2 59. — 2568 1370
June 15) 50. 71.6 12105 101 —

G 16; 53. 69.8 29967 1793 1692

de 17; 55.4 66.2 13212 5222 3429

es 18} 54.5 68. 29 5267 45

4 23| 48.2 64.4 5167 2228 1405

<S 24) 49. 62.6 17429 10852 8624

1854.
May 14 45.5 7h. coat 38 ——

“ Pole Sok. 65.5 27754 103 65

ce 16; 47.5 59. 23324 9132 9029

Be 29| 49. 60. 27089 15919 13851
June 29; 56.5 71.6 49528 15291 12280

«30; 50. 73.4 43844 | 15203 mi is
July 1! 46.4 59. 8562 15708 505

In the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, vol. 5,
page 151, Josiah Parkes, a celebrated land drainer in
England, publishes a table, embracing observations dur-
ing a space of eight years, in which he finds the amount
of water filtrated, that is, passed into the earth and ab-
sorbed by drains, roots of plants, and retained in the soil,
to vary from 86 to 57 per cent. Annexed is the table
prepared by Mr. Parkes:

REMOVAL OF STAGNANT WATERS. res)

, Rain. Filtration. Evaporation. Rain, per acre.
Years. Inches. Per cent, Per cent. Tune,
1836, 31. 56.9 43.1 3139
1837, 21.10 32.9 67.1 2137
1838, 23.13 37.0 63.0 2342
1839, 31.28 47.6 52.4 3168
1840, 21.44 38.2 61.8 2171
1841, 32.10 44.2 55.8 3251
1842, 26.43 44.4 55.6 2676
1843, 26.47 36.0 64.0 2680
Average, 26.61 | 42.4 57.6 2695

In vol. 20, page 292, of the same journal, Mr. J.
Bailey Denton, an agricultural engineer, and who is, per-
haps, oftener quoted than any other agricultural engineer
at the present day, shows the discharge from drains from
the 1st of October 1856, to the 31st of May 1857, to have
varied from less than one fourth, to more than one half
of the entire rainfall during that period.

“The following observations on evaporation and filtration,’ for
which we are indebted to the patient and carefully conducted ex-
periments of Mr. Charles Charnock, of Holmfield House, near Ferry-
Bridge (one of the vice-presidents of the Meteorological Society of
London), present some valuable facts for consideration. (pp. 80-1. )

“In these experiments, the evaporation from saturated soil was
determined thus: ‘A leaden vessel of 13 inches deep, and a foot
square, was filled to within an inch of the top with soil, and placed
in the ground, in the same manner as the previous vessel, with a
pipe level with the surface of the soil to carry off the excess of top-
water into a receiver. The same quantity of water was then daily
supplied to this soil as the evaporating dish of column 2 showed
was evaporated. The soil was stirred as in the former case, and
thus represented wet and undrained land.’
aii Ss DES Die ie Se ke eee ee he,

1Quoted by J. H. Charnock, Esq., Assistant Commissioner under tho
Drainage Acts, in a paper ‘‘ On Suiting the Depth of Drainage to the Cir-
cumstances of the Soil,” given in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural So-
ciety, Vol. x, pt. ii, pp. 515 to 518.

LAND DRAINAGE,

80

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82 LAND DRAINAGE.

“In the first place, it is observable how much greater is the
amount of evaporation from water than from land, and how near, as
shown by columns 2 and 5, the evaporation from wet land is to that
from water itself: hence, the wetter the land the greater the evapo-
ration, and, as the well-known consequence, the greater its excess
of coldness. We have a familiar illustration of nature’s process in
this particular, in the method often adopted to cool our wine on a
hot summer’s day, by wrapping a wet napkin round the bottle, and
exposing it to the full sun: as the moisture from the napkin is evapo-
rated, the temperature of the wine declines to almost freezing point.
The school boy’s experiment of producing ice before a fire, by in-
casing the vessel in wet flannel, and adding a portion of salt to the
water, is a similar example, with this additional lesson to the farmer,
that to apply certain limes to wet land is only increasing the evil.

“You will then, in the second place, notice how much less the
evaporation is in the shade than in the sun, and consequently that
wet land must be the warmest when there is the least sun. From
which cause, no doubt, arises that too vigorous growth of young
wheat, so often observable on such land in the winter and spring
months, which never fails to produce serious injury to the crop in
all its subsequent stages. And, thirdly, you will remark how com-
paratively small a proportion of the rain which falls is shown to be
carried off by filtration. ‘Taking the average of the five years’ ex-
periments, it will be seen that only 4°82 inches out of 24'6 inches of
rain passed through the land to the depth of three feet. We might,
therefore, be led at the first glance to infer that land, in general,
stands less in need of drainage, or may be drained by a less perfect
system, than is supposed to be requisite, did not daily experience
oppose such a conclusion. We must, therefore, endeavor to recon-
ciie this seeming incongruity, and deduce at the same time, from
the facts disclosed, such data, as may guide us in determinin: thie
essential requisites to ensure completeness of effect in drainage.

‘Now, although there can be no reason to question the accuracy
of the experiments on filtration made by Mr. Dickinson, and re-
corded in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, of Eng-
land, vol. v, part 1, yet there is very considerable difference in

the aggregate result, as shown by them and the account before us,
‘The first important fact disclosed,’ says the commentator, page 148,
‘is, that of the whole annual rain, about 423 per cent., or 11 3-10
inches out of 26 6-10, have filtered through the soil:’ whereas, in

REMOVAL OF STAGNANT WATERS. 83

the Holmfield House experiments there is only shown,.as we have
already said, 4°82 inches out of 24°6, or about 5 1-10 per cent. against
42} per cent, This is certainly a very great and somewhat irrecon-
cilable difference in the result of two experiments made professedly
to ascertain the same fact. Now, on referring to the ‘ Memoirs of
the pai and Philosophical Society of Manchester, vol. v,
sacra? 2, you will find a paper on rain, evaporation, etc., from the
‘nen of the celebrated Dr. John Dalton (the father of the science of
meteorology), wherein he explains a series of experiments made by
hynself and his friend, Mr. Thomas Hoyle, j jun., to ascertain the
amount of evaporation and filtration, and giving the following table
of results:

| Water through the two Pipes. Water through the two Pipes. |, Mean Mean

Months, Mean. | Rain, | Evapo-

1796. 1797. nor | 1798. Tie.

January, - 1.897 .680 1.744 1.450 2.458 1.008
February, - - 1.778 918 1.122 1.273 1.801 .528
March, - - 431 .070 .335 .279 -902 .623
April, - - 220 295 .180 .232 i gy ig 1.485
May, - - 2.027 2.443 010 1.493 4.177 2.684
June, - - “EAL .726 ——— 299 2.483 2.184
July, - - 153 .025 —— .059 4.154 4.095
August, - - —— — 504 .168 3.554 3.386
September, - —— 976 —— 325 | 3.279 2.954
October, - - es -680 — 227 2.899 2.672
November, - ae 1.044 1.594 879 2.934 2.055
December, - -200 3.077 1.878 1.718 3.202 1.484

6.877 10.934 7.379 8.402 | 33.560 | 25.158
Rain, - - | 30.629 | 38.791 | 31.259

Evaporation, | 23.725 | 27.857 | 23.862

“Waving got a cylindrical vessel of tinned iron,’ says the doctor,
‘ten inches in diameter, and three feet deep, there were inserted
into it two pipes, turned downward, for the water to run off into
bottles: the one pipe was near the bottom of the vessel, the other
was an inch from thetop. The vessel was filled up, for a few inches,
with gravel and sand, and all the rest with good fresh soil, Things
being thus circumstanced, a regular register has been kept of the
quantity of rain water that ran off from the surface of the earth
through the upper pipe (while that took place), and also of the
quantity of that which sank down through the three feet of earth,
and ran out through the lower pipe. A rain-gauge of the same

84 LAND DRAINAGE.

diameter was kept close by, to find the quantity of rain for any cor-
responding time.’

‘You will notice that the general result of these experiments ac-
cords, pretty nearly, with that of the Holmtield account; and yet it
may be readily conceived that circumstances of situation and strati-
fication may often occasion as wide a difference in the amount of
filtration as is shown between Mr. Dickinson’s and Mr. Charnock's
observations.

“On an examination of the details registered in the account be-
fore us, it will be evident that the amount of filtration is not exclu-
sively dependent on the fall of rain; but that a variety of other
causes combine to affect its proportion. For instance, in March,
April, May, June, and July, of 1842, the fall of rain was 13°65 inches,
and the filtration for the same period was only 2:05 inches; while
in April, 1846, there was 5°97 of rain, and 2°99 of filtration. Simi-
lar instances are also noticeable in Mr. Dickinson’s details. From
March to October, inclusive, of 1840, a fall of 11°52 inches of rain
is recorded, without any filtration; but in November 1842, the rain
was 5°77, with 5 inches of filtration. Dr. Dalton’s table also shows
the same variations. The lesson, therefore, derivable from these
experiments, so far as regards filtration by drains, is one rather of
a speculative than of a definite character; for, although we are as-
sured filtration must be secured, we are left with a large and vary-
ing margin as to the proportion. We must not, however, overlook
the fact, that all the registered details show occasionally an amount
of filtration nearly equal to the rain that falls, and, therefore, in de-
termining the size of pipe to be used, the ready exit of this mazi-
mum quantity must be provided for,”

Perhaps, the most accurate observations to determine
the amount of rain carried off by drains, were made in
Prussia, at Tharand, by Dr. Hugo Schober, of the Agri-
cultural School and Experimental Farm at that place. We
subjoin the following from the “Jahrbuch der Akadamie
zu Tharand fur 1855.”

‘‘ These experiments were made on three several tracts; two were
upland, and the other was partly a garden, and partly a meadow.

“The first tract was an upland experiment field, and contained
about 34 acres.

REMOVAL OF STAGNANT WATERS. 85

“The second tract was an upland experiment field, and contained
about 54 acres.

“The third tract was part garden and part meadow, and contained
about 2} acres.

“The drain pipe was laid at a depth of four feet in each tract,
but in the first the drains were three rods apart, while in the other
two they were two rods only. The fall was well adapted to test the
workings of the drains; and, therefore, the minor drains were laid
with 1} inch pipe, while the sub-main and other drains had 2} inch
pipe.

“The first tract had 89 rods of minor, and 16 rods of sub-main,
making a total of 105 rods per acre. In the 2d and 3d tracts were
an average of 145 of minor, and 21 rods of sub-main, making an
aggregate of 166 rods per acre of drains. _

“The operations of these were in the highest degree satisfactory.
These tracts are situated at an elevation of 714 French feet above
the Elba, or 1028 above the North Sea. It was hazardous to grow
winter crops on these tracts, on account of the excessive moisture
they contained—the crops being liable to winter-kill, but since they
have been underdrained, are as reliable for winter crops, as any
other fields in the kingdom. It was the rule that it was very late in
the spring, before they were in a condition to be cultivated; but
since they have been underdrained, they have become workable at
as early a period in the spring as any other terrains in the district.
The crops on these tracts are remarkable for their vigor and even-
ness.

“So far as the annexed tabular statements are concerned, it may
be necessary to state that the quantity of water from the main drain
of each tract, was daily measured, regularly at 8 o'clock A. M., and
4 o'clock P. M., and the hourly discharge per acre computed from
this data. It is true that this method does not give the exact or pre-
cise amount, yet sufficiently so for all practical purposes. The rain-
gauge was observed at 8 A. M., and 8 P. M.; the snow was melted,
and the resultant water measured in the rain-gauge.

-

86

LAND DRAINAGE.

AGGREGATE AMOUNT OF RAIN PER ACRE; ALSO, THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT OF
WATER DISCHARGED BY THE DRAINS; ALSO THE PER CENT. OF RAIN WATER

DISCHARGED BY DRAINS.

1853,
February,
March, -
April, -
May, - mF
June, -
July, -
August, -
September,
October, -
November, -
Docember,

1854.
January, -
February,
March, -
April, -
May, - -
June, -
July, - -
August, -
September,
October, -
November, -
December,

1855.
January,

Aggregate from Feb. 1,

53, to Jan. 31, 754,

Feb.1, 754, to Jan.31,’55,

Amount of Rain.

Galls,

-57381.2
40840.4
153486.2
91546.2
173896,
123949.4
85667.2
136271.8
73324.9
44712.8
16888.1

31142.
78449.8
61160.6
81828.
215545.9
266136.7
225024.4
174698.3
30159.4
48907.8
104751.5
204106.

46678.7

1029656.6
1537694.3

Discharge by Drains.

Galls.

26932.6
71025.5
124659.7
53297.
69922.8
40656.3
1014.
20588.6
17073.9
3706.8
1224.7

10699.9
46381.6
102612.9
55379.4
91680.9
74928.4
188964.7
19925.1
1536.8
873.2
967.3
185729.2

61420.9

440802.5
830400.8

Per cent. of
Rain water
discharged.

46
173
80
58
40
32
1
15
27

There are three instances only in which the drains dis-
charge more water during the month than the amount of
rain which fell during the same period; but the excess of
discharge is readily explained; by reference to the table
it will be observed that in each instance, during the month
previous, a greater amount of rain fell than during the

month in which the discharge was excessive.

During the

year commencing February 1, 1853, and ending January
31, 1854, the proportion of water discharged by the drains
was 42 per cent. of the amount of rain; for the year end

REMOVAL OF STAGNANT WATERS. 87

ing January 31, 1855, the drainage amounted to 55 per
cent., or an average for the two years of 48-5 per cent.

AVERAGE DISCHARGE PER HOUR, PER ACRE, OF WATER FROM THE DRAINS.

First Tract. Second Tract. Third Tract,
Galls. Galls. Galls,
1853.
February, - - - 23.4 26.6 51:3
March, - - - “ 59.4 66.8 161.3
April, - - - - 191.4 171.5 156.4
Matyyh) 24) a eels 47.1 51.9 115.8
June, - - - - 62.7 81.5 147.1
July, - - - - 45.8 46.8 12
August, - - - 5 1.4 2a)
September, - - - 22.4 19.6 43.6
October, - - - 19.7 16.7 32.4
November, - - - — 2.9 12.5
December, - - - a 5 4.4
1854.
January, - - - 12.3 9.7 21.
February, - - - 58.6 47.4 100.9
March, - - - ey 122.2 105.7 185.8
April, - ~ - - 57.6 89.9 83.4
May, - ~ : - 70.9 83.1 213.
June, - - ~ . 42.9 94.4 174.8
July, - - - - 82.1 270.2 409.
August, - - ~ 2.4 22.3 55.6
September, - - - 0.4 0.8 5.1
October, - - - _ —- 3.5
November, - - - 0.1 0.2 3.6
December, - - - 265.1 199.2 283.9
1855.
January, - . - 68.0 91.0 88.5
Average from Feb. ], 753, to
Jan. 31, 754, - - 45.6 46.8 77.5
Average from Feb. 1, ’54, to
Jan. 31, ’55, ~ - 64.2 83.8 134.1
Excess in 754, - - 18.6 37.0 56.6

In the second table we find that the largest quantity
discharged in an hour from an acre was 409 gallons; this
would amount to about 156 hogsheads in 24 hours; there-
fore it would require two and about one third days to drain
a rainfall of one inch, or of 3860 hogsheads per acre.
The entire amount of the 10 inches of spring rains in
Ohio wuuld then be carried off by the drains in about 24

88 LAND DRAINAGE.

days, provided none of it escaped by surface drainage or
evaporation; but at least one half of the amount precip-
itated escapes by these means; it is, therefore, very cer-
tain that the drains would remove the remainder in less
than twelve days.

How long would evaporation require to remove this
amount of water?

It is well known that evaporation commences whenever
the thermometer is above 32° F. by means of solar heat,
but the winds very often evaporate or “dry up” more
moisture than the warmest summer day.

The evaporation from a reservoir surface at Baltimore,
during the summer months, was assumed by Colonel Abert
to be to the quantity of rain as two to one.

Dr. Holyoke assigns the annual quantity evaporated at
Salem, Mass., at 56 inches; and Colonel Abert quotes
several authorities at Cambridge, Mass., stating the quan-
tity at 56 inches. These facts are given by Mr. Blodget,
and also the table below:

QUANTITY OF WATER EVAPORATED, IN INCHES, VERTICAL DEPTH.
Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May. June. J’y. Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Year.
Whitehaven, Eng.,
mean of6 yrs. 0.88 1.04 1.77 2.54 4.14 4.54 4.20 3.40 3.12 1.93 1.32 1.09 30.03
Ogdensburg, N. Y.,
Lyr., 1.65 0.83 2.07 1.63 7.10 6.74 7.79 5.41 7.40 3.95 3.66 1.15 49,37
Syracuse, N.Y., 1
yr., 0.67 1.48 2.24 3.42 7.31 7.60 9.08 6.85 5.33 3.02 1.33 1.86 50.20
The quantity for Whitehaven, England, is reported by
J. F. Miller. It was very carefully observed, from 1843
to 1848—the evaporation being from a copper vessel, pro-
tected from rain. The district is one of the wettest of
England—the mean quantity of rain, for the same time,
having been 45:26 inches.!
If, then, the atmosphere of Ohio has the evaporating

capacity of that of Ogdensburg, N. Y., it would require

' French on Farm Drainage.

REMOVAL OF STAGNANT WATERS. 89

the entire months of March, April and May to evaporate
the amount of spring rains—that is, if none of the pre-
cipitation escaped by infiltration or surface drainage; or,
in other words, underdrains will accomplish in 24 days the
same removal of water for which evaporation requires 92
days. ,

A few of the more obvious advantages of draining over
evaporation may be briefly enumerated thus:

In undrained ground the season of growth is shortened
by the time occupied in evaporation, always a long and
tedious process. In drained lands, on the contrary, much
time is gained, not only by permitting an earlier working,
but in the better adaptation of the ground to germination.
In undrained ground the water, passing off in the form of
vapor, carries with it a certain quantity of the latent heat
of the earth, and this heat is in proportion to the amount
of vapor formed. Thus, the land is left colder than it
was when covered or saturated with water, and by so much
germination is retarded. But in land properly drained
the water passes off without being converted into vapor.
The temperature of the land at the surface remains the
same, and the temperature of the subsoil, through which
the water passes, becomes as warm as the surface. Thus
the depth of heated earth is increased, and the surface is
less liable to be affected by change of temperature.

In evaporation, organic and mineral matters, in the
form of gases, pass off with the vapor, thus leaving the
ground poorer; while in filtration, accomplished by drain-
ing. these substances become fixed in the earth for the
nourishment of the future plant.

Undrained lands suffer from hot and dry weather. For,
though there may be water within a few inches of the sur-
face, the ground becomes so compact and baked that it is
not sufficiently porous to draw up moisture. Drained land,

90 LAND DRAINAGE.

on the other hand, is open to the action of the atmosphere
to a great extent; it becomes finely comminuted, the hard
pans and stiff clays are broken up and rendered sufficiently
porous to imbibe water from below; and also, having a
greater surface exposed to the air, it receives more moist-
ure in the form of dew.

In winter and spring, wet land heaves up, under the
influence of frost and heat, thus exposing such grains as
have been planted directly to the weather; for this reason
wheat and other grains are liable to winter-kill, and, in-
stead of them, spring up wild grasses and noxious weeds.
Draining, to a great extent, prevents this. When land is
dry, the variations it experiences under unequal tempera-
tures are very slight, compared with the changes produced
by the same variations on wet land. “The result of ex-
treme heat and extreme cold is to increase the bulk of
water to a considerable extent. This expansion on the
surface of the ground is seen in little hillocks, with cracks
running in all directions. By the evaporation of moisture
from this frozen ground, many particles of earth are left
unsupported and fall, thus leaving the tender roots ex-
posed to the weather when protection is most needed.

Messrs. Waege and Von Mollendorf, of Gorlitz, Prussia,
have published, in the Zeitschrift fur Drainirung, No. 23,
1855, a series of observations on the discharge of drain
water from different kinds of soil. They employed the
Dalton apparatus for percolation. The experimental
boxes were filled to the depth of four feet of soils taken
from fields in which drains were placed at the same depth.
These boxes contained respectively :

I. Box No. 1,aclay soil, consisting of 88 per cent. of
clay and 12 per cent. of sand; box No. 2, loamy soil, 41°7
per cent. of clay, humus, etc., 58:3 per cent. sand; box

REMOVAL OF STAGNANT WATERS. 91

No. 5, a loamy sand soil, 19-2 per cent. of clay, humus,
etc., 80°8 per cent. sand.

II. The soil in the system A, of the Moholz estates, is
loamy soil, corresponding to that of box No. 2; in the
system B, loamy sand soil, corresponding to that of box
No. 3.

III. The plan of Kuestner, on the field of Gorlitz. The
drains have, with a very cloddy (much cut) ground, a fall
of 18- inches to 10 perches. They are 4 feet deep and
4 perches apart. The soil consists alternately of strata
of clay, of loam and of gravel, and corresponds on an
average with No. 3 of the experimental boxes.

The corresponding observations of the depth of rain
were made at Gorlitz.

The monthly average, derived from daily observations,
for the meteorological year 1854 (Dec. 1, 1853—Dee. 1,
1854), are given in the first table on pp. 92-3.

Influence of the kind of soil on the quantity of drained
water.—In confirmation of former observations the loamy
soil drained the largest amount of water of the three dif-
ferent kinds of soil employed in the Gorlitz experimental
boxes. The results at Tharand were similar. The mouth
of the main drain of the third part of the estate at that
place—being loamy soil—discharged, in monthly average,
309-9 cans per acre per hour; while the mouths of the
first and second division—in clay soil—yielded only 182-4
and 187-3 cans, respectively. The drain water, according
to the measurements in the apparatus at Gorlitz, amounts
to 15 per cent. of rain water in the clay soil, and 33-4 per
cent. in the loamy soil. Supposing the falls, etc., to be
equal, the same capacity of pipes would suffice for about
_ two acres of clay soil that is required for one acre of
loamy soil (also loamy sand soil).

92 LAND DRAINAGE.

~

Winter. Spring.
Year 1854. spied. AW

Dec. | Jan. | Feb. | Mar. | Ap’l. | May.

Rain fall in Prussian cubic inches on 1
sq. foot Prussian, at Gorlitz, - 61.74 | 181.15 | 376.43 | 180.50 | 138,02 | 411.57
Drain water in Prussian cubic inches,
on 1 Prussian sq. foot land:

I. Gorlitz, 1, clay soil, - — — |168.8 | 115.9 = 3.6
experimental 2, loam soil, — — 9.5 | 299.6 30.6 9.6
boxes. 3, loamy sand soil, ~— — 3.4 | 295.2 16.7 6.8

II. Moholz, A, loam soil, 35.78 | 62.42 | 333,13 | 319.34] 68.49 | 33.67
B, loamy sand soil, | 29.59 | 51.27 | 292.29 | 297.86] 76.54] 43.69
III. Kuestner’s plan: clay, loam, sand, _ — — — — _
Average of the six Silesian stations, 13.07 | 22.74 | 161.42 | 265.58 | 28.47 | 19.47
Drain water in per cent. of rain:

I. Gorlitz, 1, clay soil, —_ — 49.36 | 64.21 _ 0.87
experimental <~2,loamsoil, - _ = 2.5 1165.98 | 22.17] 2.33
boxes. 3, loamy sand soil, — — 0.9 |163.55|] 12.10 1.65

II. Moholz, A, loam soil, - 57.95 | 34.46] 88.5 |176.92| 49.62} 8.18
B, loamy sand soil, | 47.93 | 28.3 77.65 | 165.02 | 55.46| 10.61

III. Kuestner’s plan: clay, loam, sand, — - — — _ —
Average of the six Silesian stations, 21.17 | 12.25] 43.78 )147.14] 27.87) 4.738

Influence of the season on the discharge of water.!—
These observations are in harmony with the former ob-
servations at Tharand, and also agree with the average of
the Silesian stations, inasmuch as the drains in spring
flow strongest, compared with the quantity of rain water
(44:3 per cent. of the rain water). The least discharge
took place, on an average, in fall—thus deviating from
former observations at the Gorlitz boxes, and agreeing

1 The discharge is, according to John, changed according to the time of
day. A comparison of the observations made, three times a day, by Gropp,
at Isterbies, 1852, resulted as follows:

Number of Morning. Noon. Evening.
Observa- Prussian Prussian Prussian
tions. quarts. quarts. quarts.
February, - - 29 1848 1828 1810
March, - - 31 1163 1160 1149
April, - - 30 826 821 823
May, - - - 31 1205 1206 1193
June, - - 30 592 537 532
July (first half), - 15 131-2 12 3-5 12 3-5
In the 5 1-2 months, 166 5647 1-2 5564 3-5 | 5519 3-5

a ee

Average, - - - 5577 quarts of drain water.

REMOVAL OF STAGNANT WATERS. 93

=
2 YEAR

1854.

ai g¢| &
Summer, Fall. =y =F 3
s R B
” 5

June. | July. | Aug. | Sept. | Oct. | Noy.

(a

-|(—_——

657.74 | 472.53 | 611.37"| 116.59 | 120.68 | 375.34 | 619.32 | 730.09 |1741.64| 612.61 | 3703.66

9.6 | 153.8 80.9 — — 30.9 |168.8 | 119.5 | 244.3 | 30.9 | 563.5
516.9 | 188.6 | 112.3 6.2 2.3 60.2 9.5 | 339.8 | 817.8 | 68.7 | 1235.8
360.4 | 266.0 | 70.6 _ 1.3 26.1 3.4 | 318.7 | 697.0 27.4 | 1046.5

140.52 | 311.27 | 143.61 | 72.86} 29.54 | 136.20 | 431.33 | 431.50 | 595.40 | 238.60 | 1686.83
134.22 | 337.85 | 216.30 | 107.26 | 42.95 | 189.95 |! 373.15 | 418.09 | 688.37 | 340.16 | 1819.77

9.39 | 37.94] 2.26} 0.09 _ 0.69 _— —_— 49.59} 0.78 a
195.17 | 215.91 | 104.33 ; 31.07] 12.68 | 74.01 | 164.36 | 323.52 | 515.41 | 117.76 | 1270.5
1.46 | 32.55 | 13,23 — — 8.23 | 30.16] 16.37) 14.0 5.0 15.0
78.59 | 39.91 | 18.37 5.33 | 1.91 | 16.04 1.53 | 46.55 | 47.0 | 11.2 33.4
54.79 | 56.29] 11.55 — 1.08 6.95 | 0.55] 43.66} 40.0 4.4 28.3
21.36 | 65.87] 23.49 | 62.49 | 24.48] 36.29) 69.65] 58.42} 34.2 | 38.9 45.6
20.41 | 71.50} 35.38 | 92. 35.59 | 50.61 | 60.28 | 57.26] 39.5 55.5 49.2

1.43 | 8.03 0.37 | 0.08 — 0.18 — _ 2.8 0.1 --
29.67 | 45.69| 17.06 | 26.65} 10.51 | 19.71 | 32.48) 44.32] 29.6 | 19.2 34.3

with the observations at Tharand. Quite considerable
deviations, however, occur sometimes, which can be ex-
plained only by continued and increased observations.

Time in which drain water arrives at the pipes in vart-
ous kinds of soil_—The following table, from the Gorlitz
boxes, is confirmed by numerous experiments:

* The Drains discharged. The Drains were humid.
Os: «fees a hho
of rain- Aver- Aver-
days. | No.1. | No.2. | No.3. lage No,| No.1. | No.2 No. 3. lage No.
of days. of days.

December, — — — — — —_ —_ — _
January, — _ — — — — _ —_ _—
February, 22 2 4 4 3 3 5 3 4
March, 17 6 11 11 9 2 2 3 2
April, 7 _ 3 2 2 1 3 2 2
May, 13 2 3 + 3 9 6 8 8
June, 20 5 26 22 18 22 3 7 11
July, 9 15 16 16 16 9 5 8 7
August, 21 10 12 8 10 4 -— 2 2
September, 9 | — 3 a 4 2 2 —
October, 14 — 1 —_ — — 1 _ —
November, | 21 | 9 16 9 ll 7 5 8 7

In 1854, 153 49 95 76 73 61 | 32 41 45
May to Nov.
1853, 104 84 106 118 | 103 53 27 10 30

94 LAND DRAINAGE.

There were discharged, during 166 observations in the
morning, 127 9-10 quarts more than in the evening; these
observations show a discharge for the 166 days greater,
by 184,176 quarts, or 6,821 cubic feet, than the evening
observations.

This disproportion, according to John, must be ex-
plained partly by the smaller amount of evaporation dur-
ing the night, and partly by the fact that the rainfall during
the day (which, perhaps, exerts a greater influence on the
discharge of water from the drain pipes the next morning
than the zmmedzately preceding night rain), seems to ex-
ceed the rainfall during the night (at Crefeld the ratio
of night rain to the day rain was as 159-28 to 181°6 in
the years 1850-’54). The influence of the time of day
is to be taken in consideration for the obvervations of the
quantities of drain water; if an observation for three
times a day can not be made, the noon time should be
preferred, as its results come nearest to the average, ac-
cording to the table.

In the clay soil No. 1, as compared with the sand soil
No. 2, and the loamy sand soil No. 3, the drain was flow-
ing the least number of days, but kept humid the longest.

Condition of moisture of the soil. With regard to the
question, whether draining might not dry too much; ex-
periments were made again in the boxes, in a depth of
two feet, at a time when the drains had just ceased to
carry away water. The contents of moisture amounted to:

——

In clay soil. | In loam soil. In loamy _ =/In the average

Per cent. Per cent. sand soil. of the three
Per cent. kinds of soil.
On May 6, 1854, - 18.6 20. 20.9 19.8
Sept. 5, 1854, - 18.5 19. 19.5 19.
May and Aug., 1853, 20.5 19.3 15.6 18.5

Oct. and Nov., 1853, 20.5 18.5 14, 17.6

a ee no

REMOVAL OF STAGNANT WATERS. 95

Permanent moisture has, therefore, in heavy soil, dimin-
ished since 1858, perhaps owing to an increase of drying
crevices, and it has considerably increased in lighter soil,
perhaps owing to its having become more compact.

The above-mentioned V. Mollendorf has, beside, pub-
lished a summary comparison of the quantities of rain and
drain water according to German and English observations,
with the remark that the German measurements (which
are not specified), that served for computation, had been
made at Tharand (Saxony), Gorlitz, Moholz, Grosskrau-
scha, Deutsch-Paulsdorf, Ullersdorf (all of themin Silesia),
and at Suisheim (Baden).—( Wilda, Centralblatt, 1856,
I, No. 14.) See table at top of pp. 96-7.

These figures, on the whole, confirm the conclusions
drawn from the investigations made in common with
Waege; the difference between the discharge of drain
water of loam soil and loamy sand soil, and that of clay
soil, is found to be less considerable.

The atmospheric precipitations of a large aggregate of
ponds, ditches, and other works, on a surface of 1.43 geo-
graphical square miles, near Leipsic, are collected and
employed as spring water in the mining districts. The
water is measured every week by the rotations of the
water wheel. If we compare the discharge of water com-
puted therefrom, with the rains from 1830-51, the result
shows that there has been an annual average area these.
22 years) of rain equal to 24°55 Prussian Port ;

In spring, 61°8 per cent. (64°73.)

‘“* summer, 31°] « (86°82.)
“ fall, 39°5 Oct ete)
“winter, 76°7 ER 5

In the year, 47°7 per cent. (41°64.)
Observation.—The figures in parentheses — average per cent. of
the rain water discharge by drains aeeerding te German ebseryation.

96 LAND DRAINAGE.

Spring. Sum-

Mar. | Ap’l. | May. | Total. | June. | July.

A. Cray SoiL.
German observations.
Rainfall, - - Prussian inches, 1.3
Discharged drain water, ‘“ se ;
Drain water, per cent. of rainfall, 142.7 6

3.22 6.73 4.4

0.97 4.25 0.9

0.2 63.2 22.1
B. Loam Soit.

a. English observations.
Rainfall, - - Prussian inches,
Drain water, - - ce S 4
Draiu water, per cent. of rainfall,

b. German observations.
Rainfall, - - Prussian inches,
Drain water, - - 56 «se
Drain water, per cent. of rainfall,

_
aI [=7)
SSS
ww oon
wh OV or
for}
SER Coke nie NS
onmn ocr
oe od He bo

C. Loamy Sanp Sort.
German observations.
Rainfall, = - - Prussian inches,| 1.35 p 5
Drain water, - - Be sé 1.23 0.51 0.51 2.
Drain water, per cent. of rainfall, 91.1 3

D. Lrmy Soir.
English observations.
Rainfall, - - Prussian inches. —
Drain water, - sé a —_—
Drain water, per cent. of rainfall, —
Average from German observations :

Rainfall, = - Prussian inches, | 1.34
Drain water, - - <- pe 1.81
Drain water, per cent. of rainfall, 135. 6

oa
11
11
11]
lt

st
1.0
2.2 | 34.57) 64.73) 41.

The excess of drain water over rain water prevailing in
the German observations, in the first spring month, or
March, is probably caused by the circumstances that this
month must remove the meteorical precipitations of the
winter months, collected in the form of ice and snow; a cir-
cumstance which does not occur in England with its milder
winter. The difference between the discharge of the
drains in England and Germany during the summer is to
be accounted for by the prevalence of the summer rains
in the German climate; the fact that autumn furnishes
more rain in England than in Germany, is in consequence
of the prevalence of the fall rains in the English climate,
and of the cloudy quality of its fall atmosphere, which
retards evaporation.

97

REMOVAL OF STAGNANT WATERS.

Total

Winter.

mer.

Year.

Total.

Feb.

~_——— | | | | |

Sept. |

Aug. | Total.

3.83 | 10.94
4.31
39.4

0.86
22.5

10

CHAPTER IV.

—a

DRAINAGE REMOVES SURPLUS WATER FROM UNDER
THE SURFACE.

THERE is a body of stagnant water below the surface
of the ground, as those who work clayey soils will not
have failed to observe. This water sometimes settles in
the bottom of the furrows, even when the surface of the
land was sufficiently dry to work. In porous soils this
body lies at a great depth, but in clayey soils usually
within a foot or two of the surface, and is known among
drainers as the “water line.” This body of water not
only saturates the soil, and consequently excludes the azr,
whose presence, on a previous page, we have shown to be
very necessary, but it keeps the soil cold and retards veg-
etation. In the words of Dr. Hobbs, quoted by Judge
French, in his admirable treatise on “Farm Drainage,”
‘‘A knowledge of the depth to which this water table
should be removed, and of the means of removing it, con-
stitutes the science of draining.”

In the annexed engraving (Fig. 5), suppose the right-
hand portion, 1, to represent a loamy soil, and the left-
hand portion, 2, a heavy clayey soil. If in the clayey
soil a drain be sunk to 7,5, the water table will ordinarily
assume the direction 3,8,7, when the drain commences to
act, leaving that portion of the soil indicated by the lighter
shade, 2,3,8,7, in good workable condition, and ready to
supply nutriment to the roots of plants; while in a loamy
soil the direction will be 5.4.f. In other words, the table
at 3 will not sink to a level with 7 as rapidly as from 1

to 5. Hence, in clayey soils the drains should either be
(98)

DRAINAGE REMOVES SURPLUS WATER. 99

deeper or closer together, to effect the same object as in
loamy soils.

This ground water arises from
several causes, viz: There may
be an impermeable or impervious
strata at a comparative short depth
from the surface, which will not
permit the waters from the rains
to pass through it, as at 5, Fig. 6.
Suppose the contour of the sur-
face of a field to be represented
by A, B, ©, D, Fig. 6, and 5 is a
stratum of impervious clay; 4, a
stratum of “hard pan,” or blue
clay; and 3 a stratum of com-
pact white clay, resting on a stra-
tum, 2, of sand or gravel; and
this last on an impervious bed, 1.
It is very evident that all the
rains falling from A to C will col-
lect from the surface at B, while
that which penetrates the soil will
flow along the top of the stratum,
5, until it reaches the lowest point
under B; consequently, at B,
there will be a swamp or morass.
Even should the surface water

Ze, 2 .
KK LEE

Nii eee =

in. LiF YI 7 ie rg

FIG. vt

from the rain be evaporated, the swamp would still be sup-

100 LAND DRAINAGE.

plied with water inherent in the strata from A to C. A
well sunk at C into the gravel at 7 would be well supplied
with water, because 2, being a water bearing stratum,
would receive its supply-from below A, and 5, being an
impervious stratum, would not permit water to escape at B;
but a well sunk at B, into the stratum 2, would seriously
affect the well at C, and perhaps “dry it up;” at E there
would be springs, swamp or morass, according to the na-
ture of the ground. In this case, the ground water, or
water of pressure, as Judge French terms it. is that which
is found in strata 4 and 5.

There may be a nice distinction in law, and, perhaps,
in very scientific treatises on drainage, between ground
water and springs; yet, for all practical purposes, so far
as drainage is concerned, they amount to about the same
thing—for the reason that the great object of drainage is
to cut off this supply of superabundant subterranean wa-
ter—derived originally, no doubt, from the same source.
And the only difference which really can exist is this, viz:
a spring is a body of subterranean water, collected in a
reservoir, and flowing from thence in a larger or smaller
stream; while the ground water is a body of subterranean
water diffused throughout the strata, and, when collected
and discharged by drains, is as much spring water as if
nature herself discharged it in the form of a regular
spring.

The strata beneath the soil are not always conformable
to the surface, as those in Fig. 6, but frequently lie nearly
level with the horizon, or making but a small angle with
it, while the surface itself may be full of undulations. In
illustration of the formation of springs and the action of
rain on such a district or region of country as represented
by Fig. 7, we copy from Morton’s Cyclopedia of Agricul-

ture:

DRAINAGE REMOVES SURPLUS WATER. 101

“When rain falls on a tract of country, part of it flows over the
surface, and makes its escape by the numerous natural and artificial
courses which may exist, while another portion is absorbed by the
soil and the porous strata which lie under it.

“Let the following diagram represent such a tract of country, and

let the dark portions represent clay or other impervious strata, while
the lighter portions represent layers of gravel, sand or chalk, permit-
ting a free passage to water.

‘‘When rain falls in such a district, after sinking through the sur-
face layer (represented in the diagram by a narrow band), it reaches
the stratified layers beneath. Through these it still further sinks,
if they are porous, until it reaches some impervious stratum, which
arrests its directly downward course, and compels it to find its way
along its upper surface. Thus, the rain which falls on the space
represented between 2 and 4, is compelled, by the impervious strata,
to flow toward 3. Here it is at once absorbed, but is again immedi-
ately arrested by the impervious layer 5; it is, therefore, compelled
to pass through the porous stratum 3, along the surface of 5 to 1,
where it pours forth in a fountain, or forms a morass or swamp, pro
portionate in size or extent to the tract of country between 2 and 4,
or the quantity of rain which falls upon it. In such a case as is
here represented it will be obvious that the spring may often be at
a great distance from the district from which it derives its supplies ;
and this accounts for the fact, that drainage works on a large scale
sometimes materially lessen the supply of water at places remote
from the scene of operations.

‘‘In the instance given above, the water forming the spring is rep-
resented as gaining access to the porous stratum, at a point where
it crops out from beneath an impervious one, and as passing along
to its point of discharge at a considerable depth, and under several
layers of various characters. Sometimes, in an undulating country,
large tracts may rest immediately upon some highly porous stratum,
rendering the necessity for draining less apparent; while the adjoin-
ing parts of the country may be full of springs and marshes, arising

102 LAND DRAINAGE.

partly from the rain itself, which falls in these latter districts, being
unable to find a way of escape, and partly from the natural drainage
of the more porous soils adjoining being discharged upon it.

“Again: the higher parts of hilly ground are sometimes composed
of very porous and absorbent strata (1, 2, 3, Fig. 8), while the lower
portions, 4, 5, are more impervious, the soil and subsoil being of a
very stiff and retentive description. In this case, the water collected
by the porous layers is prevented from finding a ready exit, when it
reaches the impervious layers, by the stiff surface soil. The water
is by this means dammed up, in some measure, and acquires a con-
siderable degree of pressure, and, forcing itself to the day at various
places, it forms those extensive “weeping” banks, as at 6,6, 7, which
have such an injurious effect upon many of our mountain pastures.
This was the form of spring or swamp, to the removal of which Elk-
ington principally turned his attention; and the following diagram,
taken from a description of his system of draining, will explain the
stratification and springs referred to more clearly :

Fig. 8, although copied from Morton’s Cyclopedia of
Agriculture, was, in all probability, an ideal section, yet
it is a correct representation of a portion of the country
between Canton and Massillon, in Stark county. About
three miles west of Canton the railroad passes through
what is familiarly known in the locality as Buck’s Hill,
composed of drift (sand and gravel), as represented at 1,
2, 3; this drift rests upon another drift formation, “ hard
pan,’ or blue clay, 5. Wells in the immediate vicinity of
the hill have been sunk 66 feet, in pure sand and gravel,
before reaching the stratum, 5. Originally (in 1800, up
to 1818), most of the land lying along the line of railroad,
from the bed of the Nimishillen, 7, for a mile or more to-

DRAINAGE REMOVES SURPLUS WATER. 103

ward the hill, was a perfect morass, as represented in the
figure; but occasional open drains and wells have now
rendered it good arable land, although, in the immediate
vicinity of the creek, evidences of the former marshy con-
dition yet remain.

The precise quantity of water required for the agricul-
tural purposes of any district depends upon the nature
of the soil and the crops, and the position of the district
in relation to the surrounding country. Thus, if a perme-
able soil occupy an elevated site, the water deposited
upon it will pass rapidly, and, perhaps, before serving for
the germination or nutriment of the plant. If, on the
other hand, as is the far more common case in this coun-
try, the soil be of a retentive character, and the site low
in relation to other districts, the water will be kept while
the soil becomes saturated to so great an extent, that the
processes of vegetable germination and growth are greatly
impeded. The soil exists in one of three conditions: 1.
In the form of clay, being a dense mass of finely com-
minuted particles, but all of a highly tenacious kind; in
a state of slight moisture, it becomes a clammy paste,
and is never found so utterly devoid of moisture that its
constituent particles are separable ; it affords no passages
for water, receiving it with difficulty, and retaining it in
the same way. 2. In the form of sand or gravel, the
particles of which are seldom or never united, and the
soil is, therefore, full of passages or canals for water.
Soil of this kind has no power either to oppose the ad-
mission or effect the retention of water poured upon it.
And, 8. Existing in the form of a mixture of the alu-
minous, silicious, and calcareous elements, in endless
variety of proportions, found as clods, and in this state
affording two classes of passages for the ingress and
permeation of water, viz.: those remaining between the

104 LAND DRAINAGE.

particles which are congelated in each clod, and those
formed by the spaces between the clods. The former are
sometimes called pores, the latter canals. The power of
admitting and retaining or discharging water, exerted by
these mixed soils, will exist in an endless variety of de-
grees, according to the mechanical formation of the con-
stituent particles and clods. The state of soil which is
most favorable for the germination and development of
the plant, is that of moistures, capable of being readily
crumbled by the hand, and equally removed from the ad-
hesive extreme of mud, and the volatile one of dust. In
this condition it will be found that the pores are filled with
water, but the canals are not—these latter serving as
passages for the-air, which is one of the feeders of veget-
able life; and we can, therefore, readily understand that,
when water exists in such quantity that the soil is satu-
rated, and all the pores or canals filled, its condition is
unhealthy for the growth and developmont of plants.

The following extract from an admirable lecture on
agricultural science, by Dr. Madden, quoted by the Gene-
ral Board of Health in their “ Minutes of Information,”
although of considerable length, claims a space here, for
the valuable information it conveys on the fitness of soil
for promoting vegetable germination.

“The first thing which occurs after the sowing of the seed is, of
course, germination ; and before we examine how this process may
be influenced by the condition of the soil, we must necessarily ob-
tain some correct idea of the process itself. The most careful ex-
amination has proved that the process of germination consists es-
sentially of various chemical changes, which require, for their de-
velopment, the presence of air, moisture, and a certain degree of
warmth. Now it is obviously unnecessary for our present purpose,
that we should have the least idea of the nature of these processes;
all we require to do, is to ascertain the conditions under which they
take place; having detected these, we know at once what is required

DRAINAGE REMOVES SURPLUS WATER. 105

to make a seed grow. These, we have seen, are air, moisture, and a
certain degree of warmth; and it consequently results, that when-
ever a seed is placed in these circumstances, germination will take
place. Viewing matters in this light, it appears that soil does not
act chemically in the process of germination; that its sole action is
confined to its being the vehicle by means of which a supply of air
and moisture, and warmth, can be continually kept up. With this
simple statement in view, we are quite prepared to consider the va-
rious conditions of soil, for the purpose of determining how far these
will influence the future prospects of the crop, and we shall accord-
ingly at once proceed to examine, carefully, into the mechanical re-
lations of soil.

“Soil, examined mechanically, is found to consist entirely of par-
ticles of all shapes and sizes, from stones and pebbles, down to the
finest powder; and on account of their extreme irregularity of shape,
they can not be so close to one another, as to prevent there being
passages between them, owing to which circumstance soil in the
mass is always more or less porous. If, however, we proceed to ex-
amine one of the smallest particles of which soil is made up, we
shall find that even this is not always solid, but is much more fre-
quently porous, like soil in the mass. A considerable portion of
this finely divided part of soil, the impalpable matéer as it is gene-
rally called, is found, by the aid of the microscope, to consist of
broken down vegetable tissue, so that when a small portion of the
finest dust from a garden or field, is placed under the microscope,
we have exhibited to us particles of every variety of shape and struc-
ture, of which a certain part is evidently of vegetable origin.

“On examining a perfectly dry soil, we perceive that there are
two distinct classes of pores: 1. The large ones, which exist be-
tween the particles of soil; and, 2. The very minute ones, which
occur in the particles themselves; and, whereas, all the larger pores,
those between the particles of soil, communicate most freely with each
other, so that they form canals, the small pores, however freely they
may communicate with one another in the interior of the particle
in which they occur, have no direct connection with the pores of
the surrounding particles. Let us now, therefore, trace the effect
of this arrangement. If the soil is perfectly dry, the canals commu
nicating freely at the surface with the surrounding atmosphere, the
whole of these canals and pores will, of course, be filled with air
If, in this condition, a seed be placed in the soil, you at once per

106 LAND DRAINAGE.

ceive that it is freely supplied with air, but there is no moisture;
therefore, when soil is perfectly dry, a seed can not grow.

‘Let us turn our attention now to that state of the soil in which
water has taken the place of air, or, in other words, the soil is very
wet. If we observe our seed now, we find it abundantly supplied
with water, but no air. Here again, therefore, germination can not
take place. It may be well to state here, that this can never occur
exactly in nature, because water has the power of dissolving air to
acertain extent; the seed is, in fact, supplied with a certain amount of
this necessary substance; and, owing to this, germination does take
place, although by no means under such advantageous circumstances
as it would, were the soil in a better condition.

‘“We pass on to a different state of matters. Let us suppose the
canals are open, and freely supplied with air, while the pores are
filled with water. While the seed now has quite enough of air
from the canals, it can never be without moisture, as every particle
of soil which touches it is well supplied with this necessary ingre-
dient. This, then, is the proper condition of the plant for germina-
tion, and, in fact, for every period of the plant's development; and
this condition occurs when the soil is mois¢, but not wet—that is to
say, when it has the color and appearance of being well watered,
but when it is still capable of being crumbled to pieces by the
hands, without any of its particles adhering together in the familiar
form of mud.

‘Let us observe still another condition of soil: in this instance,
as far as water is concerned, the soil is in its healthy condition—it
is moist, but not wet, the pores alone being filled with water. But
where are the canals? We see them in a few places, but in, by far,
the greater part of the soil none are to be perceived; this is owing
to the particles of soil having adhered together, and thus, so far, ob-
literated interstitial canals, that they appear only like pores. This
is the state of matters in every clod of earth; and you will at once
perceive, on comparing it with a stone, that it differs from it, only
in possessing a few pores; which latter, while they may form a res-
ervoir for moisture, can never act as vehicles for the food of plauts,
as the roots are not capable of extending their fibers into the in-
terior of a clod, but are at all times confined to the interstitial
canals.

‘With these four conditions before us, let us endeavor to apply
them practically, to ascertain when they occur in our fields, and
how those which are injurious may be obviated.

DRAINAGE REMOVES SURPLUS WATER. 107

“The first of them is a state of too great dryness, a very rare
condition, in this climate at least; in fact, the only case in which it
is likely to occur is in very coarse sands, where the soil, being
chiefly made up of pure sand and particles of flinty matter, contains
comparitively much fewer pores, and, from the large size of the in-
dividual particles, assisted by their irregularity, the canals are

‘wider, the circulation of air freer, and, consequently, the whole is
much more easily dried. When this state of matters exists, the
best treatment is to leave all the stones which occur on the surface
of the field, as they cast shades, and thus retard the evaporation of
water.

‘“We will not, however, make any further observations on this
very rare case, but will rather proceed to much more frequent, and,
in every respect, more important condition of soil—an excess of
water.

‘When water is added to perfectly dry soil, it, of course, in the
first instance, fills the intestitial canals, and from these enters the
pores of each particle; and if the supply of water be not too great
the canals speedily become empty, so that the whole of the fluid is
taken up by the pores; this, as we have already seen, is the healthy
condition of soil. If, however, the supply of water be too great, as
is the case when a spring gains admission into the soil, or when the
sinking of the fluid through the canals to a sufficient depth below
the surface is prevented, it is clear that these also must get filled
with water so soon as the pores have become saturated. This, then,
is the condition of undrained soil.

‘Not only are the pores filled, but the interstitial canals are like-
wise full; and the consequence is, that the whole process of the
germination and growth of vegetables is materially interfered with.
We shall here, therefore, briefly state the injurious effects of an ex-
cess of water, for the purpose of impressing more strongly on your
minds the necessity of thorough draining, as the first and most
essential step toward the improvement of your soil.

The first great effect of an excess of water is, that it produces a
corresponding diminution of the amount of air beneath the surface,
which air is of the greatest possible consequence in the nutrition
of plants; in fact, if entirely excluded, germination could not take
vlace, and the seed sown would, of course, either decay or lie dor-
mant.

“ Secondly, an excess of water is most hurtful, by reducing con-
siderably the temperature of the soil; this I find, by careful expori-

108 LAND DRAINAGE.

ment, to be to the extent of 63 degrees Fahrenheit, in summer,
which amount is equivalent to an elevation above the level of the
sea of 1,950 feet. So that, supposing two fields lying side by side,
the one drained, the other undrained, and supposing them both
equally well cultivated, there will be nearly as much difference in
the amount and value of their respective crops, as if the drained
one was situated at the level of the sea, and the other had an eleva-.
tion as high as the most lofty of the Pentland Hills. But, beside
this, and what is nearly equally bad, the temperature is rendered
unnaturally high during winter; whereas, it has been proved that
one great source of health and vigor in vegetation is the great dif-
ference which exists between the temperature of summer and win-
ter, which difference amounts, in dry soil, to between thirty and
forty degrees; while in soil, very much injured by an excess of
water, the whole range of the thermometer throughout the year will
probably not exceed from six to ten degrees.

“These are the chief injuries of an excess of water in soil which
affect the soil itself. There are very many othersaffecting the cli-
mate, etc. ; but these are not so connected with the subject in hand as
to call for an explanation here.

“Of course all these injurious effects are at once overcome by
thorough draining, the result of which is to establish a direct com-
munication between the interstitial canals and the drains, by which
means it follows that no water can remain any length of time in
these canals, without, by its gravitation, finding its way to the
drains.

‘Too much can not be said in favor of pulverizing the soil; even
thorough draining itself will not supersede the necessity of perform-
ing this most necessary operation. ‘The whole valuable effects of
plowing, harrowing, grubbing, etc., may be reduced to this; and
almost the whole superiority of garden over field produce, is refer-
able to the greater perfection to which this pulverizing of the soil
can be carried.

‘“ The celebrated Jethro Tull has the honor of having first directed
the farmer’s attention forcibly to the subject; and so deeply im
pressed was he with its infinite importance, that he believed the use
of manure could be entirely superseded were this pulverizing car-
ried to a sufficient extent.

‘The whole success of the drill husbandry is owing, in a great
measure, to its enabling you to stir up the soil well during the pro-
gress of your crop; which stirring up is of no value beyond ita

DRAINAGE REMOVES SURPLUS WATER. 109

effect in more minutely pulverizing the soil, increasing, as far as
possible, the size and number of the interstitial canals.

“Lest any one should suppose that the contents of these inter-
stitial canals must be so minute that their whole amount can be of
but little consequence, I may here notice the fact, that in moder-
ately well pulverized soil they amount to no less than one fourth of
the whole bulk of the soil itself; for example, 100 cubic inches of
moist soil (that is, of soil in which the pores are filled with water,
while the canals are filled with air), contain no less than 25 cubic
inches of air. According to this calculation, in a field pulverized to
the depth of eight inches, a depth perfectly attainable on most soils
by careful tillage, every imperial acre will retain beneath its surface
no less than 12,545,280 inches of air. A familiar illustration of the
space occupied by the spaces between the particles of loosened soil
is afforded by the fact that when soil is disturbed it more than fills
the space it previously occupied.

“Taking into calculation the weight of soil, we find that with
every additional inch which you reduce to powder (by plowing, for
example, nine inches in place of eight), you call into activity 235
tuns of soil, and render it capable of retaining beneath the surface
1,568,160 additional cubic inches of air. And to take one more
element into the calculation, supposing the soil were not properly
drained, the sufficient pulverizing would increase the escape of
water from the surface by upward of 100 gallons a day.

So far as the legal distinction between water of pressure
and springs is concerned, Judge French says:

“As we find it in our field, it is neither rain water, which has
there fallen, nor spring water, in any sense. It has been appropri-
ately termed the water of pressure, to distinguish it from both rain
and spring water; and the recognition of this term will certainly
be found convenient to all who are engaged in the discussion of
drainage.

‘““The distinction is important in a legal point of view, as relating
to the right of the land owner to divert the sources of supply to mill
streams, or to adjacent lower lands. It often happens that an owner
of land on a slope may desire to drain his field, while the adjacent
owner below, may not only refuse to join in the drainage, but may
believe that he derives an advantage from the surface washing or
the percolation from his higher neighbor. He may believe that, by

110 LAND DRAINAGE.

deep drainage above, his land will be dried up and rendered worth-
less; or, he may desire to collect the water which thus percolates,
into his land, and use it for irrigation, or for a water ram, or for the
supply of his barn-yard. May the upper owner legally proceed with
the drainage of his own land, if he thus interfere with the interests
of the man below?

“Again: wherever drains have been opened, we already hear
complaints of their effects upon wells. In our good town of Exeter,
there seems to be a general impression on one street, that the
drainage of a swamp, formerly owned by the author, has drawn
down the wells on that street, situated many rods distant from the
drains. Those wells are upon a sandy plain, with underlying clay,
and the drains are cut down upon the clay, and into it, and may
possibly draw off the water a foot or two lower through the whole
village—if we can regard the water line running through it as the
surface of a pond, and the swamp as a dam across its outlet.

“The rights of land owners, as to running water over their prem-
ises, have been fruitful of litigation, but are now well defined. In
general, in the language of Judge Story—

‘Every proprietor upon each bank of a river is entitled to the
land covered with water in front of his bank to the middle thread
of the stream, etc. In virtue of this ownership, he has a right to
the use of the water flowing over it in its natural current, without
diminution or obstruction. The consequence of this principle is,
that no proprietor has a right to use the water to the prejudice of
another. It is wholly immaterial whether the party be a proprietor
above or below, in the course of the river, the right being common
to all the proprietors on the river. No one has a right to diminish
the quantity which will, according to the natural current, flow to
the proprietor below, or to throw it back upon a proprietor above.’

“Chief Justice Richardson, of New Hampshire, thus briefly
states the same position:

‘¢Tn general, every man has a right to the use of the water flow-
ing ina stream through his land, and if any one divert the water
from its natural channel, or throw it back, so as to deprive him of
the use of it, the law will give him redress. But one man may ac-
quire, by grant, a right to throw the water back upon the land of
another, and long usage may be evidence of such a grant. It is,
however, well settled that a man spe aie no such right by —,
being the first to make use of the water.’

“Weare not aware that it has ever been held by any court o”

DRAINAGE REMOVES SURPLUS WATER. 111

law, or even asserted, that a land owner may not intercept the per-
colating water in his soil for any purpose and at his pleasure; nor
have we in mind any ease in which the draining out of water from
a well, by drainage for agricultural purposes, has subjected the
owner of the land to compensation.

“It is believed that a land owner has the right to follow the rules
of good husbandry in the drainage of his land, so far as the water
of pressure is concerned, without responsibility for remote conse-
quences to adjacent owners, to the owners of distant wells or springs,
that may be affected, or to mill owners.

“In considering the effect of drainage on streams and rivers, it
appears that the results of such operations, so far as they can be
appreciated, are to lessen the value of water powers, by increasing
the flow of water in times of freshets, and lessening it in times of
drought. It is supposed in this country, that clearing the land of
timber has sensibly affected the value of ‘mill privileges,’ by in-
creasing evaporation, and diminishing the streams. No mill owner
has been hardy enough to contend that a land owner may not le-
gally cut down his own timber, whatever the effect on the streams,
So, we trust, no court will ever be found, which will restrict the
land owner in the highest culture of his soil, because his drainage
may affect the capacity of a mill stream to turn the water wheels.”

CHAPTER V.

GER aa

DRAINAGE LENGTHENS 'THE SEASONS.

WE have already shown that drainage removes stagnant
surface water, and surplus ground water. The removal
of these waters, as a necessary consequence, prepares the
soil at an earlier period, for the labors of the farmer, than
if left to natural causes alone.

The time required for the ‘‘settling of the soil,” after
the winter frost passes from it, depends, to a great ex-
tent, upon its porous or its retentive character, is every-
where known and conceded. The deep gravelly loam is
seen to be very soon free from water, while the heavy clay
requires a long time to become fit for cultivation. In the
one case the soil is fully drained—in the other the water
mostly passes off by the slow process of evaporation.
The water being removed, prepares the ground to receive to
its fullest extent, the beneficial influence of the sun’s warm-
ing rays, to impart to the soil the proper temperature for the
germination and growth of seeds and plants. Thoroughly
drained soil is not unfrequently ready for the plow from
ten to fifteen days earlier, than a similar undrained one.
Ten days of advanced growth of corn, barley, oats, wheat
or potatoes, have often protected these crops from the
effects of drought, early frost, or insects. Ten to fifteen
days of advanced maturity, would fully protect the earlier
varieties of wheat grown in Ohio, from the ravages of
the midge (cecidomyia tritic?), or the blighting effects of
rust. The same advanced growth may secure the entire
corn crop against early frosts, because in less time than

that assumed, corn passes from the milky stage, when it
(112)

DRAINAGE LENGTHENS THE SEASONS. 113

would not require a severe frost to ruin it, to the glazed
stage, when it is perfectly secure from the action of or-
dinary fall frosts. Potatoes, in the same time, would be
so far advanced as to be enabled, much better, to with-
stand the drought—such as we had in Ohio in 1854 and
1859—when the very early potatoes did well enough, but
the late ones were almost an entire failure. Fifteen days
of advanced maturity of the oat crop in Qhio, in 1858,
would have saved the entire crop from the blight or rust ;
and thorough drainage will place these fifteen days at the
farmer’s disposal.

In what manner will drainage prepare the soil fifteen
days sooner than an undrained soil? In the first place,
the autumn rains will not so thoroughly stagnate in the
soil, as they necessarily must, in an undrained one, be-
cause they will drain off all the superfluous moisture be-
tween the drain and the frozen surface during the fall and
winter ; then, in the spring time, drain off all the mois-
ture from the surface, as it finds its way into the soil.

In order to demonstrate why drained soil is in order to
be cultivated in the spring time, so much sooner than un-
drained, we introduce the following table copied from the
Saxony experiments at Tharand:

114 LAND DRAINAGE.

——

ofl. et i ey a ry by =
1853.) 7s ™S 11953.) 28 SS |l1853.) 58 SB il1ss3.) SS | Ss
> 'S 2% 23 ey =. eS Se tes
Feb.| Fe| 33 ||Mar.| 73 ES |July.| 78 | £8 |/Aug.| * a |} 23
r= gc r=] - € r=] - =| ime =]
° S e e S a o =
1 | 36.5 | 36.5 i} 24: 33.8 1 | 67. 54.5 1} 56.5 | 56.7
Zl: aks 37 pe 33 2 | 54.5 | 54.5 2186.0 ob S87
a | - 20. 37.5 3 | 26.6 | 33 3 | 55.4 | 54.5 3) FA: 56.7
CO es 37.4 4-1+20e% |. 33 4) 536) 5455 4 | 64.4 | 56.5
5) 31. 38. “ae i 33 5 | 60. 54.5 5 | 64.4 | 56.7
6} 31. 38. 6 | 33. 33.5 6 | 63.5 | 54.5 6 | 55.4 | 56.5
7 | 30. 38. 7) 35. 33.8 7 | 74.5 | 54.5 7 | 55.4 | 56.
8} 32. 38. 8 | 38. 35 8 | 78.8 | 54.5 8 | 54.5 | 56.
9.) 32. 38. a ee 35 9 | 80. 55. 9 | 48.2 | 55.4
10 | 25. 38. FO | “32. 35 10° 78:8" 59 10 | 55.4 | 56.
11 | 27.5 | 38. 41 } 27. 36 LT |<62% 55, Lid, 53.6; }5h.
12 | 28.5 | 37.4 12 | 29 36 12:1 62: 55 12 | 55.4 | 56.
13} 22. a7 13 4533 36.5 13 | 73.4 | 54 13 | 54.5 | 56.
14.493. Bie 14} 33 36 14 | 71.6 | 53.6 14 | 56. 56.
1591. 36.5 15 | 36.5 | 36.5 15 | 64.4 | 54.5 TS (*oRe 55.4
16 | 21. 35.6 16 | 24, 36. 16 | 62.6 | 54. 16.1 56.5.1. 55;
» al Nine - 34.2 Tt |"l¥ | ob. 17 | 69. 54, 17) Ota T 00.
18 | 15.8 | 34.2 18 | 17.6 | 36 18 | 64.4 | 54 18 | 56.5 | 55.
19 | 19.5 | 35. 19) DO. | 3G 19 |.65.5 | 54.5 £9 | BZ wl OD.
20 | 2Y. oD. 20 | 17.6 | 36 20 | 55.4 | 54 20 | 66.2 | 54.5
21 | 23. | 34. 21 | 21.2 | 35 21 | 56 54 ees 54.5
Zz | 24.8 | 33.8 ve | Oe 36 22 | 69 54.5 22 | 78.8 | 54.5
23. |, 26.6 1 33.8 23.| 23 36 23 | 60.8 | 53.6 23 | 82.4 | 54.
24 | 26.6 | 33.8 24 | 22 36 24 | 62 54 24 | 78. 54.5
25 | 24, 33.8 257228 36. 25 1 77 54.5 25 | 68. 54.5
26 | 16.5 ; 33.8 264) 212 1.36 26 | 69.8 | 54.5 26. | Bi. 54.5
2T eV ZSE9 7 Sal8 ai | ate 136. 27 | 69.8 | 55.5 27° \ 57:2 1 55.
28::| 27 Be beots 28 | 17.6 | 36. 28 killa 56. 28 | 60. Ty
29 | 20 36 29°) 73.4 | 56.5 29 | 62. Soe
30 | 26.6 | 36 30 | 68. 56.7 30) 52. 56.5
31

27.5 | 36. 3 64.4 | 57. || 31 | 67. | 56.5

This table shows, that during the months of February
and March, the water issuing from the drains had a much
higher temperature than the atmosphere, and that during
the months of July and August, the drain water was
much cooler than the atmosphere. On the 18th of Feb-
ruary, the temperature of the air was 15:°8° Fahr., or
16:2° below freezing point, while the drain water stood at
34-2°, or 18-0° above the air.

The following table gives the mean monthly tempera-

~

DRAINAGE LENGTHENS THE SEASONS. 115

ture of the atmosphere at 8 A. M., and 4 P. M., also of the
drainage water at the same periods at Tharand, Saxony:

a ee ee

Mean tempera- | Mean tempera- | Mean tempera- | Mean tempera-
ture of the air atjture of the drain-| ture of air at | ture of drainage

8 A. M. age water at 4P.M. water at
8 A.M. 4 P.M.
1853, l
February, 26. 35.6 27. 35.6
March, 25. 35. 31. 35.
April, 38.7 38. 42. 38.
May, 51. 44.6 61. 44.6
June, 62. 50. 66. 50.
July, 67. 53.6 72.5 53.6
August, 61. 54.5 — 67. 54.
September, 56.7 53.6 60.5 53.6
October, 49, 49. _ 55. 49.
November, 37.4 46.4 38.5 47.
December, 24. 37.4 24. 37.4
1854.
January, 29. 34.2 31. 34.5
Mean for
the year, 43. 44, 46.5 44.4

From this we learn that the temperature of the air for
the months December, January, February and March, was
below freezing point (82°), while the temperature of the
drain water, during this entire period, was from 2°2° to
3°6°, above the freezing point; consequently, the drains
were discharging water during the entire winter, and
when spring came, the soil was not saturated with autumn
and winter rains, as undrained soils necessarily are.

There is no doubt that temperature has considerable
influence on the discharge of water from the drains.
The observations recorded in the following table, were
made at Tharand, in Saxony, to determine the influ-
ence of temperature upon the discharge of water from
drains.

The following statements and observations are given
as theory only—that is, theory in its true sense—infer-
ences based upon facts or actual observations, in contra-

116 LAND DRAINAGE.

distinction to the usual definition of theory, viz: specu-
lations, or hypothesis to explain facts or phenomenon.
TABULAR STATEMENT SHOWING THE INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE UPON THE

DISCHARGE OF WATER FROM THE DRAINS; ALSO, THE INFLUENCE OF RAINS
UPON THE DISCHARGE FROM DRAINS.

Temp.of atmosphere.| Quantity of Rain} Discharge of Increase com-
———__—_—————— per day, per acre,| Drainage Water, | pared with the
Mini- Maxi- in gallons. daily, per acre. preceding day.
mum. mum.
1853.
March 7| 32. 35. — 280 38
. 8} 35. 42.8 1624 2061 1781
Ce 9} 33.5 42. 1919 3515 1454
3 10) 32. 41, 295 4137 622
. 11; 26.6 42. a 5614 1477
April 1| 24.8 | 46.4 viele 2158 1264
ae a. ole 45.5 1255 8605 6447
ae 3} 33.8 47.5 295 9410 805
1854.
Feb. 6) 31. 44. 14541 5653 5018
cu 7| 44.6 47. 14614 11462 5809
March 2| 28.4 40. — 5245 4831
= 3} 28.4 41. —_— 7619 2374
ae 9| 39.2 44.6 5905 12154 4535
Dee 15) 32. 49. 32772 7084 5837
fe 16) 35. 50. 54178 21463 14379

We will now, in addition to this theory, present some
facts, or rather the testimony of various practical farmers
on this question, and none more to the point than the fol-
lowing: At an agricultural meeting in Boston, Mr. B. F.
Nourse, of Orington, Me., who was present, said. that
drainage on his farm “had put his springy, cold lands, in
good working condition, earlier in the season, than any
other in the neighborhood. One lot drained in 1852, was
in good working condition as soon as the frost was out.
Before drainage, cattle could not cross it early in June
without miring. It enabled the later as well as the earlier
cultivation of the land. He had plowed as late as the
20th of November.”’

Mr. French, in his essay on drainage, refers also to

DRAINAGE LENGTHENS THE SEASONS. 117

Mr. Nourse’s experience, making mention of a piece of
corn he planted in this land on a drizzling rain, after a
storm of two days. The corn came up and grew well;
although on a clayey loam, formerly as wet as the ad-
joining grass field, over which oxen and carts could not
pass on the day of this planting, without cutting through
the turf and miring deeply.

Messrs. Maxwell Brothers, of Geneva, N. Y., in a
statement of draining done on their farm in 1855, and
which received the first premium of the State Agricultu-
ral Society, say they underdrained one clayey lot, which
previously “it was quite impracticable to plow or culti-
vate in a wet time, and consequently it was very difficult
to get in a spring crop in season.” After underdraining
“they could cultivate immediately after rains with ad-
vantage,” and, of course, get in their crops much more
seasonably than before. Mr. Yeomans, another central
New York farmer and nurseryman, states that on his
drained lands “the ground becomes almost as dry, in two
or three days after the frost comes out in spring, or after
a heavy rain, as it would do in as many weeks before
draining,” and the frost leaves drained land at least a
week sooner than that which remains undrained.

It is a weighty argument for draining, that it relieves
the ground of surplus water early in the spring, and so
enables the work of the farmer and gardener to commence
earlier than it otherwise could. It also makes that work
easier and pleasanter. When the ground is undrained, it
can not become dry, except by evaporation, or by the
oozing away of the water, particle by particle, through a
long reach of stiff soil, into some natural outlet. Mean-
while, the farmer must sit with folded hands in compara-
tive idleness, knowing that by the time his land had be-
come dry, his work will accumulate and press upon him

118 LAND DRAINAGE.

with a burden he can hardly bear. It would not be strange
if some of that work should be left undone, or be slighted.
Let but suitable drains be cut through that land, and the
melting snows and drenching rains would speedily find
their way in these channels, and leave the ground dry and
warm, and ready for tillage several weeks earlier than
fields not so treated. It would tend to relieve farm life
of a great objection to it, in many minds, viz: that it
imposes such hurrying and exhausting labors at particu-
lar seasons, and especially in spring. It would enable
the farmer to get certain crops into the ground earlier,
and so make sure of a vigorous growth before the
droughts of midsummer, and of maturity before the
frosts of autumn. The farmer at the extreme north, who
sometimes repines at the shortness of the growing season,
and the coldness of his soil, would thus practically gain
almost a degree of south latitude, without the necessity
of selling his farm and moving his household gods.

CHAPTER VI.

DRAINAGE DEEPENS THE SOIL.

It is a most important fact that drainage “deepens the
soil,” but in what manner this desideratum is accomplished
none of the writers on the subject (whose works we have
had the privilege of perusing) appear to explain. One
writer! says:

“The effects of thorough draining in deepening the soil, are read-
ily seen in a comparison of the characteristics of those wet and
retentive, with those either naturally or artificially of a porous nature.

‘All heavy soils must be shallow from the influence of stagnant
water—of water which saturates the surface, not being able to pass
away by filtration. Every fall of water gives a mortar-like consist-
ency to such a soil, and as the moisture passes off by the slow pro-
cess of evaporation, it becomes baked and brick-like, instead of light
and friable. If plowed when wet, it is entirely unfit for the growth
of crops; if stirred when dry, it turns up in clods and lumps; in
either case, it is only after much labor that any finely pulverized
earth is obtained to support and nourish vegetable growth, and an
inferior crop is ever the result. Saturation, without filtration, kills
the productive power of any sotl—makes it hard, shallow and sterile,
however rich in every element of fertility it may be, when differ-
ently situated in the single circumstance of drainage.

‘“ Porous, or well drained soils, on the contrary, never retain, even
if they become saturated with water. The surplus moisture filtrates
at once into the drains, leaving the surface loose and friable. Such
a soil can be plowed at any seasonable time, and turns up mellow
earth, readily fitted as a seed bed for any crop. Such a soil invites .
the roots of plants down, offering them food instead of a stone-like
earth, and every year deepens the area of vegetable growth, until the
full depth is reached to which it has-been drained.”

1 Editor, Country Gentleman.
(119)

120 LAND DRAINAGE.

But then, after all, we have no explanation of how the
soil is deepened, other than it becomes so by thorough
drainage. The editor then produces the following capi-
tal statement of the fact, if any were needed, to prove
that drainage deepens the soil:

“That draining deepens the soil, we will bring a single instance
to show—one which confirms every point stated above. It is con-
densed from a letter from that pioneer drainer and pioneer of good
farmers, John Johnston, near Geneva, N. Y., and was published in
the Country Gentleman, of January 19, 1854. He says:

“<Tast spring I concluded to plow a clayey field, containing forty
acres, only once for wheat, and that after harvest. Previous to drain-
ing, it was one of my wettest fields, and in dry weather, even in April
and May, was very hard to plow, often having to get the coulters and
shares sharped every day, when we used wrought iron shares. Owing
to the great drought before, during and after harvest, I got a large
plow made, so that I could put two or more yokes of cattle, and a
pair of horses to it if necessary. Immediately after harvest we
started for the field, oxen and drivers, plowmen and horses; and
beside new shares on the plows, took other new shares along, ex-
pecting to be obliged to change every day.

“When we got to the field, [had one man put a pair of horses
before the large plow, and try to open the land with a shallow fur-
row. He went seventy rods away and back without even a stop,
expect when the clover choked the plow. I then put the plow down
to eight inches, and after one round, to nearly ten, and we went
around without any trouble. His furrow was over nine inches deep,
and laid as perfect as could be. I then had one yoke of oxen put
behind my smallest horses, and a pair of horses before each of my
other plows, and they plowed the field with perfect case, only
changing shares twice.

“* Although the field was undoubtedly plowed at the rate of nine
inches deep, yet the clover roots went deeper, and the land plowed up
as mellow as any loam; whereas, had it not been drained, it would
have broke up in lumps as large as the heads of horses or oxen. A
few years ago, a neighbor broke up a field about the same season,
and similar land, but not drained, and after cultivating, rolling and
harrowing, he had to employ men and mallets to break the lumps,
before he could get mold to cover the seed; and after all did not get

DRAINAGE DEEPENS THE SOIL. 121

the third of a crop of either wheat or straw. My wheat looks as
well as any I ever saw, and I doubt not it will be a good crop.’

“Those farmers, and they are not few, who have had experience
in the cultivation of clayey- soils when dry, or in any state, will not
wonder that Mr. Johnston exclaimed, on finding this great change
in the depth and friability of this clay bed: ‘I never was more
agreeably surprised in my life—in fact, had my men been plowing
in gold dust, as they do in California, I should have been no more
pleased.’ This great change was the simple effect of thorough
drainage—the soil, no longer compelled to remain saturated with
water, lost its brick and morter character, and became a live, or at
least an active and productive soil, ready to reward the labor of the
farmer.”’

A correspondent, reviewing Judge French’s work on
drainage, says:

“Tn his chapter on the effects of drainage upon the condition ot
the soil, the author of ‘ Farm Drainage,’ announces the proposition
that * drainage deepens the soil.’ How this effect is produced we
are not told, though a hint is given that it ‘lowers the line of stand-
ing water,’ and then we are treated to a page or so of reasoning and
authorities to show that plants send their roots to a great depth if
the soil admits. We are told also that the roots of few plants, ex-
cept those of an aquatic character, will grow or live in stagnant
water. Hence we are left to conclude that ‘ drainage deepens. the
soil,’ ”

And thus it is with all authorities; they state the fact,
and this is, perhaps, all that the present locomotive, tele-
graph, lightning press, steamship age requires; but the
inducement for those to underdrain who are deprived of
the privilege of seeing and examining the practical work-
ings of underdraining, will be much stronger if the chain
of the argument is complete—not having a single defec-
tive link in it.

Alderman Isaac J. Mechi, speaking of draining heavy
lands, says:! “TI consider it an axiom that the friability
of the soil will be in proportion to the rapidity of percola-

\ How to Farm Profitably, page 49.
12

122 LAND DRAINAGE.

tion. Filtration may be too sudden, as is well enough
shown by our hot sands and gravels; but I apprehend no
one will ever fear rendering strong clays too porous and
manageable. The object of drainage is to impart to such —
soils the mellowness and dark color of self-drained, rich
and friable soil. That perfect drainage and cultivation
will ultimately do this is a well-known fact. I know it in
the case of my own garden. How it does so I am not
chemist enough to explain in detail; but it is evident the
effect is produced by the fibers of the growing crops in-
tersecting every particle of the soil, which they never
could do before draining; these, with their excretions,
decompose on the removal of the crop, and are acted on
by the alternating air and water, which also decompose
and change, in degree, the inorganic substances of the
soil. Thereby drained land, which was before impervious
to air and water, and consequently unavailable to air and
roots, to worms, or to vegetable or animal life, becomes,
by drainage, populated by both, and is a great chemical
laboratory, as our own atmosphere, subject to all the
changes produced by animated nature.”

The explanation given above is not much more satisfac-
tory than the preceding ones, with this exception; he
hints at a chemical mean, while the others are rather in-
clined to attribute it entirely to a mechanical one; but
both leave us to infer that the roots of the crops have
much to do with producing the mellow condition of the
soil. A correspondent of the Country Gentleman, over
the signature of “ A Reapine Farmer,” concludes that
the roots of a crop are not essential to produce this con-
dition, for he says:

‘ A simple experiment will convince any farmer that the best mean
of permanently deepening and mellowing his soil, is by thorough
drainage, to afford a ready exit for all surplus moisture. Let him

DRAINING DEEPENS THE SOIL. 128

take, in spring, while wet, a quantity of his hardest soil—such as it
is almost impossible to plow in summer—such as presents a baked
and brick-like character, under the influence of drought—and place
it in a box or barrel open at the bottom, and frequently during the
season let him saturate it with water. He will find it gradually be-
coming more and more porous and friable—holding water less and
less perfectly as the experiment proceeds, and in the end it will attain
a state best suited to the growth of plants from its deep and mellow
character. Here we have the result of drainage as it acts upon the
soil. It may require time to act—probably on heavy clays more
than a single season, but it will act in conjunction with other natu-
ral influences to give depth and friability to the soil.”

Now, so far as ourself is concerned, we agree with all
the authorities we have quoted, that drainage “ deepens
the soil,” by “lowering the line of standing water,” “by
roots of crops,” by making the subsoil accessible to
‘“‘ vegetable and animal life;” but, at the same time, we are
of opinion that there is another agent, which we find no
where mentioned in this connection, whose influence in
mellowing and deepening the soil is just as powerful as
the causes just cited.

Some years since, in conversation with a very intelli-
gent gentleman, a farmer, but an Englishman by birth, we
expressed our surprise that while he spoke so very highly
of everything English, that he did not use a Crosskill’s
clod crusher, that being eminently English. ‘* For the
very reason,” replied he, “that in this country (U. 8.)
we have an infinitely cheaper, and much better ‘clod
crusher’ than Crosskill’s, or any the English can invent,
unless the gulf stream should change its course.” What
relation possibly could exist between the gulf stream and
a clod crusher we could certainly not divine, and as we
looked inquiringly into our friend’s face to assure ourself
of his sanity, he laughingly replied : “I mean Jack Frost.”
True they have frosts in England, but no comparison to
the frosts we have here—their frosts are rather mild

124 LAND DRAINAGE.

and good natured, like John Bull himself, after he has
just risen from the enjoyment of his favorite roast beef,
while the frosts here act with the force of a locomotive
running eighty miles an hour, breaking up, tearing up,
and smashing things generally. Plow up a stiff clay in
the fall, and let Jack Frost have fair play on it until next
April, aid Crosskill’s clod crusher might be very thank-
ful if the next harvest awarded it a second premium,
while Jack Frost would take the first over all competitors.

Jack Frost, in our opinion, is the certain other agent
above alluded to. In a drained clay, the late fall or early
winter rains always leave moisture enough for the frost
to congeal, and every congelation separates particles of the
soil; then, when a thaw takes place, the water is borne
off into the drain. In fact, in three-feet drains the pro-
cess of thawing is going on from below upward all the
while; hence, in springtime, drained soil is dry, or ready
to work in a few days. Jack Frost, in this manner, in-
stitutes beneath the soil, in the words of Alderman Me-
chi, ‘as great a chemical laboratory as our own atmos-
phere.” Our own observation is, that mild winters are
never succeeded by as bountiful harvests as more severe
ones are; but then winters may be too severe, as well as
too mild; yet drained soils, in either event, fare much
better than undrained ones.

We do not think that a heavy clay soil, drained in the
spring and plowed in the fall of the same year, would
plow so much easier, as Johnston, just above quoted, states
that his did, or as that did in the following extract from
a ice ote to the Country Gentleman:

‘““A Western New York farmer had a wet soil, thoroughly under-
drained with tile—a field of forty acres. It had always been very
hard and difficult to plow in the summer, taking a strong force of
teams, and wearing cut the plows very rapidly, and still the work
was dome in avery imperfect manner. After draining, he concluded

DRAINAGE DEEPENS THE SOIL. 125
to plow it once after harvest for wheat, as it had lain for some time
in clover. He went on with it with his triple teams and large plows,
but found that a single team could turn a furrow ten inches deep
with perfect ease. The land plowed up as mellow as any loam,
where, previous to draining, at that season it would have broken up
in lumps as large as the heads of his horses. To drainage he attrib-
uted the change, and we have no doubt that the deep mellow state
of the soil resulted entirely from ‘lowering the line of standing wa-
ter;’ from affording it opportunity for filtering rapidly through the
soil, instead of rising slowly as evaporated by the heat of summer.”

Deepening the soil is certainly a great desideratum with
every intelligent agriculturist, since every inch of depth
of soil gives 100 tuns of active soil per acre for the nu-
trition of the growing crop. Those who argue that the
cultivated plants obtain all their nourishment in‘a soil 8
or 10 inches deep, certainly have never investigated the
subject. The writer remembers distinctly that many years
ago he measured the roots of the oat plant, found in the
course of digging a cellar, which had penetrated the soil
to a depth of four feet. At another time, under similar
circumstances, the roots of the wheat plant were found to
have penetrated to a depth of five feet and several inches.
Roots of the corn plant were found at a depth of three
feet. Mr. Denton, an English writer, quoted by Judge
French, says:

‘“‘T have evidence now before me that the roots of the wheat plant,
the mangold wurzel, the cabbage and the white turnip frequently
descend into the soil to the depth of three feet. Ihave myself traced
the roots of wheat nine feet deep. I have discovered the roots cf
perennial grasses in drains four feet deep; and I may refer to Mr.
Mercer, of Newton, in Lancashire, who has traced the roots of rye
grass running for many feet along a small pipe drain, after descend-
ing four feet through the soil. Mr. Hetley, of Orton, assures me
that he disccvered the roots of the mangolds, in a recently made
drain, five feet deep; and the late Sir John Conroy had many newly-

made drains, four feet deep, stopped by the roots of the same
plants.”

126 LAND DRAINAGE.

It certainly requires no argument to prove that the
roots of plants can not penetrate to these depths in a
“water-logged,” compact clay soil.

The following cuts (Figs. 9 and 10) prove that drainage
deepens the soil. In Fig. 9, a represents the surface soil;

\, ! ,
\ h a
4 .
Ns
a
RSS Qs AN
i i Ti a
i &
Hi ’ ie ay apna i ve i
wi if if a

the line between a and 6 the line of capillary attraction ;
e, ground water, and the line between 6 and ¢ is the ground
water line. The plant is weak, has few heads and very
few roots. In Fig. 10, a is the surface soil; e, the ground
water; f f, drains, 5 feet deep; d, water of capillary at-
traction. It is a well-known fact, that the roots go down
to the water table, whether it is at 6, Fig. 9, at 10 inches
depth, or at f, Fig. 10, at 3 feet depth. The plant in

DRAINAGE DEEPENS THE SOIL. 127

Fig. 10 is thrifty, has large and many roots and numerous
heads. We have known a single grain of wheat, on such
soils in Ohio produce 60 perfect heads of wheat. In the
springtime the roots and foliage of wheat on such soil are
represented by Fig. 11.

Fic. 11.—Appearance of foliage and roots of the wheat plant in the spring,
on an underdrained soil. *

CHAPTER VII.

—_—_—

DRAINAGE WARMS THE UNDER SOIL.

PROFESSOR JOHNSTON says:

‘As the rain falls through the air it acquires the temperature of
the atmosphere. If this be higher than that of the surface soil, the
latter is warmed by it; and if the rains be copious, and sink easily
into the subsoil, they will carry this warmth with them to the depth
of the drains. Thus the under soil, in well-drained land, is not only
warmer, because the evaporation is less, but because the rains in the
summer season actually bring down warmth from the heavens to add
to their natural heat.”

There are two reasons why wet lands are always cold,
and especially so in the spring: one is, the slow conduc-
tion of heat downward through a body of water; the other
is, the heat lost in the evaporation of water. When heat
is applied to the bottom of a vessel containing water, the
portions that are first heated expand, become specifically
lighter, ascend, and give place to heavier and colder por-
tions. These, in turn, are heated and ascend, and thus a
constant circuit is maintained until the whole is equally
heated. When heat is applied to the top of a vessel of
water, the upper stratum is heated; but this remains on
the top, and no movement in the liquid brings unheated
portions in contact with the fire, consequently heat passes
downward through water slowly, and with great difficulty.
Hence, a wet piece of land, which receives its heat from
the sun’s rays acting on the surface, will be a long time
in being warmed to any depth.

The rdalovad of surplus water by evaporation interferes
still more with the warming of the soil in the spring. The

vapor of water may be described as a compound of water
(128)

DRAINAGE WARMS THE UNDER SOIL. 129

and heat. Not more certain is it that water is taken from
the soil by evaporation, than that a definite proportion of
heat passes off with it. And hence, lands from which a
large amount of water has to be removed in the spring by
evaporation, are kept cold until the process is finished.
The cooling effects of evaporation are highly beneficial,
under some circumstances, but on wet lands, in the spring
of the year, they are anything but desirable.

It follows, therefore, that the way to make cold, wet
lands warm, is to resort to thorough drainage; and this,
experience has shown, has the effect to raise the tempera-
ture of the soil many degrees through the whole spring.
Not only is the heat communicated by the sun’s rays re-
tained, instead of being carried off in converting water
into vapor, but dry soil, or any other solid bodies, will
transmit heat downward better than liquids; in addition
to this, a dry soil has its interstices filled with an air which
diffuses heat, and helps to elevate the temperature.

A warm soil in the spring has a great advantage over
acoldone. The seeds, planted or sown germinate at once,
and don’t permit the hardier seeds of weeds to get the
start of the crop. Or, if the farmer chooses to stir the
soil two or three times before putting in the crop, the
seeds of weeds have the opportunity to germinate early,
so that the young weeds may be killed by subsequent work-
ings before the intended crop is sown. It is the expe-
rience of all, that drained lands are much easiest kept
clean. But the temperature of the soil has a controlling
influence on the growth of corn and some other spring
crops. Corn will germinate when the temperature of the
soil is about 55° Fahrenheit; a few degrees lower it will
rot in the ground. In fact, fault is often found with seed
corn, when the only difficulty is in the want of sufficient
warmth in the soil. Barley, oats, and spring wheat may

130 LAND DRAINAGE.

be sown on drained lands almost as soon as the frost is
out, and there is little or no risk of the seed perishing.
If the temperature of the atmosphere is not sufficient tc
justify growth above ground, if the soil be only warm
enough, the plant will make the better growth of roots
below.

The following illustration of the manner in which drain-
age warms the under soil, we find in the Patent Office Re-
port for 1856, over the signature “D. J. B.” (D. J.
Browne), but the same illustration, engraving and text,
“verbatim, spellatim et punctuatim,” are credited to the
Horticulturist, of November, 1856, by Judge French. Not
knowing, therefore, which one of the authorities is entitled
to the credit, we accordingly “ divide the honors”’ between
them.

“The reason why drained land gains heat, and water-logged land.
is always cold, consists in the well-known fact that heat can not be
transmitted downward through water. This may readily be seen by
the following experiments:

“ Experiment No 1.—A square box was made, of the form repre-

sented by the annexed diagram, eighteen
inches deep, eleven inches wide at top,
and six inches wide at bottom. It was
filled with peat, saturated with water to
e, forming to that depth (twelve and a
half inches) a sort of artificial bog. The
box was then filled with water tof, A
thermometer, c, was plunged, so that its
bulb was within one inch and a half of
the bottom. The temperature of the
whole mass of peat and water was found
to be 393° Fahr. A gallon of boiling
water was then added; it raised the
surface of the water to g. In five min-
utes the thermometer, c, rose to 44°
owing to the conduction of heat by the
thermometer and its cuard tube; at ten
minutes from the introduction of the hot water, the thermometer, ¢,

Fria. 12.

‘

DRAINAGE WARMS THE UNDER SOIL. 131

rose to 46°, and it subsequently rose no higher. Another thermom-
eter, b, dipping under the surface of the water at g, was then intro-
duced, and the following are the indications of the two thermometers
at the respective intervals, reckoning from the time the hot water
was supplied :

Thermometer, b. Thermometer, c.

20 minutes, - - 150 deg. 46 deg.
1 hour 30 f - - - 101 “ 45
2 hours 30 $4 - - - 803 “ 42 %&
12% 40 « B 3 or nt Are 40 «

“The mean temperature of the external air to which the box was
exposed, during the above period, was 42°, the maximum being 47°,
and the minimum 37°.

‘‘ Kxperiment No, 2.—With the same arrangement as in the pre-
ceding case, a gallon of boiling water was introduced above the peat
and water, when the thermometer, c, was at 36°; in ten minutes it
rose to 40°. The cock was then turned for the purpose of drainage,
which was but slowly effected; and, at the end of twenty minutes,
the thermometer, c, indicated 40°; at twenty-five minutes, 42°, while
the thermometer, b, was 142°. At thirty minutes, the cock was
withdrawn from the box, and more free egress of water being thus
afforded, at thirty-five minutes the flow was no longer continuous,
and the thermometer, b, indicated 48°. The mass was drained, and
permeable to a fresh supply of water. Accordingly, another gallon
of boiling water was poured over it; and, in

3 minutes, the thermometer, c, rose to - - 77 deg.
5 " mn fell to - 764 “
15 a“ “¢ 66 ~ 2a 704 6c
20 cH s remained at the &
] hour 50 se bc “c i“ a 704 cc

“In these two experiments, the thermometer at the bottom of the
box suddenly rose a few degrees immediately after the hot water
was added; and it might be inferred that the heat was carried down-
ward by the water. But, in reality, the rise was owing to the action
of the hot water on the thermometer, and not to its action upon the
cold water. To prove this, the perpendicular thermometers were
removed; the box was filled with peat and water to within three
inches of the top, a horizontal thermometer, c d, having been pre-
viously secured through a hole made in the side of the box, by
means of a tight-fitting cork, in which the naked stem of the ther-

132 LAND DRAINAGE.

mometer was grooved. A gallon of boiling water was then added.
The thermometer, a very delicate one, was not in the least affected
by the boiling water in the top of the box.

‘In this experiment the wooden box may be supposed to be a
field; the peat and cold water represent the water-logged portion ;
rain falls on the surface, and becomes warmed by contact with the
soil, and, thus heated, descends; but it is stopped by the cold water,
and the heat will go no further. But, if the soil is drained, and not
water-logged, the warm rain trickles through the crevices of the
earth, carrying to the drain level the high temperature it had gained
on the surface, parts with it to the soil as it passes down, and thus
produces that bottom heat which is so essential to plants, although
so few suspect its existence.”

CHAPTER VIII.

—

DRAINAGE EQUALIZES THE TEMPERATURE OF THE
SOIL DURING THE SEASON OF GROWTH.

We have already shown that the discharges of water
from drains are always several degrees above freezing
point; and as heat naturally tends upward, that the soil
is measurably warmed from below during the germinating
season of the seeds, so that not unfrequently the soil is,
during the entire month of April, much warmer than the
air at night, although, perhaps, colder than the air during
the day. The soil of a drained field is, therefore, free
from the extremes of temperature of day and night air,
during the same time. Again we have shown, by the
tables copied from observations at Tharand, in Saxony,
that the drains have a lower temperature during July and
August, than the air. Thus, while drains equalize the
temperature of the soil, and exempt it from the extremes
of day and night temperature ; it also equalizes it, and
exempts it from the extremes of winter and summer tem-
peratures. Prof. Johnston says:

“'The sun beats upon the surface of the soil, and gradually warms
it. Yet, even in eummer, this direct heat descends only a few inches
beneath the surface. But when the rain falls upon the warm sur-
face, and finds an easy descent as it does in open soils, it becomes

itself warmer, and carries its heat down to the under soil. Then
the roots of plants are warmed, and general growth is stimulated.”

CHAPTER IX.

DRAINAGE CARRIES DOWN SOLUBLE SUBSTANCES TO
THE ROOTS OF PLANTS.

Pror. Johnston says: ‘ When rain falls upon heavy
undrained land, or upon any land into which it does
not readily sink, it runs over the surface, dissolves any
soluble matter it may meet with, and carries it to the
nearest ditch or brook. Rain thus robs and impoverishes
such land.”

It must be self-evident to every observing person, that
the advantage of rain to growing crops, is to furnish them
with new supplies of nutrition. In undrained lands the
‘“‘ water line” being near the surface, most of the benefits
to growing crops, which might be derived from rains are
lost, either by evaporation of volatile substances, or, be-
ing in a soluble condition, they are washed to lower levels
of surface, or into streams. The ground being already
saturated from below, prevents the entrance from the sur-
face of the desired elements; but in a drained soil on ac-
count of its greater porosity or mellowness and lower level
of the water line, these substances can readily penetrate
from the surface. The subject of the “absorbing quali-
ties of arable soil” having been extensively discussed,
within the last few years, by the best agricultural chem-
ists of England and the continent, it may not be inappro-
priate to present a summary of the experiments and the
conclusions deduced from them. ~

In 1848, Messrs. Huxtable and Thompson discovered,
in arable lands, the property of fixing some of the ele-

ments of manures. Mr. Huxtable, having filtered some
(134)

SOLUBLE SUBSTANCES, 135

barn-yard liquid through some earth, obtained it de-
prived of color and bad odor.

At the same time H. 8. Thompson found the earth to
possess the faculty of retaining, in an indissoluble state,
the alkali of an ammoniacal solution, and even of solu-
tions in which the bases were no longer in a free state,
but were in combination with hydrochloric acid, and sul-
phate and nitrate of ammonia.

Mr. J. T. Way having been made acquainted with these
remarkable results, undertook a long series of researches
with the view of determining the cause and conditions of
this absorption; he found that the absorbing property of
the earth is not confined to ammonia only, but that it is
extended to all alkaline and earthy bases, which are nec-
essary for the growth of vegetation; such as soda, pot-
ash, magnesia, and lime, either free or involved in combi-
nations.

After numerous experiments, which were repeated with
the view of ascertaining whether the property of retain-
ing the elements of manures, really existed in the arable
soil, Mr. Way endeavored to express by numbers, the
value of this absorption. For that purpose he caused a
quantity of earth to be digested in a solution of the com-
pound he wished to operate upon, the difference in de-
grees which the composition of the liquid indicated after
its contact with the earth, showed what had been ab-
sorbed.

By this operation, Mr. Way found that 1000 grains of
either clay or earth could absorb from a solution which
contained 8173 per cent. of ammonia (or 374%; grains of
ammonia in 1000 grains of solution) quantities of alkali
ranging from 1l7ss5 grains to 8ys75 grains, differing only
with the difference in the soils or clays, the per cent. being
uniform in repeated experiments with the same earth.

136 LAND DRAINAGE.

There is nothing absolute in these figures; they are
modified by the degree of concentration of the liquid
and the quantities of either earth or liquid which are
used.

The absorption takes place with great rapidity, and is
as complete in half an hour, as it is after remaining in
contact during fifteen hours; when the experiment is
made with a salt of ammonia, it is decomposed, the bases
only are fixed, while the acid is totally eliminated in a
state of calcareous salt, in the decanted liquid.

What is the cause of this phenomenon? Is it caused
by the presence of the lime, or of the organic matter?
Is it owing to the free aluminium which may be in the
soil? Mr. Way does not think so, because no greater ab-
sorption of ammonia is obtained by adding carbonate of
lime to clay, free from this basis in a carbonated state,
but containing a small proportion of the calcareous ele-
ment; on the other hand, the incineration of the clay
could not entirely destroy the decomposing and absorbing
power of this earth, either on salts or bases; finally, the
treatment by hydrochloric acid causes the solution of the
aluminum to diminish, but does not destroy the decom-
posing and absorbing power of clay.

The rapidity with which the absorption of ie bases
by earth is effected, led Mr. Way to suppose that a chemi-
cal combination was formed; in such a case, the absorp-
tion of an alkali other than ammonia ought to take place,
in the proportion of the two elements.

When acting with a salt of potash, 1000 grains of earth
retained 4,455 grains of potash; the absorption was
then more considerable, without being, as it ought to
have been, in the prevision of the hypothesis ; and, never-
theless, the liquid contained potash (substituted for am-
monia), in true proportion indicated by the equivalents,

SOLUBLE SUBSTANCES. 137

that is: 8ys> of potash to 1000 grains of solution.—
In this case, as with ammonia, the more concentrated
liquids produce a greater absorption ; and when the salt
was replaced by a solution of caustic potash, 1000 grains
of earth retained 117455 "grains of alkali; this absorption
was still increased, ven hee earth had previously been
boiled in an acid.

As it was easy to foresee, the salts of lime in solu-
tion underwent no modification when filtered through the
earth ; but lime water, according to the quantities which
are employed, imparts, in similar circumstances, a quantity
of alkali, which, in 1000 grains of earth, varies from
2ye0 grains, to 14,5 grains.

When the lime is in the form of a carbonate, dissolved
in water containing carbonic acid, the absorption is 735
grains of carbonate of lime for 1000 grains of earth.

The salts of soda and magnesia undergo a transforma-
tion in the soil, similar to that of the other alkaline com-
pounds; but the action is less conspicuous, and gives no
occasion for numerical determinations.

The bases being retained by the soil, the acids which,
like phosphoric acid, form with lime insoluble compounds,
ought to be insoluble also; this idea was confirmed by
two operations of Mr. Way: in the one, water in which
flax had been steeped; and in the other, sink water was
employed; both were filtered through earth; the soil re-
tained precisely all the substances which are the most
useful to vegetation, such as organic matters in general,
or nitrogenous substances only, the phosphoric acid, pot-
ash and magnesia; while the others were absorbed only
in part, or were found in greater proportion in the filtered
water.

Mr. Way was led, by these experiments, to the follow-

18

138 LAND DRAINAGE.

ing conclusions: 1. The plants do not absorb the ma-
nure in a state of solution. Next, the form under which
mineral matters and ammoniacal salts are applied, is dif-
ferent; because the soil possesses the power of bringing
them back to a special state, in which these substances
are presented to the plants, an important circumstance
for the agriculturist who endeavors to introduce an alkali
as manure into the soil; the salt that will supply that
alkali at the lowest price, will, of course, obtain the pre-
ference. |

It was also found, by Mr. Way, that clay possesses an-
tiseptic qualities, because urine filtered through clay did
not undergo putrid fermentation. From this fact, we have
reason to infer that plants do assimilate nitrogenous sub-
stances other than ammonia and nitric acid.

Finally, Mr. Way thinks that manures, and by all means
artificial ones, ought to be spread with great evenness, in
order to secure everywhere uniform vegetation; because
capillarity would be unable to disseminate the fertilizing
substances, by means of diffusion, on account of their in-
solubility. The same cause would permit the application
of large quantities of manure, without fear of any loss
through drain water, because a good soil may retain, with-
out waste, sixty times as much of the fertilizing elements
as are applied with the manures.

Messrs. W. Henneberg and F. Stokmann, after repeat-
ing Way’s experiments, confirmed in every point his con-
clusions; they found the results so perfectly regular, that
Mr. Beedecker was enabled, from their data, to establish
algebraic formule, showing the value of absorption on
any given quantity of earth, of liquid, and degree of
solution.

Liebig resumed Way’s experiments, and confining him-
self to the study of arable lands, ascertained that all soils

SOLUBLE SUBSTANCES. 139

possessed very nearly the same absorbing power; he
found, as did Mr. Way, that soils, either rich or poor in
carbonate of lime, did not manifest that power with the
same intensity with all bases; thus, in filtering barn-yard
liquid, potash was retained with more readiness than soda.
foe grammes of barn-yard liquid which contained, before
being filtered :

Potash, - + grains. 0.0867

Soda, - - % 0.0168
Contained, after being filtered:

Potash, - - grains. 0.0056

Soda!” raliennne rg ofte

Whereas, the whole of the ammonia was retained.

The alkaline silicate of potash is acted upon by the
earth like other salts of potash; the basis is absorbed, and
in the same time a quantity of the silica is retained.
While the absorption of the basis by various soils offers
but small differences, the absorption of the silica appears
to be in an inverted ratio, as the organic substances pre-
sent in the soil, which are mostly of an acid reaction; and,
strongly saturating the earthy bases, such as lime and
magnesia, they present an obstacle to the fixation of silica.

The solution of silicate of potash, which was acted
upon, contained per quart : .

Potash, - - grains, 1.166
ia. : w "9.780

The absorption for 1,000 cubic centimetres of various

soils, was as follows:

_ Potash. Silica,
Earth from a forest, - - - gr. 0.951 gr. 0.115
‘“ froma garden, - - - “ 1.055 “1.081
‘from Bogenhausen, - - “ 1.148 “ 2.007
‘from Hungary, - - - “ 1,151 “ 2.644

The soil from the forest was full of organic detritus,

140 LAND DRAINAGE.

being mixed with milk of lime up to the alkaline reaction,
and then dried, absorbed:

Potash, - - grains, 0.987

a “ 3.169

Liebig thinks that this absorption is owing partly to the
chemical action of silicates and hydrate of aluminum upon
the silicate of potassium, and beside that it must be con-
nected with the physical state of the soil.

Phosphate of lime, dissolved by means of carbonic
acid, is entirely retained by the soil; the same happens
with ammoniaco-magnesian phosphate; the only soil of
Tchernosem made an exception with phosphates; but
Liebig found that it was saturated with them.

In view of the above facts, and considering the small
proportion of mineral substances which are dissolved by
drain water, from the analysis of Messrs. Way and
Krocker, Liebig comes to the same conclusions as Mr.
Way, that manures are presented to plafits under a spe-
cial form, and that on account of the insolubility of the
new compounds which are formed, there must be in the
roots a peculiar force, allowing them to select and assim-
ilate substances which they are unable to obtain from a
solution.

Liebig thinks, however, that aquatic plants, such as
lemna trisulea, the roots of which swim in water without
direct communication with the soil, are submitted to other
laws, and absorb their nutriment in a state of solution.
It was proved by analysis, that it was so, because the water
in which these plants grow, contains in solution all the
mineral matter which is found in the ashes.

The alimentation of plants would not then be as simple
as physiologists and agriculturists did suppose ; nor would
it be the same in process for all species. The importance
of the result in the agricultural point of view, and also

SOLUBLE SUBSTANCES. 14h

the deep interest involved in the study of the absorbing
power of soils, are a sufficient stimulus for renewing and
enlarging investigations.

Mr. Boussingault instrusted F. Brustlein, of the Con-
servatory of Arts of Paris, with the work of continuing.
the investigation. He reports that “it was performed in
his laboratory, at the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers.”
We present a translation of this report:

“The rapid and perfect exactness with which ammonia is meas-
ured with Boussingault’s apparatus, the importance of this alkali as
an agent of fertilization, and the identity of its reactions with those
of the other bases in the soil, suggested the oars use of ammo-
nia for the experiments.

‘Three specimens of soil were tested, and each of them possessed
a physical character widely different. The first, taken from Bechel-
bronn, is a tenaceous compact clay, rich in carbonate of lime, retain-
ing water, and when dried, very hard. The second, from Mittel-
hausbergen, is the lehm (loam) of the fertile neighborhood of Stras-
bourg, very rich in carbonate of lime, with little plasticity but very
homogeneous. The third is the soil of Liebfrauenberg’s orchard,
sandy, quartzose, very rich in organic detritus, remains of ancient
and very powerful manuring,”’

* * * 7 ¥ %

From the above experiments we may derive the follow-
ing conclusions: The property of absorbing ammonia by
arable lands is exclusively dependent on the physical con-
stitution of the mineral substances, and even on the or-
ganic matters with which they are formed. This was made
evident by the action of humus, peat and animal-black
upon an ammoniacal solution; the former two decompose
at the same time a noticeable proportion of alkali. The
existence of a carbonate in the soil is necessary, so that
the earth may decompose an ammoniacal salt in retaining
the basis of it; animal-black is possessed of that faculty
when carbonate of lime has been incorporated. The de-
composition being stopped strictly at the quantity of salt,

142 LAND DRAINAGE.

the ammonia of which has been fixed, the force which
impels the absorption is powerful enough to provoke this
double decomposition.

_ We know with what readiness ammoniacal salts are de-
composed in presence of carbonate of lime. Mr. Bous-
singault demonstrated that moist carbonate of lime, in
presence of a fixed salt of ammonia, sets free, in time,
and dries up all the ammonia in a state of vola-
tile carbonate; the same happens, when a very weak
solution of hydrochloric acid boils in presence of carbo-
nate of calcium.

The absorption of ammonia by the soil, in an atmos-
phere which is loaded with it, is considerable, as stated
by Mr. Way. When the air, very limited in ammonia, is
passed through a long column of earth, the latter absorbs
almost the whole quantity of the ammonia, and loses it
again, in great part, by the action of currents of moist
air. These experiments do not permit us to draw con-
clusions as to the absorption of ammonia by the earth
from the atmosphere ; because, in the experiment, when
that alkali was most minutely diffused through the air, it
was found that the air which traversed the apparatus con-
tained 225 times as much ammonia as the air which cir-
culates at the surface of the globe.

With the earth loaded with ammonia, and exposed to
the air when moistened, there was a production of azotic
acid; but this production was not large enough, if we
compare it with that which took place in the experiments
on nitrification of arable land, made at Liebfrauenberg, in
1857, by Mr. Boussingault, so that we can not affirm that
it was owing to the transformation of the volatile alkali.

The ammonia absorbed by the earth is of great sta-
bility as long as the earth is dry; but as soon as water
intervenes, it causes, by evaporation, the dissipation of the

SOLUBLE SUBSTANCES. 143

ammonia. This phenomenon is well known to agricultur-
ists who park their sheep; because urine, impregnating
the earth’s surface, putrefies within 24 hours, with a tem-
perature of 15° centigrade; it then emits ammoniacal
vapors, which are wastefully rising, unless promptly
checked by timely plowing. This volatilization of ammo-
nia in arable land proper, is a fact which was constantly
observed by Mr. Boussingault, in his researches on the
atmosphere confined in the soil.

The earth, according to its richness in ammonia and its
force of retention, imparts to water greater or lesser
quantities of alkali, independent, in some measure, of the
proportion of the liquid. Water, containing very minute
quantity of ammonia, seems to be endowed with the prop-
erty of circulating through the soil; because, in the above
experiments, water was never entirely deprived of its alkali
by the earth, even when contained in extremely limited
proportions. Taking into account the feeble dose of am-
monia which exists in the soil, its solubility, how small
soever, and then its diffusion—knowing that the reactions
of the other alkalies, except the volatility, are identical
with those of ammonia—it seems very probable that plants
select the largest part of their nutriment from very weak
solutions, in which is found the azotic element, so neces-
sary to them, in a state of ammonia or nitric acid. It
can not be doubted that such is the fact; aquatic vegeta-
bles stand as a proof of it; and Boussingault, by beauti-
ful experiments, did establish that a plant acquires a com-
plete growth in a soil formed with a sand of pure quartz
previously calcined, provided it be supplied with nitrate
of potash, phosphates and alkaline ashes. In this condi-
tion the vegetable is then compelled to derive its nutri
ment from a solution,

CHAPTER X.

DRAINAGE PREVENTS “HEAVING OUT,’ “FREEZING
OUT,” OR ‘“WINTER-KILLING,.”

WE have frequently heard farmers complain of portions
of fields, and sometimes of entire fields, that winter crops
would “ winter-kill” or “freeze ont” on them. In point
of fact, we have known of several farms which, in other
respects, were good farms, sold at a reduced price, because
certain portions were “spouty.” This ‘“‘spoutiness” is
easily remedied by underdraining. The cause and process
of freezing out are explained as follows: In places where
it occurs there is a stratum of clay, or hard pan, at the
depth of a few inches, or a foot from the surface. This
stratum is nearly impervious to water. The soil has been
pulverized by plowing, and absorbs like a sponge the au-
tumn rains, and the melting snows in the springtime; it
not only absorbs but retains these waters, because there
is no way for them to escape except by evaporation, and
this takes place to a very limited extent only in cold
weather. The ground is frozen during the night and the
water converted into ice; this process of freezing not
only severs the smaller roots and sometimes the larger
ones, but throws up the soil in scales or spicules, thus
drawing the clover or wheat roots from their beds. When
a thaw comes, the saturated soil settles down and exposes
the roots, and a few repetitions of this process, which oc-
curs every winter, leave the plants dead upon the field in
the spring.

Underdraining affords a certain outlet or escape for the

waters. Winter grain crops seldom suffer from freezing
(144)

HEAVING OUT, FREEZING OUT, ETC. 145

when the soilis dry. We know of several instances where
“freezing out” was effectually remedied by underdrain-
ing; but, as we prefer the evidence of others to our own
observation, we again quote from the Country Gentleman:

‘A case coming under our observation the past winter will well
illustrate the subject. A field of five acres, seeded to clover two
years ago upon rye, owing in part to the presence of snow upon the
ground the greater part of the first winter and spring, escaped with
slight injury from this cause, and gave a very good growth of clover.
But the past winter, the weather being of a different character, the
grass on about three acres of the field was entirely destroyed, every
root of clover, being pulled up or thrown out, laid loose upon the
surface of the ground the present spring. This was an example of

heaving out’ of unmistakable character.

“The evil lies in a saturated soil. It matters little whether the
surface be clay or sandy—it did not in the case above mentioned—
if the subsoil is of an impervious character. We were much sur-
prised to find in a slight depression, some three or four rods across,
where the surface soil was a light sand, that the clover was as badly
winter killed as on the clayey part of the field; and the clayey part,
it is well to mention, had good surface drainage from the descent or
slope of the ground—at least an inch in a foot. ‘This sandy corner
was underlaid by an impervious hard pan, holding water equally as
well as the clay; and we believe this will generally be found to be
the case in all loams which suffer from heaving or freezing out.

“We have shown, in a previous article, that ‘draining deepens the
soil,’ and hence it is the remedy for freezing out iu ail cases. Water
no longer saturates the surface soil in such quantity as to form
honeycomb ice every time it freezes; the plants are no longer con-
fined to short roots, but have a better hold upon the soil, and it has
been found that no loss whatever results from this cause, however
unfavorable the season, on a thoroughly drained soil.

“A little testimony on this point may not be out of place here.
Maxwell Brothers, of Geneva, tell us, in the Transactions of the
N. Y¥. State Agricultural Society, for 1855, about draining a clay
field, which previously could not be worked for spring crops in sea-
son for sowing, and heaved so badly as to ruin winter crops, which
draining has rendered as mellow and productive as can be desired,
so that they can cultivate immediately after heavy rains, and grow
wheat and clover without loss from frost. John Johnston, of Seneca

146 LAND DRAINAGE.

county, has given pointed evidence on the subject. By draining ho
has so improved his clayey farm that no loss is suffered from this
cause, though formerly it was a source of great injury to the crops
in the low lands, entirely ruining wheat, and destroying it in many
places upon the higher parts of the farm. Many like cases of the
beneficial results of draining in this respect could be given, were it
needful.”

CHAPTER XI.

ae ae
DRAINAGE PREVENTS INJURY FROM DROUGHT.

Tue year 1854, was a year of severe drought in the
state of Ohio. But notwithstanding the drought there
were some excellent crops grown in the state. Mr. Crosby,
of Ahstabula county, states (under oath) that in that year
he grew three acres in wheat, which produced thirty
bushels per acre. Messrs. F. and W. Donaldson, of Cler-
ment county, grew thirty-two bushels per acre. Mr. J.
A. Webster, of Meigs county, produced thirty-six and one
third bushels per acre, on 43 acres, and Mr. A. Edgel, of
Washington county, produced thirty-eight and one third
bushels per acre, on three acres, while G. Dana and son,
of the same county, produced thirty-six bushels per acre,
on nine acres. These gentlemen have all made their state-
ments under oath. In their account of culture they unan-
imously state that they plowed deep.

In the same year, Mr. Standiford, of Allen county, states
that he produced ninety-four bushels of corn per acre.
Mr. Chaffee, of Ashtabula county, ninety-two bushels.
Mr. Hewitt, of Hancock, ninety-five and one half bushels
per acre, and Mr. C. Shepard, of Washington, one hun-
dred and eight bushels per acre. The statements of these
gentlemen are subscribed under oath, and they all agree
that they that season plowed deep.

‘We recollect,” says the Genesee Farmer, “walking through a
magnificent field of corn on the thoroughly underdrained farm of
our friend John Johnston. One of the underdrains was choked up,
and there the crop was a failure. Corn delights in a loose, dry,
warm soil. If it is surcharged with water, all the sunshine of our

hottest summers can not make it warm, and all the manure that

{ a)

148 LAND DRAINAGE.

can be put on it will not make the corn yield a maximum crop. In
passing along the various railroads, we have often been saddened to
see thousands of acres of land planted to corn, which, by a little un-
derdraining, would have produced magnificent crops of this grandest
of cereals, but which presented a miserable spectacle of ye!low, sickly,
stunted, ‘islf-starved plants, struggling for very life. We have ever
been wi.ing to apologize for the shortcomings of American farmers.
We know the difficulties under which many of them labor. We do
believe them to be, as a whole, ‘intelligent and enterprising. But
these sickly cornfields are well calculated to create a very different
impression. We have frequently to repeat the German proverb—
‘to know is not to be able.’ These farmers know how to raise good
corn, but they are not always able to put in practice improved
methods of cultivation. There is scarcely a plant which does not
thrive much better in a loose, deep soil, than in a shallow, compact
one; but in no case is this fact susceptible of more ready verifica-
tion than in the corn plant.”

One instance only may be cited to illustrate the effects of deep
culture. ‘here is in the immediate vicinity of Columbus a tract
of *“‘ Seivoto bottom land,” which has for upward of forty years been
cultivated in corn annually. In 1851, Mr. John L. Gill of Colum-
bus, anxious to test the effect of deep culture on corn, plowed eleven
acres and about three fourths, to a depth of about eight inches, with
a double plow, and then followed with a subsoil plow, loosening but
not turning up the soil, to a depth of eight inches more. This tract,
as well as the neighboring one, had never been plowed to a depth
exceeding six or seven inches. In 1851, the neighboring pieces
were plowed the usual depth, and the planting completed on the 7th
of May; Mr. Gill completed the planting on the 10th.

In the course of three weeks the corn in the neighboring tracts
appeared as forward and thrifty as usual, while that of Mr. Gill
appeared pale and rather dwarfed; this, to say the least, was rather
discouraging. But in the month of July, that in the neighboring
fields appeared to have come to a ‘stand still;’ the leaves curled and
drooped, and gave unmistakable manifestations of sufferings from
drought, while Mr. Gill’s was growing vigorously, and indicated no
lack of moisture. The result was that Mr. Gill obtained 120 bushels
per acre, while the adjoining fields yielded less than forty bushels
per acre. This fact is well authenticated, and the field was wit-
nessed in July and August by thousands of persons.

While the stalks in Mr. Gill’s tract presented a pale and sickly

INJURY FROM DROUGHT. 149

appearance, the roots were pushing downward in search of moisture
and nourishment; finding abundance of this, a sufficient supply was
stored for the growth of the plant to resist all effects of drought.
That in the neighboring fields exhausted the supply at first, and
when the drought set in it had no store of supply to fall back upon.

If then deep plowing will secure a good crop in a pe-
riod of drought, how much more may not be secured by
underdraining ?

The reason why drainage prevents injury from drought
is to be found in the fact that draining “ deepens the
soil,” and “lengthens the season.” It is a well-known
fact that a deep and mellow soil retains moisture much
better than a shallow and compact one.

‘Water is held in the soil between the minute particles of earth.
If these particles be pressed together compactly, there is no space
left between them for water.’ Compact subsoils are but little per-
meable to water, compared with the same when broken up, pulver-
ized and mellowed. The one is porous and drinks in moisture like
a sponge; the other absorbs it but in small quantities, and readily
parts with the same on the application of heat. The one takes it
from the air, which passes freely through it; the other, impervious
to the air, or any slightly powerful influences, remains unchanged.
Undrained soils, as we have shown, become compact after heavy
rains, by the evaporation of the water with which they are satur-
ated ; drained soils, on the contrary, become more porous from the
filtration of the same amount of moisture into the drains below.

“ Draining prevents injury from drought, by giving a better growth
to plants in the early summer. Seed sown on any soil containing
stagnant water, sends no roots below that water line, but may for a
while grow well from roots near the surface. But let drought come,
the water line sinks rapidly, the roots having no depth to seek mois-
ture below, are parched and burned, and without rain, the crop is
irreparably injured. Ona drained and deepened soil the roots go
down without obstruction, and are thus prepared to withstand the
effects of the long-continued dry weather so often experienced.
That they will do so, a thousand facts in the experience of the farmer
will prove to him that observes them.”

A correspondent from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, writ-

150 LAND DRAINAGE.

ing over the signature of B. B., to the Country Gentle-
man, in July, 1854, says:

“There are many portions of high ground in the neighborhood of
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and along the Monongahela river, remark-
able for its productive qualities. For many years past, in has been
observed that those high hills, with ordinary cultivation, produce
better crops of every kind, and grow superior fruit, to the bottom
land in the same region. Many of the farmers would smile if told
that the rich qualities of their land might be attributed to under-
draining. The idea of draining hills from one hundred to three
hundred feet elevation, they would consider ridiculous, from the
fact that no swampy or moist land can there exist, and instead of at-
tempting to drain it, some invention should be had to retain the
moisture. This very invention they have in the most superior kind
of underdraining.”’

“These hills comprise a portion of the coal region of Pennsylva-
nia, and cover most generally two strata of bituminous coal. The
first, about from thirty to sixty to sixty feet from the upper surface,
from four to five feet in thickness; and the second, at the distance
of about sixty feet beneath the first, of from five to seven feet in
thickness. ‘The first strata, upon account of its depth, as well as its
quality, is but little worked at the present time, where the second is
accessible; and in the immediate neighborhood of Pittsburg, where
the first ‘crops out,’ the second alone is worked. From the quality
of this coal, and the great demand for it in all parts of the country,
an immense number of tuns are annually extracted—completely un-
dermining many acres of surface, forming mammoth underdrains;
and, as a number of acres are taken out, the whole hill is let down—
not together in one mass, but broken and mangled by the pillars and
supports left by the miners. So that, when the coal from any one
hill is extracted and the pits abandoned, the soil upon its surface
will have all the advantages of the best underdraining; and not
draining of two or three feet in depth, but of from ten to an hundred
feet; and, the ground being loosened to such a depth, it is almost
impossible that it should suffer from drought. I have no doubt but
this is one of the causes of the great crops on some of our hills,

“The drought at this time (July 17) is truly excessive, not a par-
ticle of moisture apparent in the ground to the depth of eighteen
inches; and the summer thus far has been so dry as to almost check
the entire growth of all kinds of spring crops. The farm I cultivate

INJURY FROM DROUGHT. 151

consists of about forty acres, all of which, excepting about ten acres,
is undermined and underdrained by the taking out of the coal to the
depth of from ten to one hundred feet. My crop of hay above the
undermining has averaged over two tuns to the acre, while a ‘rich
bottom’ of one of my neighbors did not produce one half the quan-
tity.

‘‘ Again, I have planted upon the underdrained portion about three
acres of corn, and on the same place, below the draining, in a rich
garden, deeply spaded, there is planted a bed of the same kind of
corn. The latter has received careful garden culture, and the
former, planted on clover sod, the common field culture. The first
looks as if it wanted rain badly, but still has a good color and healthy
appearance; but the leaves of the latter look more like torches or
fancy cigars, so closely have they wrapped themselves up, than any
growing vegetable. The product of hay, as well as the present ap-
pearance of:the corn, can be, partly at least, attributed to the under-
draining.

‘These advantages are still more apparent upon the growing of
fruit. Formerly the bottom land was always sought after for gar-
dens and orchards. A few years since an enterprising man fixed
upon the top of one of our highest hills (Mount Washington.) He
now brings the first, largest and best fruits to market, and gets the
highest price. His land is undermined, and I understand he attrib-
utes his success greatly to this fact.”

Another correspondent says:

* * “Tast spring I was induced to undertake a trial of under-
draining in my garden. The soil was originally pretty hard clay,
though it has been made lighter and more friable of late years by
additions of muck, chip-dirt, manure, ete. The time for making
garden being close at hand, and the materials not being conveniently
to be had, | was able to drain only about half of my garden, and |
was thus, though unintentionally, provided with the means of com-
paring contiguous portions of similar land, one portion being drained
and the other not. The portion that was drained was obviously su-
perior to the other in several respects, 1. It was sooner dry or in
a condition to be worked.than the undrained. In this respect
the draining has, both last spring and this one, made my clay-soil
garden almost as early as those on sandy soils. This I consider a
great advantage, as it enables me to get in seeds a week or two
earlier. 2. During the long term of dry weather last summer, the

152 LAND DRAINAGE.

things growing upon the drained portion did not suffer so much, in
the way of being wilted, pale and stunted in growth, as the plants
did on the undrained section. I had thus occular demonstration
that drained land will sutfer less from drought than undrained. 3.
In the case of a few crops which I raised on both portions, for the
sake of comparing them, ] made myself quite sure that on the
drained portion the peas, etc., ripened a few days earlier, and were
a little plumper or better than the same crops from the same kind
of seed, and with the same kind of treatment, on the undrained.”

“In the long drought of 1854, in New England, a pertinent case
is mentioned, where two neighbors farmed adjoining fields precisely
alike, with the exception of depth of plowing. One plowed four
inches deep, and grew oats weighing but seventeen pounds per
bushel]; while the other, plowing nine inches deep, raised oats
weighing thirty pounds per bushel. The proper depth of plowing
depends, we think, considerably upon the character of the subsoil,
and the condition of the land as to drainage. A porous subsoil
would admit of the rising of moisture from below, while a hard pan
or clayey soil would need to be plowed to a greater depth, so as to
prepare it for taking all possible aid from slight rains, the dews, and
the moisture of the air. A well-drained soil would present the same
general characteristics of one with a porous subsoil.”

“At a Legislative Agricultural Meoting, held in Albany, New
York, January 25, 1855, ‘the great drought of 1854’ being the
subject, the secretary stated that ‘the experience of the past season
has abundantly proved that thorough drainage upon soils requiring
it, has proved a very great relief to the farmer ;’ that ‘ the crops upon
such lands have been far been better, generally, than those upon
undrained lands in the same locality ;’ and that, ‘in many instances,
the increased crop has been sufficient to defray the expenses of the
improvement in a single year.”’

“ A committee of the New York Farmers’ Club, which visited the
farm of Prof. Mapes, in New Jersey, in the time of the severe drought,
in 1855, reported that the professor's fences were the boundaries
of the drought, all the lands outside being affected by it, while his
remained free from injury. This was attributed, both by the com-
mittee and by Prof. Mapes himself, to thorough drainage and deep
tillage with the subsoil plow.

CHAPTER XII.

DRAINAGE IMPROVES THE QUANTITY AND QUALITY
OF THE CROPS.

THaT drainage increases the quantity of the crops, is
confirmed by every one who has practiced it to any ex-
tent. The writer of “ Zalpa, or the Chronicles of a Clay
Farm,” states that underdrainage increased the products
of a heavy clay farm 27 per cent. Almost all English
writers on drainage agree that thorough drainage increases
the products to such an extent that the net increase alone,
in two or three years, is sufficient to pay all the expense
incurred in underdraining. The instances on record de-
monstrating the increase in crops by underdraining, are
sufficiently numerous to make an ordinary-sized volume.
From the mass of them we select the following, from Eng-
land, Germany, and several states in the union, in order
to show that climate and culture have not played so im-
portant a part in connection with drainage as some have
intimated. Much, very much, is due to culture, but more,
in many instances, is due to underdrainage; because the
best of culture on a stiff clay soil will not produce as
great a result as will underdraining.

In the first volume of the Royal Agricultural Journal,
p. 81, Sir James Graham, bart., states that “a field which
he took into his own management was let at 4s. 6d. per
acre; it was pasture of the coarsest description, overrun
with rushes and other aquatic plants. After draining and
subsoil plowing, at an outlay of £6 18s. 4d. per acre, it

was let to the incoming tenant, on a fourteen-years lease,
(153)

154 LAND DRAINAGE.

at 20s. per acre—yielding an annual interest of rather
more than 11 per cent. on the outlay.” In vol. 2, p. 276,
Mr. J. Burke states that ‘‘ Mr. Denison, of Kilnwick Percy,
purchased about 400 acres of rabbit warren, of an appa-
rently sterile sand, with a heavy ferruginous subsoil;
the hills covered with heather, and the hollows with a bed
of marshy aquatic plants; and of which the cultivation
had been abandoned, as it was found, although pared and
burnt, not to produce more than three quarters per acre
of oats, and was let at 2s. 6d. per acre. After having
been subsoiled, plowed, and drained with tiles and soles,
at a cost of £5 4s. 8d. per acre, exclusive of the carriage,
and manured in the common way, it produced ten and a
half quarters of Tartarian oats per acre, and now bears
wheat and oats, on a property which was formerly con-
sidered useless.”

It is also stated in the same page, “that some land be-
longing to Rev. Mr. Croft, of Hatton Bushell, which was
not worth 5s. per acre, is now let at 21s., evidently from
the effect of drainage, and by the breaking up of the moor
pan.”

In the succeeding pages he continues: ‘I have, more-
over, the authority of the Marquis of Tweeddale for stat-
ing that the increased product of his home farm at Yes-
ter, in Scotland, has been nearly two thirds on most of
the crops, and in some cases much more, upon all the land
which has been subsoiled and drained. One field, indeed,
which his lordship declares to have formerly carried only
17 bushels of oats per acre, has given 67 bushels of bar-
ley, after having been trench-plowed and drained.” He
goes on to state: “These improvements, by means of
drainage, although clearly evincing its importance, both
to the landlord in the increased value of his property, and
to the farmer in the production of his crops, are yet less

QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF CROPS. 155

decisive than what I shall here briefly attempt to describe.
The extra-parochial place of Teddesley Hay, in Stafford-
shire, is the residence of Lord Hatherton, and contains
2,586 acres. It was originally part of the forest of Can-
nock, and, with the exception of two anciently inclosed
parks, it continued uninclosed until 1820, when the whole
became, either by allotment or purchase, the property of
‘his lordship. The extent of the farm lands is 1,832 acres,
comprising a range of high and dry hills to the east, ad-
joining Cauk Chase, which hills were formerly a rabbit
warren, covered with heath or fern. Having heard this
tract of land below the hills mentioned as exhibiting in a
striking manner the results of judicious draining, and
employment of the water so obtained, I visited the place,
in the latter end of May, 1841. Iwas conducted over it
by Mr. Bright, the respected land steward, who gave me
the following statement; and in riding through the farm,
which then presented the appearance of the most luxuri-
ant vegetation, described to me the condition of the land
in 1820. The larger park, which had been long divided
into fields, was ill cultivated, and the lesser park might be
fairly viewed as one bed of rushes, and in the lower parts
alder; the whole consisted generally of a light soil, rather
inclined to peat, the subsoil being chiefly a stiff clay.
Some very deep drains were made in the larger park, which
was effectually drained, and from which large volumes of
water now issue; as soon as the inclosure was completed,
other deep drains were made, and for the most part with
excellent effect ; things were in this state when Mr. Bright
became agent to Lord Hatherton; he immediately con-
ceived the notion of putting a portion of the waste allot-
ments, and the whole of the lesser park, containing a sur-
face of nearly 600 acres, through a regular course of
thorough drainage, and afterward collecting the whole of

156 LAND DRAINAGE.

the drain water into two main channels, with the double
intention of conducting one of them through the farm-
yard, for the purpose of obtaining by it a water power
for various objects connected with the estate, and then
employing it, in conjunction with the other stream, in
making an extensive tract of upland water meadow. It
must, however, be acknowledged to have been a bold at-
tempt, which could only have been conceived by a com-
prehensive mind, and a man of great practical knowledge;
but it was liberally seconded by his noble employer, and
has been accomplished with admirable success, as the fol-
lowing statement of the improvement by drainage, and
the expenditure during ten years preceding 1841, upon
such parts of the estate as have been drained, will suffi-
ciently explain. The original value of 467A. OR. 9P.
was £254 10s. 9d.; expenditure, £1,508 17s. 4d.; im-
proved value, £689 13s. 1d.; showing an improved an-
nual value of £435 2s. 4d. These lands having been
effectually drained, Mr. Bright’s next object was to collect
so much of the drain water as the levels permitted into
two main carriers, for the purpose of employing them as
a power to turn a mill-wheel, and afterward to be em-
ployed in irrigation. For the former object, a small re-
servoir has been constructed, at a favorable level, about
half a mile distant from the farm; here, at the farm-yard,
a mill has been built, which does infinite credit to Mr.
Bright ; the stream of water was, of course, not sufficiently
powerful to turn an undershot wheel, and to enable
it to act with force, it was necessary to bring it out to the
upper part of a wheel of thirty feet diameter; this wheel
has been placed in the rock, thirty-five feet deep, and the
headway has been carried from the bottom through the
rock, and comes out in a valley below, at the distance of
five hundred yards. The mill and this channel for the water,

QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF CROPS. 157

costs very little more than £1,000; it works a threshing ma-
chine, cuts hay and straw, and kibbles oats and barley for
the stock, consisting of about two hundred and fifty-horses
and sattle, grinds malt, and also turns a circular saw,
which does a great part of the sawing for a large estate.
The annual saving by this machine has been estimated
at about £400, and it is still intended to apply the power
to other purposes. From this wheel, and from another
small carrier, which is made to pass immediately under
the farm-yard (where all the urine and moisture that
runs from the manure is carefully collected in a reservoir
which overflows into the carrier), the water has been con-
ducted over lands, principally uplands, containing alto-
gether eighty-nine acres, at an expenditure of only £224
4s. 10d., by which an improvement of £2 per acre has
been effected, or £178 per annum. This is Mr. Bright's cal-
culation, but it is difficult to estimate the importance of
such an acquisition as eighty-nine acres of productive
water meadow to a large farm like this, on which there
is (especially on the upper part of it) a great quan-
tity of very dry and thin soil. I know no other place in
which drain water has been turned to such good account.
Luckily the water is all soft, and good for irrigation :

TOTAL INCREASE IN VALUE COLLECTED.

& s. d & s. d.

Lands underdrained, present value, - - 68913 1
OEE POE ny tan ng 254 10 9

435 2 4
Estimated saving by mill, - - ~~ 400 0 0
Increase in value of water meadows, - 178 0 0
Being an increased valueof - - £1,013 2 4

Resulting only from draining 467 acres, and employ-
ment of the drain water over 89 acres of land; affording

158 LAND DRAINAGE.

a clear annual interest on the outlay of full thirty-seven
per cent., as will be seen the following.

SUMMARY OF TOTAL EXPENDITURE.

£ s. d.

Underdraining, asper statement, - - - - 150817 4
Erecting wheel and machinery, - - - - 1,000 0 0
Irrigation, ES OENE pt! rahi ce en eae aN. bahia 224 410
£2,733 2 2

Mr. Herman Wauer, a draining engineer in Prussia,
says, in his work on drainage: ‘Two years ago I under-
drained a plat of 37 acres of sandy clay, at an expense
of 324 thalers ($216 U.S. currency). The two years pre-
ceding,the potato crop was so badly rotted that it did not
pay the expense of planting and harvesting. The year
preceding the draining, it was put in rye and produced
the miserable amount of 5 bushels per acre, and half of
that was chess and cockle. After it was drained it was
sowed in oats, and produced 900 bushels of oats, which
were sold for 500 thalers ($333 33). The next year it
produced 5,400 bushels of potatoes, which were sold for
1,500 thalers ($1,000). The present year (1859) the crop
of barley which it produced was excellent, but as it is not
yet threshed I can not give the figures. The clover which
is now appearing on it gives promise of a very heavy
crop.”

But the most remarkable example of the increase of
crops by drainage is that of a domain in Hanover. A
tenant leased it in 1844. The tract contained an area of
3,000 acres of heavy wheat land—all of it in an arable
condition—and, notwithstanding the rent appeared to be
very low, yet several successive tenants became bankrupt
on it. But the last, or new tenant, was an intelligent agri-
culturist, who had thoroughly studied and learned how to
drain in England, and he saw at a glance what was neces-

QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF CROPS. 159

sary to produce good crops. He employed a drainer, and
in the course of several years underdrained the entire
tract, and, as he held the lease for some years, accumu-
lated an ample fortune on it. There was one tract on this
domain of 823 acres (110 morgen) which gave the follow-
ing results :

In 1842 it lay fallow, because it was too wet to work in
seeding time.

In 1843 it was sowed in vetches, but, as the excessive
moisture destroyed most of these, they were plowed down,
the land manured, and rape was sowed. This crop, in
1844, scarcely paid for seeding and harvesting, having
been badly ‘“winter-killed”’ and soured. It was then
drained, and produced the following increased crops, as
the direct result of drainage:

In 1845 it Enest 1,944 bush. wheat, worth 4,860 thalers ($3,240)

1846 1,008 “ peas, KS ¥400.4 © (988 23)
1847 f 1,872 “ . rye, “ 4,992 “ (3,328 00)
ee OM ae eh ag sear i,
1849 “ 8,568 “ potatoes,“ 3,570 “ (2,380 00)

I have been unable to procure returns of the subsequent
crops. The tile were brought from England, and this, of
course, enhanced their cost. They cost, delivered on the
domain, 25 thalers for morgen ($22 21 per acre), in the
aggregate $1,833. It will be seen that the increased
amount of the first crop was almost double the entire ex-
pense incurred in underdraining.

This is, perhaps, the most remarkable case on record
of increased productiveness in consequence of under-
draining.

The following was communicated by Mr. James M.
Trimble, of Highland county, Ohio, to the Ohio Farmer.
The farm on which the mole plow, or ditcher, was used is
situated in Fayette county, Ohio:

160 LAND DRAINAGE.

“Mr. Johnston’s answer to my letter of inquiry, published in the
Farmer, did not reach me until I had purchased the implement,
with the right to use it; else I should have hesitated, and, perhaps,
not bought it. Having witnessed the operation of the ditcher, drawn
by a pair of cattle, cutting at the rate of 125 rods of ditch, 3 feet 4
inches deep, in a single day; comparing this work with friend John-
ston'’s statement of a 20 horse power engine being required to operate
it, I came to the conclusion that my friend, in his great zeal, as the
advocate of tile drainage, could not appreciate the mole plow asa
substitute. This, coupled with the cost of tile drains, on a farm of
over 1,700 acres, four fifths of which requires underdraining, deter-
red me from the use of tile, and induced me to give the mole plow,
at least, a fair trial, before throwing it aside. To accomplish this, 1
purchased an accurate instrument to begin with—an engineer's
level—and with it ascertained the level of the land to be drained.

“The farm lies on Rattlesnake, the creek running through it from
north to south, parallel with and at 75 rods from the east, and 350
to 400 rods from the west line of the survey. There being but little
fall to the creek, and the banks low, I had some difficulty in procur-
ing the necessary fall to my open drains, to give a free outlet to un-
derdrains, confining my operations to some 230 acres of prairie land
on the west bank of the creek. I laid out my open ditches from the
creek west, staking them off at every six rods, and marking the depth
of cut and width of ditch on each stake. In this way I laid off 635
rods of open ditch, at 80 rods apart, varying in depth from four to
six feet, and in width from six to eight feet, allowing for slope of
banks one and three fourths feet to one foot in hight, which was let
by contract at 65 cents per rod, and finished in October, 1858. The
underdrains were cut in March, Apriland May. My son superin-
tending the work, he laid off his drains with the level, staking them
off more with the view of tapping the wettest portions of land be-
tween the open ditches, than a regard to straight lines or thorough
underdraining. In this way; with the ditcher, two yoke of cattle
and two men, in 16 days, he put in 1,500 rods of underdrain, at a
depth of three feet four inches, and a cost of $65.

‘‘At the time of running the mole plow, the surface of the ground
was covered with water, from one to six inches deep. The surface
soil, to the depth of from one to two and a half feet, is a black clay,
or loam, rather a compact, tenacious soil; the subsoil is a close, com-
pact, yellow clay, to the depth of from three to five feet. We fol-
lowed the ditcher, with a large Illinois sod plow,.a steel plow on

QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF CROPS. 161

wheels, drawn by three yoke of cattle, one of Garrett and Cotman’s
steel sod plows, a No. 8, drawn by three horses, and four steel sod
plows, same make as No. 4, with a pair of horses each, and broke
the sod up from six to eight inches deep, turning the furrows flat,
which was first harrowed—200 acres of it—with the furrows, and
then crosswise. It was then marked out, four feet apart, and with
Brown's Illinois corn-planter planted in corn, checkered so as to be
cultivated both ways. During the time of planting we broke some
30 acres which had been partially underdrained; the sod being
tough and the ground very dry, it broke up rough and uneven—so
much so that it was planted (without harrowing or marking out)
about the 2d to the 4th of June.

“Our first planting was finished the 23d of May. On the 4th of
June it was up (with the exception of what the cutworms destroyed),
and from six to sixteen inches high. The frost on the morning of
the Sth laid it all level with the ground. The largest corn seemed
to be most injured; and on the 6th the work of plowing up and re-
planting was commenced and continued, until the 200 acres were all
replanted. The crop was worked three times over with double-
shovel plows; the fourth and last time with single shovels. The 30
acres last planted were not cultivated in any way. ‘The weather,
from May 23 to September 10, was warm and dry—not to exceed
half an inch of rain fell during that time. The corn was all cut up
and put in shocks twelve hills square, making about 23 shocks to the
acre. We have husked over 100 shocks, and feel confident that the
entire crop on the 200 acres will average 60 bushels per acre; and
the 30 acres not cultivated will yield 40 bushels per acre. The un-
derdrains all performed their work well up to the middle of July,
when they began to fail, and by the Ist of August were perfectly
dry. I have been on the farm from the 3d up to the 25th of Novem-
ber, during which time we have had several hard rains; and I have
examined the outlets to all of the underdrains, which, without a
single exception, are passing off large quantities of water. From a
close observation during the summer, I am satisfied that the under-
drains were quite as important to the growing crop during the
drought, from May to September, as they were in carrying off the
surplus water in the spring; and I am equally certain that the in-
crease of crop, resulting from draining; is all of 20 bushels per acre,
which would leave the account stand thus: 685 rods open ditch, at
65 cents per rod, $445 25; 1,500 rods of underdrain cost $65; use
of re wear and tear, $25 75; entire cost, $536. Cr., by 20

)

162 LAND DRAINAGE.

bushels of corn, on 230 acres, give 4,600 bushels, at 25 cents, $1,150;
showing a profit of $614 in favor of the mole plow, in a single year.
It would seem superfluous to give the details of so plain an opera-
tion, as I have done; yet 1 am aware of the fact that, in many in-
stances, in the immediate neighborhood of my farm, the use of the
mole plow has been condemned, from the fact of improper use, not
procuring sufficient outlet, running the ditches too shallow, and fail-
ing to reach the clay subsoil with the mole. I have no faith in the
use of the implement without a clay subsoil for the mole to operate
in; otherwise, the aperture made by the mole will cave and fill up.
I have purchased an additional ditcher, and intend to carry on my
operations until I have underdrained my farm—at least, all that
portion requiring drainage.”

Mr. Nathaniel Spalding, of Vermont, purchased a small
farm, consisting of twenty-five acres, brook meadow, of
clayey soil; some part of it approaching to swamp muck;
and 17 acres upland, of cobble stone surface, in wood and
pasture—42 acres in all. Mr. Spalding said that he bought
it at auction, and moved on to it in 1853—price $460.
‘¢ An old shell of a house and barn” (to use his own ex-
pression) was then upon it, “‘ and some parts of the mea-
dow so wet that a team could not be driven over it to get
what little poor hay grew upon it.” There was but little
of it that could be plowed to advantage. From eight to
ten tuns water grass of poor quality was the produce of
the first year’s hay crop. Mr. Spalding says he has made
over 600 rods of drain. Main ditches, three feet wide, and
from three to six feet deep; the bottom of the drains are
boards; space 12 inches square, covered with flat stones,
with shavings from the lumber with which he was erect-
ing new buildings, and hemlock brush, thrown into the
drain upon the covering stones, and then filled with earth.
The cost of these main ditches averages 623 cents per rod.
His cross drains, leading into the main ones, are four rods
apart, 15 inches wide, stones (cobbles) thrown in loose, cov:

QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF CROPS. 168

ered with brush, and filled with earth. The cost of these
cross drains, 80 cents per rod.

Mr. Spalding thinks the increase of production for the
two years following the draining, paid the whole expense
of making these drains. He is undoubtedly correct in his
estimates, for this work was performed by himself and
boys. Had he employed other labor, or contracted it out,
at the high prices farm labor has commanded of late, it
would hardly have done it; but he is a man that never
puts his hand to the plow and looks back. He is emphat-
ically a practical man, carrying out whatever he under-
takes with an energy and skill known to those only of like
determination. Above these drains where clover and
timothy now grow so heavy as to lodge, a poor miserable
water grass grew, scarcely worth the cutting and housing.

Mr. Spalding says the production of these 25 acres in
1857, only four years from the time he commenced on the
farm, was 30 tuns English hay, 350 bushels of corn, and
250 bushels oats. And this from a soil, though not ex-
hausted, but so located as to be kept saturated and filled
with cold spring water, to such a degree as to discourage
and forbid cultivation only on the driest parts and in the
driest season.

We found the following in “a paper,” without credit,
but presume it was written by Luther Tucker, of the
Country Gentleman:

‘We wish to give additional evidence to the value of under-
draining, by reporting all accurately stated experiments. Having
recently made some on a small scale, we add them to the list. The
land is a strong loam in Cayuga county, a medium between a heavy
clay and a light loam. The drains were cut two feet nine inches
to three feet deep, two rods apart, and completed with tubular tile
two inches in diameter. The work being done where the proprietor
could not oversee it, cost 40 cents a rod, or $32 per acre.

‘The crops on this drained land, the present season, were corn

164 LAND DRAINAGE.

and spring wheat—and being cultivated by a tenant, did not, of
course, receive the best treatment. A portion of the cornfield was
on a strip of undrained land. The season proving unusually favor-
able for the latter, but little difference could be perceived till the
ears had set. It is now found, however, that while the corn on the
drained land is a least forty bushels of sound shelled corn per acre,
the undrained portion yields scarcely thirty bushels, and of poorer
quality.

“ With the spring wheat (China Tea), however, the disparity is
greater. Before draining, fifteen bushels per acre was regarded a
good crop, and uncertain at that. Three scant acres were sown last
spring on the tile-drained land, and yielded eighty-one bushels—
equal to twenty-seven bushels per acre. The wheat sold promptly
for a dollar per bushel—and would probably have brought more
as seed, as it was unusually fine, weighing 62 lbs. to the measured
bushel.

“The time required to repay the cost of draining would, there-
fore, be as follows: For the corn, the increase being ten bushels
per acre, at seventy-five cents per bushel, four years would be re-
quired, if all the seasons were like this. But they are commonly
more unfavorable —making a greater difference in favor of the
drains; the best cultivation would doubtless place the time for full
repayment within three years. The increase of spring wheat being
twelve bushels per acre, at a dollar per bushel, repays the cost in
less than three years.”

It is the unanimous opinion of all who have observed
closely, that the plants and fruits grown upon under-
drained soil are more fully developed, and of much better
quality than those grown on undrained soil.

CHAPTER AIII.

DRAINAGE INCREASES THE EFFECTS OF MANURES.

Iv has been demonstrated that dew, rain and snow carry
with them certain fertilizing agents of great importance
to vegetation, such as carbonic acid, nitric acid, and am-
monia, or these combined, as carbonate or nitrate of am-
monia. When the soil is in a condition to receive all the
water that falls upon it in the form of dew, rain or melt-
ing snow, these fertilizing agents are carried into the soil
and immediately absorbed by it, or at once appropriated
by the growing crop. When the soil is already saturated
by water, or of a close, impervious character, or when the
surface is sufficiently inclined, the water is compelled to
run off, and carry with it, whatever elements of fertility
it contains. Sandy soils readily receive water, but do not
as readily absorb gases as soils containing clay or peat.
Clay lands thoroughly drained and deeply tilled, will re-
ceive almost any amount of water, and absorb and hold
for the future use of plants, all the gaseous fertilizers the
water contains. The amount of these fertilizers brought
down by the rain, differs greatly under different circum-
stances. The quantity of ammonia is found to be much
greater near cities than in the open country. The amount
of nitric acid is greater after thunder storms, and in sea-
sons when thunder storms are frequent, than at other
times. !

It has been asserted (but at present appears to be a
controverted point) that the elements of manure act upon
plants only in a state of solution; hence it is of the great-

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166 LAND DRAINAGE.

est importance that they be so applied, and that the soil
be so prepared that they may not only be readily dis-
solved by the rain, but that the rain may freely pass
through the soil, which, acting as a filter, arrests and holds
these elements where they best serve as food for vegeta-
tion. On undrained lands the rains dissolve the essential
portions of the manure and carry them off, or if lands are
more than ordinarily wet, it prevents the rotting of the
manure. Herman Wauer mentions an instance where
sheep droppings were kept from rotting by moisture for
the space of five years. This is one great reason why
manures produce such trifling results on heavy lands,
especially in seasons of abundant moisture. In very dry
weather but little more effect follows their application,
from the want of a solvent, such as is ever supplied by
the water retained in mellow, porous earth.

«Draining renders the land penetrable to water, says a writer
on the subject, ‘enabling the rain to descend freely through it, car-
rying to the roots the fertilizing elements with which rain water is
always charged,’ as well as those it takes in solution from manures,
The effect of manures is also much increased by an intimate mixture
with the soil. Such mixture can be but imperfectly obtained in the
case of hard and shallow land, either in a wet or dry state. It will
always be found that mellow and friable soils receive most benefit
from manures, and that clayey soils, if made mellow by draining,
possess the greatest absorbent powers, and are of the most produc-
tive character, compared with sandy and light or mucky loams.

“The true policy of the farmer is to use every means in his power
for rendering his labor more effectual, and his farm more fertile, and
in no way can this be better accomplished in the case of wet and
retentive lands, than by draining, and thus deepening and increas-
ing the productive powers of the soil.”

Water from drains has repeatedly been collected and
analyzed, and that under all imaginable differences of con-
dition. These examinations have been made for the pur-
pose of determining to what extent the water of drainage

THE EFFECTS OF MANURES. 167

does bear away with it the fertility of the soil. It is found
that drainage water does carry off, in solution, in appre-
ciable quantities, the mineral constituents of soils, that it
would be desirable to retain. As might be expected, the
amount of loss varies greatly in different circumstances;
from sterile lands, the amount of nitric acid, or ammonia,
is less than what is furnished in the rain and snow; while
on highly manured lands the amount of loss will exceed
what is obtained from the atmosphere. From lands well
tilled, and in a perfectly friable condition, the loss is
greater than from lands imperfectly tilled. Where a crop
is growing upon the soil, ready to appropriate whatever
is presented in the water passing through the soil, less of
these gases escapes than where the ground is fallow. The
amount of loss is also found to be much less where the
drains are deep, than where they are shallow. Some of
the conclusions arrived at, on this subject, are: That there
need be no fear that underdraining will rob the soil of its
fertility, because the rain, which would run from the un-
derdrained lands and be lost, will either wholly or par-
tially compensate for any loss that occurs through the
drains—that there is no method, except by drainage and
deep culture, by which stiff, clayey lands can be made to
appropriate all the elements of fertility furnished by the
atmosphere—that it is better not to manure excessively,
at long intervals, because a part of the unappropriated
manure will probably be washed through the soil and lost,
and, therefore, it is better to apply manure as it is re-
quired to meet the present demand. Manure is better
‘applied in a liquid state, for if the soil be dry and deep,
and therefore in a good condition for absorbing manure,
it will combine with the elements of the soil at once, and
the surplus of water will run from the deep drains perfectly
clear and inodorous. It is better never to permit naked

168 LAND DRAINAGE,

fallows on such lands, because the soil will be losing more
through the drain than it gains from the atmosphere; and
much more than it will lose, if covered by a growing crop;
but on poor, clayey soils, the case is the reverse; and it
is possible for such soils, while undergoing the comminu-
tion and exposure of fallowing, to gain more from the at-
mosphere than they would probably lose from the drains.
The loss of any fertilizing agent by drainage is wholly
avoided, however, in countries where drainage and irriga-
tion are properly and systematically combined. The waters
from manured and tilled lands, being conducted over the
meadows below, yield up whatever of fertility they have
brought with them, and thus nothing is lost.

CHAPTER XIV.

— ——~—e#ge-— -~-—-

DRAINAGE PREVENTS RUST IN WHEAT AND ROT IN
POTATOES.

THE wheat growers of Ohio have often had the misfor-
tune to see that which promised a bountiful harvest sud-
denly blighted by mildew or rust. In regions where a
gravelly subsoil is found, the wheat crop seldom suffers
from rust; but the wheat is frequently “rusted” on gray-
elly soils which rest upon hard pan, or impervious clays.
Rust or mildew also most frequently attacks wheat on bot-
tom lands, where considerable moisture prevails.

In all our reading and observation we have never heard
nor seen a well-underdrained field of wheat attacked by
rust, and therefore infer that drainage acts as a preven-
tive of this very undesirable phenomenon.

A series of experiments made in 1857, by H. B. Spen-
cer, of Rockport, Cuyahoga county, proves almost conclus-
ively that the rot in potatoes is due to excessive moisture.
We know numerous instances where potatoes, grown on
ground having a northern exposure, were sound on the
most elevated portions of the field, but badly rotted on
the lower or most moist. One instance we remember
more particularly, where the potatoes on the hillside were
all sound, and ou the bottom or swale they were not worth
digging. No case of potato rot on well-underdrained
ground has come to our knowledge. From this fact, and
from Mr. Spencer’s experiments, we are inclined to be-
lieve that underdraining will prevent rot in potatoes.

The fact that drainage lengthens the seasons, will per-

mit wheat to be sown later in the fall, and thus avoid the
16 (169)

170 LAND DRAINAGE.

ravages of the Hessian fly (cecidomyia destructor), and as
the wheat will vegetate more rapidly and ripen earlier in
spring or summer on underdrained ground, therefore the
ravages of the “midge,” “fly,” or “weevil” (cectdomyia
tritici), will be greatly lessened, if, indeed, not entire’y
prevented.

CHAPTER XV.

OTHER ADVANTAGES OF DRAINAGE.

DraInacE is of great advantage in many other respects;
among these it may be stated that

Drainage facilitates Pulverization.—One object of
plowing land is to pulverize it, and render it workable.
Every one knows that a wet soil can never be pulverized,
and plowing a clayey or loamy soil, when wet, does, per-
haps, more injury than if it were not plowed at all, be-
cause, if plowed when wet, the soil is pressed together,
and is turned over by the plow in almost unbroken slices,
which become very hard clods when dry, and render it
difficult of culture. Pulverization of the soil is so essen-
tial that, more than a hundred years ago, Jethro Tull ad-
vocated the idea that complete comminution or pulveriza-
tion of the soil was a complete substitute for manure. In
fact, the little book recently published by a London house,
entitled “Z'llage a Substitute for Manure,” is made up
mainly from the writings of Jethro Tull. The Lois
Weedon system of culture, by which more than a dozen
successive good crops of wheat were harvested from the
same piece of ground, is simply another application of
the principle advocated by Tull; and, while this system
is not drainage in a direct sense, it undoubtedly partially
answers the purpose of drainage. Cultivating to the
depth of three feet, as the Lois Weedon system requires,
must certainly lower the water line, and thus consummate
one of the objects of drainage. The deeper any soil is
cultivated, the better will it produce.

If the water is withdrawn from the soil, teams can pass
(171)

172 LAND DRAINAGE.

over it with less injury to the soil than on that which is
not underdrained. The undrained clay, when tramped
by cattle pasturing, or by being frequently hauled over,
acquires a consistency to hold water, from which under-
drained land is exempt. It is a common practice to haul
manure either in the winter or early in the spring, and,
in many instances, as much injury is done to the land in
hauling as the manure benefits it.

Drainage prevents Surface Washing.—Many plowed
fields, especially where the land is rolling, suffer greatly
in spring and fall time, from “‘ washing” by heavy rains.
On drained lands, the rain is at once absorbed, and wash-
ing is thus prevented.

CHAPTER XVI.

WILL DRAINAGE PAY.

Ist. For the Garden.—With regard to lands designed
for garden uses, that have a compact subsoil, there can
not be a doubt of the economy of underdraining. Earli-
ness and depth of soil are essential to a good garden;
and in many localities these conditions can not otherwise
be secured. Drained lands freeze to a greater depth
than the undrained, but they are much sooner dry and
fit for working, or for seed, in the spring. And dur-
ing the summer, however wet the season, or recent the
rain, the underdrained land may be worked so soon that
the weeds do not necessarily get a start.

Ground that is made dry underneath may be cultivated
to any desired depth, and may then be brought to any de-
gree of richness, without the bad effects that sometimes
follow excessive manuring on shallow soils; and the deeper
the soil is stirred, the less injury is sustained from drought.
The expense of draining a garden thoroughly is, there-
fore, a mere trifle, compared with the benefits that may
be obtained from the outlay.

2d. For Nursery Uses, the soil must be susceptible of
deep, early and frequent tillage. These conditions can
only be secured on lands having a loose subsoil, or such
as have been well drained. When drainage is necessary,
the outlay of $20 or $25 an acre will be more than re-
turned in a single season.

3d. The Orchard will pay as well for drainage as the
garden. The necessity of dry land for the orchard is se

generally admitted that the highest and driest parts of
(173)

174 LAND DRAINAGE.

the farm are almost everywhere selected for this purpose.
Orchards planted on river bottoms, in preference to clayey
uplands, are no exception to this; for the bottoms, beside
having the deepest soil have the loosest subsoil, and are
consequently driest underneath. Apple trees, planted
over a subsoil that is for a large portion of the year sat-
urated with moisture, are never thrifty, productive or
long-lived. Of the various expedients that may be em-
ployed to secure the growth of an orchard on wet land,
the cheapest and most reliable is underdrainage. The
drains should be about three feet below the surface, and
midway between the rows of trees; if they are more di-
rectly under the trees, the roots find their way into the
drains and ultimately close them. In preparing for an
orchard, it is desirable to subsoil the ground as deeply as
possible across the drains before planting. ‘The whole
expense of such preparation is so inconsiderable, com-
pared with the value of one year’s produce of a good
orchard, that, even without taking into account the in-
creased !ongevity of the trees, there is no question about
the protitableness of underdraining.

4th. Zilled Lands.—There are two principal advantages
derived from the thorough drainage of tilled lands. The
first is, the lengthening out of the time in which work
may be done, because the drained lands may be plowed so
much sooner than the undrained. But the chief benefit
is the increase of the crop. In Old England the average
wheat crop has more than doubled since draining was un-
dertaken in earnest. Results equally favorable, though
on a smaller scale, have been obtained in the state of New
York, and also in Ohio. This increase depends not so
much on larger crops than were ever grown without drain-
age, but in lessening greatly the causes of failure, so that

WILL DRAINAGE PAY. 175

a fair crop is much more certain. Where the expense of
drainage is $20 or even $25 an acre, an increase of four
or five bushels of wheat to the acre on every crop, or of
ten or fifteen bushels of corn, would make the drainage an
excellent investment—far better, indeed, than money
loaned at ten per cent. per annum. But this is not the
principal advantage ; for on drained lands a good crop of
grain is often grown, while on adjoining lands, precisely
similar and with the same tillage, the crop is a failure, so
that the difference in one year has exceeded the whole
expense of the drainage. There is another fact, also,
worthy of mention: the quality of wheat and other grains
is greatly improved by the steady growth which good
drainage secures, the grain being uniformly plumper, thin-
ner skinned, and therefore heavier.

5th. Grass Lands.—It is desirable to have pasture lands
sound and dry, and fit for the tread of animals as soon as
the feed starts in the spring. It is equally desirable to
have grasses root deeply, so as to escape the influence of
summer droughts. It is also advantageous to have lands
in such a condition that they will produce a variety of
grasses, which, by their different periods of ripening, will
keep the pastures fresh through the entire season. Or-
chard grass and red clover will not prosper unless the soil
be dry and loose. In meadows that are ico wet, the red-
top will gradually take the place of timothy, and what is
still worse, wild and innutritious grasses will take the place
of all the cultivated kinds.

It is doubtless true that grass will grow upon land too wet
for any other purpose, but it is a great mistake to suppose
that land can not be too wet for grass. The best varieties
of grass, the heaviest crops of hay, and the most uni-
formly fresh pastures, are to be found on soil properly
drained. But will it pay to incur an expense of $20 an

176 LAND DRAINAGE.

acre for these advantages? The dairy farmer can readily
see that it will pay, if, by draining a piece of wet clayey
Jand, and afterward subsoiling and seeding with orchard
grass and clover, he can thereby secure a month’s pastur-
age in the spring, before the grass has started elsewhere,
and fresh green feed through the months of July and Au-
gust, while other pastures are all dried up. Good pastur-
age at such times is certainly worth more to the dairyman
or any stock farmer than the annual interest on the money
expended for the improvement.

-It is cheaper to increase crops by drainage than by the
purchase and cultivation of additional acres. Drained
lands pay no more tax, cost no more fencing, and require
no more labor than the undrained. When the cost of
drainage has once been paid, the increase of crops involves
no new expense, as would necessarily be the case if the
same increase were obtained from the cultivation of more
land.

Some may be inclined to defer this work of drainage
until tiles can be obtained at lower rates. It is probable
that tiles will be cheaper and more readily obtained in a
few years, but this will only happen if a good demand for
them is established. The true way to have tiles cheaper
is to begin to use them wherever it will pay at present
prices. An increased demand will probably secure a bet-
ter supply and at lower rates.

CHAPTER XVII.

——_>——__—

WHAT LANDS NEED DRAINING.

1. Low Places, Swamps, ete.—Where the surface is de-
pressed, and water is received from the surrounding lands,
the necessity for drainage of some kind is obvious enough.
This may be effected by open ditches; and these, perhaps,
are the most economical, where the quantity of water to
be disposed of is very great. But where ditches would
be inconvenient, or gradually fillin by frost or the tread-
ing of cattle, or prove an eye-sore, underdraining may be
substituted, and, if properly done, with the effect of con-
verting a low place or swamp into a garden, while a single
open ditch up the center, which is the usual course, would
have left the ground wet and cold; for if the water, in its
descent from the higher ground, be but arrested at the
edge of the tow lands, by ditches or drains, it is compelled
to traverse the low land to the center ditch, and does its
mischief before it can escape. Wet and swampy lands,
when thoroughly drained, are found to be among the most
productive, and hence their improvement by drainage is
most marked and satisfactory.

2. Springy Places.—At the foot of hills, ridges and
highlands, the water if often found even in a dry time,
oozing out, not, perhaps, at a single point, or in suff-
cient quantity to make a useful spring, but enough to
make the land for rods or acres around, wet and cold,
and worthless. In such situations a single drain, in
the right place, is often sufficient to put an end to the
mischief, and change worthless into fertile land. But what
is oftentimes, and in many places, still a greater benefit,

ea
el We ia i
( ;

178 LAND DRAINAGE.

the water which before evaporated injuriously on the sur-
face is collected by the drain, and made available at acon-
venient point for stock purposes, forming an artificial
spring as durable and often more useful than those formed
naturally. On farms as poorly supplied with stock water
as many in Qhio, the drainage and improvement of all
springy places should be effected without delay.

3. Sandy or Porous Soils with Clayey Sabsoils.—Sandy
soils, as every one must have observed, are not always
warm and dry. There is sometimes found at the depth
of a foot, or it may be of two or three feet below the
surface, a layer of impervious clay, through which no
water can pass, but on the top of which it must flow, if there
be an inclination in any direction, with the effect of keep-
ing the surface constantly damp and cold. In all parts
of the state such lands may be found; they appear mel-
low and rich, but are always cold and weedy, and produce
no valuable crop. They are much more easily and
cheaply underdrained than clayey lands, because a differ-
ent system may be pursued; and when drained, they
soon lose all their disagreeable and unproductive qualities.

5. Clayey and Impervious Soils.—Clayey soils trans-
mit water downward, but slowly; and consequently, in a
wet time, the surface soon becomes perfectly saturated
with moisture. It is too wet for crops, too wet to till,
too wet to bear the tread of animals; in short, it is too
wet for anything. In drying, it sets hard, and becomes
more unmanageable than ever; the roots of grasses or
other plants can not penetrate to any considerable depth,
and clayey lands are therefore the first to suffer from ex-
cessive drought, as well as from excessive moisture; there
is scarcely a season that exactly suits them, and only a
limited portion of the best of seasons that they can be
comfortably worked. When such lands are thoroughly

WHAT LANDS NEED DRAINING. 179

drained, and at sufficient depth, the surface never becomes
saturated with moisture ; and in drying it never sets hard.
A deeper tillage becomes possible, and is indeed required
to secure the full benefits of the drainage. With the
deeper tillage, the roots of plants enter the earth to a
greater depth, and suffer less from drought. Clayey lands,
when drained, cam be worked at almost any time; they
become more friable in texture, cost less in their culti-
vation, are suited to almost any crop, and retain their
fertility longer than lands of almost any other description.

The writers on the continent of Europe on drainage
attach great importance to plants, as being the best ex-
ponents of the quality of the soil, and of its condition.
Herman Wauer, in his work on Drainage, has compiled a
list of plants, occupying nearly ten pages of his book.
He states very positively that whenever any of the plants
named in the catalogue occur in a field, in observable
quantities, that that field requires drainage. Almost all
the German works on drainage contain similar catalogues ;
these lists of plants have very little or no practical value
in this country, from the fact that either we have many
plants which do not appear in Germany, and which are
equally as good indices as are those named by them, which
do here; but upon the whole, not one fourth of the plants
named by these writers occur here, or else the nomencla-
ture is so different that we have failed to recognize our
plants in the lists.

We translate the following from Barrall’s (France) great
work (3 vols.) on Drainage:

“ External Signs of the want of Drainage.—The aspect of the
soil after heavy rains, or great protracted heat, the mode of culture
and the nature of the vegetation are very conspicuous characteristic
signs, by the help of which we can easily tell that a ground needs
to be drained.

180 LAND DRAINAGE.

‘“Whenever after a rain, water stays in the furrows; wherever stiff
and plastic earth adheres to the shoes; wherever the foot of either
man or horse makes cavities that retain water, like so many little
cisterns; wherever cattle are unable to penetrate, without sinking
into a kind of mud; wherever the sun forms on the earth a hard
crust, slightly cracked, and compressing the roots of the plants as
into a vice; wherever three or four days after rain, slight depres-
sions in the ground show more moisture than other parts ; wherever
a stick, forced into the ground one foot and a half deep, forms a hole
like a little well, having water standing at its bottom; wherever tra-
dition consecrated, as advantageous, the cultivation of lands by
means of convex, high, large ridges; one may affirm that drainage
will produce good effects.

‘““When water stands on the surface, after rain, or when it oozes
from the inside, from below as farmers say, there is no doubt that
drainage will be the best improvement that can be made.

“Tn all the above cases, vegetation can not easily take place ; crops
are scanty and often amount to nothing; the species of plants which
find that kind of lands hospitable, signalize them spontaneously to
the exercised eyes of an observing visitor; those parasitical plants
are in possession of wet lands, and often expel therefrom productive
vegetation; weeding is of no avail, drainage only can effect the cure
and restore wholesomeness to the ground, and life to the crops.

“Upon the ground which was drained at the Agricultural Institute
at Versailles (farm of the menagerie), and which is composed of
green clay, of plastic and somewhat calcareous nature, our great
botanist, M. Boitel, determined the nature of the indigenous growth
which covered it; this nomenclature may be used as a pattern, and
therefore we reproduce it. The number 100, in the following table,
shows the most common kind; the other species have figures lower
and lower, in proportion as they become more scarce:

Prcportional fig. Latin name of the species. Vulgar name.
100 Juncus communis, Common rush.
83 Plantago lanceolata, Plantain.
67 Colchicum autumnale,
50 Equisetum arvense,
50 Ranunculus acris ; R. bulbosus,
50 Carex riparia,
50 Hypericum tetrapterum,
33 Ajuga genevensis,

33 Cirsium palustre,

WHAT LANDS NEED DRAINING. 181

Proportional fig. Latin name of the species. Vulgar name.
33 Cardamine pratensis,
33 Agrimonia eupatoria,
17 Valeriana dioica,
17 Caltha palustris,
17 Rumex acetosa; R. crispus,
1.2 Trifolium pratense; T. repens, Clover.
0.8 Orchis latifolia,
0.4 Anthoxanthum odoratum.

Mr. Boitel adds: ‘‘The animals will readily eat the clover and the
Anthoxanthum only. One sees in what proportions they are found
in wet meadows. ‘The other species are mostly of a nature not suited
for forage and characterize wet lands. The colchicum autumnale is
known to everybody; from afar its leaves look like those of the large
leek; its blossoms, of soft, lilac hue, are about three and a half
vaches long, and make their appearance during autumn, after the fall
of the leaves; its fruit winters in the ground; in the springtime the
fruit stretches out and sprouts, surrounded with large, compressed
‘eaves; it is a plant very poisonous, which cattle are careful not to
‘ouch; they eat it, nevertheless, at the stable, when mingled with
aay; a very small portion will then poison and kill them. This
noxious plant is very common in wet meadows; it is dangerous, and
yecupies the place of a great many others that would be profitable.
in order to destroy it, dig out the bulbs or onions, and thereby pre-
vent the seeds from disseminating themselves over the whole meadow.
Che bulbs, being sunk about eight inches into the ground, would
zause their extraction to be difficult, but the produce of an abundant
and better vegetation will shortly compensate trouble and expenses.

‘ Together with this plant, rushes, ranunculacea, sorrel, etc., are cer-
tain indications of the utility of drainage; they ure fond of moisture;
it is, therefore, obvious that drainage will cause them to languish
and to die, to be soon replaced by species of better quality. It is
only by thorough ditching, or rather by underdrainage—the effects
of which are still more efficient—that one will succeed in obtaining
so fortunate a transformation.”

We neglected to state in the proper place that all lands
whose indigenous growth of timber was beech, maple, ash,
elm, or any other kinds of timber or shrubs requiring wet
soil, is seldom tillable, and never profitably so, until it is
underdrained.

182 LAND DRAINAGE.

Some years since, Congress proposed to donate to each
state the amount of swamp lands which they respectively
contained. In Ohio every county was authorized to com-
mission a surveyor, or other competent person, to ascer-
tain the number of acres of swamp land in each county,
and report to the auditor of state. Not more than five
or six counties availed themselves of this opportunity to
bring the remnants of public lands into market, and the
total number of acres reported amounted to 28,000 only.
Governor 8. P. Chase expressed the opinion that Ohio
was entitled to the entire amount of public lands within
her territory as swamp lands—at that time about 250,000
acres. But even this amount is less than the actual
amount of swamp lands in the state.

It is almost unnecessary to state that open ditches are
not required on underdrained grounds, except as main
drains, leading to a creek or river; neither is the furrow
necessary between lands for the purpose of surface drain-
age. By discarding the furrows, considerable area for
the growth of plants is added to the field; and in this par-
ticular, by increasing the superficial area, drainage is a
twofold benefit.

We observed, while traveling on the cars over the Day-
ton and Michigan railroad, throughout the “‘ Black Swamp”
region, through which this road passes, that ditches were
made in removing the earth in constructing the road,
which answered an admirable purpose for draining. In
cousequence of these ditches, the timber, being of that
class which flourishes best in a moist or wet soil, for sev-
eral rods on each side of the road, was either dead or
dying—the ditches evidently drained to the extent of sev-
eral rods in every direction, and the trees, finding them-
selves deprived of their accustomed supply of moisture,
could no longer vegetate or exist. Not only were the

WHAT LANDS NEED DRAINING. 182

trees dying, but the succulent plants, which require a wet
soil, had released their claim, in consequence of man’s im-
provement, and yielded their place to plants requiring less
moisture. Hence, the cheapest and most effectual method
of ridding meadows of ‘‘sour grasses”’ (carices) is to un-
derdrain.

Annexed is a list of plants whose presence is always
an unmistakable evidence of the necessity of drainage—
because they flourish only in very moist or wet soil. At
the same time we are well aware that every practical
farmer understands the condition of his soil better perhaps
than he does botany, but there are others who may wish to
engage in agricultural operations who understand botany
better than they do the character or condition of soils.
In the “ Wheat Plant” we devoted a chapter to an exam-
ination of the characteristics and qualities of soil, as in-
dicated by the indigenous forest trees which it produced,

‘and the following list is a further demonstration of the
same idea. As soon as the soil is properly underdrained,
all the plants named in the list will disappear, because
their accustomed supply of moisture will then be with-
drawn, and they, of course, will perish.

Botanical Name. Common Name.

Ranunculus alismaefolius, Water plantain, Spearwort.

pg sceleratus, Cursed crowfoot.

as Pennsylvanicus, Bristly crowfoot.
Caltha palustris, Marsh marigold.
Nasturtium officinale, Water cress.

rs palustre, Marsh cress.
Cardamine pratensis, Cuckoo flower.
Impatiens pallida, Pale touch-me-not.

fulva, Spotted touch-me-not.
Flerkea proserpinacoides, False mermaid.
Rhus venenata, Poison sumach, Dogwood.
Sanguisorba Canadensis, Canadian burnet.
Geum strictum, Avens.

«« — rivale, Water, or purple avens.

isd

Botanical Name.
Rosa Carolina,
Rhexia Virginica,
Lythrum alatum,
Nesaea verticillata,
Epilobium coloratum,
Ludwigia palustris,
Penthorum sedoides,
Saxifraga Pennsylvanica,
Heracleum lanatum,
Archemora rigida,
Cicuta maculata,

‘« _bulbifera,
Conium maculatum,
Cornus sericea,

‘«< stolonifera,

oe stricta,
Cephalanthus occidentalis,
Solidago Ohioensis,

£5 Riddellii,

J patula,

pie lanceolata,
Helianthus giganteus,
Coreopsis trichosperma,
Bidens cernua,

“a chrysanthemoides,
Helenium autumnale,
Cacalia tuberosa,
Cirsium muticum,
Lobelia cardinalis,

of syphilitica,

ar Kalmii,
Plantago major,
Lysimachia ciliata,

“y radicans,

Ae lanceolata,
Chelone glabra,
Mimulus ringens,

a alatus,
Veronica anagallis,

= Americana,

_ scutellata,

Gerardia purpurea,

Pedicularis Canadensis,
- lanceolata,

Dianthera Americana,

LAND DRAINAGE.

Common Name.
Swamp rose.
Deer grass.
Loosestrife.

Willow herb.
Water purslane.
Ditch stone crop.
Swamp saxifrage.
Cow parsnip.
Cow bane.

Water hemlock.
Hemlock.

Poison hemlock.
Silky cornel.

Red osier dogwood.
Stiff cornel. |
Button bush.
Golden rod.

Sunflower.
Tick seed sunflower.
Burr marigold.
6
Sneezeweed.
Tuberous Indian plantain,
Swamp thistle. ,
Cardinal flower.
Great lobelia.

Rib grass.

Loosestrife.
ce

és

Snakehead.
Monkey flower.

Water speedwell.
Brooklime.
Marsh speedwell.

Lousewort.

Water willow.

WHAT LANDS NEED DRAINING.

Botanical Name.
Lippia lanceolata,
Physostegia Virginiana,
Scutellaria lateriflora,
Myosotis palustris,
Asclepias incarnata,
Polygonum amphibium,

= Pennsylvanicum,

% hydropiper,
ni acre,

de hy dropiperoides,

Rumex verticillatus,

‘‘ eonglomeratus,
Quercus aquatica,

2 palustris,
Symplocarpus fcetidus,
Acorus calamus,

Typha latifolia,
Triglochin palustre,
Alisma plantago,
Sagittaria variabilis,
Platanthera peramena,
Spiranthes latifolia,
Cypripedium spectabile,
Iris Wirginica,
Sisyrinchium Bermudiana,
Scilla Fraserii,

Lilium Canadense,
Melanthium Virginicum.
Veratrum viride,

Juncus effusus,

sé scirpoides.
ie militaris.
‘ tenuis.
Cyperus diandrus,
= strigosus.
Eleocharis obtusa,
ee palustris.
cal tenuis.
te compressa.
Scirpus sylvaticus,
o lineatus.
x eriophorum,

Eriophorum polystaehyon,
Almost all Sedges.
Leersia oryzoides,

Tt

Common Name.
Fog fruit.
False dragon head.
Skullcap.
Forget-me-not.

Knotweed.

Swamp dock.

Green dock.

Swamp oak.

Water oak.

Skunk cabbage.
Sweet flag, Calamus.
Cat-tail flag.

Arrow grass.

Water plantain.
Arrow-head. |

Great purple orchia.
Ladies’ tresses.
Ladies’ slipper.
Blue flag.

Blue-eyed grass.
Squill, White hyacinth.
Wild yellow lily.

False hellebore.

- Bog rush.

Galingale.

Spike rush.

Club rush.

Wool grass.
Cotton grass.

White grass.

185

BH LAND

Botanical Name.
Leersia Virginica.
Alopecurus aristulatus,
Cinna arundinacea,
Calamagrostis Canadensis,
Spartina cynosuroides,
Glyceria elongata,

si nervata.

J fluitans.
Phragmites communis,
Holcus lanatus,
Hierochloa borealis,
Phalaris arundinacea,
Milium effusum.
Sorghum nutans,

DRAINAGE.

Common Name.

Wild water-foxtail.
Wood-reed grass.
Blue-joint grass.
Freshwater cord grass.
Manna grass.

Reed.

Meadow soft grass.
Vanilla.

Reed canary grass.
Millet grass.
Indian grass.

GHAP TER, & VEIT.

ON THE ABSORBING QUALITIES OF SOIL AND AN.ALY-
SIS OF DRAIN WATER.

Ir has been urged in some very intelligent circles that
drainage would, in course of time, impoverish the soil
drained, by the drain water carrying off nutritive sub-
stances held in solution. At first view this hypothesis,
startling as it was, appeared rational, to say the least.
Way, Liebig, and other eminent and celebrated chemists,
determined to ascertain what proportion, as well as what
kinds of nutritive elements were borne away by drainage
water, when, to their astonishment, they found that the
soils at once fixed, and held all the elements necessary for
the growth and maturity of the plant, and that the amount
escaping by the drains was in an infinitesimal degree only.

Believing that the views and experiments of these
chemists on this subject are eminently proper in this place,
we here give them in detail:

In 1850, J. Thomas Way published in the Journal of
the Royal Agricultural Society of England,‘ an essay “ On
the Power of Soils to Absorb Manure,” detailing a series
of most remarkable experiments, which will prove of great
importance in modifying the theory, and in confirming or
disproving the practice of many agricultural operations.
These experiments prove that certain manuring ingre-
dients, when brought (in soluble condition) in contact with
soil, lose their soluble form, and combine in a peculiar
manner with the soil.

eo

1 Vol XI, page 313.
(187)

188 LAND DRAINAGE.

Way’s experiments were induced by observations made
by H. S. Thompson and Huxtable, who had found that
liquid manure, when brought in contact with loamy soil,
loses its color and odor; and, according to the statement
of H. S. Thompson, soils have the faculty of separating
ammonia from its combinations by withdrawing it from
water.

Way proved that the soil affects caustic, carbonate, sul-
phate, nitrate, and chlorate of ammonia in this manner ;
the ammonia is arrested, while the acids remain in the
solution. He extended his experiments to the salts of pot-
ash, natron, lime and magnesia. He found, moreover,
that if a solution of phosphate of natron or of guano, in
diluted sulphuric acid (containing phosphoric acid and
phosphate of lime), is filtered through soil, the phospho-
ric acid likewise disappears from the solution, and is ar-
rested by the soil. He finally determined the quantities
of ammonia and potash, absorbed and retained in this
manner, by given weights of various soils.

He likewise showed that when putrid urine, water from
the London sewers, and flax water, are filtered through
white clay, and a soil rich in clay (on Pusey’s estate), the
putrid urine loses its odor and all ammonia; and that the
rest lose all their potash and phosphoric acid.

One of the important conclusions for practical agri-
culture deduced by Way from these experiments, was
that the soluble ingredients of manure—in whatever form
and dilution they are conveyed to the soil—are retained
by the soil for the use of the plants. An English acre of
soil (of the quality he used for his experiments) ten inches
in depth, weight about 1,000 tuns, would absorb three tuns
of ammonia. From this he infers: When the combina-
tion has once taken place, there appears to be no power
in water to distribute this manure in the soil. It follows

ABSORBING QUALITIES OF SOIL. 189°

that if in the application of manure we are not careful
to make an equal distribution, we compel the roots of the
plants to seek their food at a distance.

The experiments of Way were mostly made in clay
_ soil—white clay and pipe clay ; and the comparison of
their absorbing qualities with those of sand, induced him
to ascribe the absorbing power of soil to the clay (silicate
of alumina). He afterward endeavored to confirm this
view, by the discovery of the effects of silicate of clay and
lime, artificially produced. This latter view, according
to which the absorbing qualities of soil were to be as-
cribed to a cause purely chemical, can not claim general
assent. The pure hydrate of clay soil possesses the power
of absorbing potash and ammonia in a higher degree than
the soils. But the facts discovered by him are entirely
independent of his explanation of them. And if it can
be proved, that the absorbing power of the soil belongs
to the ground, or arable soil in general—whatever be its
composition—these facts will establish a new view on the
nutrition of plants, and on the manner in which they re-
ceive their non-gaseous substances from the soil.

Mr. Way’s observations, and conclusions refer to cer-
tain soluble salts and ingredients of manure only. But
as the manure applied to the fields in practical agriculture,
does not cause the fertility of soil, but merely contributes
to its preservation, it is obvious that the nutrition of
plants, existing in the soil and identical with the ingredients
of manure, must operate in a manner similar to the lat-
ter. And if the soluble manurial elements applied to the
field are separated from the solution, as soon as they
come in contact with the soil, and form an insoluble com-
bination with the soil, we must infer that the nutritious sub-
stances identical with those elements and existing in the
soil, can likewise not be conveyed to the plants in a solu-

190 “LAND DRAINAGE.

tion, but that the roots of plants appropriate these sub
stances in a manner as yet not ascertained.

The roots of plants receive—according to the views of
vegetable physiologists and chemists—the elements for
their nutrition from a solution. Rain water, of itself, or —
aided by carbonic acid, dissolves silicic acid, potash, lime,
magnesia, phosphate of lime, phosphate of magnesia, and
oxyd of iron. This solution spreads in the ground, and is
absorbed by the roots of the plants. The plant acts likea
sponge, one half of which is in the air and the other in
the soil. The water contained in it evaporates through
the agency of leaves, while the roots re-absorb the water
thus expelled. The quantity of mineral elements con-
veyed to the roots depends upon the quantity of fluid ab-
sorbed and evaporated, and the substances contained in
solution in it.

This view evidently must be abandoned, if it can be
proved that rain water of itself, or combined with carbonic
acid, does not dissolve the mineral elements serving for
the nutrition of plants in so perceptible a quantity, that
a certain proportion of vegetation can be ascribed to the
quantity conveyed in such a solution. Their absorption
must, in this case, be ascribed to an active cause co-ope-
rating in the roots of the plants, imparting to the water
surrounding the root the power of dissolving certain
mineral elements, which by itself it does not dissolve.
We must furthermore infer, that the quantity of absorbed
mineral elements must be in proportion to the root-sur-
face of the plants, and the aggregate of efficient mineral
elements contained in those parts of the earth which are
in contact with the root-surface.

In order to obtain more definite results regarding these
questions, experiments have been made! to determine the
relations of salts of potash, silicate of potash, and solu-

S aeneieanamameeae

'By Prof. Leibig.

ABSORBING QUALITIES OF SOIL. 191

tions of earthy phosphates, to a large number of earths
of various regions and different composition, among which
there were clayey soils from Hungary, six limy soils from
Havana, limy loam soil from Weihenstephan and Bogenhau-
sen, near Munich, three varieties of lime soil from the neigh-
berhood of Munich of Schleissheim. Particular care had
been taken to select such soils as were influenced by salts
of ammonia, in exactly the same manner as those which
Way used in his experiments.

A syphon having the capacity of 300 cubic centimeters
of water, was filled with this earth, and a double volume
of the solution of salts of potash was filtered through.
The contents of the solution in the salts of potash were
known, those of the filtrate were quantitatively deter-
mined.

Experiments with Sulphate of Potash.—The solution
contained in each cubic centimetre: 1 mgrm. of salt.
260 centimetres of the liquid were filtered through loam
soil from Bogenhausen, evaporated to dryness, and treated
with choride of platinum, they yielded: 0:0325 of chlo-
ride of platinum and potassium, which corresponds to 6°2
mgrms. of potash; 518 mgrms. of potash had conse-
quently been absorbed from 1000 CC. [cubic centimeters]
of the solution, or 541 mgrms. of potash.

Soil from Hungary (clay soil) treated with the same
solution, yielded a filtrate, 420 of which contained 4-6
mgrms. of potash; 535°4 mgrms. of potash had conse-
quently been absorbed from 1000 CC. of the solution.

Garden mold (rich in lime) yielded a filtrate, 1000 CC.
of which retained but 16 mgrms. of solved potash.

It scarcely needs to be mentioned that when filtrates
still containing perceptible quantities of potash were again
brought in contact with earth, they lost it all.

The same quantity of earth absorbed potash from a di-

192 LAND DRAINAGE.

luted solution of nitrate and choride of potash to such an
extent that the quantity remaining in the liquid after fil-
tration could not be quantitatively determined.

The experiments with chloride of potash proved also
that the soil’s power of absorbing was limited to potash,
excluding the chloride.

Soils are not indifferent to salts of natron; but their
power of absorbing natron from its combinations in solu-
tion is much less when compared with the power with
which they retain potash.

300 CC. of Bogenhausen lime soil were treated in the
manner described, with a solution of nitrate of natron
(2000 mgrms. in one litre of water), and the 220 CC. of
the filtrate, yielded 204 mgrms. of nitrate of natron; the
earth had consequently retained but 54 per cent. of the na-
tron in solution. The same quantity of the same earth was
treated with an equally strong solution of nitrate of pot-
ash (2 grms. per litre) and left no definable quantity of
potash in 220 CC. of the filtrate.

A solution of sulphate of natron (2 grms. per litre) fil-
tered through the same soil retained, in 250 CC. of filtrate,
237 mgrms. of sulphate of natron.

The effect of common salt upon soil is like that of chlo-
ride of potash; the entire amount of chloride in the liquid
is found again in the filtrate, a certain quantity of the base
of natron is retained, and we find in its stead in the fil-
trate a corresponding quantity of lime and magnesia.

Loamy soil, yielding only a trace of lime to pure water,
was brought in contact with a solution of common salt,
containing three grms. of salt in one litre; its filtrate
showed a very considerable amount of lime and a total
absence of sulphuric acid.

Specimens of soil were finally treated with a mixture
of liquid manure and water, containing, beside, carbonate

ABSORBING QUALITIES OF SOIL. 193

of ammonia, salts of potash and natron. The amount
of the last two had previously been fixed by the analysis
of liquid manure: it contained in 125 CC. 86:7 milli-
grams of potash and 16:8 mgrms. of natron. The liquid
manure was filtered through 300 CC. of earth, and 125
CC. were employed for a new analysis. The potash was,
in this filtrate, diminished to 5-6 mgrms; of the 16°8 mgrms.
of natron, 5 only had been absorbed. The carbonate of am-
monia of the liquid manure had been completely arrested
by the earth, so that it could not be traced in the filtrate.

These, and a long series of similar experiments with
most various soils, prove that the relation of soil to salts
of potash (discovered by Way) is altogether a general
quality of arable soil. The inferences with regard to the
soluble ingredients of manure are thus completely con-
firmed. The facts ascertained by Way establish, there-
fore, the law, that the plants do not absorb the manurial
substances applied to fields in a soluble state directly, and
in the form in which they are contained in manure, but
that they previously combine with certain ingredients of
the soil, whereby they lose their solubility in the water.

Meadow and wild plants receive manure. Although it
seems probable that they, too, do not receive their incom-
bustible substances from a solution of the same, but that
their roots must, like those of the cultivated plants, absorb
their nutritious elements directly from the soil. The ex-
periments of Way, with respect to the manner of nutrition
of plants, do not warrant a general application of his in-
ferences. As to water plants floating on the water’s sur-
face, the roots of which do not reach the ground, their
mineral ingredients must necessarily have been conveyed
in a solution.

J.v. Liebig has made some experiments respecting

these questions, and from them he is led to believe that
18

19-4 LAND DRAINAGE.

the manner in which the land and water plants receive
their nutritive elements may be demonstrated.

The uncultivated plants receive the alkalies of their
ashes from the silicates, and the phosphoric acid from phos-
phate of lime, or phosphate of magnesia.

The relation of silicates of alkalies and of a solution
of the above-named phosphates of alkalies in carburetted
water to the different soils was examined, and it was found
that silicate of potash operates precisely like all salts of
potash. The determination of the quantity of potash ab-
sorbed by the soils is, by the use of this salt, far easier
and less laborious than with the other salts of potash, since
it has a strong alkaline reaction, and the decrease of pot-
ash in its solution can safely be observed with a good re-
agent (paper).

If a diluted solution of silicate of potash be brought
in contact with soil, it instantly loses its alkaline reaction.
The quantity of alkali absorbed by a given weight or vol-
ume of earth may thus be readily ascertained. The soils
for these experiments were measured in uniform powder
by means of a vessel divided into cubic centrimetres and
brought into a glass bottle; portions of the solution of
silicate of alkali were then added, and they were shaken
till the fluid manifested a feeble alkaline reaction. |

The solution of the silicate contained, according to a
previous analysis, in 1000 CC. 1:166 grains of potash
free from water, and 2°78 of silicic acid.

SOILS FROM THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF MUNICH.
I, 400 CC. of garden mold (containing 31:8 per cent. of
arbonate of lime) neutralized the alkaline reaction of 810
CC. of the above-named solution of silicate of potash ;
1000 CC. of earth absorbed consequently 2-344 grms. of

potash,

ABSORBING QUALITIES OF SOIL. 195

II. 1000 CC. of the same earth mixed with another
solution of silicate of potash, containing 1°183 of potash
in 1000 CC., absorbed the potash of 1940 CC. of this
solution—2°294 grms. of potash.

III. 1000 CC. of soil (loam) absorbed the potash from
2200 CC. of the same solution=2°601 grms. of potash.

IV. 1000 CC. of soil (loam) absorbed the potash from
2-000 CC. of the same solution==2°366 grms. of potash.

V. 1000 CC. of loam (3°77 per c. of lime) absorbed the
potash from 1906 CC. of solution=2°206 grms. of potash.

CLAY SOIL FROM HUNGARY.

This soil is of a brownish gray color, and possesses a
quality rarely noticed in other soils in Germany. This
earth, with water, forms a plastic mass; when rubbed be-
tween the fingers it is imperceptibly fine; when decanted
off, no sand remains, at least only a few grains, which are
partly dissolved, effervescing with acids. The kneaded
mass does not, when dried, fall to pieces, and yields, when
burnt, a pale ochry-yellow, inwardly black, porous mass,
melting in stronger fire. There were three specimens of
earth:

I. Cucuritza Batrin. II. Alba dolina; and III. Funt-
mular. 1000 CC. of these earths weighed, on an aver-
age, 1232 grammes. They stood in the following rela-
tions to a solution of silicate of potash, 1:183 mgrms. of
potash in 1 litre:

1000 CC. of Hungarian soil, I., absorbed the potash
of 2855 CC. of solution=3°377 grms. of potash.

1000 CC. of Hungarian soil, II., absorbed the potash
of 2785 CC. of solution=38°294 grms. of potash.

1000 CC. of Hungarian soil, III., absorbed the potash
of 2685 CC. of solution=3'177 grms. of potash.

196 LAND DRAINAGE.

HAVANA SOILS.

No. I, of gray color; 1000 CC. of earth absorbed the
potash from 1526 CC. of solution=1-805 grms. of potash.

No. I, of yellow color; 1000 CC. of earth absorbed
the potash from 1058 CC. of solution==1°251 grms. of
potash. :

No. III, of red color; 1000 CC. of earth absorbed
the potash from 1916 CC. of solution=2-266 grms. of
potash.

No. [V, of red color; 1000 CC. of earth absorbed
the potash from 1769 CC. of solution=2°092 grms. of
potash.

No. V, of gray color; 1000 CC. of earth absorbed
the potash from 1210 CC. of solution=1-431 grms. of
potash.

No. VI, of gray color; 1000 CC. of earth absorbed
the potash from 1150 CC. of solution=1-360 grms. of
potash.

The nature and quality of these earths prove that their
power of absorbing potash does not belong to a certain
composition, and that this quality is chemical, and depends
upon a certain mechanical quality or porosity.

The chemical relations are obvious in the relation of
the saits of potash to soils, and of their conversion into
combinations of lime and magnesia. The soils do not ab-
sorb the salts, but potash or the base; and the absorption
of alkali would not be likely to occur if the acid did not
come in contact with a body representing potash and neu-
tralizing the acid.

If the affinity of soil for potash were chemical, the
former would depend upon a chemical combination exist-
ing in the soil, and the quantity of alkali absorbed would
be in proportion to the quantity of this combination.

All the earths examined were mixtures of clay and

ABSORBING QUALITIES OF SOILS. 197

lime, and contained a certain amount of sand in mechan-
ical admixture.

If the absorbing quality depended upon the silicate of
clay, it would increase with the quantity of lime, or de-
crease with that of clay. But there is, in this respect,
hardly any difference in the earths examined, with excep-
tion of the Hungarian, as will be seen in the following
synopsis :

1000 cubic centrimetres of soil from
Bogenhausen, Garden mold, Havana, No. ITI.

Contain - - 66 percent. 32°2 percent. 57 per cent. of carbon. of lime.
Absorbed - 2366 mgrms. 2344 mgrms. 2266 mgrms. of potash.

These experiments exhibit no special relation of the
absorbing power to the clayey contents of these earths.
The Bogenhausen loam is so rich in clay that it is used
for manufacturing tiles. The Havana earth, No. III, is a
dry, poor lime soil, of a red color, due to its oxyd of iron.
Both differ exceedingly in their composition, and have,
notwithstanding, the same power of absorbing potash.

As to carbonate of lime, we know that a piece of chalk
or a porous limestone, placed in a diluted solution of pot-
ash “water-glass,” becomes a stony mass, almost bearing
a polish, and but slightly porous; that carbonate of
lime—as Fuchs discovered—is not decomposed, but com-
bines with a certain quantity of the silicate of potash con-
tained in the fluid. If we pulverize chalk very finely,
wash it, and bring it in contact with silicate of potash, this
latter substance is very sparingly absorbed by the fluid.
10 CC. of the solution of silicate of potash, containing
11-8 mgrus, of alkali, were mixed with chalk, and its alka-
line reaction was not perceptible until 115 CC. of pow-
dered chalk had been added; the reaction was caused by
the addition of water and the subsequent dilution of the
alkaline solution, rather than by the absorption of alkali.

198 LAND DRAINAGE.

This filtered liquid was concentrated by evaporation, and
reassumed the alkaline reaction that had become imper-
ceptible, in consequence of dilution.

Pure hydrate of clay soil was found to separate the
greatest amount of silicate of potash from its solutions,
so that the latter lose their alkaline reaction.

In one experiment, a quantity of hydrate of clay soil,
corresponding—2°696 grms. of burnt clay soil, absorbed
silicate of potash from 150 CC. of a solution, containing
in 1000 CC. 1-185 grms. of potash and 3-000 grms. of
silicic acid. If we suppose that one kilogramme of clay
soil occupies, as a dry hydrate, the space of one cubic de-
cimetre, so that it is as heavy as one litre of soil, one litre
of this hydrate of clay soil would have absorbed the pot-
ash and silicic acid from 4600 CC. of this solution, 7. e.,
26 grms. of potash. This is about seven times as much
as the Hungarian earth No. I may absorb from the same
solution. We must, therefore, presume that hydrate of
clay, in admixture with silicates of clay, partakes also of
the soil’s power of absorbing silicate of alkali. We can
readily perceive that this quality is very complicated.

The soil is not influenced by silicic acid combined in so-
lution with alkali in the same manner as by an alkali alone.

A solution of the silicate of potash, filtered through
forest soil, yielded a brown-colored filtrate of a feeble acid
reaction, in which the potash and silicic acid were fixed.

Garden mold, loam soil and Hungarian earth were
treated in the same manner, and 250 to 500 CC. of the
filtrate (which did not react) were employed to determine
the silicic acid and potash contained in it. The following
are the results obtained:

1000 CC. of a solution of potash, “ water-glass,” filtered
through forest soil, retained in solution 215 mgrms. of
potash and 2765 mgrms. of silicic acid.

ABSORBING QUALITIES OF SOILS. 199

1000 CC. of the same Solution, filtered through garden
mold, retained in solution 111 mgrms. of potash and 1699
mgrms. of silicic acid.

1000 CC. of the same solution, filtered through loam
soil (Bogenhausen), retained in solution 18 mgrms. of pot-
ash and 773 mgrms. of silicic acid.

1000 CC. of the same solution, filtered through garden
mold, retained in solution 18 mgrms. of potash and 355
mgrms. of silicic acid.

1000 CC. of the same solution, filtered through Hun-
garian soil II, retained in solution 14 mgrms. of potash
and 136 mgrms. of silicic acid.

The applied (‘‘water-glass”) solution contained per
litre, 1166 mgrms. of potash and 2780 mgrms. of silicic
acid; there remained, after filtering through forest earth,
215 mgrms. of potash and 2965 merms. of silicic acid;
the forest earth had consequently absorbed 957 mgrms.
of potash and 15 mgrms. of silicie acid.

The garden mold I absorbed in a similar manner from
the fluid, 1055 mgrms. of potash and 1081 mgrms. of
silicic acid.

Bogenhausen loam soil absorbed in a similar manner
from the fluid, 1148 mgrms. of potash and 2007 mgrms.
of silicic acid.

Garden soil IL absorbed in a similar manner from the
fluid (amount potash not defined), 2425 mgrms. of silicic
acid.

Hungarian soil II absorbed in a similar manner from
the fluid, 1142 mgrms. of potash and 2611 mgrms. of
silicie acid.

The forest earth and Hungarian soil represent, in these
experiments, the utmost limits of affinity for absorbing
silicic acid. The former had absorbed, from the solution
of the silicate of potash, three fourths of the potash and

200 LAND DRAINAGE.

almost no silicic acid; whilé the latter had pretty
much absorbed all the potash and silicic acid in so-
lution.

The liquids filtered through forest, garden and loam
soil were so rich in silicic acid that they gelatinized, when
evaporated, like the solution of a silicate in an acid. The
forest soil, having absorbed the smallest quantity of silicic
acid, yielded, in the beginning, a light brown-colored fil-
trate of feeble acid reaction. The filtrates of garden soil
I and of the loam soil were likewise dark colored, and the
slight power of absorbing silicic acid may be explained as
having its cause in the organic matter or the decaying
vegetable substances, as they contained these earths in
larger quantities than the others, which had absorbed more
silicic acid from the same solution.

The following experiments will, perhaps, confirm this
conclusion. The earths examined were dried at a high
temperature, and exposed to a red heat in the air. The
forest soil lost in combustible substances 30-9 per cent.;
the garden soil I, 18 per cent.; the loam soil, 8-7; the Hun-
garian soil, 9°84; the Havana soil III contained 5:5 per cent.
only, the least quantity of organic substances.

Equally large volumes of the last two earths were mixed
with the same solution (‘‘water-glass’’) until the fluids
showed a very feeble but perfectly uniform alkaline reac-
tion; they were then filtered, and the silicic acid of the
fluid was determined. In these experiments, the earths
came in contact with a very insignificant excess of the
solution of silicic potash.

1000 CC. of the filtrate of the Hungarian soil retained
in solution 1010 mgrms. of silicic acid; the filtrate of the
Hayana soil contained in the same volume 580 merms. of
silicic acid. The organic substances existing in the soil—
humus—possess the character of an acid, or the quality

ABSORBING QUALITIES OF SOILS. 201

of combining with alkaline bases, in a higher degree than
the silicic acid, and seem to a certain extent to neutralize
this power of entering into insoluble combinations with
the silicates of lime and clay soil. The chemical nature
of the soil has, however, a great influence in this partic-
ular.

Thus, the two garden soils stood in varying relations
to the silicic acid of the silicate of potash, although they
contained very near the same amount of combustible sub-
stances. A certain quantity of earth absorbs 1081 mgrms.
of a solution of silicate of potash, while another equally
large quantity of soil had absorbed 2425 merms. of silicic
acid; the latter soil contained a considerable amount of
carbonate of lime, while the former contained a large por-
tion of silicious sand. The filtrates of both were perfectly
neutral, but differed widely in their coloring. ‘The perco-
lated liquid (of the solution of silicate of potash) of the
garden soil, rich in lime, was very slightly brown; that of
the soil rich in sand and destitute of lime was of adeep
brown color.

The forest soil, which absorbed scarcely any silicic acid,
yielded, when calcined, a residuum which did not effervesce
with acids, and consisted for the greater part of silicious
sand. This soil was mixed with about 10 per cent. of washed
chalk, dried, and afterward a solution of silicate of potash
was filtered through it. The filtrate was neutral and
much less colored than it was before (without the chalk).
95 CC. of filtrate yielded 199 mgrms. of silicic acid; 100
CC. 21 mgrms. of potash; 1000 CC. gave, therefore, 2090
mgrms. of silicic acid and 210 mgrms. of potash. The
solution (of “‘water-glass”’) contained, before its contact
with the soil, per litre: 1277 mgrms. of potash and 3230
mgrms. of silicic acid. The same earth which previously
absorbed 15 mgrms. only of silicic acid, and 951 mgrms.

202 LAND DRAINAGE.

of potash—with a large amount of organic substances and
a lack of alkaline bases—from one litre of solution (of
‘‘water-glass’’), containing 1167 mgrms. of potash and 2765
mers. of silicic acid—the same earth now absorbed, from
the same volume of solution, 1140 merms. of silicic acid
and 1060 mgrms. of potash. Washed chalk absorbs by
itself, under these circumstances, no definable quantity of
alkali and silicic acid.

The same forest soil was finally incorporated with lime
water into a paste, to which a sufficient quantity of lime
water was added from time to time, until it exhibited a
feeble alkaline reaction; the latter was neutralized by a
supply of earth. This earth had thus lost its acid reac-
tion without the presence of an excess of lime; it was
subsequently dried, and combined with a solution of sili-
cate of potash. The filtrate exhibited a feeble alkaline
reaction of lime; but the silicic acid had decreased from
3230 mgrms. per litre to 61 mgrms., and the potash from
1277 to 290 mgrms., which had remained in the solution.

Soils, by burning, undergo a remarkable modification in
their power of absorbing silicic acid. Loam soil (Bogen-
hausen) was burnt in the air (in order to destroy the or-
ganic substance), and combined with the solution of pot-
ash (water-glass).

No diminution of alkaline reaction had taken place in
the filtrate; but the silicic acid had been completely sep-
arated from the solution. 20 CC. of the filtrate required
24 CC. of a solution of oxalic acid to neutralize it. There
existed more alkali in the filtrate than in the liquid em-
ployed, and a close investigation proved that a certain
quantity of caustic lime had been dissolved.

It results from these experiments that vegetable remains
in the soil exert an influence on the distribution of the
hydrate of silica to the roots. This may, perhaps, explain

ABSORBING QUALITIES OF SOILS. 203

the influence of a certain amount of humus in the soil—
or of the organic remains of plants with widely-spread
roots, as clover—upon the growth of the subsequent
plants; as well as the occurrence of plants abounding in
silicic acid in stagnant waters and swamps, upon the soil
of which great quantities of decaying vegetable matter
‘are accumulating.

These facts warrant the conclusion that potash is afford-
ed to the plants in one relation only, or that they separate
it from one combination only.

Chloride of potassium and sulphate or nitrate of potash
do not operate in the soil in the form in which they are
applied; but the base separated from the acid, the latter
forming, with lime and magnesia, salts of another chemi-
cal nature.

The plant does not absorb those substances in conse-
quence of a decomposing process in its organism after
theirreception. The soil accomplishes this decomposition
previous to absorption, inasmuch as it separates the potash
from the acid with which it was combined, and renders it
insoluble in water.

Any soil possesses a certain power of absorbing potash;
this power can be represented by a figure; and it is not
unlikely that the quality of a soil may be determined by
this illustration.

Ammonia, either pure or in the form of salts, acts pre-
cisely like potash.

A manufacturer on the Rhine, being desirous of ex-
tracting oxide of copper from bituminous marl-slate, in
which it existed in the form of malachite and lapis lazuli,
hit upon the idea of using ammonia for this purpose, as
it had, in experiments on a smaller scale, furnished satis-
factory results. He constructed, at considerable expense,
an extracting apparatus on a large scale, consisting of two

204 LAND DRAINAGE,

basins, connected with each other by a very wide pipe.
One of them was used for the ammoniacal liquid; the pipe
was filled with bituminous marl-slate; the second basin
served as condenser. Ammonia and water vapor were,
according to this arrangement, to be driven with the cop-
per ore through the pipe, to condense there and to dissolve
‘the oxide of copper; the solution was to flow into the
second basin. The pipe was afterward to be filled again
with copper ore, and the ammonia of the satiated solution
was to be driven out by boiling, and to serve again to ex-
tract another portion of the copperore. As the apparatus
was hermetically closed, it was hoped that the same am-
monia could be employed without loss to extract large
quantities of copper ore. One of the two basins served
alternately as condenser. The first experiment was sat-
isfactory, inasmuch as a solution of oxide of copper was
collected in one of the basins; but when the ammonia was
driven through another portion of bituminous marl-slate,
it disappeared in an unaccountable manner to the manu-
facturer, so that the proceeding was ultimately abandoned.
The disappearance of ammonia in these operations had
been undoubtedly caused by being absorbed by the bitu-
minous marl-siate. This fact may be regarded as a proof
of the powerful affinity between them, which does not
appear to be neutralized even by the influence of a high
temperature.

The power of certain soils to absorb ammonia may be
sufficient, perhaps, to separate—in manufacturing artificia!
manure—ammonia from very diluted ammoniacal liquids.
putrid urine and other liquids, and to combine them in-
stead of an acid. |

Urine substances, which in putrid state are converted
into carbonate ammonia, are not separated from their so-
lutions by the soil. A solution of urine (2000 mgrms. per

ABSORBING QUALITIES OF SOILS. 205

litre), before or after filtration through soil, required an
equally large portion of nitrous oxide of mercury to pre-
cipitate it, so that not the smallest portion of it seemed to
have been absorbed by the soil.

The relation of a solution of phosphate of lime, phos-
phate of magnesia, or phosphate of ammoniated magnesia
to soil, is similar to that of a solution of salts of potash or
ammonia. This seems to prove that the effect produced
by soil upon these solutions, is based partially upon the
formation of chemical combinations.

While, in the salts of potash and ammonia only the
alkali is extracted and retained by the soil, this affinity
extends to the phosphates, and more especially to phos-
phoric acid.

Liebig mixed lime water with diluted phosphoric acid,
so that neither alkaline nor acid reaction could be per-
ceived. The precipitate thus produced was dissolved in
water holding carbonic acid in excess. Similar solutions
were subsequently made (by him) of phosphate of ammo-
niated magnesia in carburetted water.

Measured quantities of these solutions were then brought
into contact with different soils until specimens of the fil-
tered liquids gave manifest indications of the presence of
phosphoric acid by a distinct reaction of molybdate. Thus,
it was approximatively ascertained that from the solution
of phosphate of lime which contained 610 mgrms. of phos-
phate of lime per litre:

1000 CC. of loam soil absorbed 1098 mgrms. of — of =

“« “garden soil alt diet << iia
«© soil of Weihenstephan 976 “ ‘i es

He is vith “Schleissheim 976 “ : i
These experiments show that equal volumes of these

may differ very little in their affinity forsphosphoric acid.
The liquids filtered through these soils were almost as

206 LAND DRAINAGE.

limy as before, and appeared to have lost the phosphoric
acid only; but these soils contained a considerable quan-
tity of carbonate of lime. While, therefore, the phos-
phate of lime contained in the soil was separated from its
solution in carburetted water, the latter retained its power
of dissolving the carbonate of lime. An acetate was
formed from the carbonate of lime, which filtered through
without being decomposed.

An addition of chalk decanted off will not cause phos-
phate of lime to be separated from a solution of phosphate
of lime in carburetted water; the fluid retains its reaction
on phosphoric acid.

The relation of soils to phosphate of ammonia and phos-
phate of magnesia is similar to that of phosphate of lime.
They exhibited in this salt, too, very slight difference in
their power of absorption.

Equal volumes of Bogenhausen loam soil, garden soil,
and soils from Weihenstephan and Schleissheim, absorbed
the same quantity of phosphate of magnesia-ammonia—
that is, they separated this salt from an equal volume of
its solution in carburetted water. 1000 CC. of these soils
required, in order to determine the presence of phosphoric
acid in the filtrate, 1800 CC. of a solution containing 1425
mgrms. of salt of magnesia per litre. The phosphoric
acid, magnesia and ammonia disappeared simultaneously
from the solution, and the filtrate received an abundant
quantity of lime in their place. The filtrate of the Schleiss-
heim soil contained 884 mgrms. of lime in 1800 CC.; the
filtrate of the garden soil, 524 mgrms.; that of the soil
from Weihenstephan, 402 mgrms.; that of the loam soil
from Bogenhausen, 456 mgrms. of lime. These quantities
of lime are evidently in no relation to each other or to the
‘salt previously dfssolved.

The salt of magnesia is not precipitated from a solution

ABSORBING QUALITIES OF SOILS. 207

of phosphate of magnesia and ammonia in carburetted
water, when brought in contact with decanted chalk; lime
does not supplant magnesia. From the relation of soil to
lime, ammonia and phosphoric acid, we may infer that the
majority of our cultivated plants do not receive their most
important mineral substances from a solution. For if the
potash and ammonia are so completely separated from the
acids with which they are combined, and from water, that,
after the percolation of their solutions through strata that
are not deeper than tillable soil, chemical analysis can
hardly discover any traces of these substances; it can not
be supposed that rain water in itself, or with the aid of a
small per cent. of carbonic acid, should be able to sepa-
rate these substances from the soil, and to form a solution
capable of spreading in the soil without losing the sub-
stances held in solution. The same remark will apply to
phosphoric acid and the phosphates generally. Water,
holding carbonic acid in excess, will dissolve this salt
wherever it meets in connection with phosphate of lime;
but this means of solution can only cause the distribution
of phosphates in the soil; the solution can not leave the
place where it was formed without its soluble salt being
separated again from soil not saturated with it.

These substances exist in the soil in a condition ready
to be absorbed by means of the roots; but they are not
soluble in themselves by rain water, and can not be sepa-
rated by means of this solution till the soil holds it in
eXcess.

The composition of our common river water, of springs
and of drain water upon fields, serves to support these
inferences.

A number of excellent analyses of river and spring
water have been made by Graham, Miller and Hofmann,
from which it appears that 10,000 gallons, or 500 tuns,

208 LAND DRAINAGE.

of Thames water, taken from five different places of the
Thames, contained :

Pounds. Thames, Dillen. Kew. Barnes. Redhouse, Battersea. Lambeth.

Potash, - 7.3 4.71 3.55 10. 7.3

The following spring waters contained in 100,000 gal-
lons = 1,000,000 pounds :

Pounds. Whitley. Cutshmere. Vellwood. Hindhead. Barford. Cosfordhouse.
Potash, 2.71 2.5 3. 0.7 1.8 6.

Thomas Way found in drain water, 7. e. in rain water
filtrated through soil in a natural manner, the following
ingredients in specimens of seven different fields:

Grains in 1 Gallon=70.000 Grains of Water.

7-_—_-_o- Or - e-— i ss eee SO -

Potash, - ~ trace.| trace.| 0.02 0.05 | trace.| 0.22 | trace

Natron, - > 1.00 | 2.17 | 2.26 | 0.87 | 1.42 | 1.40 3.20
Lime, - - - 4.85 | 7.19 | 6.05 | 2.26 | 2.52 | 5.82 | 13.00
Magnesia, 0.68 | 2.32 2.48 | 0.41 | 0.21 0.93 2.50
Oxyd of iron and clay

soil, ~ 0.40 | 0.05 | 0.10 | —— {1.30 | 0.35 0.50

Silicie acid, - . 0.95 | 0.45 -| 0.55 | 1.20 | 1.80 | 0.65 0.85

Chlorine, - - 6.70 |.1.10° | 1.27 | 0.8L |1.26 | 2} 2.62
Sulphuric acid, - 1.65 | 5.15. | 4.40 | 1.71 | 1.29 | 3.12 9.51

Phosphoric acid, - trace.| 0.12 | trace. trace. | 0.08 | 0.06 0.12
Ammonia, - - 0.018 | 0.018 | 0.018 0.012 | 0.018 | 0.018 | 0.006

Dr. Krocker obtained quite similar results in his analy-
sis of drain water at Proskau (Liebig and Kopp’s
Jahresb. f. 1853, 742). See table on following page.

These drain waters contain all the substances which
rain water can dissolve in the soil, and their composition
gives an idea of the quantity which a plant can possibly
obtain from this solution during its period of vegetation.

We will suppose that twelve millions of pounds of rain
water fall upon an acre of ground during a year, and that
the third part of this water has dissolved or holds in

Drain Water (in 10,000 Parts.)

a b ¢ d. e f.

Organic substance, - 0.25 | 0.24 | 0.16 | 0.06 | 0.63 | 0.56
Carbonato of lime, - - 0.84 | 0.84 | 1.27 | 0.79 | 0.71 | 0.84
Sulphate of lime, - 2.08 | 2.10 | 1.14 | 0.17 | 0.77 | 0.72
Nitrate of lime, - - 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.02
Carbonate of magnesia, - 0.70 | 0.69 | 0.47 | 0.27 | 0.27 | 0.16
Carbonate of iron, - - 0.04 | 0.04 | 0.04 | 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.01
Potash, - - - 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.04 | 0.06
Natron, - - - 0.11 | 0.15 | 0.13 | 0.10 | 0.05 | 0.04
Chloride of the base of natron

(natrium), - - - 0.08 | 0.08 | 0.07 | 0.03 | 0.01 | 0.01
Siliceous earth, - - 0.07 | 0.07 | 0.06 | 0.05 | 0.06 | 0.05

Total of solid substances, - 4.21 | 4.25 | 3.37 | 1.53 | 2.58 | 2.47

excess all the substances like the above-mentioned drain
waters; that these four millions of pounds are completely
absorbed in the months of June, July, August and Sep-
tember, by the roots of the potato plants cultivated in
this soil, and are evaporated through their leaves. All
the potato plants together would, in this case, not receive
a single pound of this solution from the first four fields
of an acre each; they would receive somewhat more than
one pound from the two other fields (Nos. 5 and 6), and
two pounds of potash from the seventh (No. 7).

Now an acre of ground produces an average crop of
potatoes containing 408 pounds of ashes, in which there
are 200 pounds of potash.

Supposing the fields—whose drain water was analyzed
by Dr. Krocker—to be planted with beets, and that four
millions of pounds of rain water, holding the mineral
substances from the soil in excess, had been conveyed to
the plant during the period of its vegetation; this rain
water could have conveyed to the beet plants of the four
fields of an acre each, only 8 pounds, of another sixteen
pounds, and of a third twenty-four pounds of potash.

The average crop of beets on an acre amounts, together

9

210 LAND DRAINAGE.

with the leaves, to 100,000 pounds, containing 1,144
pounds of ashes, in which there are 495 pounds of pot-
ash! | ;

The amount of ammonia in the drain water analyzed
by Way is extraordinarily small. It can scarcely be
imagined that one pound of ammonia dissolved in three
and a half millions of pounds of water should exert any
perceptible influence upon vegetation.

Its quantity could not be determined in a gallon (70,-
000 grains), of Thames water taken from four places to that
amount, and there are in the water taken from the Thames
near Redhouse Battersea, 3 parts in 7 million parts of
water. The Thames would, when used for irrigation,
undoubtedly produce a considerable increase of the hay
crop on many meadows; but, assuredly, not by the sup-
ply of ammonia, of which this water, as well as river and
brook water in general, is so destitute.

The amount of phosphoric acid in the drain, river and
common spring water is = nought. Krocker did not fin’
any in drain water; Way found only traces of it in the
water from three drains.

It appears from the relations of soil that the, plant it-
self must be active in absorbing its nourishment; its ex-
istence as an organic being does not entirely depend upon
exterior causes.

If the land plants received their nourishment from a
solution, they could (according to time and proportion)
absorb only as much as evaporates through their leaves ;
they could only absorb what the solution contains and
conveys. It is certain that the water of the soil, and the
evaporation by means of the leaves co-operate in the pro-
cess of assimilation as necessary agents of conveyance ;
but there exists in the soil a police protecting the plant
from conveying injurious materials, and selecting only

ALSORBING QUALITIES OF SOILS. 211

what the latter needs. Whatever the soil affords can be
conveyed into its organism only by the co-operation of
an active cause in the root.

The greatest number of cultivated plants are compelled
to receive their mineral nutrition directly from the soil,
so that their subsistence is endangered, and they are
stunted and die away, if these substances are conveyed to
them in a solution.

It is very difficult to imagine in what manner the plants
bring about the solution of mineral ingredients. As a
matter of course, water is indispensable for its transition.

There are frequently found in meadows smooth lime
stones, the surface of which is covered with fine net-like
furrows; if the stone is taken fresh from the ground,
each deepened line or furrow is seen to correspond to
some fiber, as if it had eaten its way into the stone.

The difficulty of explanation should not prevent us
from investigating the facts in all directions, and to ascer-
tain the full extent of their influence. There are always
exceptions enough.

There must, of course, be other laws for the absorption
of mineral nutrition by those water plants whose roots do
not reach the ground. They must, like the sea plants,
receive it from the surrounding medium; for wherever a
plant is growing, it must find the conditions of its ex-
istence. |

The examinations of waterworts (Lemna trisulea),
gave rise to some interesting observations in this respect.
This plant grows in stagnant waters, ponds and bogs, and
floats on the surface of the water, so that its roots are in
no connection whatever with the ground.

A number of these plants were collected (by Liebig),
dried, burnt, and the ashes analyzed. Ten to fifteen
litres of the swamp water from which they had been

212 LAND DRAINAGE.

taken, and which was slightly green, were filtered and
evaporated to dryness. ‘The ashes and salt residuum of
the water were subsequently subjected to an analysis.

The large quantity of mineral ingredients contained in
this plant was really surprising; still more so was the
quantity and quality of the elements of the swamp water,
which indicated, by analysis, a very unexpected composi-
tion. We will put their analysis in juxtaposition, in
order to facilitate comparison.

Ashes of Waterworts. Salt residuum.

100 parts of dried worts} 1 litre contains 0,415
yielded 16.6 parts of} grms of residuum

ashes (slightly burnt),
There are in 100 parts/There are in 100 parts
of the burnt ashes: of salt:
Lime, - + x 16.82 35.00
Magnesia, - - - 5.08 j 12.264
Common salt, - - 5.897 | 10.10
Chloride of potassium, - - 1.45 a
Potash, - - 13.16 3.97
Natron, - — 0.471
Oxyd of iron, With frees of iny
soil, - - - - 7.36 0.721
Phosphoric acid, - - 8.730 2.619
Sulphuric acid, - - - 6.09 8.271
Silicie acid, - - - 12.35 3.24

The comparison of the composition of water with the
ingredients of ashes, shows that all the mineral substances
of the former are to be found in the plant, with the excep-
tion of natron, but in a relation very much changed. The
water contains 45 per cent. of lime and magnesia, the plant
only 21 per cent.; the water contains 0-72 per cent. of oxide
of iron, the plant ten times more. The differences between
phosphoric acid, potash, etc., are not less remarkable. A
selection had obviously taken place: the plant absorbed
the mineral substances in the proper proportions for its
growth, and by no means in the relations offered by the
fluid.

ABSORBING QUALITIES OF SOILS. 213

The great amount of mineral elements in the water is
very remarkable; for it more than ten times exceeds that
in drain water, and from twenty-five to thirty times that
in spring water. This water represents, therefore, in its
qualitative analysis, a mineral water nowhere else to he
found.

The accession of the amount of potash, phosphoric acid,
sulphuric acid, silicie acid and iron can be explained with-
out difficulty. There are a vast number of decaying gen-
erations of plants gradually yatuering in a swamp, the
roots of which have taken up from the soil a great quan-
tity of mineral substances. These remains of plants rot
upon the bottom of the swamp ground, 7. e., they are
burnt, and their inorganic elements (or their elements of
ashes) are dissolved under the co-operation of carbonic
acid, and, perhaps, of organic acids in the water; they
remain dissolved when the surrounding mud and earth
have been saturated with this solution.

It has been ascertained that this boggy water, when fil-
tered through soil taken up about a foot from the margin
of the water basin, does not lose its potash, while the pot-
ash of any other soil is eo separated from the same
water.

Mud of ponds (muck), stagnant waters and bogs, is often
highly valued as an excellent means of improving the
fields and increasing their fertility. This mud operates

evidently like soil.

Water percolating through a soil in saint remains of
plants are accumulating and decaying, dissolves, of course,
many mineral substances otherwise not found in those soils.

Verdeil and Risler’s investigations as to the quantity
of potash and phosphoric acid separated from soil by tepid
water, are unfortunately not conclusive. They extracted
about 40 pounds of soil by means of tepid distilled water,

Yi4 LAND DRAINAGE.

dried the clear yellowish extract, burnt it, and analysed
the remains. They found, in the majority of cases, not
more than 4, in others 6 to 8 and 9 per cent. of phosphate
of lime. Another sediment contained 11, and another 18
per cent. of phosphate of lime. Chloride of potassium and
natron amounted together from 3 to 9, in other cases to
14 and18 per cent. The potash and natron of the silicates
together in no case reached 8 per cent.

This investigation did not determine what per cent. of
ashes was left by the extract, and how much of these sub-
stances had consequently been dissolved by the water.
And this was evidently the principal point of this analysis.
Had the watery extract of soil been 40 pounds with sb per
cent. of ingredient of ashes, the mineral substances dis-
solved from the 40 pounds of earth would have amounted
to 20 grms., and only 31 mgrms. of potash and 40 mgrms.
of phosphate of lime would, according to the analysis,
have been separated from 1000 grms. of soil. If the water
extracted one fortieth of one per cent. of these substances,
the analysis would, of course, indicate only one half of
the quantity of potash and phosphate of lime mentioned.

DRAIN WATER CONTAINS—ACCORDING TO KROCKER’S AND
Way’s ANALYSIS—;5255 TO zo$s5 OF DISSOLVED MINERAL
SUBSTANCES.

The relation of arable soil to mineral nutritive sub-
stances, which exist in the soil or are conveyed to it in
manure, result in some conclusions and applications of
great importance to practical agriculture. The first in-
ference is: that the quantity of ingredients absorbed in
such cultivated plants as derive their nourishment directly
from the soil, in a given time and under otherwise equal
conditions, increases in proportion to the extent of the
surface of roots, and that the fertility of soil is limited by
its contents of nutritive matter in each part of the inter-

ABSORBING QUALITIES OF SOILS. 215

section of the soil downward as far as the roots reach.
Liebig observes, in his Chemical Letters:

“The principal effect of manure on our fields seems to consist, in
many cases, in the circumstance that the upper crust of the fields is
more abundantly supplied with nourishment; the plants shoot out,
therefore, during the period of their development, a tenfold, perhaps
a hundred and a thousand-fold of (root) fibers; their subsequent
growth is in proportion to this number of organs, by which they
are enabled to find and to appropriate the less copious uutritious
matter of deeper strata. This may be the reason why a compara-
tively small quantity of ammonia, alkalies and phosphates increases
the fertility to such a high degree.”

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PART II.

CHAPTER I.

>

PRACTICAL DRAINAGE.

BrEForE commencing drainage operations, many things
are to be taken into account, the most important of which,
in all probability, to the farmer, is, what kind of drains
shall be made. Where lands can be purchased from $5
to $15 per acre, it would, perhaps, not be advisable to
underdrain with tile, at a cost from $15 to $25 or $30
per acre.

Drainage is designed to be a permanent improvement;
as much so as building a house or barn. In all farm im-
provements, the farmer in the West is proverbial for
“cutting the coat according to the cloth.” The western
farmer is emphatically a practicable man, makes use of
such means and materials as he can command, whether it
be in accordance with any system “found in books,” or
not; and to this fact, perhaps, as much as to anything
else, do we owe the amount of progress made in agricul-
ture in the state of Ohio, and in the West generally. If
the farmer had withheld all improvements, until they could
have been made in the most approved manner, we possi-
bly might yet be in the full enjoyment of log cabins and
“‘ gar skin” plows throughout the state. Instead of pur-
suing that policy, however, they have more generally
adapted themselves to the circumstances by which they

were surrounded, and made such improvements as their
20 . (217)

218 LAND DRAINAGE.

means warranted, and it is, perhaps, best for the perma-
nent progress and improvement in agriculture, that the
same policy should be pursued with regard to under-
draining.

As there are several ways of underdraining, and differ-
ent materials, or no materials at all, employed in keeping
open the water-courses, we will in a synoptical manner
enumerate the various kinds of drains, and then devote
more space to giving the details of each kind of drain.

MATERIALS FOR KEEPING OPEN THE WATER-COURSES.

1. Wood.—This material has long been used, in vari-
ous forms, for making drains. In swamps, where a gene-
ral outlet is secured by an open ditch, the side drains
leading into it, as well as drains made for the cure of
springy places, are often kept open by the brush that is
usually found growing in such places. It is doubtless bad
economy to use brush, when a better material is at hand;
but as this is not always the case, it will be found that a
brush drain is much better than none. Saplings, or round
sticks, or split wood, are frequently used, cut into equal
lengths of three or four feet, and put in the drains at an
wngle, in the same manner as brush. Or a different plan
may be adopted. Straight sticks, of any length, may be
used, by laying one on each side of the drain, leaving the
necessary space between; then a third pole, or piece, is
laid upon them, so as to cover the space, and prevent the
side pieces from crowding together. Timber is sometimes
split into thin, wide pieces, resembling staves, or the shakes
formerly used for the covering log houses, and a water-
course is obtained by laying one edge of each piece on
the bottom, on one side of the drain, and letting the other
edge lean against the other side, some inches from the
bottom. In this-case, the drains must be dug narrow, or

MATERIALS FOR DRAINS. 219

the stuff split sufficiently wide, so that it can not be forced
down flat into the bottom of the drain. For short dis-
tances, lumber is occasionally used. A narrow board
forms the bottom of the drain; a piece of scantling forms
each side, and another board makes the top. This is an
expensive method; and although the drain is good while
it lasts, it is not especially durable. The choice of these
various forms of wood drains must depend on the kind
most readily obtained.

Turf Drains.—Almost everybody, perhaps, has heard
of turf drains, and, therefore, the question may naturally
arise, if turf drains will answer, why incur the expense of
tiles? Before tiles were as cheap in the British Isles as
they are at present, millions of acres were drained with
turf. One method was to dig the drain wedge-shaped,
or much the narrowest at the bottom; then the turf, which
had been taken from the top, was cut of such a width
and shape with the spade, that when inverted and laid in
carefully, it would rest eight or ten inches from the bot-
tom, and support all the earth thrown upon it, in filling
in the drain, leaving a small wedge-shaped channel at the
bottom, which lasted many years. Another plan consisted
in cutting down the sides perpendicularly, to within eight
or ten inches of the intended bottom; then, with a narrow
spade, or one made with one edge turned up about two
inches, a narrow channel was dug, and good shoulders left,
on which the turf could be firmly laid. These turf drains,
in clayey land, and where the work was well done, often
lasted a lifetime. Of late years, however, tile have super-
seded turf in all kinds of soil. Turf drains are, perhaps,
more familiarly known as wedge and shoulder drains.

Mole Plows.—These were extensively used in various
parts of Europe, some fifty years ago. They seem to be
attracting some attention in this country, at the present

220 LAND DRAINAGE.

time. On lands where the subsoil is a tolerably soft and
plastic clay, without stones, and where the surface has a
regular inclination, they do good service; and the water-
courses opened in this way, often continue for many
years.

Stone.—Drains of stone are formed either by placing them
so as to secure a clear water-course, or the drain is par-
tially filled up with small stones thrown in, and the water
is left to find its way between them. A good water-way
may be secured either by placing a stone on each side of
the bottom, and laying a flat stone upon them, or by set-
ting a flat stone upon the edge, on one side of the drain,
and leaning another flat stone against it from the other
side. In either way, care must be taken to cover well,
with more stones, all the spaces through which sand or
earth might pass to obstruct the drain. When small
stones are thrown in to form a drain, a great many
troublesome little stones may be disposed of, and a tol-
erable drain made, but it is very liable to become choked
with sand or earth, and so made useless. In short, almost
all drains, made with timber or stones, are liable to be in-
jured by lobsters or moles, or be otherwise destroyed and
rendered unsatisfactory.

Tiles.—Where good tiles can be obtained, at a reason-
able rate, no other material should be used, under any cir-
cumstances, because no other material makes so perfect a
drain, is so durable, or so cheap. The value of tiles de-
pend upon their form, the quality of the clay of which
they are made, and the perfection of the burning. Horse-
shoe tiles-—that is, those of which the end represents a
semicircle, with the sides compressed a little, were, many
years since, extensively used in England; but this
form has, by everybody in that country, been abandoned
for better. The water running through them, softens the

TILE DRAINS. 221

floor on which they stand, and consequently one, or both
sides sink down, and the drain is obstructed. This diffi-
culty is obviated by the use of soles, of the same or some
other suitable material; but this adds to the expense and
trouble of laying. Narrow boards are used in this coun-
try instead of soles. This increases the cost, and the
drains, when finished, have only the durability of the wood
that is used. Sole tiles are, in general, nearly of the same
form, but with the sole added in the manufacture. These
are far better than horse-shoe tiles, but are still liable to
some objections. Being widest at the bottom, the stream
of water, when but little is flowing, is spread out over a
wide surface, or it makes for itself a narrow channel,
which turns from side to side of the tiles, and deposits in
its course the sand which always finds its way into the
drains, sometimes stopping them altogether; while, if the
tiles were contracted at the bottom, the water would flow
along the center in a straight line, and carry the sand out
of the drain. Another objection grows out of the neces-
sity of laying them all the same side up; for, if warped
in drying or burning, as tiles are liable to be, it is impos-
sible, at all times, to make perfect joints. A form of sole
tile became very popular for a time in England, having
the sole very narrow, and wholly on the outside, while
the inside was contracted at the bottom, so that the open-
ing was egg-shaped, and stood the small end down. This
form perfectly obviated the first objection, but was open
to the second, and this in practice was found so serious
that this form of tile has been abandoned. Pipe tile, as
perfectly round as they can be made, are now the most
approved by experienced drainers. The principal advan-
tages of this form are, the ease with which they are laid,
for as all sides are alike, and the tiles are warped in dry-
ing or burning, there is no difficulty in so turning them

222 LAND DRAINAGE.

as to secure a perfectly level water-course, and at the
same time make perfect joints; they also confine the
stream to the center of the channel, and, therefore, leave
in the tile no deposit of sand; it is also easier to prepare
the bottom of the drain for their reception. The advan-
tages are so decisive, that every one about to purchase
a tile machine, of whatever pattern, should order pipe
dies; and any one who has the choice of different forms,
should select pipes, in preference to any other, for laying.
But more on this subject in the proper place.

Therefore, in regions where stone or tile are scarce, or
would prove more expensive than in districts where they
are more abundant, and especially in sections where land
is cheap, it would be as well to commence with

BRUSH DRAINS.

On lands where stones are scarce and tile dear, but
where a good descent for the drains may be had, brush
drains will answer a good purpose. Being nearly ex-
cluded from air, the brush will not decay so rapidly as
where more exposed. We have read accounts of some
brush drains doing good service for fifteen years; other
accounts are to the effect that they cave in and become
useless in the course of three or four years. Much, of
course, depends upon the character of the soil in which
they are made. In situations where the drains will be
required to carry off a large amount of water, it must be
expected that the sides and bottom will wash more or
less—the more rapidly it washes, as a matter of course,
the sooner will the drains become useless. At best they
act upon the same principle as the filter in the ley leach
or vat.

“The drain for brush is dug like any other drain, but is best if a
foot or more wide. The brush may be cut a few feet in length, and

BRUSH DRAINS. 223

should not be more than an inch or two in diameter. If the
branches are straight and nearly parallel, they may be larger and
longer than if crooked and spreading. In the latter instance they
must be cut quite short, or they will not lie well. Commence al-
ways at the wpper end, and let the butts rest on the bottom of the
drain, with the tops pointing upward, or from the descent. This
position tends constantly to throw the descending water to the bot-
tom or lowest part of the drain. If a sufficient quantity of brush
be laid in to fill the ditch, it will occupy, after being trodden down
and the earth filled in, only about one third of the ditch. Inverted
turf forms a good cover for the brush, before throwing the earth in.
The sides should be nearly perpendicular, or the brush will not set-
tle well.

‘Being nearly excluded from air, the brush will last many years.
Some kinds, as for example, cedar, will last much longer than others.
But even when quite decayed, there will still bea good channel for
the escape of the water, in the many veins left among the decayed
branches, the earth having become compact and well settled above,
especially in soils of some tenacity.” +

Mr. French says:

‘‘Open the trench to the depth required, and about twelve inches
wide at the bottom. Lay into this poles of four or five inches di-
ameter at the butt, leaving an open passage between. Then lay in
brush of any size, the coarsest at the bottom, filling the drain to
within a foot of the surface, and covering with pine, or hemlock, or
apruce boughs. Upon these lay turf, carefully cut, as close as pos-
sible. ‘The brush should be laid butt-end up stream, as it obstructs
the water less in this way. Fill up with soil a foot above the sur-
face, and tread it in as hard as possible. The weight of earth will
compress the brush, and the surface will settle very much. We
have tried placing boards at the sides, and upon the top of the
brush, to prevent the caving in, but with no great success. Although
our drains thus laid, have generally continued to discharge some
water, yet they have, upon upland, been dangerous traps and pit:
falls for our horses and cattle, and have cost much labor to fill up
the holes, where they have fallen through by washing away below.”

_The brush should be laid, as Mr. Thomas says, so as to
“Jet the butts rest on the bottom of the drain,” and at

1J. J. Thomas, in Rural Register.

224 LAND DRAINAGE.

the same time have the butts laid “down stream,” and
not up stream, as directed by Mr. French. Where the
butts are laid up stream, from some cause or other, the
drains choke much sooner than when laid the contrary
way. If the water were to pass over the brush instead
of under or through it, Mr. French’s directions would be
correct. ©

The French system (or system practiced in France) of
brush drains is perhaps the best. At the bottom of the
drain short pieces of wood are driven in to the depth of

several inches, as at a a, Fig. 13, on which the brush is
laid as indicated in the cut. But unless the drains are ina
stiff clay, the wash will be so great that in a few years
the whole drain will be useless.

A very practical gentleman, who is an occasional cor-
respondent of the Country Gentleman, says:

“We have at different times within the past fifteen years, made
use of small poles for filters in our drains—have used various kinds,
such as hemlock, spruce, birch, maple, and recently, black alder
poles. These last were from one to three inches in diameter at the
stump, and from ten to twenty feet long. The drains were two and
a half feet deep, and about ten inches wide at the bottom. Com-
mence at the upper end of the ditch; lay in from four to six poles,
according to size, and so on to the end of the ditch, lapping the
poles, as directed in filling in brush. Have ready a supply of hem-
lock, cedar, or spruce boughs, and immediately cover the poles, to
prevent the soil from the sides of the ditch falling in and clogging.
after the boughs are nicely shingled over the poles, step into the
ditch, drawing in with a hoe a few inches of soil, treading it solid;

BRUSH DRAINS. 225

working backward, so as to press the covering firm upon the poles.
The ditch can then be finally filled with the shovel or plow.

‘Drains thus made fifteen years ago, and at many times since,
are this day running as freely as any tile or stone drain would dis-
charge the water. A few years since, I drained a wet, flat, frost-
heaving piece of land; before it was drained it was nearly worth-
less, now it will annually pay the net interest of more than one
hundred dollars per acre. It was sowed with winter wheat the first
of last September; early in February, the snow disappeared, since
which time the surface of the soil has been frozen and thawed more
than twenty times, yet none of the wheat plants are thrown out or
winter-killed, and the field is as green as when the snow came last
November. Without drainage, we think wheat on this land could
not have lived at all through such a severe trial. In thorough un-
derdraining there is much hard work and expense, but as far as our
experience goes, it is a thing that will pay.”

In many portions of the country,
drains are made as follows: Two poles
or saplings are laid on opposite sides
at the bottom of the drain; then a
third pole or sapling, somewhat larger
in diameter, is laid over the two, as
represented in Fig.14; when the poles
are laid down, the ditch is then filled
with the material which was dug out
of it. Drains of this kind, particu-
larly in wet, swampy or mucky land,
answer a good purpose for ten or fif-
teen years. Many such drains are to
be found in Northwestern Ohio, where they have given
general satisfaction.

In constructing drains of this kind, the poles should be
covered with turf, or some other material, to prevent the
earth from being admitted between or under the poles.
In some instances straw, small stones, and even brush have
been placed on the poles in order to make the drains

226 LAND DRAINAGE.

“draw,” as itis called; but this is simply material and labor
lost, because the water will very readily find its way into
the drains, and wash out the bottom and destroy the whole
drain, if great care is not exercised in constructing them.
In some parts of the county, fence rails are used instead
of poles. But neither brush, stone, poles, nor rails should
be used, if tile can be obtained at reasonable prices. The
digging and filling up of the drain cost about the same,
whether brush, poles or tiles are used, and since tile will
last so much longer, we have cited an instance where tile
were laid in 1620, and has made the ground more fertile
for all subsequent time, until their removal; it is but rea-
sonable to conclude that tile are in the end much the
cheapest. Underdraining at once produces a marked ef-
fect upon the crops, whether the conduits are made of
brush, poles or tile; the owner of the land is not obliged
to wait for years for a remunerative result, as in the case
of planting an orchard; therefore, where the farmer can
command the means, it is by all means advisable to make
the best kinds of drains.

PLUG DRAINING, OR SUBSOIL DRAINING.

This system of underdraining does not require the use
of any foreign materials, the channel for the water being
wholly formed of clay, to which this kind of drain is alone
suited. It was the invention of Mr. Lumbert, a highly
talented agriculturist, at that time living at Wick Rissing-
ton, Gloucestershire (England), where he made the first ex-
periment about the year 1803 ;! in 1845, the tenant (Wm.
Bliss), wrote to Mr. Newman, as follows:

‘(In answer to your letter I have the pleasure of stating that the
drains in the field you named ure as perfect as when you last wrote me,

1 Charles Newman. Hints on Practical Land Drainage. London, 1845.

BRUSH DRAINS. 227

uad as likely to last as when first made; and my opinion is that if
drains are well rammed, and not made when the weather is frosty,
the clay draining will Jast as long as any other drain that can bo
made. What I have ever seen fail in this neighborhood, has been
in 2 year or two after being made, and in my opinion resulted from
not being properly rammed down, or allowing the work to be done in
‘frost, which has the effect of causing the clay to crumble into the
drain.”

This method of draining requires a particular set of
tools for its execution; consisting of, first, a common
spade, by means of which, the first spit is removed, and
laid on one side; second, a smaller sized spade, by means
of which the second spit is taken out, and laid on the
opposite side of the trench thus formed; third, a peculiar
instrument called a bitting iron, consisting of a narrow
spade three and a half feet in length, and one and a half
inches wide at the mouth, and sharpened like a chisel—
the mouth, or blade, being half an inch in thickness, in
order to give the necessary strength to so slender an im-
plement. From the mouth, on the right hand side, a wing
of steel, six inches long, and two and a half broad, pro-
jects at right angles; and on the left, at fourteen inches
from the mouth, a tread, three inches long, is fitted.

The method of using this tool is as follows: When the
first and second spits have been removed, the bitting iron
is pushed down into the soft clay to the required depth of
the drain; it is then withdrawn, and, after being turned
round, is again pushed down to the same depth as before,
but six inches further back in the trench. By these two
cuts, a piece of clay, six inches in length and of the depth
to which the tool had been pushed, is separated on all
sides, withdrawn by the tool, and deposited beside the
second spit. These operations are repeated until a neatly
formed trench is completed, from which any crumbs are
removed by a narrow scoop.

228 LAND DRAINAGE.

: = =
es : ane =
SS —

= . 3
Pe ee = poe
=

Fig. 15.

A number of blocks of wood
(see Fig. 15), each one foot
long, six inches high, and two
inches thick at the bottom, and
two and a half at the top, are
next required. From four to
six of these are joined to-
gether by pieces of hoop-iron
let into their sides by a saw
draught ; a small space being
left between their ends, so
that when completed, the
whole forms a somewhat flex-
ible bar, as shown in the cut;
to one end of which a stout
chain is attached. These
blocks are welted, and placed
with the narrow end under-
most in the bottom of the
ditch, which should be cut so
as to fit them closely; the
clay which has been dug out
is then to be returned by de-

grees upon the blocks and rammed down with wooden
rammers three inches wide. As soon as the portion of
the trench above the blocks, or plugs, has been filled, they
are drawn forward, by means of a lever thrust through a
link of the chain, and into the bottom of the drain for a
fulcrum, until they are all again exposed, except the las’
one. The further portion of the trench, above the blocks.
is now filled in and rammed, and so on, the operations
proceed until the whole is finished.

Plug draining should never be used when there is :
want of fall in the drains, or when there is any risk of

WEDGE AND SHOULDER DRAINS. 229

flooding, for the tubes formed in the clay are rapidly de-
stroyed when any water remains standing in the drain.

Plug draining, as may readily be supposed, can not be
executed very cheaply. The nicety required in all the
operations connected with it demands the services of skill-
ful workmen, so that it sometimes exceeds the cost of tile
draining. It can only be carried on on lands which yields
the material for making pipes; and now that (thanks to
railways) coals are so much at the command of most
districts, it can not be recommended; and is mentioned
here rather as a method which has been used than with
any view to encourage its adoption.

WEDGE AND SHOULDER DRAINS.

These were made to a considerable extent, in former
times in England, even after the mole plow was laid aside,
although they are of the same general character of the
plug and mole plow drains, that is, no foreign material is
required to form a water channel. Figs. 16 and 17 pre-
sent a sectional view of the wedge and shoulder drains
respectively. The description of them we copy from
Morton's Cyclopedia of Agriculture.

AQ wg
WZ
Kay

\
(
\\
a

BZ Gi 77
Zz os ae

OW G
Fia. i¢.— WV anes DRAIN. Fic. 17.—SHOuULDER DRAIN.

Wedge and Shoulder Drains.— These, like the last-

230 LAND DRAINAGE.

mentioned drains, are mere channels formed in the sub-
soil. They have, therefore, the same fault of want of
durability, and are totally unfit for land under the plow.

In forming wedge drains, the first spit, with the turf
attached, is laid on one side, and the earth, removed from
the remainder of the trench, is laid on the other. The
last spade used is very narrow, and tapers rapidly, so as
to form @ narrow wedge-shaped cavity for the bottom of
the trench. The turf first removed, is then cut into a
wedge so much larger than the size of the lower part of
the drain, that when rammed into it with the grassy side
undermost, it leaves a vacant space in the bottom, of six
or eight inches in depth.

The Shoulder Drain does not differ materially from the
wedge drain. Instead of the whole trench, forming a
gradually tapering wedge, the upper portion of the shoul-
der drain has the sides of the trench nearly perpendicu-
lar, and of considerable width, the last spit only being
taken out with a narrow tapering spade, by which means
a shoulder is left on either side, from which it takes its
name. After the trench has been finished, the first spit,
having the grassy side downward, as in the former case,
is placed in the trench and pushed down till it rests upon
the shoulders already mentioned, so that a narrow wedge-
_ shaped channel is again left for the water.

These drains may be formed in almost any kind of land
which is not a loose gravel or sand. They are a very
cheap kind of a drain; for neither the cost of cutting, —
nor filling in, much exceeds that of the ordinary tile
drain; while the expense of tiles, or other materials, is
altogether saved; still such drains can not be recom-
mended, for they are very liable to injury, and even can
only last a very limited time.

THE MOLE PLOW. 231

MOLE PLOW.

After the advantages consequent upon underdraining
became apparent to English farmers, they conceived the
idea of underdraining by machinery. Several plows were
invented and patented in England, the object of which was
to make surface drains of a few inches depth only. The
first account of a mole plow which we have succeeded in
finding is in the ‘‘ Repertory of Arts and Sciences,” vol. 8,
a serial London publication, commencing about the year
1796. This is the first record we could find of an imple-
ment or machine with which covered or underground drains
were successfully made. It was pretty generally used
throughout England during afew years, but was scon laid
aside—at least, we find no reference made to it as being
in general use after about 1805. The following, from Mr.
Newman’s work on drainage, indicates that greater confi-
dence was reposed in plug drains than in the drains made
by the mole plow:

“T should state that the mole plow, worked by a windlass, was a
favorite machine of Mr. Lumbert [the inventor of plug draining],
for which he had a patent. After his invention of the subsoil sys-
tem, the mole plow was laid aside—a great proof of the superiority
of the former. Although it must be admitted that the windlass
mole plow, on soils suited for its purpose, is a very useful machine,
it is only calculated for strong clay land; and even on such land it
has been frequently found that there is a degree of uncertainty aris-
ing from some sorts of clay being too soft, and consequently filling
up the orifice and spoiling the drain. It may, however, be consid-
ered useful as a temporary and cheap method for the tenant, but it
can not be called an effectual measure.”

We intended at first merely to mention the mole plow
as one of the means devised years ago, and then aban-
doned, for making drains. But the many recent successes
with it in the state of Ohio, in Fayette, Clinton, Madison

a

932 LAND DRAINAGE.

and Union counties, make it worthy of more than a mere
passing notice. We, therefore, copy the account of the
first mole plow (Fig. 18) from the Repertory of Arts and

Sciences:

THE PIONEER MOLE PLOW.

DESCRIPTION OF A MACHINE FOR DRAINING LAND, CALLED A
MOLE PLow.!

‘For this invention a bounty of thirty guineas was voted to Mr.
Scott ?, who has described the manner of using the machine in the
following letter:

“The bounty above mentioned was given to Mr. Scott in the
spring of the year 1797, and, in the month of October following, a
patent was taken out by Mr. Henry Watts, for an implement for
draining land, the similarity of which to Mr. Szott’s mole plow it is
unnecessary for us to point out; but what we think highly import-
ant to inform the public is, that Mr. Scott, who sold his mole plow
for two guineas and a half (indeed, Mr. Welton’s letter says, ‘the
price of the plow complete is about two guineas’),is now the agent

1By Mr. Adam Scott, of Guildford Survey.—[From the Transactions of
the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. ]

2 When bounties for machines, etc., are given by the Society, it is always
upon the condition that the machine, or a model thereof, shall be deposited
in the Society’s collection, for the use of the public; it is also expressly
stated, that “‘no person shall receive any premium, bounty or encourage-
ment from the Society, for any matter for which he has obtained, or pro-
poses to obtain, a patent.”

THE MOLE PLOW. 233

for the sale of Mr. Watts’ patent improvement, at the enormous
price of ten guineas. Such of our readers as desire a further ac-
count of this matter, will find a long letter concerning it in the Gen-
tleman’s Magazine for February:

“The mole plow has been used in Sutton Park, for John Webbe
Weston, Esq., these three years past, and is found to answer every
purpose of underground draining, without breaking the surface any
more than by a thin coulter being drawn along, the mark of which
disappears in a few days. A man and boy, with four horses, may
drain thirty acres in a day, provided there is an open gripe or ditch
cut at the lower side of the ground to be thus drained, in order to
receive the water from those small cavities which the plow forms in
the ground, at the depth of twelve inches or more. The method of
using it is, to go down and up, at the distance of fifteen, twenty or
thirty feet, as the land may require. This alludes to grass lands;
but it is equally good for turnips, when it is too wet for sheep to feed
them off, or on any land that is too wet to sow; either of which evils
it will remedy in a very short time, provided there is some declivity
in the ground. The best time for this operation, in grass lands, is
in October or November, when the land has received moisture enough
for the plow to work, and not so much as to injure the land or ren-
der it soft.

“ A farther account of this plow is given in the following letter
from Mr. Weston, dated Sutton Place, December 9, 1795:

“* With respect to the mole plow, I really think too much can not
be said in its commendation; for the purpose of temporary drain-
ing, where such is useful, as is the case with great part of my land
laid down to grass, it being on a declivity, and is too wet (in the
autumn and winter only), after great falls of rain or snow. It being
free from land springs, I conceived it improper to be underdrained
in the usual way, as thereby the moisture necessary for its produc-
ing a crop of grass would be carried off equally at all seasons.

“«'The soil is very light, but not sandy, to the depth of from nine
to eighteen inches, or more; and underneath is a strong clay, which
renders the surface absolutely pouchy in winter; but, from the use
of this instrument, the ground on which a man could not walk will, in
the course of forty-eight hours, be enabled to carry any cattle. From
ten to twenty acres may be easily.drained in one day, by a single
team, which makes the expense trifling, though it should be neces-
sary to be done every year.

“(The drains made by the plow should be in direct lines, at from

=

O34 LAND DRAINAGE.

ten to twenty feet apart, and all vent themselves into an open furrow
or gripe at the bottom. I have used this machine for four seasons
past, and with great success. The price of the plow complete i:
about two guineas. The plow, to the best of my knowledge, is the
sole invention of my steward, Adam Scott, whose ingenuity on this
and many other occasions deserves every encouragement.’

‘There are also two letters from Edmund Bochen, Esq.; the first
from Burwood Park, dated March 20, 1796, is as follows:

“Mr, Seott’s mole plow is so contrived that it makes the drains
from one foot to eighteen inches deep; the bore two inches anda
half in diameter; the soil rather a stiff clay. I made use of six
horses, but am inclined to think, from the ease with which they
worked it, that four would be fully sufficient, I shall have, next
season, a better opportunity of coming to a certainty on the subject.
Should you wish for further information, I shall then be happy to
communicate what may have occurred,

“*T apprehend this plow can only answer in soils where it is not
likely to meet with any material obstruction; in mine, I flatter my-
self, I shall find much benefit result from its use.’

“Tn his second letter, from Ottershaw Park, dated February 12
1797, Mr. Bochen says:

‘*On the first of this month, in light land, my drain being fourteen
inches deep, 1 worked the plow, without difficulty, with two oxen and
three horses; but, in the strong clays, found it work enough for four
horses and two oxen, although | reduced my depth two inches. The
drains 1 have drawn on low wet lands and clay run instantly after
the plow. On these lands I have generally drawn the drains about
twenty feet asunder, and find them much firmer and drier. I con-
ceive that, except in very heavy land, four oxen would be sufficient,
and fully equal to two oxen and three horses, as the former step and
consequently draw much better.

«The mole plow, in my opinion, fully answers the intents in such
lands as it can properly work in; my only objection being to the
strength required to work it, which makes it impracticable when a
large team is not kept.

“<It may be worthy remark, that the last year’s drains, which
were in clay, are as entire, and run as freely, as the first moment
they were made.’ ”

Major Dickinson, of Steuben county, New York, ap-
pears to have been the first one to introduce the mole plow

THE MOLE PLOW. 235

in this country. Major Dickinson himself, in a recent ad-
dress, thus speaks of what he calls his

SHANGHAE PLOW.

“T will take the poorest acre of stubble ground, and, if too wet
for corn in the first place, 1 will thoroughly drain it with a Shanghae
plow and four yoke of oxen in three hours.

“| will suppose the acre to be twenty rods long and eight rods
wide. ‘lo thoroughly drain the worst of your clay subsoil, it may
require a drain once in eight feet, and they can be made so cheaply
that | can afford to make them at that distance. ‘I'o do so, will re-
quire the team to travel sixteen times over the twenty rods length-
wise, or one mile in three hours; two men to drive, one to hold the
plow, one to ride the beam, and one to carry the crowbar, pick up
any large stones thrown out by going to the right or left, and to help
to carry around the plow, which i is too heavy for the other two to do
quickly.

“The plow is quite simple in its construction, consisting of a
round piece of iron, three and a half or four inches in diameter,
drawn down to a point, with a furrow cut in the top one and a half
inches deep; a plate, eighteen inches wide and three feet long, with
one end welded into the furrow of the round bar, while the other is
fastened to the beam. The colter is six inches in width, and is fast-
ened to the beam at one end, and at the other to the point of the
round bar. The colter and plate are each three fourths of an inch
thick, which is the entire width of the plow above the round iron
at the bottom.

‘It would require much more power to draw this plow on some
soils than on yours. The strength of team depends entirely on the
character of the subsoil. Cast iron, with the exception of the colter,
for an easy soil would be equally good; and from eighteen to twen-
ty-four inches is sufficiently deep to run the plow. I can as thor-
oughly drain an acre of ground in this way as any that can be found
in Seneca county.”

Within the past three or four years, some five or six
patents have been granted to persons in Madison county,
Ohio, for improvements on the mole plow. These Ohio
mole plows, as well as the Marquis and Emerson or Go-

2360 LAND DRAINAGE.

pher plow of Illinois, are. oneree by a capstan, as shown
in Fig. 19. |

Fig. 19 is a view of the sweep power, capstan, cable
and plow, in operation. The team is driven around the
capstan attached to the lever, by which the cable is wound
upon the capstan,
and the plow thus
drawn forward.
FF are anchor
stakes, to secure
the power in place
Eva while being oper-
@ ated. The cable
jm is 100 feet long,
"3 Hand, when the
=== plow is drawn up

Fia. 20. to the first anchor
stakes, the team is hitched to the body of the power, and
it is dragged forward 100 feet, and set again for another
turn. In the plow, the shank, B, is set to go the desired
depth. This machine is the one made by Lane & Loomer,
of Lockport, Ill. Fig 20 is a view of the mole and foot
of the shank; this mole is in flexible sections.

Figs. 21 and 22 represent Rowland & Forbis’ mole
plow, of London, Ohio, patented in 1859; it is also known
as the Witherow plow.

The improvements here represented are said to be well
adapted to the purposes intended; and the simplicity of
the adjusting apparatus, in combination with the strength
of the supports, is certainly theoretically much in its favor.
Fig. 21 represents an elevation of the machine; and Fig.
22 is a plan or a view taken when looking down upon it.
Similar letters refer to similar parts in both figures.

At A, are the runners for carrying and guiding the

4 hI

¢ 3 Ex

Le. ee

THE MOLE PLOW. 237

front part of the machine. Upon the cross bar of “ this
sled” rests the end of the beam, B, to which the draft is
attached by the rope, and through the sled by the bolt, J:

The rear end of this beam, B, is supported by the cord or
rope, and the windlass, by means of which the depth of
the mole is regulated. OC, is another beam, fastened by
iron couplings to the beam, B, as shown at ¢ and 0, and
having its rear end resting upon the axis of the trucks, II.

238 LAND DRAINAGE,

Upon this axis are placed the supports, D D, which sustain
the windlass. These supports are stayed by the rods, ss,
and hence can be inclined backward, as shown in Fig. 21.

E, is the arm to which the
moles, r and J, are attached.
It is fastened securely in
the rear end of the beam, B,
by the iron bolt, m, and
keys, n m, and _ passing
through a mortise in the
beam, C, works up and down
against the friction roller,
at f, and, as is evident, re-
ceives great resistance from
it. The advantage of hav-
ing the mole, J, attached as
here shown at y, is, that it
may yield to stones and

Ny i §=6other objects which would
Yj be likely to break it.

B (Ih There is at K, a cutter
bolted underneath the beam,
C, which opens the sod and
separates roots, etc., before
the arm, E.

Letters patent were grant-
ed for these valuable ar-
rangements April 19, 1859,
to H. W. Rowland and E.
Forbis, and the right was as-
signed to themselves and
Washington Witherow.

Fig. 23 represents the
Cole & Wall mole plow. A, is the beam, in which a wheel

THE MOLE PLOW. 239

at B, moves in a mortise; at D, is a circular cutter, in-
tended to cut the sod, and thus lessen friction. EH, is a
cutter bar or arm, to which the moles, F and G, are at-
tached; the mole, G, has a fin, H, attached to the under

surface; C,isa
wheel, to the
axle of which
two stout iron

bars, J and K, 4
are attached. ;
The bar J, |
serves asareg- |
ulator of the -
cutter, HE, ele- :
vating or de- ;

pressing the
mole the depth
of the beam, A.
Fig. 24 rep-
resents the
mole and cut-
ter of the Bales’
mole plow.
The improve-
ment here rep-
resented per-
tains principal-
ly to the mole
and cutter—its
adjustability to

‘

various depths, etc. A, represents the beam; B, the cut-
ter shaft, which is made of cast steel, made light and
sharp, and polished, so as to pass through the ground
smooth and as easily as possible, that the ground may

i

240 LAND DRAINAGE.

Yy of awedge, having
f a sharp edge in
front, and so curv-
ed in its upper
surface as to form
an arch-shaped
trench, as shown
in section DD, 5
by Tinches. The
mole is hollow in
the bottom, so as
to prevent its
pressing the bot-
tom, permitting
the water to rise
freely through the
bottom, and made
of cast steel well
polished.

Fig. 25 repre-
sents A. Defen-
baugh’s mole
plow. The mole
to this plow is at-
tached by a stout
link to the lower
portion of the cut-
ter bar, or colter,
E. The mole, H,
has a circular fin,
m, attached to it,
and the sides of

THE MOLE PLOW. 241

the mole are furnished with friction blocks or pulleys, k k
kk, on each side. The colter is fixed and not adjustable,
but the beam, D, may be elevated or depressed, by means
of the windlass, B. The forward end of the beam is at-
tached to a shoe or sled, HE F.

It would require a very strong team to operate one of
these plows if the power were applied directly—that is,
if the team were attached to the end of the beam, as in
the case of the ordinary plow. But, by employing a cap-
stan, as represented in Fig. 19, two yoke of oxen can
operate it with comparative ease. By attaching a dyna-
mometer at the end of the lever or sweep to which the
team is hitched, it appears that about 250 pounds is all
the draught required to cut a mole 36 to 40 inches in ordin-
ary moist clay; but if the dynamometer is attached where
the cable is attached to the beam (D, Fig. 19), the direct
draught is indicated, and amounts to about 5,000 pounds.
By a simple arithmetical process the direct draught is
readily determined, viz: multiply the power applied at the
end of the lever or sweep,by the length of the sweep in
inches (counting from the center of the capstan or reel),
and divide the product by half the diameter of the reel or
capstan ; the quotient will be the direct amount of power
required to operate the implement or machine. For ex-
ample, the sweep, in Fig. 19, to which the oxen are at-
tached, measures 163 feet or 198 inches; the capstan or
reel measures 16 inches in diameter, and the dynamometer
indicates a draught of 250 pounds; what is the actual
force or power necessary to operate the plow?

250 pounds X 198 inches==49,500-——8 inches—-6,18714 pounds.

After the reel or spool has been wound full from top to
bottom, the doubling of the cable on the reel will cause an
increase of power to be applied; the double cord or thread

will make the dynamometer indicate an increase of 75 to
22

242 LAND DRAINAGE,

100 pounds; thus making, in the above-named instance
(with a two-inch cable) the actual draught to be 6,435
pounds.

During the first days of July, 1859, a trial of five dif-
ferent patents of the mole plow was had at London, Mad-
ison county, at which the writer acted as chairman of the
examining and awarding committee. It is not deemed
inappropriate to insert the report of that committee in
this place—the writer having in the meantime neither
seen nor learned anything in relation to these plows to
cause him to change a single idea expressed in the report.

“ According to previous notice, there were assembled at London,
Madison county, O., a large concourse of persons, chiefly farmers,
to witness the trial of reapers, mowers, and mole plows or ditching
machines. It may not be generally known that within the past
twelve months there have been five patents obtained on mole plows,
by persons in Madison county. Each one of these plows has special
merits, and the agricultural community in that county manifested
considerable anxiety to learn, by means of a trial, the comparative
merit of each. The entries and description of these plows were as
follows :

eS) et iss) | Oo; a
®|o % =| ©
pa ts fe) =| <4
32) 8 2 = ic}
| = 5 i
t/a | q |Diameter|/=| § | Adjusta- |Cost. Draft.
s;/&1]¢ | Mole. ,B| 2 bility.
sie] = s| 8
S eat Ht A = =}
Py | =| =
: a] inches. |F i> *)

Witherow {1655 13 15 x63z|16/1634| good. |gioo| } 390 doublecora.

225 single ‘

Co.,
A. Defen- ‘ 250 single
baugh, 15,5 9 536x736 15 16% good. 300 double ‘“c

—Bales, [184417 [5 x7 [1611614
Cole & Wall,j165 | 8x6/5 *? } 18|1824| not good.| 110

nw

325 double *‘
250 single ‘“
300 double ‘
225 single ‘‘
300 double ‘

~

444) 8x6)5 x7 {18)18}4! not good.

| 300 le“
50 single

Marquis, 16

"There being great uniformity in the operation and draft of the
plows, the committee found it impossible to take the working quali-

THE MOLE PLOW. 243

ties as a basis of the award, and therefore took into account cost,
adjustability, and the shape of the mole. The adjustability of the
Witherow plow, being very convenient in operation, and so gradu-
ated that the operator can know at all times the precise depth (by
means of a graduated scale) at which the ditch is being made, to-
gether with the cost of the plow, determined the committee to award
it the first premium. The mole of this plow is an angular ovoid, six
and a half inches high, five in horizontal diameter, running down to
a flat base of about two inches, The mole might be considerably
improved in form.

“The Defenbaugh machine is adjusted with regard to depth by a
windlass, attached in the rear of the cutter, or colter, by which a
change of eighteen inches may be made in the depth of the ditch,
but the operator has no means of knowing precisely at what depth
he is cutting. The form of the mole is that of an ellipse, with a flat
base, from the center of which proceeds a sharp fin, downward, an
inch or more. Upon the whole, the mole is rather better than that
of the Witherow plow.

“The Bales plow is not without merit. On the trial he used the
capstan of the Witherow machine. ‘The adjustability is more diffi.
cult than in either of the preceding ones, while the mole is cer.
tainly the most objectionable. ‘The mole is seven inches in perpen.
dicular diameter, and five in horizontal. lt is well known that a
small quantity of flowing water requires a very limited channel.
The mole of this plow presents the same sized channel to a small,
that it does toa large quantity of water. When water has a wider
channel than absolutely necessary, it forms a zigzag course, and de-
posits whatever foreign matters, such as sand, roots of vegetables,
etc., it may bring with it, at the curves it has made in its course, and
in a short time, comparatively, fills up from this cause. But if the
channel is so constructed that a small quantity of water has a very
narrow channel, and a larger quantity of water a wider channel,
the probability is that the channel will be kept clear a much longer
period than where a uniformly wide channel is prepared for ald
stages of water.

‘Although the Cole & Wall plow is defective in being readily
adjusted to different depths, yet, in the opinion of the chairman of
the committee, the mole was certainly the best shaped of any pre-
sented for competition. Its form is ovoid, and has a fin four inches
in depth, extending from the base downward; this fin is about half
an inch thick, and makes a deep incision in the earth, in the bottom

244 LAND DRAINAGE.

of the drain, thus making a very narrow channel for the water when
at alow stage. When operating, two moles are attached; the first
one measures four by five inches, while the second one is five by
eight inches. It is claimed that the second mole, being a short dis-
tance behind the first one, and being three more inches in perpen-
dicular diameter, completely closes the incision made by the colter,
and thus prevents the drain from filling by substances falling in
from above, more effectually than the others. On account of the
superiority of the mole, the committee awarded to this plow the
second premium.

“The Marquis, or Illinois mole plow, is one among the earliest
patented in this country. On the trial, it was operated by the Cole
& Wall capstan. It is defective in adjustability to different depths,
and the shape of the mole was, by the committee, considered to be
not superior in form to that of the Bales plow, although evidently
more durable in structure, yet objectionable because it makes a
drain with a flat bottom of five inches in width.

“Kach plow was furnished with one hundred feet of two-inch
cable, aii cach drained or ditched at about the depth oc! three feet,
or forty inches. The length of drain which each is capable of mak-
ing per (ay is about the same. The character of the land on which
the tria) wis made, may be said to consist of a stiff clay subsoil,
and a re‘er stiff loamy clay soil. With a good team, any one of
these pl. s can ditch from seventy-five to a hundred rods per day,
in the k'. of soil in which the trial was made.

“The «-mmittee desire it to be distinctly understood that they do
not cons:ler these mole plows to be of any considerab!e utility in
any other than level, or very slightly undulating clay lands. For
sandy loams, or gravelly soils, or very undulating lands, they can not
commen them. In such lands, the only method of securing the
advantayes of underdraining, is to employ drain pipe tiles.

“The mole plow is useful, inasmuch as it helps to demonstrate
the benelits of thorough draining more promptly than it could other-
wise be done, although this has never been found the best method
of making drains. The fact that work done in this manner is never
permanent, and that mole plows are adapted to use on a part only
of the lands needing drainage, has always prevented their coming
into general use, while tile draining has the advantage of being
suited to lands of every character, whatever the nature of the soil
or surface, and the further advantage of being permanent, and in
most cases actually cheaper than any other method.”

THE MOLE PLOW. 245

We will conclude this notice of the mole plows with the
following communication to the Ohio Farmer, from the
pen of James M. Trimble, of Hillsboro, Highland county,
Ohio. Mr. Trimble is engaged in farming on an exten-
sive scale, and is well and favorably known to the Ohio
agricultural community :

‘Spending some six or eight days on my farm in Fayette, while
looking over the farm accounts, I was reminded of my promise made,
to give you the result of our ditching and underdraining operations
for the year 1860. 1 have with some care taken from the diary of
the farm the ditching and underdraining account. The present ac-
count includes the work of 1858 and 1859, which I gave you last
year. The creek runs north and southerly across the farm; the work
has been confined to the prairie land west of the creek. ‘The open
ditches contain in all 2,041 rods, varying from 33 to 6 feet in depth,
and cut at a cost of $910. The land next to, and adjoining the
creeks, for some 30 to 50 rods, is from two to five feet higher than it
is from 160 to 200 rods west, which required the outlets or open
ditches to be some three to five feet deeper across this elevation than
those are from 100 to 200 rods west of the creek.

‘The druins were put in at from three feet to three feet six inches
deep, whicii received the working of the mole at a sufficient depth
in the clay subsoil to make the drains more permanent and lasting.
The total s:aount of underdrains put in is 4,560 rods, at a cost of
$190, mak:ng the entire cost of open and underdrains $1,100, from
which, dec ucting $536, expended in 1858 and 1859, leaves $564, ex-
pended in 1860. Most of the open ditches cut during the last year,
were made with the plow and scraper. They are not only a cheaper
but a better ditch than those cut with a spade, the dirt being re-
moved so fur from the bank as to prevent its washing or falling into
the ditch. The fall in the drains and open ditches is barely suff-
cient to carry off the water. In time of high water, the creek
leaches up some of the open ditches a distance of 200 rods. The
underdrains were laid so as to receive a regular fall of about one
inch to 500 feet, which J think a decided advantage in mole drains,
as it secures them permanently from any current or wash, in throw-
ing off the surplus water.

“he land, with the exception of an occasional grove of timber
was broken up, planted, and wed? cultivated in corn this year, with

246 LAND DRAINAGE.

the exception of sixty acres of prairie sod, broken late; it was
planted in corn with Barnhill’s drill, thinned out, but not cultivated.

‘‘ Although not accurately measured with compass and chain, yet
we have so far measured the ground as to satisfy us, that, excluding
groves, we had 400 acres in corn, 200 acres of which have been cut
up and put in shock. Of that left standing, we have husked and
fed at the rate of 100 bushels per day, for the last sixty days, and
have husked out a number of fallen shocks of that shocked up.
From the amount husked out, we have no doubt that the entire crop
of 400 acres will average over 66 bushels per acre. My son and Mr.
Jere Shelton, who have charge of the work and farming the land,
concur in the opinion that fifteen bushels of corn per acre is but a
fair estimate for the excess in yield, on account of wnderdrains.
I would put it at twenty; but taking their estimate, the ac-
count will stand thus: Farm Dr. to open and underdrains, $1,100;
Cr. by extra yield of crop, 15 bushels per acre on 400 acres, which
is 6,000 bushels of corn, at 25 cents per bushel, makes $1,500, from
which deduct $564, cost of open and underdrains for 1860, and you
have $936 as the profit for 1860.

‘Now, this looks like extravagant work on paper, and the question
might be asked if 11% rods of underdrain, and some two rods of
open ditch per acre (about one half of the open ditch, extending
over 900 acres of land), at a cost of $2 per acre, or less, well give
these results, what will thorough drainage do? To this I would
reply, judging from the corn, directly over and within six to eight
feet of the underdrains, and comparing it with that beyond the influ-
ence of the drains, 1 would put the crop at 100 bushels in lieu of 66
bushels.

‘As to the question of durability of mole drains (a very important
item in their economy), I can only say, from present indications,
my better impression is, that they may last ten or more years, and
that they will last five years, ] have no doubt.

‘The fall rains have started the most of my underdraining; they
are throwing off small streams of water, as freely as they did last
spring; if there is a single defective drain on the farm, 1 am not
aware of it. Last spring, in constructing new drains, it became
necessary to connect with those made a year previous. In digging
down to, and boxing up these connections, we found the original
drain sound and perfect in every instance. 1 have no fears of my
drains crumbling in, caving in, or filling up, at least for many years
to come. Most of the defective mole drains that I have seen or

THE MOLE PLOW. 247

heard of, cave in from the top of the ground to the bottom of the
drain, or they fill up. This is owing to two causes: First, too much
fall has been given to the drain, and the seam or aperture made by
the cutter bar is not permanently closed at the top of the drain,
either of which is fatal to a mole drain. Second, the grade of the
drain should be regular, and not run soas to make a syphon; lead
pipes or tile may answer in such drains; without either the one or the
other, the drains will fill up. A mole drain, with a regular, gradual
fali of one inch to 1,000 feet, is abundantly better than one with
irregular falls and rises, as the inequalities of the ground happen
to be, with a fall of three feet in 1,000.

‘In the construction of mole drains, my experience has taught
me that the great trouble and danger is in the top, the arch and roof of
the drain, and not in the bottom, as some suppose. The last ditcher
(Emmerson’s patent), the mole has been improved—as I think, very
much improved in form and shape. The bottom is hollowed out
more; the sides are rounded from the bottom to the apex of the cone
of the mole, so as to throw the pressure equal from the side and bot-
tom of the drain to the cone or arch, and the nub on the end of the
mole, back of the cutter, is elevated some three inches above the
level of the mole, which effectually closes the aperture made by the
cutter, making it as solid and permanent as any other portion of the
drain. My examinations in digging down to, and cutting away the
arch, or the roof of the drain, has satisfied me that nine tenths of
all the water going into the drains, enters at the bottom of the drain,
and not through the roof and sides; they are more impervious ti
water than tile. From the best information I can get, there are at
this time not less than 200 miles of mole drain in Fayette and Clin-
ton counties, put in within the past two years, and at an average
cost not to exceed five cents per rod (when the owners of the land
put it in); in some cases, by contract, ten and fifteen cents per rod
was charged. The drains, so far as I can learn, have very generally
given satisfaction.

‘‘T may have been tedious in this statement, if so, my apology is
in the importance of the subject of underdraining our lands, and
the economy in the use of the mole plow in preference to tile or

stone,”

Mr. J. C. Miller, of Union county, Ohio, is the inven-
tor of a traction engine, propelled or operated by horse
power, to which is attached a mole plow, that opens the

248 LAND DRAINAGE.

channel and cements it as it progresses, by letting down
a cement ready made of water lime through a flat tube in
the rear of the cutter or colter, directly upon the rear
of the mole, and which is pressed into shape by a wooden
mole trowel following.

For ourself we have no confidence in this matter of
cement, for the reason that none of the arches break
down from above, but where the arches do fall in, the sides
and bottom wash so as to let down the top, and the same
causes operating will cause the cemented arch to fall. In
making the drain with the mole plow, the top and portions
of the sides become very hardly packed; in fact, so much
so as almost to exclude water, and the coat of cement
will give it no additional support. A sufficient amount of
cement we do not think could be introduced to make a
substantial arch for a loamy soil.

In addition to the kinds already described, there are
yet, aside from pipe tile and stone drains, those described
in British works under the head of Bog drains and Sheep
drains. Having never witnessed any of these kinds of
drains, and being doubtful whether any exist in the United
States, we copy the following description and figures from
Morton’s Cyclopedia of Agriculture: .

SHEEP DRAINS.

“Tn forming sheep drains, the main drains should be first opened
in the most suitable places, and the minor drains then led into them.
In peaty or boggy places, the workman first proceeds to mark out,
on both sides of the drain, with a strong and heavy edging-tool.
This tool should be edged with steel, and have a cross handle, which
the workman can seize with both hands. This is the tool we have
found all workmen to prefer; for by simply raising it a foot or so
above the surface, and causing it to descend with sudden force, it
cuts through the tough, wiry. stems of heath, or other obstacles, and
at once makes a cut of considerable depth into the sod also. When
the line of drain is thus marked out, the workman proceeds to divide

SHEEP DRAINS. 249

the sod which he has separated, into convenient lengths, by trans-
verse cuts with the same tool; and these he drags out and deposits
on the lower side of the line of drains, by means of a light drag,
placing the grassy side undermost. The drain is afterward deep-
ened, and finished off with a common spade; the soil or peat dug
out is placed upon and behind the sods already removed, after which,
a blow or two from the spade gives a finish to the bank and com-
pletes the operation, giving the trench and bank the form repre-
sented in the following cut. In places where the surface is not of
a boggy nature, the common spade must take the place of the edging-

tool and drag.
3
MR
fo
Z| if a

* grees
. w53 ite BRE
we WL

ROSES << \S

a
ae

Fic. 26. — SHEEP Drain.

“ Bog Draining.—In draining deep bogs, the removal of water
causes a great alteration in the hight of the surface of the bog,
which rapidly sinks as the drying process goes on. This constant
alteration of the level, and the soft nature of bogs, render the use
of heavy materials, for forming drains in them, improper. Where
the bog does not exceed six or eight feet in depth, the best plan is to
cut quite through it, to the bed of solid material on which it rests,
and then to form drains of some of the more permanent materials;
but when the bog is so deep as to render this plan impracticable,
the proper course to pursue is to divide it into brakes, by means of
large, open ditches, into which the subsidiary drains are made to
empty. The subsidiary drains may be formed somewhat in the
manner of the shoulder drain. They must be made at least eighteen
inches wide, and the turf first taken out is to be laid on one side, to
be used for forming the roof of the drains. The trench should not
be taken out the full depth of the drain at once, but should be left
unfinished for a few months, in order that the bog may subside.
Before the autumnal rains commence, the drains should be finished,
by paring down their sides in a perpendicular direction, to within a

250 LAND DRAINAGE,

foot of the depth they are intended to be made. The bottom spit is
then taken out, precisely as in the case of the shoulder drain in
grass lands, except that it must be wider, to allow for the sides
coming somewhat together, owing to the soft nature of the bog.
When the trench is neatly and properly finished, the turf first re-
moved is to be returned into the drain, which it should just fit. Tho
surface portion should be placed undermost, resting upon the shoul-
ders; the rest of the trench should then be filled up with the remain-
der of the peat which had been removed. If proper care is exer-
cised in cutting the drain, the pieces may be made to fit neatly
into the trench again, forming a very complete and efficient drain.

‘In bog draining, a conduit has been employed, formed of peat,
somewhat in the form of a pipe in two halves, Fig. 27. These pipes
are formed at once in the bog, by means of a peculiar kind of tool,
invented by Mr. Calderwood. If properly dried, they are very dur-
able, and can be formed at a very low price, as an expert workman
can turn out two or three thousand a day, when the peat is of suit-
able description. From their lightness, they answer well in bog
draining, and it has been attempted to introduce them into draining
operations in arable land; but the low price at which tiles can now
be made, almost at any place, renders such a practice very question-
able economy.”

These, then, are the principal kinds
of drains in which the conduit is
composed solely of the materials of
the ground in which they are formed.
The cost of a permanent drain now

Fig, 27.—Prat TILEs. so little exceeds even the cheapest
of those described, that special and weighty reasons alone can jus-
tify the employment of any other. We shall now consider the more
durable forms of drains.

STONE DRAINS.

Every portion of the country appears to be abundantly
supplied with materials of some description for draining.
Where timber is scarce, stone is abundant; or, if both are
wanting, then there generally is an excellent deposit of
clay, from which tile may be manufactured. It is an es-
tablished fact, that underdraining will pay all reasonable
expenses incurred in its construction in the course of three

STONE DRAINS. 951

or four years, and not unfrequently the first year alone,
by the increased productiveness. It therefore behooves
the farmer to consider well what kind of drains his pres-
ent means will justify him in making. The digging and
filling the drains will cost about the same for any kind,
except tile—the difference in cost, then, will depend upon
the material employed. If stones are to be hauled two
or three miles, then, perhaps, wooden drains, as already
described, would be cheaper, and will answer the purpose
for some five or six years—at the end of which time the
farmer will be enabled to redrain, and in a more thorough
manner. But, if stones are abundant on the field to be
underdrained, or in the adjoining fields, it would, perhaps,
be a matter of economy to employ the stone, for two rea-
sons: first, stone will make a drain which will secure the
object intended; and second, the surface of fields will be
cleared of a great nuisance and hindrance to a more per-
fect system of culture.

Stone drains never should be dug Jess than three feet
deep, and one foot wide on the bottom. Stone should be
filled in to the depth of one foot, at least, and then be
covered with brush, straw, leaves, sod with the grassy side
down, or some such material, so as to prevent the dirt
from falling in and filling up the interstices.

What kind of stone shall be employed, and how should
they be placed in the drain?—In many places persons
would, perhaps, be obliged to use the rounded little bowl-
ders, found in the beds of streams, or stones of this char-
acter which are found on the surface of fields. Flat
stones, or fragmentary ones from quarries, are not always
accessible or within a proper distance. Where the rounded
bowlders are employed, many persons are of opinion that
the manner in which they are laid in the drain is a matter
of no consequence whatever, and, to use their expression,

952 LAND DRAINAGE.

they “just throw them in ‘higglety-pigglety,’ ” feeling cer-
tain that there will at best be ample space for the water to
pass through. A drain of this description is represented in
Fig. 28. It must be obvious to every one that where the
drain is filled with stones, without
any regard to forming a continuous
channel for the water, fine dirt will
be carried down from the sides, or
from the stones themselves, and in a
very short time the interstices in the
bottom layer will be found to be com-
pletely filled up, and, as a matter of
course, rendered entirely useless.
Layer after layer will, year after
, year, be filled up, until the drain is
Fie. 28—Dratxs ritep = rendered valueless in the last de-
y eye eae gree. A better method of using the
bowlders is described by C. G. Calkins, of Ashtabula, O.
“Some four years since, an old countryman in my employ informed
me that he could lay an effectual ‘pipe’ of small stones regularly
in three courses, one on each side, and one on the ‘shoulders’ of
these, forming the top. The top course must be laid so as to wedge
between the others, to keep them apart, and must be covered with
turf, straw, or something to keep the earth from filling in, until an
enduring crust is formed. We tried ‘taking up’ a water vein, in a
hillside, running along nearly on a level, and forming numerous
springs. There is a strata of quicksand, in or at the bottom of which
the stones were laid. The trench was dug from two to four feet
deep, and no wider at the bottom than was necessary to receive the
‘pipe’—say one foot. It was filled rather imperfectly, being on a
steep bank, where tilling could not be done. It was fully success-
ful—intercepting all the springs, emptying them in a single and con.
stant stream at the mouth of the drain, and continues as good as ai
first.
“The amount of stones required in a drain of this kind is no
large, and an experienced hand will lay 30 or 40 rods in a day.

STONE DRAINS. 253

“Some days after a light rain, and when all around is dry, this
drain is seen discharging water, though dug in a ridge of the hardest
clay soil.

“It will avail little to express my faith in the utility or practica-
bility of this or any other mode of underdraining, so long as that
faith is not followed by ‘works’ more extended. It, however, appears
providential that, in a region almost destitute of stone, these little
bowlders should appear so well dispersed, and at the same time so
fitted to. this important use—draining the soil they now incumber.
However, I am of the opinion that if the manufacture of draining
tiles was commenced, there would soon be a good demand for them,
as being the most convenient and suitable.

“In building a fence on the side of the garden, we dug a trench
some two and a half feet deep, set the posts on the bottom, and filled
around them with loose stones to the top of the ground, then filled
the spaces between with stones thrown in at random, mainly to the
depth of a foot or more, and, after covering with turf, filled up with
dirt. This has been a good and useful piece of work, for, beside
draining the land, it preserves the fence from the action of frost,
and in a measure from decay.”’

In commenting on this statement of Mr. Calkins, the
editor of the Country Gentleman says:

“We have practiced this mode for many years, before the intro-
duction of tile. When stones are on the ground and abundant, they
may be used to advantage. The objections to their use are two:
first, the earth is liable to work down among the stones, or ‘ cave in,’
where streams run across the surface in heavy rains or in thaws, and
find their way down through the soil; second, the increased labor
of digging a drain wide enough to lay the stones well, will pay for
tile, if not very remote from a tile manufactory.

“The mode of laying must vary with the soil. Those soils which
approach quicksands in character, render it almost impossible to use
stone successfully. When they are saturated with water, they will
find their way among the stones through every avenue—at the top,
bottom and sides. It is rare that such drains endure many seasons
uninjured. The best security for them is to lay, first, flat stones on
the bottom (or hard, durable boards or slabs), to prevent the cobble
stones from sinking into the earth; to use as small stones as practi-
cable against the sides of the ditch, so that the interstices there may
-be too small for the soil easily to enter; and to cover the top with

254 LAND DRAINAGE.

very small stone, and then very coarse gravel, or with flat stone, for
the same object, before the straw or inverted sods preceding the
earth covering are applied. In stiff or clayey soils, the earth rarely
falls among the stones, even when little precaution is taken. After
practicing underdraining with stone on such lands for many years
with entire success, we had occasion to adopt the same mode in an-
other district of country, where the soil was light and much more
sandy. The first spring destroyed the value of most of them by the
caving in of the soil, and this evil was only prevented effectually, by
covering the stone filling either with flat stones, gravel, or hardwood
slabs, before applying the earth at the top.

‘As a general rule, we would not recommend the use of cobble
stone, except in soils of considerable tenacity.

“The importance of a good drain under every post fence, is not
generally understood, and we are glad to see the subject alluded to
by our correspondent. Wherever post holes retain water, they are
sure to be heaved by frost, and the fence thrown out of shape;
and the posts can not last long, where they are alternately subjected
to water soaking and drying. But if all the water which falls, passes
immediately down into the ditch, it can not lie in contact with the
posts long enough to soak them, and as a consequence, they must
remain perpetually dry, and last for a long period. Robert B. How-
Jand, of Union Springs, New York, who has used Pratt's ditcher
with success, found it cheaper to cut ditch with this machine,
in which to set the posts for a fence, than simply to dig the post
holes by hand, and he thus attained all the advantages of drainage,
beside a practice well worth copying.

“A single suggestion on the efficacy of underdraining, on lands
that do not at all appear to need it. It is a very good rule for deter-
mining its necessity, to observe whether water will stand in holes
dug two or three feet, for this purpose. If the subsoil is porous,
the water will immediately sink away, and ditches would be wholly
useless. But if water will stand forty-eight hours in the holes,
draining is necessary to relieve the subsoil of this cold and chilling
mass which fills it.

“Now, if the surplus water in the soil and subsoil, at the wettest
period, is only equal to a depth of two inches, then for a ten acre
field it would amount to more’ then seven thousand hogsheads. Sup-
pose, therefore, that this field has a slope, so ag to give it what many
would suppose a natural drainage—‘not needing any ditching ’—
‘dry enough already '"—then, in getting rid of these seven thousand?

STONE DRAINS. 255

hogsheads of hurtful water, it must, every gill of it, soak, drop
by drop, from one particle of earth to another, until it all passes
slowly down, almost imperceptibly, from one side of the field to the
other. No wonder that days, and even weeks, are required to com-
plete the process, and to render the land dry enough to become fri-
able and fit to receive seed, and promote the extension of the young
roots of crops. No, give this field a smooth, tubular channel of tile,
for every two roads of its whole surface, the shortest way down the
slope; the water in the soil then has only about one rod to soak
through the soil before reaching one of these drains, and most of it
much less than a rod. When it reaches them, itshootsrapidly down
the smooth descending tube, and in a few minutes has passed the
boundary of the field, instead of being otherwise compelled to suak
its weary way the whole forty or fifty rods, or entire breadth of the
field. This rapid discharge reduces the soil to dryness in so short
a time, as to surprise those who have never before witnessed it, and
to lead to the common supposition that the simple statement of the
practical advantages of thorough underdraining, by those who have
given it a trial, are wild exaggerations.”

Where flat stones can readily be procured—in places
where bowlder or cobble stone abound—a combination of
the two will make the best drain. :

The most common way, and usually the best, for fill-
ing stone drains, where the stone are nearly rownd, is
made by just laying a row of small stones on each side
of the bottom, leaving an open channel between them
about three inches wide, and then covering this channel
with flat stones, and filling the ditch with small ones promis-
cuously thrown in, to within about 15 or 18 inches of the
surface, so as to be below the reach of the plow—and the
remainder with earth. It is hardly necessary to remark
that the upper surface of the stone must be either coy-
ered with coarse gravel or small flat stone, and then with
straw or inverted sods, to exclude the earth from the
stones; and if the soil is nearly free from clay, more care
in this respect will be needful—and perhaps a covering
of hardwood slabs will be necessary to keep the earth in

256 LAND DRAINAGE.

its place. If the bottom of the drain inclines to quick-
sand, a layer of flat stones must be first laid on the bot-
tom. We mention this common mode of constructing
stone drains, in order to show the superiority of the flat
stones spoken of by our correspondent. The chief objection
to the mode just described, is the necessity of cutting a ditch
nearly a foot wide at the bottom, to allow laying the channel.
The flat stones, when they can be procured in any quantity,
on the contrary, obviate the labor of cutting a wide ditch ;
the channel being constructed by plac-
ing three flat stones together, as
jj, shown in Fig. 29. The bottom of
/, the ditch is cut with a pointed spade,
7/7 so as to have an angular trough; flat
“4. stones and then selected, all of the
[777 same width, and fitted into and meet-
R L _//, ing each other at the bottom, and
y 7, then covered by a third flat stone,
/ reaching across them. The ditch
above this is partly filled with irregu-
lar fragments of stone, and covered
as already described.

A still better way, where the earth is hard and the
quantity of water not large, is as follows: The ditch is
cut with the narrowest kind of spade—a mode familiar to
English ditchers, and which they execute with great ex-
pedition. Flat stone, without regard to their exact width,
are placed against the sides, open at the top. Into this
opening, one or more thicker flat stones are thrust, as
represented in the cut, and the drain then filled as before
mentioned. The advantage of this mode is in obviating
the necessity of selecting the stones, as almost any width
will answer. |

The last two modes, if well made, will last as long as

LAR STONE Duct.

STONE DRAINS. 257

tile drains ; as the earth can not fall into them from the
sides, nor rise from the bottom, even if of a quicksand
nature; and in the last described, the stones being
mostly vertical, admit the free descent of the water from
above. !

A correspondent of the Country Gentleman, writing
from Monroe county, N. Y., says:

“T have made several hundred rods, and make more or less every
year, and have made at all seasons of the year. The best time is in
the spring, as soon as the ground is settled, especially where there
is hard-pan, as that then works the easiest. My mode is to com-
mence with team and plow—cut two furrows, one from the other—
then put the plow in the center, and cut deep as I can—then shovel
out and dig from three to five feet deep, and even more where I cross
ridges—the bottom ten inches wide. In filling, I take flat stone and
set them on the edge on the outer side of the ditch, and let the tops
come together, forming A—fillin with small stones up to within eigh-
teen inches of the top or surface. Then take litter or straw and cover
the stone lightly, and then take the plow and fill up rounding, as it
will settle more or less. Some of mine have paid expenses the first
crop. I have drains that were made in 1838, and answer their pur-
pose well yet.”

But this method of underdraining «ay
with stone, will be very much improved -
by laying a flat stone in the bottom of «
the drain, as represented in Fig. 80. <

Mr. L. Griswold, of Litchfield, Con- ,
necticut, says : \

“This last fall I have drained four acres of \
my eight acre meadow, in this way, viz: We lay
out the short drains forty feet apart—though «
we vary from this rule some; when it comes *°\\W\
near a wet hollow we go through that—we cut Fre. 30.—Tue Covprep
them three and a half feet deep, two feet wide PREP YET
at the top, and slant down to six inches on the bottom. We scrape

99 1J. J. Thomas, in Rural Register.

258 LAND DRALNAGE.

the mud from the bottom perfectly clean, so that it is hard, like rock.
This thoroughly done, we begin to fill with small round stone, tak
ing care that noone stone is large enough to reach across, for the
first layer, and so on five or six inches; then the cobble and broken
stones may be thrown in with less care, extending up to a hight of
eighteen inches; the little slivers from the broken stone, and such
like, we scatter alone on the top to fill up the cavities; then place
inverted turf on snugly, and press it down with our feet. The dirt
dug from the ditch is then filled in, and it is finished.

‘‘The whole cost is about sixty cents per rod, including drawing
the stone, which pays by getting them out of the way. Iam well
convinced that these drains will continue to act well, and I can not
see why stone is not quite as good, if not better than tile, and it

costs something less here.”

Almost anywhere in Ohio, the best of tile drains can
be made at a considerably less expense than sixty cents
per rod; whatever merit may attach to Mr. Griswold’s
method, there will be one insuperable objeetion to it in
the West, on account of the cost.

In locations where the clay is some-
what destitute of the quality of stiff-
ness, and is inclined to crumble, it may
be advantageous to protect the sides,
\“ as in the drain represented by Fig. 31.
\\ This drain is made by laying a flat
<< stone across the entire bottom; then
a flat stone against each side, and an-
< other covering the last two—the cov-
SOARS ering stone should, if practicable, be as

Fre. 31. wide as the ditch. Rough boards, or
“ slabs’’ from the sawmill will answer an excellent purpose
as covers.

Considerable draining with stone has been done in Ohio,
from a belief that it was cheaper and more permanent than
almost any other kind of drain. Farmers generally have
teams of their own; and there often occur ‘‘odd half

jy

N SN

y Wy
Uf
YY

STONE DRAINS. 299

days,” or times when the team and hands, according to
their system of farming, could not be profitably employed,
and they say that during such times stones may be gath-
ered, drawn to the proper field and distributed along the
line of the contemplated drains ; and in this way the stones
are place in readiness on the ground at no cost, or at most
a comparatively small cost. This may be true in certain
cases, but surely no man would undertake to drain his
neighbor’s field, and gather, draw and distribute the stones
as mere pastime; and in estimating the cost of drains, no
item should be omitted, however trifling. A man pur-
chases a farm in the wilderness, and during the ‘ odd half
days,” gets out, and draws together, the timber for a new
house—in the estimate of the cost of the house would this
form mo item of expense? ‘ Zime is money,” and the
time expended in preparatory measures is just so much
money expended—that farmer has certainly not adopted
the best system of farming, who can command sufficient
leisure to gather, draw, and distribute stone for drains,
without regarding it as an important item in the cost of
drains.

Hon. John Howell, of Clark county, Ohio, has upward
of a thousand rods of stone drains on his farm. They
are 28 to 30 inches deep, and filled to the depth of 10
to 12 inches with stone. The stone were brought a dis-
tance of one and an eighth mile. The cost of the drains
was 47 cents per rod, exclusive of the boarding furnished
the hands.

Drawing and distributing stone, - - - - 27 cents per rod.

Digging and filling drains,- - - - - - 10 “ “ &

Laying stone indrains, - - - - --- 10% “ *
Potal cogkkasi, 4d. 6 ATO ae.

Mr. Howell assured us that tile drains—the tile being

260 LAND DRAINAGE,

furnished at a manufactory within the country—would have
cost, completed, 32 cents per rod only, instead of 47, as the
stone drains did. In fact, he says the cost should be put
down at 30 cents, because he filled the drains mainly by
plowing the ground in that was dug out, and he has not
taken the cost of plowing into account.

The subjoined experience of the editor of the WV. £.
Farmer, may be of much value to those who are hesitat-
ing between two opinions, or which to choose, stone or
tile :

‘We have plenty of stones for the purpose of drainage, and have
constructed many drains of them, in both dry and sandy loams.
They operated well for a time, but the first star mole that made his
way to one of them left an inviting opening for the next drenching
shower to follow. This, of course, was repeated a good many times
and in a good many places during the year, and the work of destrue-
tion was begun. Unless laid very deep, the frost also deranges the
upper portion of them, and lets the fine soil down. We have, there-
fore, great doubt whether it is not best to use tile in the first in-
stance. It costs much less to lay tile than stone, and where the

work is once done, and the tile entirely below the frost, a drain is
made of great permanence and utility.”

- In some places stone drains are
Y ye made by placing a flat stone on the
/, bottom, then one on the side, and a
. third one in a diagonal direction from
the bottom, as represented in Fig.
32, This is called an Jrish drain.
They are filled either with cobble or
small stones, 10 or 12 inches deep,
like the other stone drains, or else
may be filled entirely with the mate-
rial which was thrown out in making
the ditch.

Irisu DRAIN,
Stone drains made according to any of the systems

TILE DRAINS. 261

described are peculiarly liable to be obstructed, because
there is no regular water-way, and the flow of the water
must, of course, be very slow, impeded as it is by fric-
tion at all points with the irregular surfaces.

Sand, and other obstructing substances, which find their
way, more or less, into all drains, are deposited among
the stones—the water having no force of current. suffi-
cient to carry them forward—and the drain is soon filled
up at some point, and ruined.

Miles of such drains have been laid on many New
England farms, at shoal depths, of two or two and a half.
feet, and have in a few years failed. For a time, their
effect, to those unaccustomed to underdrainage, seems
almost miraculous. The wet field becomes dry, the wild
grass gives place to clover and herdsgrass, and the experi-
ment is pronounced successful. After a few years, how-
ever, the wild grass re-appears, the water again stands on
the surface, and it is ascertained, on examination, that
the drain is in some place packed solid wath earth, end i ig
filled with stagnant water.

The fault is by no means wholly in ‘ie Material, In
clay or hard-pan, such a drain may be made durable,
with proper care, but it must be laid deep enough to be
beyond the effect of the treading of cattle and of loaded
teams, and the common action of frost. !

TILE DRAINS.

We have already alluded to the fact? that pipe tile was
in use, as conduits for underground ducts or causeways,
in France, as early as the year 1600. From some cause,
which we have failed to discover, in our agricultural lite-
rary researches, they were discontinued ; and it is exceed-
ingly doubtful if they were used in England oth to

1 French’s Farm Drainage. 2 Ante, page 7.

262 LAND DRAINAGE,

the present century. In Elkington’s treatise on land
draining, edited by Johnstone, and first published in Lon-
don, in May, 1797, are described “draining bricks.” On
page 41 we find: ‘“ When flat stones can be got, they are
preferable to brick; but there are several kinds of brick,
beside the common sort, invented and used solely for the
purpose of draining, in several parts of England, where
the expense of stone would become greater. Of these,
the figures in the annexed plate are some of the best
kinds. When small drains are wanted, and when the
water is to be conveyed to a house, etc., Fig. 33, is

mes 7 /,)

Fig. 33. Fig. 33.
commonly made use of. For larger drains, Figs. 34 and
35 are well adapted, especially, Fig. 35, lately invented
by Mr. Couchman, of Bosworth Temple, in Wurwickshire,
and with which Mr. Elkington has laid several drains.
They are laid single, without one reversed under, for
when that is done, the water running on the under one,
occasions a kind of sludge, which in tine becomes so in-
crusted on it, as totally to obstruct the passage of the
water, and render the work useless in a few years. In
clay bottoms, they may be laid single, or without anything
under; but in soft, sandy bottoms, a common building

TILE DRAINS. 203

brick should be laid under each side, to prevent them
from sinking down, and should be so laid as to form a
regular arch (ze. the side bricks laid with an equal
hight), the better to support the pressure above from
breaking them or causing them to slip.”

The brick represented by Figs. 33 and 35, were called
soughing brick. That part of a drain forming the conduit
for water, was termed the “sough”’ or “surf,” and as
these brick formed a conduit, they were accordingly
termed “soughing brick.” The only ones we ever saw
were on the farm of Norton S. Townshend (formerly Pres-
ident of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture), in Lorain
county, Ohio. That pattern of soughing brick represented
by Fig. 35, had a series of “ eyelet” holes, as they were
termed, on the upper portion of the brick, in order to
afford a means of ingress for the water to get into the
drain.

It is, perhaps, unnecessary to mention, that these brick
or tile are made of clay, sun-dried, and burned the same
as other brick. The drain brick represented by Figs.
33-45, have long since been entirely abandoned by per-
sons draining on a large scale. For a long time, the
“‘horseshoe”’ tile was more in use than any other (See
Fig. 36). These tiles
were made by hand;

Fia. 36.—HorsEsuHoer Tur [resting on a Sole of the clay was “rolled”

Tile or Board]. out, somewhat after
the fashion that housewives roll out dough, and then were
pressed by hand over a cylindrical substance, and set away

‘to dry. Of course, they were expensive ; at present, they
are made by machines. Many very excellent drainers in
Ohio and New York, are partial to the horseshoe tile,
because less care is required in laying them. We regret
to state, that a very large proportion of tile, used at pres-

264 LAND DRAINAGE.

ent, are of this form—a form which we have long since
considered almost the worst possible, and have not hesi-
tated to express this opinion on all occasions—in news-
paper articles, in lectures, and in ordinary conversation.
We had not read Gisborne’s Essays on Agriculture, until
December, 1860, and therefore could not have been influ-
enced in our opinion by his writings, but had based our
opinion upon our knowledge of hydraulics and hydro-
statics. But as Gisborne presents the views entertained
by us, in this respect, based upon experience and obser-
vation, we prefer to quote his language:

“We shall shock some and surprise many of our readers, when we
state confidently that, in average soils, and, still more, in those which
are inclined to be tender, horseshoe tiles form the weakest and most
failing conduit which has ever been used for a deep drain. Itis so,
however; and a little thought, even if we had no experience, will
tell us that it must be so. A doggerel song, quite destitute of hu-
mor, informs us that tiles of this sort were used in 1760, at Grandes-
burg Hall, in Suffolk, by Mr. Charles Lawrence, the owner of the
estate. The earliest of which we had experience were of large area
and of weak form. Constant failures resulted from their use, and
the cause was investigated; many of the tiles were found to be
choked up with clay, and many to be broken longitudinally through
the crown. For the first evil, two remedies were adopted; a sole of
slate, of wood, or of its own material, was sometimes placed under
the tile, but the more usual practice was to form them with club-feet.
To meet the case of longitudinal fracture, the tiles were reduced in
size, and very much thickened in proportion to their area. The first
of these remedies was founded on an entirely mistaken, and the sec-
ond on no conception at all of the cause of the evil to which they
were respectively applied. The idea was, that this tile, standing on
narrow feet, and pressed by the weight of the refilled soil, sank into .
the floor of the drain; whereas, in fact, the floor of the drain rose
into the tile. Anyone at all conversant with collieries is aware that
when a strait work (which is a small subterranean tunnel six feet
high and four feet wide, or thereabout) is driven in coal, the rising
of the floor is a more usual and far more inconvenient occurrence
than the falling of the roof: the weight of the two sides squeezes up

TILE DRAINS. 265

the floor. We have seen it formed into a very decided arch without
fracture. Exactly a similar operation takes place in the drain. No
one had till recently dreamed of forming a tile drain, the bottom of
which a man was not to approach personally within twenty inches
or two feet. ‘lo no one had it then occurred that width at the bot-
tom of a drain was a great evil. For the convenience of the operator
the drain was formed with nearly perpendicular sides, of a width in
which he could stand and work conveniently, shovel the bottom level
with his ordinary spade, and lay the tiles by his hand; the result
was a drain with nearly perpendicular sides, and a wide bottom.
No sort of clay, particularly when softened by water standing on it
or running over it, could fail to rise under such circumstances; and
the deeper the drain the greater the pressure and the more certain
the rising. A horseshoe tile, which may be a tolerably secure con-
duit in a drain of two feet, in one of four feet becomes an almost
certain failure. As to the longitudinal fracture—not only is the tile
subject to be broken by one of those slips which are so troublesome
in deep draining, and to which the lightly-filled material, even when
the drain is completed, offers an imperfect resistance, but the con-
stant pressure together of the sides, even when it does not produce
n fracture of the soil, catches hold of the feet of the tile, and breaks
it through the crown. Consider the case of a drain formed in clay
when dry, the conduit a horseshoe tile. When the clay expands with
moisture, it necessarily presses on the tile, and breaks it through the
crown, its weakest part.' When the Regent's Park was first drained,
large conduits were in fashion, and they were made circular by
placing one horseshoe tile upon another. It would be difficult to
invent @ weaker conduit. On re-drainage, innumerable instances
_ were found in which the upper tile was broken through the crown,
and had dropped into the lower. Next came the © form, tile and
sole in one, Fig. 37, and much reduced in size—a great advance;

Fic. 37.—HorsesHor Tir AND SOLE IN ONE.

and when some skillful operator had laid this tile bottom upward,
we were evidently on the eve of pipes. For the A tile a round pipe

1 The tile has been said, by great authorities, to be broken by contraction,
under some idea that the clay envelopes the tile and presses it when it con-
tracts. Thatis nonsense. The contraction would liberate the tilo. Drive

24

266 LAND DRAINAGE.

molded with a flat bottomed solid sole © is now generally substi
tuted, and is an improvement; but is not equal to pipes and collars,
nor generally cheaper than they are.

“ Almost forty years ago, small pipes for land drainage were said
concurrently by the following parties, who still had no knowledge
of each other's operations :—Sir T. Wichcote, of Asgarby, Lincoln-
shire (these, we believe, were socket-pipes)—Mr. R. Harvey, at Ep-
ping—Mr. Boulton, at Great Tew, in Oxfordshire (these were porce-
lain l-inch pipes, made by Wedgwood, at Etruria)—and Mr. John
Read, at Horsemonden, in Kent. Most of these pipes were made
with eyelet-holes, to admit the water. Pipes for thorough draining
were incidentally mentioned in the Journal of the Agricultural So-
ciety for May, 1843; but they excited no general attention till they
were exhibited by John Read (the inventor of the stomach-pump),
at the Agricultural Show at Derby in that year. A medal was
awarded to the exhibitor. Mr. Parkes was one of the judges, and
brought the pipes to the special notice of the Council, and was in-
structed by them to investigate their use and merits. From this
moment inventions and improvements huddle in upon us faster than
we can describe them. Collars to connect the pipes, a new form of
drain, tools of new forms—particularly one by which the pipe. and
collar are laid with wonderful rapidity and precision, by an ope-
rator who stands on the top of the drain—and pipe-and-collar-mak-
ing machines (stimulated by repeated prizes offered by the Royal
Agricultural Society), which furnish those articles on a scale of
unexampled cheapness. For all these inventions and adaptations
we are mainly indebted to Mr. Parkes. The economical result is,
a drain 4 feet 6 inches deep, excavated and refilled at from 1}d. to
2d. per yard—the workmen earning 12s. and upward per week ; and
3334 yards of collared 1j-inch pipes for 18s.—being 12s. per thou-
sand for.the pipes, and 6s, per thousand for the collars; larger sizes
ut a proportionate advance. We shall best exemplify the improve-
ments to our readers by describing the drain. It is wrought in the
shape of a wedge, brought in at the bottom to the narrowest limit
which will admit the collar by tools admirably adapted to that pur-
pose. The foot of the operator is never within 20 inches of the floor
a stake into wet clay ; and when the clay is dry, observe whether it clips
the stake tighter or has released it, and you will wo longer have any doubt
whether expansion or contraction breaks the tile. Shrink is a better word
than contract,

TILE DRAINS. 267

of the drain; his tools are made of iron plated on steel, and never
lose their sharpness, even when worn to the stumps; because, as the
softer material, the iron, wears away, the sharp steel edge is always
prominent. The sloping sides of the drain are self-sustaining, and
the pressure on its floor is reduced to a minimum ; the circular form
of the pipe and collar, see Fig. 38, enables them to sustain any pres-

Fig. 38.—Pirrk anp CoLLAR.

sure to which they can be subjected; the adaptation of the bed in
which they lie, to their size, prevents their wriggling. They form a
continuous conduit, and whose continuity can not be broken except
by great violence. However steep the drain, the water running in
the pipe can never wash up its floor. They offer almost insuperable
impediments to the entrance of vermin, roots,’ or anything except

! I am afraid that I must materially modify this expression, as far as
roots are concerned. The words, ‘‘ almost insuperable impediments,” are
not applicable. My own experience, as to roots, in connection with deep
pipe draining, is as follows :—I have never known roots to obstruct a pipe
through which there was not a perennial stream. The flow of water in
summer and early autumn appears to furnish the attraction. I have never
discovered that the roots of any esculent vegetable have obstructed a pipe.
The trees which, by my own personal observation, I have found to be most
dangerous, have been red willow, black Italian poplar, alder, ash, and
broad-leaved elm. I have many alders in close contiguity with important
drains, and, though I have never convicted one, I can not doubt that they
are dangerous. Oak, and black and white thorns, I have not detected, nor
doI suspect them. The guilty trees have in every instance been young and
free growing; I have never convicted an adult. These remarks apply
solely to my own observation, and may of course be much extended by that
of other agriculturists. I know an instance in which a perennial spring of
very pure and (I believe) soft water is conveyed in socket pipes to a paper
mill. Every junction of two pipes is carefully fortified with cement. The
only object of cover being protection from superficial injury and from frost,
the pipes are laid not far below the sod. Year by year these pipes are
stopped by roots. Trees are very capricious in this matter. I was told by
the late Sir R. Peel, that he sacrificed two young elm trees in the park at
Drayton Manor to a drain which had been repeatedly stopped by roots.
The stoppage was nevertheless repeated, and was then traced to an elm tree
far more distant than those which had been sacrificed. Early in the au-
tum of 1850 I completed the drainage of the upper part of a boggy valley,

268 LAND DRAINAGE.

water, and they are more portable both to the field and in the field
than any other conduit previously discovered: cheap, light, handy,
secure, efficacious.”

The ordinary form of pipe tile is represented by Tig.
39, but all tile having a tubular form, like those of Fig. 40,
41, are called pipe tile.

= | Fie. 39.—Pire Tie.

Fic. 40.—Pirxr Tine.

Fig. 41.—OctToganat Pree Tie.

We presume we shall be obliged to rest content with

lying, with ramifications, at the foot of marly banks. The main drains
converge toa common outlet, to which are brought one 3-inch pipe and three
of 4inches each. They lie side by side, and water flows perennially through
each of them. Near to this outlet did grow a red willow. In February,
1852, I found the water breaking out to the surface of the ground about 10
yards above the outlet, and was at no loss for the cause, as the roots of the
red willow showed themselves at the orifice of the 3-inch and of two of the
4-inch pipes. On examination I found that a root had entered a joint be-
tween two 3-inch pipes, and had traveled 5 yards to the mouth of the drain,
and 9 yards up the stream, forming a continuous length of 14 yards. The
root which first entered had attained about the size of a lady’s little finger ;
and its ramifications consisted of very fine and almost silky fibers, and
would have cut up into half a dozen comfortable boas. The drain was
completely stopped. The pipes were not in any degree displaced. Roots
from the same willow had passed over the 3-inch pipes, and had entered
and entirely stopped the first 4-inch drain, and had partially stopped the
second. At the distance of about fifty yards a black Italian poplar, which
stood on a bank over a 4-inch drain, had completely stopped it with a
bunch of roots. The whole of this had been the work of less than 18
months, including the depth of two winters. A 3-inch branch of the same

TILE DRAINS. 2969

the pipe tile for some years to come, but we do not con-
sider them the ‘‘ hight of perfection,” although they are
‘a very decided improvement on the horseshoe tile. <A
better form, in our opinion, is that of which an end view
or section is represented by an egg, with the small end
down. A conduit of this shape affords a very narrow
channel, when a small quantity of water only is to be dis-
charged; but as the quantity of water increases the chan-
nel increases also. We are well aware that some may
deem this a matter of very small importance, if indeed it
be worthy of consideration at all. The importance in the
form of the conduit can not be better illustrated than by
citing well known facts.

It must be self-evident, and therefore requires no argu-
ment to prove, that a body of water confined in a channel
one inch high, and one inch wide, will pass off more rap-
idly than if spread over a surface eight inches wide and
one eighth of an inch high. In the former case the water
will move rapidly, and carry with it all the particles of
sand, clay and other impurities which may find their way
into the conduit, while in the latter case the resisting
power of the current would not be sufficient to remove
them, and they would form a nucleus for a permanent
stoppage of the water.

The California gold diggers at first employed the ordin-
ary “box,” or “square” form, for a conduit to carry
off the water during the process of washing gold; this
conduit became clogged daily, and much time was spent
in keeping the channel open. One of the miners con-

system runs through a little group of black poplars. This drain conveys a
full stream i» plashes of wet, and some water generally through the winter
months, but has not a perennial flow. I have perceived no indication that
roots have interfered with this drain. I draw no general conclusions from
these few facts, but they may assist those who have more extensive experi-
ence in drawing some, which may be of use to drainers.—T. G.

270 LAND DRAINAGE.

structed a conduit of two boards, placed together in
- this shape V, which required no cleansing or further care
and never became clogged or choked. Instead then of
having the widest of the conduit at the bottom, as in the
case of the horseshoe tile, the very narrowest possible
should form the base, and for this reason, if none other,
pipe tile are to be preferred to the horseshoe.

Pipe tile are more readily laid in the drain than any
other kind, for the reason that all tiles are more or less
warped in drying and burning, and where it is desired to
made perfect work, there is no “ wrong-side-up” to them;
they can be turned with any side up, so as to make not
only better joints, but a straighter run for water—which is
very important.

The best authorities on the subject differ widely with
respect to the importance of collars to connect the pipes
in the drains; and as we do not think that they will be
used to any extent in the country—at least for some years
to come—we will refer our readers to several English au-
thorities for views on this subject. Mr. Gisborne says:

‘“We were astounded to find, at the conclusion of Mr. Parkes,
Newcastle Lecture, this sentence: ‘It may be advisable for me to
say, that in clays, and other clean-cutting and firm-bottomed soils, I
do not find the collars to be indispensably necessary; although I
always prefer their use.’ This is a barefaced treachery to pipes: an
abandonment of the strongest point in their case—the assured con
tinuity of the conduit. Every one may see how very small a dis-
turbance at their point of junction would dissociate two pipes of one
inch diameter. One finds a soft place in the bottom of the drain,
and dips his nose into it one inch deep, and. cocks up his other end.
By this simple operation the continuity of the conduit is twice
broken. An inch of lateral motion produces the same effect. Pipes
of a larger diameter than two inches are generally laid without col-
ars; this is a practice on which we do not look with much compla-
cency; it is the compromise between cost and security, to which the
affairs of men are so Often compelled. No doubt a conduit from -

TILE DRAINS. 271

three to six inches in diameter is much less subject to a breach in
its continuity than one which is smaller; but when no collars are
used, the pipes should be laid with extreme care, and the bed which
is prepared for them at the bottom of the drain should be worked to
their size and shape with great accuracy.

‘To one advantage which is derived from the use of collars we
have not yet adverted—the increased facility with which free water
existing in the soil can find entrance into the conduit. The collar
for a 1} inch pipe has a circumference of three inches. The whole
space between the collar and the pipe on each side of the collar is
open, and affords no resistance to the entrance of the water; while
at the same time the superincumbent arch of the collar protects the
junction of two pipes from the intrusion of particles of soil. We
confess to some original misgivings that a pipe resting only on an
inch at each end, and lying hollow, might prove weak, and liable to
fracture by weight pressing on it from above; but the fear was illu
sory. Small particles of soil trickle down the sides of every drain,
and the first flow of water will deposit them in the vacant space be-
tween the two collars. The bottom, if at all soft, will also swell uy:
into any vacancy. Practically, if you re-open a drain well laid wit!
pipes and collars, you will find them reposing in a beautiful nidus,
which, when they are carefully removed, looks a as if it had
been molded for them.

Mr. Denton says:

‘The use of collars is by 16 means general, although those wha
have used them speak highly of their advantages. Except in sandy
soils, and in those that are subject to sudden alteration of character,
in some of the deposits of red sandstones, and in the clayey sub-
soils of the Bagshet sand district, for instance, collars are not found
to be essential to good drainage. In the north of England they are
used but seldom, and, in my opinion, much less than they ought to
be; but this opinion, it is right to state, is opposed, in numerous in-
stances of successful Uhaitiage by men of extensive practice; and
as every cause of increased outlay is to be avoided, the value of
collars, as general appliances, remains an open question. In all the
more porous subsoils, in which collars have been used, the more
successful drainers increase the size of the pipes in the minor drains
to a minimum size of two inches bore.”’

CHAPTER II.

—————_----—--

SIZE OF TILE, ETC.

THE size of tile to be employed in underdraining de-
pends upon, 1, the amount of fall; 2, the length of the
drain; 8, the distance between the drains; 4, the depth |
of the drains.

It is very evident that the greater the amount of fall,
the smaller the conduit may be; and the converse of this
proposition is equally true, viz.: that the less the amount
of fall, the larger the pipe must be. Actual experiment
has demonstrated that if a drain of 100 feet in length,
having eight feet fall, is laid with pipe having a caliber or
capacity of 14 inches, will in 24 hours drain the same
quantity of water that 2 inch pipes, having a fall of 2
feet 3 inches, will drain in the same period, or a 3 inch
pipe having a fall of only 6 inches, or a 4 inch pipe hay-
a fall of less than 3 inches. gJfence the size of the tile
is determined by the amount of fall.

Again, it may be necessary to discharge 50,000 gallons
of water in 24 hours, where only two feet fall in 100 feet
in length can be had; a 8 inch tile with one foot fall will
effect this, but if 2 inch tile were employed, it would re-
quire a fall of 4 feet 6 inches. Hence the length of the
drain, or what is the same thing in effect, the amount of
water to be discharged, governs the size of the pipe.

If 50,000 gallons are discharged by each of the two
drains, A and B (Fig. 42), 100 feet apart, it is evident
that if a third drain, C, were placed between them so as
to make the distance between the drains 50 feet, then each

drain would discharge 33,333 gallons. But if two more
(272)

SIZE OF TILE. 273

A D Cc E B
25 25 25 25
50 50
— a RS ee SE aS
100
Fig. 42.

drains, D and HE, are placed between A and C, and C and
B, then the distance between the drains will be 25 feet,
and the amount discharged by each drain will be 20,000
gallons only.

If, then, the drains are made 25 feet apart, 2 inch tile,
with a fall of 9 inches in 100 feet will drain off as much
water as A, B and C would with the same sized tile, hav-
ing a fall of two feet, or 3 inch tile, having a fall of five
inches. Or if the two drains, A and B, only are em-
ployed, then if laid with 2 inch tile, they must have a fall
of four feet six inches; with 3 inch tile a fall of about
one foot; or a fall of five inches if 4 inch tile are em-
ployed. Hence the distance between the drains deter-
mines the size of the pipes.

From these propositions it is very evident that the
depth of the drains exerts a controling serene on the
size of the pipes.

Suppose the drain 7, 5, in Fig. 5, page 99, were placed
no deeper than the point indicated 8, it is very evident
that in such case it would have less than half the amount
of water to drain that it has at 7.

As the entire efficiency of drains depends upon a cor-
rect understanding and compliance with the principles in-

274 LAND DRAINAGE.

volved in the four propositions stated at the commence-
ment of this chapter, we shall dwell at some length upon
them.

Stone drains require more fall than tile drains, on ac-
count of the friction, or the retardation water meets in
passing through angular crevices. Friction must not be
omitted in our calculations of fall and capacity. Where
water can flow in a straight direction in a smooth and
regular channel, much more water can be discharged in a
given time than where the angles and curves occur in the
direction; and where the surface is smooth, the flow is
more rapid than where it must pass through a channel full
of rough points or inequalities.

In some recent English experiments “it was found that
with pipes of the same diameter, exactitude of form was
of more importance than smoothness of surface; that
glass pipes, which had a wavy surface, discharged less
water, at the same inclinations, than Staffordshire stone-
ware clay pipes, which were of perfectly exact construc-
tion. By passing pipes of the same clay—the common
red clay—under a second pressure, obtained by a machine
at an extra expense of about 18 pence per 1000, while
the pipe was half dry, very superior exactitude of form
was obtained, and by means of this exactitude, and with
nearly the same diameters, an increased discharge of water
of one fourth was effected within the same time.”

“On a large scale, it was found that when equal quan-
tities of water were running direct, at a rate of ninety
seconds, with a turn at right angles, the discharge was
effected in one hundred and forty seconds; while, with a
turn or junction with a gentle curve, the discharge was
effected in one hundred seconds.”

CALIBER, ETC., OF DRAIN PIPE TILE. 275

CALIBER AND MINIMUM FALL OF DRAIN PIPE TILE.

Vincent, an English writer, has adopted Eytelwein’s
formula,

worry
ae ee
in the computation of the minimum fall and caliber of the
pipe tile. In this formula, ¢ = velocity of current per
second, d = diameter, or caliber of pipe, and h = the fall
in 1 foot, as data from which to determine the velocity of
the water in a pipe of a given diameter, and certain fall.
He determined from this formula, by an inverse process,
the requisite caliber of the pipe tile d, for a given distance
or length of drain—assuming six inches per second to be
the minimum velocity of water discharged from an acre.
The calculations in question were, however, based on hy-
pothetic values only; because the co-efficient, 50, occur-
ring in the formula, refers, originally, to metal tubes or
pipes; and there was no data at hand for that of clay or
earthenware pipes. Owing to the great importance of
having the pipe tile of proper caliber, John, Waege, and
v. Mollendorf,! made a series of experiments.

For this purpose they laid. a number of drain tile in a
trough making a slight angle with the horizon, and se-
cured the joints by moist clay. Water was then let into
the pipe from a reservoir, and the time occupied in flow-
ing through the pipes in seconds and the quantity dis-
charged in cubic feet was very carefully observed and
recorded.

The data obtained from repeated observations, with
given lengths of pipe and various degrees of inclination

—

| | These experiments are quoted in detail in Zeitechrift fur Deutsche Drain
irung, 1855, pp. 79 and 106; also, in Dingler’s Polytechnieche Journal, 138 —
287:

276 LAND DRAINAGE.

or fall, and various eapacities or diameters of pipe—and
notwithstanding that the extremes of twenty-two experi-
ments varied about 40 per cent. sufficient data was ob-
tained to change the co-efficient 50, and to make the fol-
lowing as nearer the truth, viz. :

= 042 ¥_2 46.5 dh
sani =465 dh

If we adopt Vincent’s data, and assume that the velo-
city of water, in pipe tile, amounts to 6 inches per sec-
ond, as a minimum, in order to secure the pipes from being
filled by detritus, or particles of earth entering them and
being deposited by gravity overcoming velocity, then the
following will be the minimum fall (by Vincent’s formula)
for drains of 120 feet in length.

For drains with tile of 1 inch caliber, 2.33 — fall, (4.8)

46 & 1} 6b 1. 8S

66 bk 13 “ 1.58 ib

66 46 2 i“ 1.20 sh (2.4)
és aie “ i (1.8)
. Ave g u 0.63 = (1.0)
« HG ; 0.52 (« (0.7)
46 4b 6 “ch 0.44

6b (cs 7 a 0.39

“t ; i 8 its 0.35 “ (0.5)

The figures in parentheses are those adopted by Vincent.
It must be remembered, however, that these figures are
applicable only to such drains as are as good and as care
fully laid pipes as those in the experiment.

In calculating the capacity of drain pipe tile, two other
contingencies must be taken into account, namely: th:
quantity of water to be discharged, and the distance betwee:
the drains. Upon the supposition that well-arrange:
drains must discharge the rainfall of a month in fourtee::
days (assuming 4 inches as the maximum), Vincent has

CALIBER, ETC., OF DRAIN PIPE TILE. 277

tixed the amount discharged per second, from an acre, at
0.00625 cubic feet.

In the course of several articles in Zeitschrift fur
Deutsche Drainirung, John has compared the replies of
several writers to the question, “ What is the capacity of
pipe tile of a given caliber?’ Schénermark, the practical
draining engineer of the Duchy of Brunswick,! has com-
municated some calculations upon this same subject, and,
a3 the principles assumed by him do not vary materially
from those of the other authors, and furthermore, as the
measures employed by him are purely Brunswickian, and
therefore can not well be compared with those of John,
without being reduced to Prussian (almost American)
measure, reference must be made by those interested to
the “ Zeitung” itself.

The quantity of water discharged per acre, per second,
has been fixed at

0.0095 cubie 7 by Stephens and Leclerc,

0.0095 “Vincent,

0.00289 * «I Stociien,

0.00276 “* ee { Waege and } for heavy soil.
0.00376 “ “ “ (vy. Mollendorf) “ light soil.
0.00426 * « & Schonermark.

Stephens and Leclerc have assumed that a heavy rain-
fall, in a day, will amount to 0.882 inches, and that this
amount is to be removed by the drains in 24 hours; the
amount evaporated is not to be taken into account.

Stocken assumes that, after deducting 20 per cent. for
evaporation, that the drains will discharge the remaining
80 per cent. of the maximum of eight days of winter rains
(which in that latitude would average 1} inches for that
period) in 9 days.

Waege and v. Méllendorf, as well as Vincent, assume

' Agronomisché Zeitung, 1855, page 360.

278 LAND DRAINAGE.

that the drains will discharge the rainfalls of autumn,

winter and spring in an aggregate of 14 days, after de-

ducting for evaporation. They, together with Dickinson,

have assumed the evaporation for clay to heavy loam soil,

to be 45 per cent., and for a lighter loam to be 25 per
cent. of the entire veintall:

Schonermark’s calculation is based on the following
data: the maximum monthly rain for Brunswick is 4
inches (Brunswick measure); this quantity may fall in 8
days; consequently, } inch in one day—this latter quantity
the drains are to discharge in 48 hours, after deducting
25 per cent. for evaporation.

From the data just given, the comparative capacity of
one inch and three inch pipe tile, to carry off a given
rainfall, is determined to be as follows, by the various
experimenters :

Fall of 3 6-10 inches in 120 ft.
Inch tile. [Three inch tile.

Stephens & Le Siar, - - - 0.33 acre.

Vincent, - - - - 0.40 7 acres.

Stocken, - - - 0:98.“ Te *

V. Mollendorf eaey soil, - - 0.86 “ 13.4 *
and Waege } Might...“ «= - - 0.64 < 9.8 *

The experiments demonstrate that, for Ohio or the
Middle and Western states generally, one inch tile is
entirely too small, while three inch tile is perhaps larger
than necessary, especially when it is considered that two
inch tile will answer the purpose and cost a great deal
less. Alderman Mechi says: “I seldom use any larger
than one inch bore, except for large springs. I am prac-
tically convinced they are as large as are required. We
make some sad mistakes as to water: a rope of water one
inch thick, spread eight inches wide, forms a broad-look-
ing stream one eighth of an inch thick. It is perfectly

CALIBER, ETC., OF DRAIN PIPE TILE. 279

ludicrous to see immense six, nine, and twélve inch bore
pipes put, in many cases, to carry an insignificant stream
that would fold up into a one, two, or three inch coil.
We must. bear in mind that a two inch pipe will carry as
much as four one inch; a three inch is equal to nine one
inch.”

Presuming that the alderman is correct for England,
where there is an average rainfall of twenty- -three inches,
should we not have at least two inch pipe in Ohio, where
the average rainfall is nearly forty-six inches, or double
that of England? One and a half inch pipe would be
just the proportion, according to the rainfall; but then
we must remember that in England it is a perfect drizzle
from January until December, while here we sometimes
have forty days of drought, and then a rainfall of two
inches per day!

Judge French obtained from Messrs. Shedd & Baeon,
of Boston, the following valuable tables, showing the ca-
pacity of water pipes, with the accompanying sugges-

tions :
DISCHARGE OF WATER THROUGH DRAINS.

“The following tables of discharge are founded on the experi-
ments made by Mr. Smeaton, and have been compared with those
by Henry Law, and with the rules of Weisbach and D’Aubuisson.
The conditions under which such experiments are made, may be so
essentially different in each case, that few experiments give results
coincident with each other, or with the deductions of theory; and
in applying these tables to practice, it is quite likely that the dis-
charge of a pipe of a certain area, at a certain inclination, may be
quite unlike the discharge found to be due to those conditions by
this table, and that difference may be owing partly to greater or less
roughness on the inside of the pipe, unequal flow of water through
the joints into the pipe, crookedness of the pipes, want of accuracy
in their being placed, so that the fall may not be uniform through-
out, or the ends of the pipes may be shoved a little to one side, so
that the continuity of the channel is partially broken; and, indeed,
from various other causes, all of which may occur in any practical

280 LAND DRAINAGE.

case, unless great care is taken to avoid it, and some of which may
occur in almost any case.

“We have endeavored to so construct the tables that, in the ordi-
nary practice of draining, the discharge given may approximate to
the truth for a well laid drain, subject even to considerable friction.
The experiments of Mr. Smeaton, which we have adopted as the
basis of these tables, gave a less quantity discharged, under certain
conditions, than given under similar conditions by other tables.
This result is probably due to a greater amount of friction in the
pipes used by Smeaton. The curves of friction resemble, very
nearly, parabolic curves, but are not quite so sharp near the origin.

‘We propose, during the coming season, to institute some careful
experiments, to ascertain the friction due to our own drain pipe.
Water can get into the drain pipe very freely at the joints, as may
be seen by a simple calculation. It is impossible to place the ends
so closely together, in laying, as to make a tight joint, on account
of roughness in the clay, twisting in burning, etc.; and the opening
thus made will usually average about one tenth of an inch on the
whole circumference, which is, on the inside of a two inch pipe, six
inches—making six tenths of a square inch opening for the entrance
of water at each joint.

“In a lateral drain 200 feet long, the pipes being thirteen inches
long, there will be 184 joints, each joint having an opening of six
tenth square inch area; in 184 joints there is an aggregate area
of 110 square inches; the area of the opening at the end of a two
inch pipe is about three inches; 110 square inches inlet to three
inches outlet; thirty-seven times as much water can flow in as éan
flow out. There is, then, no need for the water to go through the
pores of the pipe; and the fact is, we think, quite fortunate, for the
passage of water through the pores would in no case be sufficient to
benefit the land to much extent. We tried an experiment, by stop-
ping one end of an ordinary drain pipe and filling it with water.
At the end of sixty-five hours, water still stood in the pipe three
fourths of an inch deep. About half the water first put into the
pipe had run out at the end of twenty-four hours. If the pipe was
stopped at both ends, and plunged four feet deep in water, it would
undoubtedly fill in a short time; but such a test is an unfair one,
for no drain could be doing service, over which water would collect
to the depth of four feet.”

DISCHARGE OF WATER THROUGH PIPES, 281

14% INCH DRAIN PIPE.
Area: 1.76709 inches.

|

Fall in Velocity Discharge Fall in Velocity Discharge
100 feet. | per second in gallons 100 feet. | per second in gallons
ft. in. in feet. in 24 hours. ft. in. in feet. in 24 hours.
3 71 5630.87 5.3 3.75 29704.51
6 1.04 8248.03 5.6 3.84 30454.28
9 1.29 10230.73 5.9 3.93 31168.06
pe 1.52 12054.81 6. 4. 31723.21
1.3 1.74 13799.59 6.3 4.10 32516.36
1.6 1.91 15147.83 6.6 4.18 33150.76
1.9 2.10 16654.68 6.9 4.25 33705.91
2. 2.26 17923.61 7. 4.33 34340.38
2.3 2.41 19113.23 7.3 4.41 34974.85
2.6 2.56 20302.86 7.6 4.49 35609.30
2.9 2.69 21333.86 pe 4,56 36154.45
3. 2.83 22444.17 8. 4.65 36878.23
3.3 2.94 23150.71 8.3 4.71 37354.08
3.6 3.06 24268.25 8.6 4.79 37988.55
3.9 3.16 25061.34 8.9 4.85 — 38464.40
4. 3.28 26013.03 3. 4.91 38940.25
4.3 3.38 26806.11 9.3 4.98 39495.39
4.6 3.46 27440.58 9.6 5.04 39971.24
4.9 3.56 28233.66 9.9 5.10 40447.10
5. 3.65 28947.43 10. 5.16 40922.93

2 INCH DRAIN PIPE.

Fall in Velocity Discharge Fall in Velocity Discharge

100 feet. | per second in gallons 100 feet. | per second in gallons
ft. in. in feet. in 24 hours. ft. in. in feet, in 24 hours.
3 79 10575.4 5.3 4.11 55018.9
6 1.16 15528.4 5.6 4.22 56491.5
3 1.50 20079.9 5.9 4.31 57696.3
1. 1.71 22891.1 6. 4.40 58901.1
1.3 1,94 25970. 6.3 4.49 60105.9
1.6 2.16 28915.1 6.6 4.58 61309.7
1.9 2.35 31458.5 6.9 4.66 62381.6
2. 2.53 33868.1 c 4.74 63452.5
2.3 2.69 36009.9 7.3 4.83 64667.3
2.6 2.83 37884. 7.6 4.91 65728.3
2.9 2.97 39758.2 7.9 4.99 66799.2
3. 3.11 41632.4 8. 5.07 67870.1
3.3 3.24 43372.6 8.3 9.15 68941.
3.6 3.36 44979. 8.6 5.23 70011.9
3.9 3.48 46585.4 8.9 5.31 - 71082.8
4. 3.59 48057.9 9. 5.38 72019.9
4.3 3.70 49530.5 9.3 5.46 73090.9
4.6 3.80 50869.1 9.6 5.53 74027.9
4.9 3.91 52341.6 - 9.9 5.60 74965.
5. 4.02 53814.1 10. 5.67 75902.

NLL

25

282 LAND DRAINAGE,

3 INCH DRAIN PIPE.

Fall in Velocity Discharge Fall in Velocity Discharge
100 feet. | per second in gallons 100 feet. | per second in gallons
ft. in. in feet. in 24 hours. fein. in feet. in 24 hours.
a -90 24687.2 5.3 4.57 — 125356.2
6 1.33 36482.2 5.6 4.68 128373.5
9 1.66 45534.2 5.9 4.78 131116.6
1. 1.94 53214.7 6. 4.89 134133.9
1.3 2.19 60072.2 6.3: 4.98 136602.6
1.6 2.43 66655.5 6.6 5.08 139345.6
1.9 2.63 72141.5 6.9 5.18 142088.7
2. 2.83 77627.6 7. 5.27 144557.4
2.3 3. 82290.7 7.3 5.37 147306.4
2.6 3.16 86679.6 7.6 5.46 150069.1
2.9 3.31 90794.1 2.9 5.55 152237.8
3. 3.47 95182.9 8. 5.44 154706.6
3.3 3.60 98748.9 8.3 5.73 157175.3
3.6 3.74 102589.1 8.6 5.82 159644.0
3.9 3.87 106155. 8.9 5.91 162112.7
4. 3.99 109446.7 2 5.99 164313.2
4.3 4.11 112738.3 9.3 6.07 166501.6
4.6 4.23 116029.9 9.6 6.16 168970.3
4.9 4.34 119047.3 9.9 6.24 171164.7
5. 4.46 122338.9 10. 6.32 173359.1

4 INCH DRAIN PIPE.

Fall in Velocity Discharge Fall in Velocity _yaettig- | —Siscuaage- || ancta ape tea
100 feet. | per second in gallons 100 feet. | per second in gallons
ft.in. | in feet. in 24 hours. ft. in. in feet. in 24 hours.
3 1.08 43697.6 5.3 4.86 196639.4
6 1.50 60691.2 5.6 4.97 201090.1
. 1.83 74043.2 5.9 5.09 205945.3
1. 2.13 86181.4 6. 5.20 210396.
1.3 2.38 96296.6 6.3 5.30 214442.1
1.6 2.61 105602.6 6.6 5.41 218892.8
1.9 2.81 113694.8 6.9 5.51 222938.8
2. 3. 121382.3 ff 5.61 226984.9
2.3 3.19 129089.9 || 7.3 5.71 231031.
2.6 3.36 135948.2 || 7.6 5.81 235077.1
2.9 3.53 142826.5 || 7.9 5.91 239123.2
3. 3.68 148895.7 8. 6.01 243169.2
3.3 3.82 154560.2 8.3 6.10 246810.7
3.6 3.96 160224.7 8.6 6.19 250452.2
3.9 4.10 165889,2 8.9 6.28 253193.7
4, 4,24 171553.7 if 6.37 257735.2
4.3 4.87 176813.6 9.3 6.45 260971.9
4.6 4.50 182073.5 9.6 6.54 264603.1
4.9 4.62 186928.3 9.9 6.63 268254.9
5. 4.75 192188.7 10. 6.71 271491.8

DISCHARGE OF WATER THROUGH PIPES. 283

5 INCH DRAIN PIPE.

Fall in Velocity Discharge | Fall in» | Velocity Discharge
100 feet. | per second in gallons 100 feet. | per second in gallons
ft. in, in feet. in 24 hours, | ft. in. in feet. in 24 hours.
3 1.13 ~ 95841.2 | 5.3 5.02 442401.3
6 1.57 138362. + 5.6 5.14 452976.6 ©
9 1.90 167442.0 5.9 5.25 462570.6
J. 2.20 193881. 6. 5.37 473246.
1.3 2.45 215912.9 6.3 5.49 483820.4
1.6 2.70 237944.9 6.6 5.60 493514.6
1.9 2.90 255569.5 6.9 5.70 502327.4
2. 3.10 273195.9 ce 5.80 511140.2
2.3 3.29 289940.1 7.3 5.90 520052.
2.6 3.46 304921.9 7.6 6. 528766.5
2.9 3.64 320784.9 2 6.10 537578.7
3. 3.80 334885.4 8. 6.20 546391.5
3.3 3.96 348974.8 8.3 6.30 555204.5
3.6 4.11 362204.9 8.6 6.40 564017.
3.9 4.26 375424.1 8.9 6.49 571948.
4. 4.40 387762.1 9. 6.58 579880.
4.3 4.52 398337.5 9.3 6.66 586930.2
4.6 4.66 410675.3 9.6 6.75 59486 1.4
4.9 4.78 421250.6 9.9 6.84 602793.2
5. 4.90 430825.0 10. 6.93 610723.8

8 INCH DRAIN PIPE.
Area: 50.2640 inches.

Fall in Velocity Discharge Fall in Velocity Discharge
100 feet. | per second in gallons 100 feet. | per second in gallons
ft. in. in feet. in 24 hours. ft. in. in feet. in 24 hours.
3 1.23 277487.7 5.3 5.35 1206959.3
6 1.65 -872239.7 5.6 5.47 1234031.3
a) 2.01 453455.7 - 5.9 5.59 1261103.3
is 2.33 525647.7 6. me ys | 91288175.3
1.3 2.60 586559.7 6.3 5.83 1315247.3
1.6 2.85 642959.6 6.6 5.95 1343838.9
1.9 3.08 694847.6 6.9 6.07 1369391.3
2. 3.30 744479.7 fl 6.17 1391951.2
2.3 3.50 789599.6 7.3 6.27 1414531.1
2.6 3.70 844719.7 7.6 6.39 1441583.2
2.9 3.89 877583.5 7.9 6.50 1466399.3
3. 4.05 913679.5 8. 6.60 1488959.2
3.3 4.21 949775.6 8.3 6.70 1511539.1
3.6 4.37 971658.7 8.6 6.80 1534099.0
3.9 4.53 920447.4 8.9 6.90 1556658.9
4. 4.67 1055551.4 9. . 1579199.3
4.3 4.81 1086135.4 9.3 7.10 1601759.2
4.6 4.95 1116718.7 9.6 7.20 1624319.1
4.9 5.08 1146047.4 9.9 7.29 1644622.1
g. 5.22 1177631.3 10 7.38) 1664927.1

CHAPTER III.

DEPTH OF DRAINS.

TuE proper depth of drains, depends on various condi-
tions, but especially on the amount of outfall, and the
nature of the soil. In some fields, it may be possible to
obtain ready outfall for drains thirty inches in depth,
where great expense would be incurred, if the drains were
laid at depths of three or four feet; in such a case, it is
better to use comparatively shallow drains and compen-
sate by placing them at shorter distances. On the other
hand, there are situations where the outfall is sufficient,
and where a soil of porous materials lies on clay at a
depth of four feet; it is then better, and in the end
cheaper, to put the drain down upon the clay, and at pro-
portionately greater distances apart. The cost will also
be considered, in settling questions of depth and distance ;
deep drains are disproportionately expensive for the cost
of taking out the lower foot of a four feet drain, and is
almost equal to that of removing the upper three feet ;
while shallow drains, which require to be nearer together,
involve a greater outlay for tiles. There has been an im-
mense amount of controversy between the advocates of
shallow drains,-and the advocates of the deep, the one
part preferring a depth of two feet six inches, the other a
depth of four feet. Practical and experienced men have
come to regard these two opinions, as indicating the pos-
sible range of useful drainage, either of which may be
adopted under special circumstances, while in almost all
cases the most useful and economical depth lies between
these extremes, or about three feet.

(284)

DEPTH OF DRAINS. 28d

The depth of the drain being one of the most important
considerations, we will give at some length the opinions
of those who have had ample experienc8 added to very
extensive observations. The first authority we shall refer
to, is Mr. Gisborne : ad

‘‘ Many experiments have shown that, in retentive soils, the temper-
ature at 2 or 3 feet below the surface of the water table is, at no pe-
riod of the year, higher than from 46° to 48°, 7 ¢, in agricultural
Britain. This temperature is little affected by summer heats, for
the following short reasons. Water, in a quiescent state is one of
the worse conductors of heat with which we are acquainted. Water
warmed at the surface transmits little or no heat downward. The
small portion warmed expands, becomes lighter than that below,
consequently retains its position on the surface, and carries no heat
downward.' To ascertain the mean heat of the air at the surface
of the earth over any extended space, and for a period of eight or
nine months, is no simple operation, More elements enter into such
a calculation than we have space or ability to enumerate; but we
know certainly that, for seven months in the year, air, at the surface
of the ground, is seldom lower than 48°, never much lower, and only
for short periods: whereas, at four feet from the surface, in the
shade, from 70°to 80° is not an unusual temperature, and in a south-
ern exposure, in hot sunshine, double that temperature is not unfre-
quently obtained on the surface. Now let us consider the effect of
drains placed from 2 to 3 feet below the water table, and acting dur-
ing the seven months of which we have spoken. They draw out
water of the temperature of 48°, Every particle of water which they
withdraw at this temperature is replaced by an equal bulk of air at
a higher, and frequently at a much higher temperature. The warmth
of the air is carried down into the earth. The temperature of the soil,
to the depth to which the water is removed, isin a course of constant
assimilation to the temperature of the air atthe surface. From this

1 When water is heated from below, the portion first subjected to the heat
rises to the surface, and every portion is successively subjected to the heat
and rises, and each, having lost some of its heat at the surface, is in turn
displaced. Constant motion is kept up, and a constant approximation to
an equal temperature in the whole body. The application of superficial
heat has no tendency to disturb the quiescence of water.

286 LAND DRAINAGE.

it follows necessarily, that during that period of the year when the
temperature of air at the surface of the earth is generally below 48°,
retentive soils whieh have been drained are colder than those which
have not. Perhaps this is no disadvantage. In still more artificial
cultivation than the usual run of agriculture, gardeners are not in-
sensible to the advantage of a total suspension of vegetation fora
short period. In Britain, we suffer, not from an excess of cold in
winter, but from a deficiency of warmth in summer. Grapes and
maize, to which our somber skies deny maturity, come to full perfec-
tion in many regions whose winters are longerand more severe than
ours. However, we state the facts, without asking to put a large
amount therefrom to the credit of our drainage.

“Mr. Parkes gives temperatures on a Lancashire flat moss, but
they only commence at 7 inches below the surface, and do not ex-
tend to midsummer. At that period of the year the temperature at
7 inches never exceeded 66°, and was generally from 10° to 15° below
the temperature of air in the shade, at 4 feet above the earth. At
the depth of 13 inches the soil was generally from 5° to 8° cooler
than at 7 inches. Mr. Parkes’ experiments were made simultane-
ously on a drained andon an undrained portion of the moss; and
the result was, that, on a mean of 35 observations, the drained soil
at 7 inches in depth was 10° warmer than the undrained at the same
depth. ‘The undrained soil never exceeded 47°, whereas after a
thunder-storm the drained reached 66° at 7 inches, and 48° at 31
inches. Such were the effects at an early period of the year on a
black bog. They suggest some idea of what they are, when in July
or August thunder-rain at 60° or 70° falls on a surface heated to 1309,
and curries down with it into the greedy fissures of the earth its
augmented temperature. These advantages porous soils possess by
nature, and retentive soils only acquire them by drainage.'

1 The only temperature of thunder rain given in Mr. Parkes’ Tables is 78.
This, we imagine, must be an extreme heat. We have heard, with much
satisfaction, that Mr. Parkes is, by means of his numerous staff stationed
at the works which he is carrying om in many parts of Great Britain, Ire-
Jand, and (we believe) France, conducting a series of experiments on
the temperatures of water of drainage, which tend to show an increase
in some proportion to the length of time for which the drainage has been
executed. We know no experiments connected with agriculture to the re-
sult of which we look with more hopeful expectation. Any agriculturist may,
by means of a delicate thermometer, conduct and record such observations
on his own farm, Probably the water of drainage from firm land may be

DEPTH OF DRAINS. 287

“In all soils the existence of the water table nearer than 4 feet
from the surface of the land is prejudicial to vegetation. Here open
upon us the yelpings of the whole shallow pack. Four feet! ‘The
same depth for all soils! Here’s quackery! We think Mr. Parkes
must have stood in very unnecessary awe of this pack, when he
penned the following half-apologetic sentence, which is quite at va-
riance with the wise decision with which, in other passages of his
works, he insists on depths of four feet and upward in all soils:
‘In respect of the depth at which drains may, with a certainty of
action, be placed in a soil, I pretend to assign no rule; for there
can not, in my opinion, be a more crude or mistaken idea than that
one rule of depth is applicable with equal efficiency to soils of all
kinds.’! Those words—equal efficiency—are a sort of saving clause ;
for we do not believe that when Mr. Parkes wrote them, he enter-
tained ‘the crude or mistaken idea’ of ever putting in an agricultu-
ral drain less than 4 feet deep, if he could help it. We will supply
the deficiency in Mr. Parkes’ explanation, and will show that the
idea of a minimum depth of four feet is neither crude nor mistaken.
And as to ‘quackery’—which occurs passim in the writings and
speeches of the shallow drainers—there is no quackery in assigning
a minimum. Every drainer does it, and must do it. The shallow-
est man must put his drains out of the way of the plow and of the
feet of cattle. That is his minimum. ‘The man who means to sub-
soil must be out of the way of his agricultural implement. These
two minima are fixed on mechanical grounds. We will fix a mini-
mum founded on ascertained facts and on the principles of vezetation.

‘Every gentleman who, at his matutinal or ante-prandial
toilet, will take his well-dried sponge, and dip the tip of it into
water, will find that the sponge will become wet above the
point of contact between the sponge and the water, and this
wetness will ascend up the sponge, in a diminishing ratio, to
the point where the forces of attraction and of gravity are equal.
This illustration is for gentlemen of the Clubs, of London draw-
ing-rooms, of the Inns of Court, and for others of simi!:” habits.
For gentlemen who are floriculturists, we have an ijlustration

expected to be higher in temperature than that from the quoted bos in sum-
mer, and lower in winter.

1Smith of Deanston may perhaps be open to some observation, for we
believe that be did unadvisedly recommend, in thorough draining, an equal
depth and equal distance for parallel drains in all soils.

288 LAND DRAINAGE.

much more apposite to the point which we are discussing. Take a
flower-pot a foot deep, filled with dry soil. Place it in a saucer con-
taining three inches of water. The first effect will be, that the water
will rise through the hole in the bottom of the pot till the water
which fills the interstices between the soil is on a level with the
water in the saucer. This effect is by gravity. The upper surface
of this water is our water table. From it water will ascend by at-
traction through the who'e body of soil till moisture is apparent at
the surface. Put in your soil at 60°, a reasonable summer heat for
nine inches in depth, your water at 47°, the seven inches’ tempera-
ture of Mr. Parkes’ undrained bog; the attracted water will ascend
at 47°, and will diligently occupy itself in attempting to reduce the
60° soil to its own temperature. Moreover, no sooner will the soil
hold water of attraction, than evaporation will begin to carry it off,
and will produce the cold consequent thereon. This evaporated
water will be replaced by water of attraction at 47°, and this double
cooling process will go on till all the water in the water table is ex-
hausted. Supply water to the saucer as fast as it disappears, and
then the process will be perpetual. The system of saucer-watering
is reprobated by every intelligent gardener; it is found by experi-
ence to chill vegetation; besides which, scarcely any cultivated
plant can dip its roots into stagnant water with impunity. Exactly
the process which we have described in the flower-pot is constantly
in operation on undrained retentive soil: the water table may not
be within nine inches of the surface, but in very many instances it
is within a foot or eighteen inches, at which level the cold surplus
oozes into some ditch or other superficial outlet. At 18 inches, at-
traction will, on the average of soils, act with considerable power.
Here, then, you have two obnoxious principles at work, both pro-
ducing cold, and the one administering to the other. The obvious
remedy is, to destroy their wnited action; to break through their line
of communication. Remove your water of attraction to such adepth
that evaporation can not act upon it, or but feebly. What is that
depth? In ascertaining this point we are not altogether without
deta. No doubt depth diminishes the power of evaporation rapidly.
Still, as water taken from a 30 inch drain is almost invariably two or
three degrees colder than water taken from 4 feet, and as this latter
is generally one or two degrees colder than water from a contiguous
well several feet below, we can hardly avoid drawing the conclusion
that the cold of evaporation has considerable influence at 30 inches,
2 much diminished influence at 4 feet, and little or none below that

DEPTH OF DRAINS. 289

depth. If the water table is removed to the depth of 4 feet, when
we have allowed 18 inches of attraction, we shall still have 30 inches
of defense against evaporation; and we are inclined to believe that
any prejudicial combined action of attraction and evaporation is
thereby well guarded against. The facts stated seem to prove that
less will not suffice.

“A farmer manures a field of four or five inches of free soil re-
posing on a retentive clay, and sows it with wheat. It comes up,
and between the kernel and the manure it looks well for a time, but
anon it sickens. An Irish child looks well for five or six years, but
after that time potatoe feeding, and filth, and hardship, begin to tell.
You ask what is amiss with the wheat, and you are told that when
its roots reach the clay they are poisoned. This field is then tho-
rough drained, deep, at least four feet. It receives again from the
cultivator the previous treatment; the wheat comes up well, main-
tains a healthy aspect, and gives a good return. What has become
of the poison? We have been told that rain water filtered through
the soil has taken it into solution or suspension, and has carried it
off through the drains, and men who assume to be of authority put
forward this as one of the advantages of draining. If we believed
it we could not advocate draining. We really should not have the
face to tell our readers that water, passing through soils containing
elements prejudicial to vegetation, would carry them off, but would
leave those which are beneficial behind." We can not make our
water so discriminating; the general merit of water of deep drain-
age is, that it contains very little. Its perfection would be, that it
should contain nothing. We understand that experiments are in
progress which have ascertained that water, charged with matters
which are known to stimulate vegetation, when filtered through four
feet of retentive soil, comes out pure.* But to return to our wheat.
In the first case, it shrinks before the cold of evaporation, and the cold
of water of attraction, and it sickens because its feet are never dr7;
it suffers the usual maladies of cold and wet. In the second case,
the excess of cold by evaporation is withdrawn; the cold water of
attraction is removed out of its way; the warm air from the surface,

' We do not deny that some subsoils contain matter prejudicial to vege-
tation, but generally they are not worse than a caput mortunm ; seldom quite
so bad.

2 Since this Essay was first printed, a portion of veh experiments has
been communicated to the public by Professor Way. |

26

290 LAND DRAINAGE. -

rushing in to supply the place of the water which the drains re-
move, and the warm summer rains, bearing down with them the
temperature which they have acquired from the upper soil, carry a
genial heat to its lowest roots. Health, vigorous growth, and early
maturity are the natural consequences.

“Water can only get into drains by gravity, which only acts by
descent—technically, by fall; the fall must be proportioned to the
friction which the water encounters on its passage. Suppose drains
four feet deep to be placed twelve yards apart on level land, it is
plain that water at that depth, lying at the intermediate point
between the two drains, will not get into either of them. A fall of
some inches will be required to enable it to overcome the friction of
«ix yards of retentive soil. In order, therefore, to lower the water
table to four feet at all points, the drains must be some inches deeper
than four feet. If the land lies on a slope (say four inches to the
yard), drains of four feet, if driven on the line of steepest descent,
will effect the object; because, though water at four feet, lying at
the intermediate point between two drains, ina line at right angles
to them, can not for want of fall get into either of them by travel-
ing six yards, it will find a fall of four inches at less than seven, and
of eight inches at less than eight, yards. If we must speak quite
correctly, this intermediate water will never get into the drain till
there is afresh supply; it will descend perpendicularly, pushing out
that which.lies below it, and will be itself displaced by a fresh ar-
rival from the heavens. In order that the whole soil, if homogene-
ous, or nearly so, may be drained evenly, it is manifest that the
drains. must be parallel. Extra friction in the soil must be met
either by making the drains deeper, or by placing them nearer. On
this point, which is one of practice rather than of principle, each
case must be left to the sagacity of the operator. We doubt whether
in any natural soil the friction is so great as to resist a fall of one
inch ina yard. If we are right in this point, we should always at-
tain the object of lowering the water table to four feet by 4-feet
6-inch drains, parallel, and twelve yards apart. We have already
stated one advantage which results on a slope from driving the par-
allel drains in the line of steepest descent: to-wit, that when they
are so driven, all water which lies at the same depth from the sur-
face at the bottoms of the drains, can find a fall into one or the
other by traveling a little more than half the distance between
them; whereas, ifthe drains are driven across the slope, half the
water so situated as to depth can only find a fall into the lower

DEPTH OF DARINS. 291

drain, and in order to reach it must travel distances varying from
one half to the full interval between the two.

“We shall dismiss, with a very few words, two classes of writers
on the subject of draining: 1. Those who limit the advantages of
a drain to the water which is passed into it from its own surface,
and who, therefore, enjoin that it should be filled with porous mate-
rial, and that it should be shallow. 2. Those who will not drain 4
or 5 feet deep because it makes the ground too dry for the roots of
plants. This idea must have come from some garret, having been
conceived by an ingenious recluse brooding over his ignorance, and
reasoning as follows: What makes vegetation burn up? The absence
of water from its roots. What takes away the water? Deep drains.
Ergo, deep drains are the cause of burning. We will supply a for-
mula: Why does vegetation burn? Because its roots are very super-
ficial. Why superficial? Because they won't face the cold of stag-
nant water. What removes the cold and the water? Deep drains.
And the facts exactly coincide with our logic. Deep drained lands
never do burn. Nothing burns sooner than a few inches of soil on
a very retentive clay. No land is less subject to burn than the same
soil when, by 4 or 5 feet draining, a range of 3 or 4 feet has been
given to the previously superficial roots.

“Having dismissed these two small matters, we must treat more
respectfully a lingering skepticism as to the efficacy of deep drains
in very retentive soils; and instead of wondering at this skepticism,
we wonder rather that deep thorough draining has so rapidly made
converts. Representations are made of soils which consist of some
inches of a moderately porous material reposing on a subsoil which
is said to be impervious; and we are told that it is of no use to
make the drain deeper into the impervious matter than will suffice
for laying the conduit. If the subsoil is impervious, as glass or even
as cast iron or caoutchouc are impervious, we at once admit the
soundness of the argument. We only want to ask one question: Is
your subsoil moister after the rains of midwinter than it is after
the drought of midsummer? If it is, it will drain. Mr. Mechi asks,
shrewdly enough: ‘If your soil is impervious, how did you get it
wet?’ This imperviousness is always predicated of strong clays—
plastic clays they are sometimes called. We really thought that no
one was £0 ignorant as not to be aware that clay lands always shrink
and crack with drought, and the stiffer the clay the greater the
shrinking, as brickmakers well know. In the great drought thirty-
six years ago, we saw, in a very retentive soil in the Vale of Bel-

292 LAND DRAINAGE.

voir, cracks which it was not very pleasant to ride among. This
very summer, on land which, with reference to this very subject, the
owner stated to be impervious, we put a walking-stick three feet into
a sun crack without finding a bottom, and the whole surface was
what Mr. Parkes not inappropriately calls a net-work of cracks.
When heavy rain comes upon the soil in this state, of course, the
eracks fill, the clay imbibes the water, expands, and the cracks are
abolished. But if there are 4 or 5 feet parallel drains in the land,
the water passes at once into them, and is carried off. In fact, when
heavy rain falls upon clay lands in this cracked state, it passes off
too quickly, without adequate filtration. Into the fissures of the
undrained soil, the roots only penetrate to be perished by the cold
and wet of the succeeding winter; but in the drained soil the roots
follow the threads of vegetable mold which have been washed into
the cracks, and get an abiding tenure. Earth worms follow either
the roots or the mold. Permanent schisms are established in the
clay, and its whole character is changed. An old farmer in a mid-
land county began with 20 inch drains across the hill, and, without
ever reading a word, or, we believe, conversing with any one on the
subject, poked his way, step by step, to 4 or 5 feet drains in the line
of steepest descent. Showing us his drains this spring, he said:
‘They do better year by year; the water gets a habit of coming to
them.’ A very correct statement of the fact, though not a very phi-
losophical explanation. Year by year the average dryness of the
soil increases, the cracks are further extended, and seldomer oblite-
rated. A man may drain retentive soils deep and well, but he will
be disappointed if he expects what is unreasonable. No intelligent
and honest operator will say more than that money judiciously ex-
pended in draining them will pay good, and generally very good, in-
terest. If you eat off turnips with sheep, if you plow the land, or
cart on it, or in any way puddle it when it is wet, of course the
water will lie on the surface, and will not go to your drains. A 4-feet
drain may go very near a pit or a watercourse without attracting
water from either, because watercourses almost invariably puddle
their beds, and the same effect is produced in pits by the treading
of cattle, and even by the motion of the water produced by wind.
A very thin film of puddle always wet on one side is impervious,
because it can not crack. » |

“No system of draining can relieve soils of water of attraction.
That can only be exhausted by evaporation. Retentive scils hold it
in excess; its reduction by evaporation produces cold; and, there-

DEPTH OF DRAINS. 293

fore, retentive soils never can be so warm ay porous. Expect
reasonable things only of your drained retentive soils, and you will
not be disappointed. Shallow drainers start with the idea of a drop
of water falling on the top of the svil, and working its solitary way
through narrow and tortuous passages to a drain; and they say that
it would be lost in the labyrinth, which we think very likeiy. They
have no idea that the water operated upon by the drain is that which
lies at the level of its own bottom, which runs off, and is replaced by
that which was immediately above it. And on account of this ope-
ration, which we have before explained, it is necessary in retentive
soils, in which friction is greater than in porous, to have the drains
deeper, in order to lower the water table to the same extent. A
column of six inches may suffice to push water from the intermedi-
ate point between two drains in a porous soil, and it may require a
12-inch column in @ retentive. In that case the drain in the reten-
tive soil must be six inches deeper than in the porous. Ignorance
says: Drain shallower because the soil is retentive. Experience
and reason say: Drain deeper. We may here notice, that in clay
lands the portion within one to two feet of the surface is almost
always more retentive than that which lies below; simply, we appre-
hend, because its particles have been comminuted and packed close
by the alternate influences of wet and dry, heat and cold. When
dried below by drains, and above by evaporation, it is certain to
erack and become permeable; and this operation may, if necessary,
be assisted by subsoiling or other artificial means.

“Smith, of Deanston, first called prominent attention to the fertil-
izing effects of rain filtered through land, and to evils produced by
allowing it to flow off the surface. Any one will see how much
more effectually this benefit will be attained, and this evil avoided,
by a 4-feet than by a 2-feet drainage. The latter can only prepare
two feet of soil for the reception and retention of rain, which two
feet, being saturated, will reject more, and the surplus must run off
the surface, carrying whatever it can find with it. A 4feet drainage
will be constantly tending to have four feet of soil ready for the re-
ception of rain, and it will take much more rain to saturate four feet
than two. Moreover, as a gimlet hole bored four feet from the sur-
face of a barrel filled with water will discharge much more in a
given time than a similar hole bored at the depth of two feet, so will
un 4-feet drain discharge in a given time much more water than a
drain of two feet. One is acted on by a 4feet, and the other by a
2-feet pressure.”

294 LAND DRAINAGE.

The controversy between deep drains and shallow drains
induced a great many experiments to be made. Among
these experimenters was Lord Wharncliffe, who adopted
a kind of compromise system, combining four feet and
two feet drains.

Lord Wharncliffe states his principles as follows, and
calls his method the combined system of deep and shallow
drainage:

“Tn order to secure the full effect of thorough drainage in clays,
it is necessary that there should be not only well-laid conduits for
the water which reaches them, but also subsidiary passages opened
through the substance of the close subsoil, by means of atmospheric
heat, and the contraction which ensues from it. The cracks and
fissures which result from this action, are reckoned upon as a cer
tain and essential part of the process.

“To give efficiency, therefore, to a system of deep drains beneath
a stiff clay, these natural channels are required. To produce them,
there must be a continued action of heat and evaporation. If we
draw off effectually and constantly the bottom water from beneath
the clay and from its substance, as far as it admits of percolation,
and by some other means provide a vent for the upper water, which
needs no more than this facility to run: freely, there seems good
reason to suppose that the object may be completely attained, and
that we shall remove the moisture from both portions as effectually
as its quantity and the substance will permit. Acting upon this
view, then, after due consideration, I determined to combine with
the fundamental four feet drains a system of auxiliary ones of much
less depth, which should do their work above, and contribute their
share to the wholesome discharge, while the under-current from
their more subterranean neighbors should be steadily performing
their more difficult duty.

‘‘T accomplished this, by placing my four feet drains at a distance
of from eighteen to twenty yards apart, and then leading others into
them, sunk only to about two feet beneath the surface (which ap-
peared, upon consideration, to be sufficiently below any conceivable
depth of cultivation), and laying these at a distance from each other
of eight yards. . These latter are laid at an acute angle with the
main drains, and at their mouths are either gradually sloped down-
ward to the lower level, or have a few loose stones placed in the

DEPTH OF DRAINS. 295

same intervals between the two, sufficient to insure the perpendicu-
lar descent of the upper stream through that space, which can never
exceed, or, indeed, strictly equal, the two additional two feet.” °

Speaking of the Wharncliffe system, Gisborne remarks :

‘Were I to adopt his lordship’s system, I must abandon, Ist., the
principle of depth; and 2d, the principle of direction; and if 1
abandoned those two principles, I had much better put this treatise
into the fire than send it to Mr. Murray for publication.”

Alderman Mechi, speaking of deep drainage, says:

‘Ask nineteen farmers out of twenty, who hold strong clay land,
and they will tell you it is of no use placing deep four foot drains
in such soils—the water can not get in; a horse's foot-hole (without
an opening under it) will hold water like a basin; and so on. Well,
five minutes after, you tell the same farmers you propose digging a
cellar, well bricked, six or eight feet deep; what is their remark ’
‘Oh! it’s of no use your making an underground cellar in our soil,
you can't keep the water ovt!’ Was there ever such an illustration
of prejudice as this? What is a drain pipe but a small cellar full
of air? Then, again, common sense tells us, you can’t keep a light
fluid under a heavy one. You might as well try to keep a cork
under water, as to try and keep air under water. ‘Oh! but then our
soil isn’t porous.’ If not, how can it hold water so readily? lam
led to these observations by the strong controversy I am having with
some Essex folks, who protest that Iam mad, or foolish, for placing
l-inch pipes, at four feet depth, in strong clays. It is in vain I refer
to the numerous proofs of my soundness, brought forward by Mr.
Parkes, engineer to the Royal Agricultural Society, and confirmed
by Mr. Pusey. They still dispute it. It is in vain I tell them J can
not keep the rainwater out of socketed pipes, twelve feet deep, that
convey a spring to my farm-yard. Let us try and convince this
large class of doubters ; for it is of national importance. Four feet
of good porous clay would afford a far better meal to some strone
bean, or other tap roots, than the usual six inches; and a saving
of $4 to $5 per acre, in drainage, is no trifle.

“The shallow, or non-drainers, assume that tenacious subsoils are
impervious or non-absorbent. This is entirely an erroneous assump-
tion. If soils were impervious, how could they get wet?

“T assert, and pledge my agricultural reputation for the fact, that
there are no earths or clays in this kingdom, be they ever so tena-

296 LAND DRAINAGE.

cious, that will not readily receive, filter, and transmit rain water to
drains placed 5 or more feet deep.

“ A neighbor of mine drained 20 inches deep in strong clay; the
ground cracked widely; the contraction destroyed the tiles, and the
rains washed the surface soil into the cracks and choked the draina.
He has since abandoned shallow draining.

‘‘When I first began draining, I allowed myself to be overruled by
my obstinate man, Pearson, who insisted that, for top water, 2 feet
was a sufficient depth in a veiny soil. 1 allowed him to try the ex.
periment on two small fields; the result was, that nothing prospered ;
and I am re-draining those fields at one half the cost, 5 and 6 feet
deep, at intervals of 70 and 80 feet.

‘“‘T found iron-sand rocks, strong elay, silt, iron, etc., and an enor-
mous quantity of water, all below the 2-feet drains. This accounted
at once for the sudden check the crops always met with in May,
when they wanted to send their roots down, but could not, without
going into stagnant water.”

Good results are always obtained from three feet drains,
and there can be no doubt that the results would be more
permanent with four feet drains. Where drains at three
feet deep will accomplish all practical purposes for a pe-
riod of twenty-five or thirty years, it will require very
strong arguments indeed to induce the farmers to drain
to the depth of four feet.

In this country, every farmer, as a general thing, owns
the land he cultivates, and in a majority of instances has
earned, with his own hands, every dollar that he paid for
the farm and its improvements. In an improvement so
permanent as underdraining proposes to be, the farmer
‘counts the cost”? very closely and very frequently, be-
fore commencing it, and if he is fully satisfied that good
results will attend his efforts, when draining at a depth
of three feet, at an expense equal to three fourths of the
amount that draining four feet would cost, scarcely any
argument would induce him to drain at a depth of the
additional foot. And the farmer is fully justified in this
course, in the Middle and Western states. Landed estates

DEPTH OF DRAINS. 297

change hands very rapidly in this country. Suppose a
farmer incurs a debt of $1000, for any improvement over
and above his immediate means. He can not mortgage
his “crops in the ground,” to secure this amount, be-
cause drought, hail, insects, or other adversities beyond
his control may destroy them; he can not mortgage his
sheep, because dogs may kill them, nor his cattle, because
there is a possibility that they may die of pleuro-pneu-
monia, trembles, murrain, or a dozen other diseases; so
that no other resource is left than to mortgage the farm
itself. Should the mortgage mature, and crops be short,
or prices unremunerative, the creditor can foreclose and
the farmer be sold by the sheriff, in one hundred days or
less. This is no fancy sketch; Ohio farmers have so fre-
quently witnessed the fate of neighboring farmers, in this
respect, that they have become exceedingly cautious so
far as involving themselves in indebtedness is concerned.

In England or Germany, where lands seldom pass out
of the hands of the family, even if the proprietor is ab-
solutely bankrupt, larger amounts can be hazarded in
improvements, without incurring the risk of losing the
farm. In those countries they may insist on draining
at four feet as a minimum depth. For reasons already
given, we believe the minimum will be determined by
each man for himself, without regard to system or theory,
on the following basis, viz. : to lay the tile at such a depth
that neither the plow nor subsoil plow will interfere with
it, and that it will be beyond the range of frost. We
think that these two points, namely, beyond the range of
the frost, and out of reach of the subsoil plow, will deter-
mine the depth of drains in more instances, in this coun-
try, than all the illustrations that English or German
draining engineers can adduce from experience in favor
of very deep draining.

298 LAND DRAINAGE.

It is not an uncommon phenomenon to find the earth, in
cultivated fields, consisting of loamy soils, frozen to the
depth of 14 to 16inches. In a cemetery we once saw a
loamy clay frozen to the depth of 22 inches. Under-
drained soils always freeze considerably deeper than un-
drained ones. If then the soil in a field freezes to the
depth of 16 inches, it is safe to infer that if the field
is well underdrained, the frost will find its way down
fully two feet. We would not advise any one to under-
drain at a depth less than 30 inches, and where the fall,
and pecuniary means will warrant, we would insist that 3
feet should be considered the minimum, in all soils requir-
ing underdraining.

The day is not far distant when subsoiling will be much
more generally practiced. Improvements seldom termin-
ate with the initiatory step, and the man who is sufficiently
convinced of the importance of underdraining, and puts
it in practice on his farm, will not hesitate to use the sub-
soil plow, and tile laid at a depth less than 30 inches, will
not probably be beyond the reach of this plow.

The difference in cost between a three and a four feet
drain is considerably more than one would at first sup-
pose. A good English ditcher, in ordinary clay soil, will
make eight rods of three feet drain per day, but will not
make more than five rods of four feet in the same time—
in fact, he seldom will make over four. To sink a three
feet drain one foot lower, will cost nearly as much for the
last foot as for the preceding three—for reasons that
every practical man will at once understand. Drains for
tile are narrowed from the top to the bottom—they are
generally 14 to 18 inches wide at the top, and four inches
only, or just wide enough to admit the tile, at the bottom.
Now, although the last foot in a four feet drain contains
no more earth to be removed than the last foot in a

DEPTH OF DRAINS. 299

three feet drain, yet it is a foot lower, and must conse-
quently be thrown a foot higher up, without taking into
account the pile of earth already excavated on which or
over which this last foot must be thrown.

When thorough drainage was first introduced into Scot-
land, it is said that 10,000 miles of drains were laid, at a
depth of two feet, when it was discovered that this depth
was not sufficient. In England large tracts were laid with
tile at 12 to 18 inches deep. Of course the experiment-
ers were gratified with the success which crowned their
efforts—the land was in a tillable condition early in the
seasons, and the surplus waters removed. But now the
opposite extreme is advocated, and Alderman Mechi has
gone so far as to make some drains 14 feet deep!

So far as draining the surface water, or the water fall-
ing in the shape of rain or snow is concerned, the Alder-
man says :

“ After all that has been said and written on the subject, I have
arrived at the following conclusions:

“], That Mr. Parkes’ statement is a convincing proof that one-inch
pipes (without stones, straw or brushes) placed four feet deep, at
intervals of thirty feet, will effectually and permanently drain the
heaviest soils of the utmost quantity of surface water that can possi-
bly fall, at a cost of from £2 to £3 per acre. That in mixed soils,
the one-inch pipes, four feet deep and fifty feet apart, will perfectly
drain such soils, at a cost of about 45s. per acre.

“9. That although those drains do not, the first year after being
made, act so effectually as stones with pipes on my plan, which carry
off the water atonce; still the immense difference in cost, and greater
depth, render Mr. Parkes’ plan by far most desirable.

“3. There can be no doubt that it is the depth of the drain which
regulates the escape of the surface water in a given time; regard
being had, as respects extreme distances, to the nature of the soil,
and a due capacity of the pipe. The deeper the drain, even in the
strongest soils, the quicker the water escapes. This is an astounding
but certain fact. |

“4, That deep and distant drains, where a sufficient fall can be

300 LAND DRAINAGE.

obtained, are by far the most profitable, by affording to the roots 0:
plants a greater range for food.

“5, That had I to redrain my heavy land, J should do so, at least
four feet deep, with inch-pipes at intervals of thirty feet, carrying
each pipe with the fall of the land direct to an open ditch of ample
capacity. I should thus economize several open ditches on my farm,
which are at present a waste of ground. Each drain would thus be
its own leader. |

“I should place the pipes in the drains without stones, or other
matter, merely covering them with the clay itself, leaving the drains
open as long as possible, as practiced by Mr. Hammond. I should
thus save £7 per acre on the vost of my draining, and have a greater
depth of soil. The loss would be the difference between a perfect
and imperfect drainage the first two years,

“In conclusion, I consider the balance of evidence, when stones
and pipes are used, is in favor of the pipe being placed at the
bottom.”

CHAPTER IV..

DISTANCE BETWEEN DRAINS,

A RULE formerly adopted in England, that “the dis-
tance between parallel drains may be increased propor-
tionably with their depth; and that drains may be laid as.
many perches apart as they are feet deep ’—is no longer
regarded as being correct. There are so many different
kinds of soil that no general rule can be given which will
be alike applicable to all; but each kind must be dealt
with according to its inherent qualities. As a general
thing, a depth of four feet for clay soils, appears to be
uniformly adopted in England and Germany; but this is,
perhaps, deeper than those who desire to drain in this
country can afford to go, on account of the increased cost
of the last foot in depth.

The distance between the minor drains, in thorough
draining, depends on various circumstances, such as their
depth, and the nature of the soil and subsoil. The greater
the depth, the greater may be the distance; the more
clayey and tenacious the soil, the nearer should the minor
drains be placed. On stiff clay soils, the distance should
be less than a rod and a half; on loose soils, resting on
clay, a drain every two rods will be sufficient.

A system was at one time advocated of digging experi-
mental or “trial holes,” and regulating the depth accord-
ing to the degree of moisture, but this produced such very
variable results, both with regard to depth of drains ana
distance between them, as to afford no reliable data for a
veneral system. These experimental holes gave rise, in

the hands of Joshua Trimmer (celebrated 2s the author
(201)

302 LAND DRAINAGE.

of a very comprehensive treatise on “ Practical Geology
and Mineralogy ’’), to the noted Keythorpe system of un-
derdraining. In one of his pamphlets defending the sys-
tem, Mr. Trimmer says:

“The peculiarities of the Keythorpe system of draining consist
in this—that the parallel drains are not equidistant, and that they
cross the line of the greatest descent. The usual depth is three and
a half feet, but some are as deep as five and six feet.. The depth
and width of interval are determined by digging trial holes, in order
to ascertain not only the depth at which the bottom water is reached,
but the hight to which the water rises in the holes, and the distance
at which a drain will lay the hole dry. In sinking these holes, clay
banks are found with hollows or furrows between them, which are
filled with a more porous soil.

“The next object is to connect these furrows by drains laid across
them. ‘The result is, that as the furrows and ridges here run along
the fall of the ground, which I have observed to be the case gen-
erally elsewhere, the submains follow the fall, and the parallel drains
cross it obliquely.

“The intervals between the parallel drains are irregular, varying,
in the same field, from 14 to 21, 31, and 59 feet. The distances are
- determined by opening the diagonal drains at the greatest distance
from the trial holes at which experience has taught the practica-
bility of its draining the hole. If it does not succeed in accom-
plishing the object, another drain is opened in the interval. It has
been found, in many cases, that a drain crossing the clay banks and
furrows takes the water from holes lying lower down the hill; that
is to say, it intercepts the water flowing to them through these sub-
terranean channels. The parallel drains, however, are not invari-
ably laid across the fall. The exceptions are on ground where the
fall is very slight, in which case they are laid along the line of
greatest descent. On such grounds there are few or no clay banks
and furrows.”

Another English doctrine was, that parallel drains may
be laid as many rods distant from each other as they are
feet deep. Thus, if the drains are four feet deep, they
may be laid four rods apart. This doctrine is now re-
jected as being incorrect—at least for clay soils. It is

DISTANCE BETWEEN DRAINS. 303

not probable that any criterion other than such as experi-
ence may establish, can be given to determine the distance
which minor drains should be apart. Those who assert
that the distance between drains depends entirely upon
the depth, take as a basis the direction formed by the
water to the drains, for they say, “‘ The deeper the pipes,
the greater may the distance be between them, and yet
afford the water the same angle of outlet.”

This appears somewhat probable, but when we recur to
hydrostatic laws, the assertion will perhaps lose its entire
value. |

The proper distance between the drains depends upon
the space between the particles of the soil entirely; that
is, upon the porosity of the earth. The reasons which
induce this opinion are as follows:

The water existing in the earth forms a mutually-ad-
hering mass of its particles, which, in a surface which
may be desiccated by a system of drains, commonly stands
on a level, with, perhaps, slight differences determined by
local conditions of the soil.

The function of drains is to remove that part of this
mass of water which lies so near the surface as to be
injurious to the cultivated crop.

Now, if two drains of like depth are placed parallel in
the earth, to intercept a portion of the water contained,
the following conditions relatively arise :

The water below the drains, which can not be with-
drawn by them, forms a resisting substratum which pre-
vents the further sinking of the water above them. But
ty this the drains afford conduits in which it is compelled
to find its way between the particles of the soil.

The specific gravity of the water which impels it to
sink toward the center of the earth, determines the sink-
ing of the whole mass into the conduits, until a level is

304 LAND DRAINAGE.

reached, but this can not take place with the water above
the pipes.

The stratum of water beneath the pipes is, at the same
time, of great importance, because it forms in the drained
surface the foundation, so to say, upon which the water
to be drained rests, and gravity being exerted, causes the
flor in a lateral direction, having no other impediment
to overcome than friction among the earth particles. The
original angle of the water line with regard to the pipes
is a matter of less importance.

Accordingly, the known hydrostatic law, ‘‘ every con-
nected mass of water stands at a uniform level,’ could
not exist were it not for the friction which the water
must overcome in its passage to the drains.

Again, as the greater or less friction is dependent upon
the greater or less proximity of the particles of the soil,
this alone is a measure of the proper distance of the
drains from each other; that is, they must be placed at
such distances from each other that the friction can not
neutralize the motive power (in this case, specific gravity).

We base this assertion upon the doctrine of physics,
that adhesion exerts its influence as soon as it is stronger
than the gravity which carries the adhering body down-
ward.

Therefore, if the porosity of the soil affords drainage
capacity which may be represented by a given triangle,
the length of the sides of which represent the depth of
drain and requisite distance apart, it would be a needless
expenditure to place the drains nearer together than the
base of the triangle of indication, or to lay them deeper
than such base requires to drain a given space.

The objection which may be urged to this principle,
that a greater angle contains a greater mass of water, and
is thus calculated to remove it more rapidly and certainly,

DISTANCE BETWEEN DRAINS. 305

as gravity is the motive power, is not tenable, because,
first, the lesser amount of water in a shallow triangle re-
quires less time to flow off; and on the other hand, there
is much less friction to overcome than in a deeper triangle
of the same breadth or base. This, too, is a matter of
importance, as even when the water between the particles
of soil is conjoined to form one mass, the friction is a very
powerful hindrance to the efflux of the water, as may be
learned from the experiments referred to below. But if
a simple, single infraction of the watercourse operate so
powerfully upon its efflux, how much more must this be
the case in the millions of curvatures determined in its
passage of efflux by the relations of the particles of the
soil ?

Here it still is to be borne in mind that we speak only
of sinkages which must first take place in the soil before
the water reaches the pipes. The soil is more readily
permeable than the subsoil, and if that be one fourth foot
deep, the water will have traversed one third of its
course when it reaches the latter, in case the drains are
three and a half feet deep; only one fourth of the course
will have been passed over when they are five feet deep.

Now, if it be objected that we have said that gravity is
the motive power, and we must place the drains so far
apart as to afford the water force (specific gravity, in this
case), to overcome the friction, this position will be in
opposition to the foregoing assertion that, in the supposed
triangle, where the distance between the drains is the
same, but the depth unequal, the gravity of the water is
much greater in the deeper triangle, we need only state
that the formation of the angle of efflux under considera-
tion can be made by sinkage only, and that the surface
lying between the extreme points of the triangle is the

same whatever the depth of the drain, and consequently
27

SUG LAND DRAINAGE,

the sinkage, gravity and pressure must be the same; but
aside from this, suppose drains at equal dieuhidiotn, one
pair of which are five and another three feet deep, if al!
the spaces between the particles of earth in each instance
were filled with water, the deeper interspace would con-
tain two fifths more water, and there would be two fifths
more friction to overcome in its efflux to the drains, and,
as already stated, the porous soil in the shallow inter-
space affords one third, and in the deeper only one fifth
of the friction in the mass of earth to be overcome. But
as the entire pressure of the water is exerted downward,
the gravity of the upper two strata of water being equal
for equal surfaces, and in its efflux through the particles
of the soil, it can only overcome the friction by equal
pressure, and consequently, in similarly constituted soils,
will sink with equal rapidity; and from this it follows
that the water of one stratum, drained at five feet of depth,
will sink as rapidly as the corresponding stratum of three
feet, provided the subsoil above the five feet drain be
equally permeable.

But if the subsoil below three feet be less permeable,
the superficial strata will sink much more slowly than to
the three feet drain, because the friction is much in-
creased.

It is our opinion that this latter circumstance is greatly
in favor of the shallower drainage, it being understood to
refer only to temporary humidity.

In reference to the foregoing, we say to all who are
enthusiastic in favor of deep draining, that their deep
drain theories amount to nothing in all those cases where
the drainage of temporary water is intended. The mass
of water falling upon a given superficies is the same what-
ever be the depth of the drain, and hence the distance be-
tween drains must be the same to carry it off, and it must

DISTANCE BETWEEN DRAINS. 307

be longer in sinking to the deep drain than the shallow
one. What evidence have deep drainers for their asser-
tions ?

Various drains have been made where the fall of the
earth was such that the outlet pipes would be placed no
deeper than two and three fourths feet, while the heading
of the principal drain was placed at five feet of depth.
Nevertheless, the effects upon all parts of the drained
surface were equal—there was nowhere a difference in the
condition of the crop cultivated or its produce.

This fact would be sufficient to confirm the assertion
above made, but we will call the attention of every one
who has drained large surfaces to one circumstance which
most clearly verifies this statement.

Deep drainers themselves can not avoid, on account
of the natural inequalities of the ground, placing the pipes
at a less depth in some places than in the remaining por-
tions of the drainings, while the distance between the
drains remains the same. Nevertheless, the unprejudiced
will certainly find no difference in the growth or produce
of the crops.

It is self-evident that the depth of the drains must be
such that the pipes shall be protected, from every external
influence, and for this 3 feet of depth are quite sufficient.

Besides, whoever has done much drainage will certainly
not dispute the fact, that whatever system may be adopted,
in many portions of the county it will be found imprac-
ticable to place the drains at a depth of five feet, or even
four feet, for want of sufficient fall, to secure a prompt
outlet into the water of the lakes, rivers, etc., which re-
ceive the drained water, and that this mutual relation
becomes more and more unfavorable for deep drainers
at every foot of increased depth; so that in all drain sys-
tems only about 25 per cent. can have an-average of five

®

308 LAND DRAINAGE.

feet depth, 10 per cent., 53 feet, and only 5 per cent.
6 feet depth, on account of the outlet. We repeat that
the angle of descent, formed by water in its efflux, depends
entirely upon the distance between the drains, and this
again upon the porosity of the soil. (See Fig. 5, page 99.)

In very porous soil water sinks nearly horizontally. In
all compact soils, as those consisting more or less of clay
or loam, it naturally sinks in a perpendicular line over
the pipes, more rapidly; first, because earth once dug up
never regains its original compactness, and the water has
less friction to evercome; and secondly, because the nat-
ural law of gravity is in a vertical or perpendicular di-
rection. .

If, now the stratum of water lying between the drains
sinks equally rapidly at first, it has, nevertheless, greater
friction to overcome, which will be greater in proportion
to the distance from the drain.

The earth immediately surrounding the drain continues
to yield its humidity, as this is removed by the drain, and
consequently sloping lines of efflux will be found.' We
are not aware, however, that these can be determined by
deeper or shallower drains, but it appears to us that the
greater or less pitch of these lines is to be measured alone
by the distance between the drains. This has reference,
however, only to those masses of water which fall imme-
diately upon the surfaces to be drained. ;

When water has been conducted from a higher point,
it tends, on account of the pressure from above, to raise

1 The older the drain is the less perceptible will be this appearance, be-
cause the earth directly over the drain necessarily cast out, in the process
of construction, becomes gradually more and more compact, even though
it never regains its original solidity, yet its porosity constantly diminishes
with time, while the soil of the interspaces becomes more mellow, and the
surface of the water will be drawn off toward the drains much more hori-
zontally than in newly completed drains.

DISTANCE BETWEEN DRAINS. 309.

itself again, and that in a greater degree as it meets with
less obstruction. But inadrained surface, obstruction ceases
when the rising water reaches the level of the drain pipe,
as it then finds a free efflux, and to this point all the force
of pressure tends; but when the water has once been
forced into the drain, the law of gravity in the given case
again comes into action, and the water flows immediately
toward the discharge of the pipe.

It is, therefore, very important to determine the proper
distance between the drains.

This problem has always appeared to me as one of the
most important in the science of draining, as most, or we
might with propriety say, all the success of a drain de-
pends upon its solution.

This much is certain, if the distance be too great the
drain either does not operate at all, or its effect is so tardy
that it does no good to the crop; or if the distance be too
small the work will be disproportionately expensive. To
obviate these difficulties, it appeared to us necessary to
examine closely, and find if there were any experiments,
by means of which a rule for distances, according to dif-
ferences of soil, could be determined. We have found
some such in H. Wauer’s work on drainage, from which
we translate the following:

‘For this purpose I instituted experimental drains in similar soil,
at unequal distances, and observed their effect.

‘After I had determined the distance of perfect drainage for the
given soil, I took this as a basis for further observation and experi-
ments, and proceeded as follows:

‘T first ascertained the amount of clay dontainads in the soil, then
desiccated a portion of this in an oven. I then filled a glass tube 15
inches long, two thirds full of this soil, and covered the lower end
with a piece of thin linen, to permit water to flow off readily. I
then added a certain quantity of water, and marked thé time éx-

ah@..-- . LAND DRAINAGE.

actly when it had all escaped at the lower extremity of the tube,
minus what was retained by the force of cohesion.

‘This experiment | repeated with different grades of soil, and noted
carefully the difference of time at each new experiment. I thus
found that loamy earth, containing 35 per cent. of clay, permitted
the passage of water in half the time required by clay soil contain-
ing 70 per cent. of clay; that loamy sand, with 15 per cent. of clay,
yielded the water three times more rapidly than clay soil of 70 per
cent., etc.; and upon this I based the calculation of the distance

proper for the distance apart of the drains, as given in the following
table:

1 Inclay soil, 70 percent. clayin 2 rods,
2 a , 2 “ . 8 feet.
3 &“ 60 «6 9 «6 6 4“
4 ée 55 its 3 “ce 9 “
5 “ 50 “ 3 be ant
6 loamy soil 45 amie ae
yf 6c 40 dé 3 “a 8 “
ie “ 35 «“ 4 1 Oe
Qg ie 30 “6 4 “ 6g &
10 “ 25 “ 5 pa aliee
11 loamy sand 20 ” 5 pilin. Aliens
12 “ 15 66 6 US mens ©
13 a“ 10 “ 6 “cc 6 6
14 sand 5 ¢ 7 c—
15 in sand at 0 7 ay
16 in granular sand 5... &

“In turf and moor soils, devoid of clay or muck, the calculation
resulted the same as in No. 12, and where many vegetable remains
existed, as in No. 14.

“In calcareous soils, I found the percentage like that in clay
soils.

“In the experiments afterward instituted, in the construction of
drains, these calculations were verified exceedingly well, and they
have been the basis of all my plans since then.

‘That departures from this are required, for draining springs and
ponds, is naturally to be supposed. Such cases require the techni-

cal knowledge of the drainer, and do not permit the application of
fixed rules.”

In draining meadows, which are designed to be used as

DISTANCE BETWEEN DRAINS. 311

such, still a rule of distance is difficult to give, because
stagnant water in them is due to such various causes, that
it would be difficult to meet each case by general rules.
If the soil is uniform, and if the water be temporarily col-
lected, the calculation may be made according to the rules,
given by Wauer, for fields, but make the distances about
one third greater. |

In most cases, it will be sufficient to traverse the so-
called swales with single drains. We recently read an
essay upon draining which stated that meadows should be
drained in the same manner as fields, but that the pipes
should be smaller, so that the water might run off more
slowly.

That would be sure to convert a meadow into a swamp.
The pipes being filled, the remaining water would be
forced into the ground, there to remain.

We must repeat, that too great a distance between
drains, takes the water off too slowly, and no good is ac-
complished, because the interspace shows no effect of
drainage, and nothing is’ left but the expensive method
of putting down intermediate drains.

According to John,! the following distances, in the
various kinds of soil named, are in accordance with the
latest German experience, in this respect, where the drains
are four feet deep.

I. Heavy claysoil,- - - - - 20to 24 feet.

Il. Clay soil, =): Spc ios Witte alt sal sac ees 30 att
IIT. Loamy soil, = (ese ns “cau tao.)
IV. Light loamy soil, - -~ - ee 43.4
V. Sandy loamy soil, - - -— - OO sm :
Vi Very Meme eo ee ee eS

Schonermark, in draining in Brunswick, established the

_ “Jahrbuch, 1854, I, 74.

312 LAND DRAINAGE.

following distances and depths for the various kinds of
soil:

Soils. Drain 4 |Drain 3 feet} Drain 3
feet deep. | Gin. deep. | feet deep.

I. Lime soil (soils containing feet 30 to | feot apart. | feet apart. | feet apart.
60 per cent. of lime, and a mixture of
sand, clay and humus). Clay soil con-
taining 50 per cent, and a of
clay, - - 24 to 32 | 21 to 28 | 18 to 24
II. Marl soil (containing 10 to 30 per
cent. of lime, and is mixed with clay,

sand and humus), - 32 to 40 | 28 to 35 | 24 to 30
III. Loamy soil, containing sand pas

clay, - 40 to 48 | 35 to 42 | 30 to 36
IV. Sandy inn, containing from 10 to

30 per cent. of sand, 48 to 56 | 42 to 49 | 36 to 42

V. Loamy sand, content 30 to 50 per

cent. of sand, and humus soil, con-

taining 30 to 50 per cent. of humus, 56 to 64 | 49 to 56 | 42 to 48
VI. Sandy soil, containing 50 to 70 per

cent. of sand, and mixed with olay,

humus, marl, ete., - - - 64 to 72 | 56 to 63 | 48 to 84

The table on next page, copied from Henneberg’s Jahr-
buch Landwirthschaft, shows the greatest length of drain
admissible, according to the fall and distance between the
drains. For example, the drains are three rods apart,
and the fall is one inch per rod, how long may the drain
be made with one inch tile? Find the table for one inch
tile; then under the figure 3 in the first horizontal col-
umn (the figures in this column indicate the width be-
tween the drains in rods), find the number (1) corres-
ponding with the fall, in the first left hand vertical col-
umn (which in this case will be 28); the number thus in-
dicated will be the greatest possible length that the drain
can be made to be effective. Should the fall be 3 inches
per rod, the drain may be increased to 50 rods; or if 1}
inch pipe is used, and the fall is one inch, the drain may
be 79 rods in length.

From this table it will be seen that 13 inch pipe will

DISTANCE BETWEEN DRAINS. 313

answer for almost all the minor drains that will be prob-
ably made in this country.

|
|

‘ a!
| —)
e - i One inch pipe tile. One and one fourth inch pipe tile.
Ss
= 2 _ I Pe UC
eae11%| 2 |2%| 3 [3%] 4 |4yil1%| 2 24/3 3%| 4 |44
1-16 | 11 8} 46 5 5 4 4 23; 18} 14] 12] 10] 9 8
yy 17| 13] 10 9 7 7 6 39| 29; 23; 19} 17; 15 | 13
uy 27) 20; 16 | 13 | 11 | 10 9 || 46) 35] 28] 23) 20] 18 | 16
A 39| 29) 24) 19) 17} 15 | 13 67; 50; 40; 33| 29] 25 | 23
% 49} 36| 29 | 24] 21/ 18 | 16 86} 64] 52) 43) 37| 32 | 29
1 55| 41] 33 | 28 | 24} 21 | 18 99; 74| 59| 49] 42) 37 | 33
14 70| 53; 42 | 35 | 30 | 26 | 23 |'125| 93; 75) 62) 53) 47 | 42
2 83} 62] 50 | 41 | 37 | 31 | 27 || 145/108] 87] 72] 62] 54 | 48

24 93} 69] 56 | 46 | 40 | 35 | 31 || 163|}122/ 98| 82] 70| 61 | 54
3 100 | 75) 60 | 50 | 43 | 38 | 33 ||179|134/107} 89] 77} 67 | 59
344 |109|] 82; 66 | 55 | 47 | 41 | 37 |}195/ 146/117] 97] 83| 73 | 65
4 117| 88) 70 | 59 | 50 | 44 | 39 |, 209 | 157/126 |105| 89} 78 | 69
444 |126| 94) 76 | 63 | 54 | 47 | 42 || 222| 166/133 '111} 95] 83 | 74
5 133 | 100} 80 | 67 | 57 | 50 | 44 || 235/176 | 141 /118/101| 88 | 78
6 155}116| 93 | 77 | 66 | 58 | 52 || 259) 194/155 |129]111]| 97 | 86

+3
|
a a i One and one half inch pipe tile. One and three fourths inch pipe tile.
Se ee he ne ee ee ee ee eee
255 11%| 2 |2%| 8 j(334| 4 [4 ]]1¥%4| 2 | 234 3 |3¥| 4 |4%
1-16 | 32| 24) 19) 16| 14] 12] 10] 45| 34) 27} 23) 19) 17; 15 .
yy 52| 39] 31| 26] 22) 19] 17]| 69} 51) 41] 34) 29] 26; 23
uy 80| 60} 48, 40] 37] 30| 27)|107| 80! 64) 54] 46} 40| 36
4% |109/| 82) 66) 55) 47/| 41] 39)/161/120; 96] 80) 69) 60; 54
3, |140/105| 84] 70} 60) 52) 47 || 203 /152|121/101|) 87] 76) 68
1 157|118| 94] 79} 67) 59| 52 /||233/175/140;117|100| 87) 78
1144 | 200/1451120/100| 86| 75-| 67 || 291 | 218| 175 | 146)125)109| 97
2 221 | 165}132/130|} 95} 83] 73 || 341 | 256 | 205 | 137 | 146 | 128 | 114
24 «| 257/192/154/128/110; 96) 86 || 390 | 292 | 234 | 195 | 167 | 146 | 130
3 286 | 214/172) 143 |} 123/107) 95 || 418 | 313 | 251 | 209 | 179 | 157 | 139
314 | 311 | 233 | 186 | 155 | 133 | 117 | 104 || 450 | 337 | 270 | 225 | 193 | 169 | 150
4 351 | 248 | 199 | 166 | 142 | 124 | 110 || 487 | 365 | 292 | 244 | 209 | 184 | 162
41 | 352 | 265 | 212/177 | 151 | 132 | 118 || 517 | 388 | 310 | 259 | 222 | 194 | 172
5 371 | 278 | 223 | 186 | 159 | 139 | 124 || 545 | 408 | 327 | 272 | 233 | 204 | 184
6 399 | 299 | 239 | 199 | 171 | 149 | 133 || 595 | 446 | 357 | 297 | 255 | 223 | 198

As the cost of tile for draining may, perhaps, determine
the distance between drains with some persons, in absence
of any experimental or scientific reason, we have deemed
it proper in this place to say a few words about the cost
of tile, and to give a table from which the number of tiles

28

314 ‘ LAND DRAINAGE.

necessary to drain an acre at several distances between
the drains. .

The cost of tile draining is-made up of three items—the
digging, the price of tiles at the kiln, and the expense of
hauling them. It will readily be seen that each of these
may vary considerably, and the total cost of the improve-
ment be influenced accordingly.

If tiles are made on the farm, or in the immediate neigh-
borhood, the cost of hauling is reduced to its lowest figure.
Where they must be drawn several miles, the trouble and
expense are great; five hundred of the smallest size being
all that can readily and safely be put in a common two-
horse wagon. Taking this item into account, the desira-
bleness of concert of action among farmers is apparent;
if several can agree to enter upon such improvements at
the same time, they may manufacture in company, or, what
is better, give their contracts to the nearest and best brick-
maker, and get the tiles made at the most convenient
point. Every farmer should consider it his interest to
sustain any tile maker who has enterprise enough to com-
mence the manufacture in his vicinity. There ought to
be one or more good tile yards established immediately in
every township in the state.

The price of tiles must vary in different localities, the
cost of manufacture depending on the nature of the clay,
the price of fuel andof labor. But these matters relating
to the manufacture of tiles may be deferred to another
time. Tiles are at present sold in Ohio at prices ranging
from $8 to $12 per 1000 for the smallest size, or two inches
in bore. Your inch tiles are about double the cost of the
two inch; and six inch tiles are -about double the cost of
the four inch. A thousand tiles of ordinary length will
Jay sixty rods; thus, at the lowest figure stated above, the
cost of tiles is a trifle over a shilling a rod.

DISTANCE BETWEEN DRAINS. 315

The cost of digging, where men accustomed to the work,
and proper tools can be obtained, will not exceed a shilling
a rod for a three feet drain. The cost is proportionally
greater for deep drains than for shallow ones; so that if
the depth is diminished one third, the price should be less-
ened one half; or, if the depth is increased a third, about
half the original price should be added. It will doubtless
appear to some that such prices are low, cOmpared with
what they have been used to pay for ditching ; this differ-
ence arises from the fact that not more than a third of
the earth is removed in making a drain, that must needs
be lifted in making an open ditch of the same depth.

The cost of thorough draining will depend, of course,
on the frequency of the drains. At two rods asunder,
there will be eighty rods to the acre; and this, at the
prices already stated, or two shillings a rod, will amount
to $20. To this it will sometimes be necessary to add ten
per cent. for main drains. In general, about one tenth
of all the drains in a field are main drains, and made at
nearly double the cost of the minor drains. The profit
or loss of underdraining, at such prices, will next be con-
sidered. |

Table No. 1 presents, in the first column, the distance
between the drains in feet; the second column shows the
number of rods of drain in an acre—always supposing
that the field to be drained is a square one—that is, a
rectangle, having the opposite sides equal. The remain-
ing columns show the number of tile of the different lengths
required to lay the drains in an acre.

Suppose an acre is to be drained, with the distance of
20 feet between the drains; find the number 20 in the first
column; and in the next column, opposite 20, will be found
the number of rods of drain, 20 feet apart, in an acre; and
in the fourth column will be found the number (2,011) of

316 LAND DRAINAGE.

tile, 13 inches long—the usual length—required for the
drains. Now, at $8 per 1000, the tile will cost $16 08;
but, if the drains are placed 30 feet apart, the cost of tile
will be $10 72 only.

TABLE NO. 1.

Width] Length of No. of Tiles per acre.
be- drains per acre, -

tween |in statute rods

drains.| of 544 yards. | Length | Length | Length | Length

Length | Length
Feet. Rods. Yds. 12 in. 43 in: 14 in. 16 in. 16 in. 18 in.

Or res 154 4840 4468 4149 3872

3630 3227
10 | 264 4356 4021 3734 3485 3267 2904
11 240 3960 3656 3395 3168 2970 2640
12 220 3630 3351 3112 2904 2723 2420
13 203 = 3351 3094 2873 2681 2514 2234
14 188 3% 3112 2873 2667 2490 2334 2075
15 176 3904 2681 2490 2324 2178 1936
16 165 2723 2514 2334 2178 2042 1815
17 155 1% 2563 2366 2197 2050 1922 1709
18 146 3% 2420 2234 2075 1936 1815 1614
19 138 514 2293 2117 1966 1835 1720 1529
20 132 2178 2011 1867 1743 1634 1452
21 125 4 2075 1915 1778 1660 1556 1383
22 120 1980 1828 1698 1584 1485 1320
23 114 4% 1894 1749 1624 1516 1421 1263
24 110 1815 1676 1556 1452 1362 1210
25 105 3% 1743 1609 1494 1394 1307 1162
26 101 3 1676 1547 1137 1341 1257 1117
27 97 4% 1614 1490 1383 1291 1210 1076
28 94 1% 1556 1437 1334 1245 1167 1038
29 ar. ag 1503 1387 1288 1202 1127 1002
30 88 1452 1341 1245 1162 1089 968
31 8 % 1406 1298 1205 1125 1054 937
32 82 2% 1362 1257 | 4167 1089 1021 908
33 80 1320 1219 | 1132 1056 990 880
34 77 3% 1282 1183 1099 1025 961 855
35 75 2% 1245 1149 1067 996 934 830
36 2 BBE 1210 1117 1038 968 908 807
37 71 2 1178 1087 1010 942 883 785
38 69 2% 1147 1059 983 918 860 765
39 67 3% 1117 1032 958 894 838 745
40 66 1089 1006 934 872 817 726
41 64 2% 1063 981 911 850 797 709
42 62 434 1038 958 889 830 778 692
43 61 2 1014 936 869 811 760 676
44 60 990 914 849 793 743 660
45 58 3% 968 894 830 775 726 646
46 57 214 947 875 812 758 711 632
47 55 (1 927 857 795 742 696 618
48 55 908 838 778 727 681 605
49 53 43; 889 821 762 712 667 | 593

‘DISTANCE BETWEEN DRAINS. $24

TasLkE No. 1— Continued.

Width Length of No. of Tiles per acre.

be- |drains per acre,
tween |in statute rods,
drains.| of 5'4 yards. | Length | Length | Length | Length | Length | Length

Feet. | Rods. Yds. 12 in. 13 in. 14 in. 15 in. 16 in. 18 in.
50 52 4% 872 805 747 697 654 581
dL SL 4% 855 787 733 684 641 570
52 50 414 838 774 719 671 629 559
53 49 416 822 759 705 658 617 548
54 48 5 807 745 692 646 605 538
55 48 792 732 679 634 594 528
56 47 % 778 719 667 623 584 519
57 46 1% 765 706 656 612 574 510
58 45 234 752 694 644 601 564 501
59 44 4 739 682 633 591 554 492
60 44 726 671 623 581 545 484
61 43 14% 715 660 613 572 536 477
62 42 3% 703 649 603 563 527 469

63 41 5 692 | 639 593 554 519 461

Table No. 2 shows the number of tiles of the length
of 12, 13, or 14 inches, requisite to lay any number of
rods of drain, from one rod up to 10,000 rods. Suppose
it is required to know what number of 18 inch tile will
be required to lay 8,765 rods of drain. From the table
we find that

#

5,000 rods require - - 76154 tiles.

3,000 - - : - 45693 “
700. off ae ey SOG oe
65 puts x . - 990 “*

8,769 as S| 8, vaceeae =

318 LAND DRAINAGE.

TABLE NO. 2.

Tiles required for Drains. Tiles required for Drains.

Length} Length | Length Length Length | Length | Length Length
of of tile of tile of tile of of tile of tile of tile
drains 12 13 14 drains 12 13 14
inrods.| inches. inches. inches. in rods,| inches. inches. inches.
1 17 16 15 41 677 625 580
4 33 31 29 42 693 640 594
By sf _ 50 46 43 43 710 655 609
4 66 61 57 44 726 671 623
5 83 77 71 45 743 686 637
6 99 92 85 46 759 701 651
Ss 116 107 99 47 776 716 665
8 132 122 114 48 792 132 679
9 149 138 128 49 809 747 693
10 165 153 142 50 825 762 708
Il 182 168 156 51 842 777 722
12 198 183 170 52 858 792 736
13 215 198 184 53 875 808 750
14 231 214 198 54 891 823 764
15 248 229 213 55 908 838 778
16 264 | 244 227 56 924 853 792
17 281 259 241 Hy f 941 869 807
18 297 me 275 200 58 957 884 821
19 314 290 269 59 974 899 835
20 330 305 283 60 990 914 849
21 347 320 297 61 1007 930 863
22 363 336 312 62 1023 945 - 877
Za07| 380 1 ie 326 63 1040 960 891
24 396 366 340 64 1056 975 906
25 413 381 354 65 1073 990 920
26 429 396 368 70 1115 1067 990
27 446 412 382 80 1320 1219 1132
28 462 427 396 90 1485 oval 1273
29 479 442 411 100 1650 1524 1415
30 495 457 425 200 3300 3047 2829
31 512 473 439 300 4950 4570 4243
32 528 488 453 400 6600 6093 5658
33 545 503 466 500 8250 7616 7072
34 561 518 481 600 9900 9139 8486
35 578 534 495 700 11550 10662 9900
36 594 549 510 800 13200 12185 11315
37 611 564 524 900 14850 13708 12729
38 627 579 538 1000 16500 15231 14143
39 644 594 552 3000 49500 45693 42429
40 660 566 5000 82500 76154 70715

610

a ee ee ae

Table No. 3 shows the number of rods in drains at
distances of 15 to 42 feet apart, in tracts of land from
one fourth of an acre to 100 acres; and, in fact, to any
number of acres exceeding 100, by multiplication or ad-

DISTANCE BETWEEN DRAINS. 319

dition. Suppose the number of rods of drains 18 feet
apart in a tract of 285 acres be required. From the table :

14666 rods, 3? yards in 100 acres.
2

ae as
11733 iz 1% 6 6c 80 it
733 ae 1? (¢ ic 5 ce

ime Se Pe pear 6

If the number of 13 inch tile be required, by referring
to Table No. 2, it will be seen that

5000 rods require - -~— - 76154 tiles.
8 8

40000 “ . -Wia- | si §09252 4
1000 “ ‘ - 15231 “
700 “ - -wet- 6 +e 510602 “4
90 * i ee 1 9 3 ia
g «& “ a “ , 122 *
41798 “ % - - - 636618 “

TABLE NO. 3.—LENGTH OF DRAINS.

Distance between Aono ape Lee ee ee ee eee eS 15 feet.

Acres. peeeth i in rods. ee Acres. Lea in rods. Acres. Length in rods.
ods. Yards. | Rods. Yards. Rods. Yards.
i ee | 15. | 2640 32 5632
4% 88 16 2816 30 5808
oA 132 17 2992 34 |. 5984
1 176 18 3168 35 6160
2 352” 19 3344 36 | . 6336
3 ij 528 20 - 3520 37 6512
4: 704 yA 3696 38 6678
5 880 ae 3872 39 6864
6 1056 23 4048 40 7040
v4 1232 24 4224 50 8800
8 1458 25 4400 ; 60 10560
9 1584 26 4576 70 12320
10 1760 27 4752 80 14080
a1 1936 28 4928 90 15840
12 2i12 29 5104 100 17600
13 2288 30 5280
14 | 2464 31 | 5456

320 * LAND DRAINAGE.

Taste No. 3— Continued.

Distance between Drains
24 feet.

Distance between Drains Distance between Drains
8 feet. 21 feet.
Length in rods.
Acres. Rods. Yards.

Length in rods. Length in rods.
Acres. Rods. Yards. Acres. Rods. Yards.

\“% 36 3% % 31 2% \% 27 2%
py 73 1% % 62 4% % 55
34 110 3 94 1% 34 82 23
1 146 3% 1 125 4 1 110
2 293 1% 2 251 24 2 220
3 440 3 S77 az 3 330
4 586 3% 4 502 4% 4 440
5 733 13% 5 628 31, 5 550
6 880 8 754 1K 6 660
4 1026 33 7 880 7 770
8 1173 1% 8 1005 4 8 880
9 1320 9 1131 2% 9 990
10 1466 3% 10 1257 & 10 1100
11 1613 13{ 11 1382 43% ll 1210
12 1760 12 1508 3% 12 1320
13 1906 33% 13 1634 1% 13 1430
14 2053 13% 14 1760 14 1540
15 2200 15 1885 4 15 1650
16 2346 33% 16 2011 2% 16 1760
17 2493 13 17 2137 & 17 1870
18 2640 18 2262 43, 18 1980
19 2786 33% 19 2388 314 19 2090
20 2933 134 20 2514 114 20 2200
21 3080 21 2640 21 2310
22 3226 33%, 22 2765 4 22 2420
23 3373 1% 23 2891 21, 23 2530
24 3520 24 3017 & 24 2640
25 3666 334 25 3142 4% 25 2750
26 3813 134 26 3268 31; 26 2860
27 3960 27 3394 114 27 2970
28 4106 3% 28 3520 28 3080
29 4253 13; 29 3654 4 29 3190
30 4400 30 3771 2% 30 3300
31 4546 3% 31 3897 & 31 3410
32 |~ 4693 1% 32 4022 43, 32 3520
33 4840 33 4148 31, 33 3630
34 4986 33 34 4274 114 34 3740
5 5133 13{ 34 4400 35 3850
6 5280 36 4525 4 36 3960
37 5426 3% 37 4651 234 37 4070
38 5573 1% 38 4177, & 38 4180
39 5720 39 4902 434 39 4290
40 5866 33% 40 5028 314 40 4400
50 7333 13 50 6285 4 50 5500
60 8800 60 7542 4% 60 6600
70 | 10266 3% 70 8800 70 7700
ro | 11733 1% 30 | 10057 %& 80 8800
co | 13200 90 | 11314 1% 90 9900

100 | 14666 33% 100 | 12571 2% 100 11000

—_ +--+ +

DISTANCE BETWEEN DRAINS. 321

TasLe No. 3—Continued.

Distance between Drains Distance between Drains Distance between Drains
27 feet. 0 feet. 33 feet.
Length in rods. Length in rods. Length in rods.
Acres, Rods. Yards.

Acres. Rods. Yards, || Acres. Rods. Yards.

“% 24 2% % 22 Y, 20
14 48 5 \% 44 y, 40
34 73 1% 34 66 34 60
1 97 4% 1 88 1 80
2 195 3 2 176 2 160
3 293 1% 3 264 3 240
4 391 % 4 352 4 320
5 488 5 5 440 5 400
6 586 3% 6 528 6 480
7 684 214 7 616 7 560
8 782 1% 8 704 8 640
9 880 9 792 9 720
10 977 414 10 880 10 800
11 1075 3 11 968 11 880
12 1173 1% 12 1056 12 960
13 1271 13 1144 13 1040
14 1368 5 14 1232 14 1120
15 1466 3% 15 1320 15 1200
16 1564 214 16 1408 16 1280
17 1662 1 17 1496 17 1360
18 1760 18 1584 18 1440
19 1857 4, ° 19 1672 19 1520
20 1955 3 20 1760 20 1600
21 2053 13% 21 1848 21 1680
22 2151 % 22 1936 22 1760
23 2248 5 23 2024 23 1840
24 2346 33 24 2112 24 1920
25 2444 214 25 2200 25 2000
26 2542 114 26 2288 26 2080
27 2640 27 2376 27 2160
28 2737 4% 28 2464 28 2240
29 2835 3 29 2552 29 2320
30 2933 134 30 2640 30 2400
31 3031 % 31 2728 31 2480
32 3128 5 32 2816 32 2560
33 3226 33% 33 2904 33 2640
34 3324 214 34 2992 34 2720
35 3422 1% 35 3080 35 2800
36 3520 36 3168 36 2880
37 3617 4% 37 3256 37 2960
38 3715 3 38 3344 38 3040
39 3813 13% 39 3432 39 3120
40 sori 40 3520 40 3200
50 4888 5 50 4400 50 4000
60 5866 33, 60 5280 60 4800
70 6844 214 70 6160 | 70 5600
80 7822. 114 80 7040 80 6400
90 8800 90 7920 90 7200

100 9777 4% 100 8800 100 8000

322 LAND DRAINAGE.

TasiLeE No. 3—Continued.

Distance between Drains Distance between Drains Distance between Drains

36 feet. 39 feet. 42 feet.
Length in rods. Length in rods. Length in rods.
Acres. Rois, Yards: - Acres. Rods. Yards. Acres. ae. Yards.
yy 18 134. yy 16 5 yy g15 4
vA 36 334 ; 74 33. 434 yy 31 234
34 . 5D 34 50 414 34 47 34
1 73 «13% 1 67 334 1 62 434
2 146 33% 2 735: 2 2 125° 4
3 220 .° } 3 203 % 3 188 34
4 293 134 4 270 4% 4 251 2% :
iy 267 334 5 338 21% 5 314 1%
6 440 6 406% 6 377. Bg 8
7 513 1% 7 473 43% rs 440
8 586 334 8 541 3 8 502 43%
9 660 9 609 1% 9 565. 4
10 733 134 10 676 5 10 628 314
11 806 334 ik 744 31% 11 691 244
12 880 12 812 13% 12 754 1%
13 953 13% 13 880 BS 817 %
14 1026 33 14 947 334 14 880
15 1100 15 2015 2 15 942 4%
16 1173 13% 16 1083 4 16 1005 4
B ir 1246 33% ily 1150 4% IN 1068 3%
18 1320 18 1218 2% 18 1131 2%
19 1393 134 19 1286 A, 19 1194 1%
20 1466 33% 20 1353 434 20 1257 ZA
ral 1540 21 1421 3 21 1320
22 1613 13% 22 1489 1% 22 1382 434
23 1686 334 23 1556 2S 1445 4
24 1760 24 1624 3% 24 1508 3%
25 1833 13% 25 1692 134 25 1571 214
26 1906 334 26 1760 26 1634 1%
27 1980 27 1827 33% 27 1697 3%
28 2053 134 28 1895 2 28 1760
29 2126 33% 29 1963 29 1822 43%
30 2200 30 2030 414 30 1855 4
31 a7 13, 31 2098 214 31 1948 3%
32 2346 334 32 2166 3 32 2011 234
= 2420 33 2233 434 33 2074 1%
34 2493 1% 34 2301 3 34 2137 34
BY) 2566 33% 35 2369 114 35 2200
36 2640 36 2436 5 36 2262 43%
37 2713 13% BG 2504 3% 37 | 2326 4
38 2786 3% 38 2572 13% 38 2388 344
39 2860 39 2640 39° 2451 244
40 2933 13% 40 2707 334 40 2514 1%
50 3666 334 50 3384 34% 50 3142 434
60 4400 60 4061 3. | 60 3771 214
70 5133 134 70 4738 24% 70 4400
80 5866 334 80 5415 2 80 5028 314
90 6600 90 6092 134 90 5657 3%

100 1333 «134 100 6769 134 100 6285 4

DISTANCE BETWEEN DRAINS. 323

TaBLe No. 3— Continued.
Distance between Drains 45 feet.

Acres. | Length in rods. || Acres. Length in rods. |{ Acres.| Length in rods.
Rods. Yards. . Rods. Yards. Rods. Yards.
y% 14 3% 15 880 32 1877 13%
uy 29 134° 16. 938 33% * 83°"| 1936
34 44 17 997 1% 34 1994 33%
1 58 334 18.2 1056 35 2053 13%
2 117, 1% 19 1114 33% 36 2112
3 176 © wa! 20 1173 13% 37 2170 33%
a 234 334 21 1232 38 2229 13%
Sek m 9293,-136 > 22 1290 334 39 | = 2288
6 352 23 1349 13% 40 2346 334
7 bi 410 334 24 1408 50 2933 134
.8 , 469 13% 25 1466 33% 60 3520
i ie 528 26 1525 13% 70 4106 33%
10 586 334 27 1584 80 4693 13%
a2 655 134 28 1642 33% 90 5280
12 . 704 29 1701 1% 100 5866 33%
13 762 33% 30 1760
14- 821 1% 31 1818 3%

CHAPTER V.

——_—_>_—

MANUFACTURE OF TILES
— rH

SELECTION OF MATERIAL.

For drain tile it is necessary to manufacture an article
of genuine earthenware, of sufficient strength to bear
transportation and easy management, as well as to resist
the action of water for a considerable period of time.
These conditions may be found in a kind of earth less
porous, more impervious, and finer in grain than that of
which we make common brick ; it must be similar in every
respect to the earth of which roof tiles are made. We
may, therefore, adopt as a general principle that, earth fit
to make tile, is equally suitable for drain pipes, and that
its preparation must, in both cases, be similar. Never-
theless, it may be remarked that flat and concave tiles for
roofs are almost always manufactured by hand, while drain
pipes are made cheaper and faster by machines.

The mortar about to be used ought to possess a degree
of ductility and firmness which is not required for roofing
tiles, especially when they are made flat. Pipe tile ought
to be manufactured not far from the place where they are
to be employed, on account of the cost of transportation,
so as to render drainage easy and cheap. The materials
of the compound must then be such as to furnish, at any
time, at any place, cheap, substantial pipes.

Like other kinds of earthenware, this requires an es-
sential distinction between the materials to be used for
the composition of the mortar, and the elements that will

constitute the piece completed or baked.
( 324 )

SELECTION OF MATERIALS. 325

In the composition of the mortar, some compound for-
eign bodies are mechanically but not chemically combined.
These compound bodies are materials for fabrication, but
can be separated by water. In the baked or burnt mortar
new combinations have been formed, against which water
is powerless, so far, at all events, as to reduce the finished
mass to the primitive materials. These combinations are
multiple silicates, that is to say, silicic acid, combined
with several bases—generally aluminum or lime—both in
large quantities; at other times, and in less proportions,
magnesia, oxide of iron, potash, soda and oxide of man-
ganese. Burning, or baking, is the only means we have
to obtain those fixed combinations that are subject to the
action of neither acid nor water, and that are the more
unalterable in proportion as the silicates are more exactly
formed with their constituent elements, without any for-
eign admixture.

The essential elements are silicic acid and aluminum ;
from these may be obtained an earthenware which is fire
proof, that is to say, it will not melt in the strongest fires
of either forge or blast furnace. Aluminum, may some-
times be replaced in part by magnesia. The proportions
of these indispensable elements are as follows :

Silica, - - - - 55 to 75 per cent.
Aluminum, - - 25t0 35 “ “

When magnesia is present, it is generally found to the
amount of 1 to 5 per cent.; there might be found as
much as 25 to 35 per cent.

The accessory substances are still more variable in their
proportions than the above; they are

Lime, - - - - - 9 to 19 per cent.
Powe <2 eos = Pte
Protoxyd of iron, - Oto19 “ “

326 © LAND DRAINAGE.

_ These accessory elements give fusibility to earthenware,
and, therefore, allow its constituent substances to combine
in such a manner as to form a resisting body; and this is
performed with a temperature lower in proportion as the
accessory elements are more abundant. In some baked
mortars, there is carbonic acid (0 to 16 per cent.), when
lime is present in sensible proportions. Water is almost
always totally driven out of the mortar by the heat ; and
is present only in the paste in preparation; but here it
performs an important office, by assisting to mix together
the various materials which will bring into the paste the
elements that we have described; it serves also to give
them the required softness, to endow them with a certain
adhesive force, and to promote their plastic qualities.

We term plasticity that quality which some soft matters
have of assuming, under the hand of artists and mechanics,
the forms that they wish to reproduce. We term those
long pastes which are possessed of this quality in the high-
est degree, and short pastes those which have it in a slight
degree only.

Plasticity is not absolutely indispensable for the shap-
ing of ceramic pastes; we can mold them, by pressing the
materials which are in the very state of dust; but a plastic
substance yields better to the easiest and most usual mode
of giving shape, and it is, therefore, much more desirable. '

While plasticity is a condition of the first importance,
in order to facilitate the shaping of the mortar into the
desired forms, it offers great inconvenience when brought
to an excessive degree. A paste which is too plastic dries

1A gentleman exhibited at the Ohio State Fair, at Dayton, in 1860, a tile
machine, which made tile from hydraulic cement, without the aid of water.
The cement, of course, possessed no plasticity, but the tile or pipes were
made by enormous pressure. Ifthe tile thus made were placed in drains the
moisture of the ground would cause them to harden, so as to be serviceable
for many years.

SELECTION OF MATERIALS. 327

up with difficulty, and great unevenness; articles manu-
factured from it are very likely, in drying, to lose their
proper shape; they are very apt to crack, both during
the period of desiccation, and in the bake oven or kiln.
Excessive plasticity may be modified by other materials,
which are either natural or artificial.

Sand is the«natural correcting or tempering micah).
All sands are composed of silicic acid, or silicum, and of
some foreign substances, from one to 9 per cent. these
foreign matters are aluminum, magnesia, lime, oxyd of
iron, potash, etc.

The artificial tempering materials are: ” Fragments
of burnt brick or tile, reduced to powder. 2. Scoria,
from the forges. 38. Sometimes sawdust.

As far as the drain pipe is concerned, it will not be
necessary to discuss all the other materials which are used
in the various productions of the ceramic art.

Any kind of sand may be employed for making drain-
age pipes, provided it be free from gravel, as it would in-
terfere seriously with the molding.

As to plastic materials, although they may all be used,
their qualities must be discriminated, in order to know
how they shall be mixed together, and what proportion
of tempering material, that is to say, sand, ought to be
added:to them. It may happen that some kind of earth
may be found susceptible of being employed alone, and
without any mixture. Let us see then what qualities each
ought to possess:

1. The earth having received a sufficient quantity of
water, must be malleable enough to assume all forms that
may be wished; it must be firm enough to preserve those
forms; it must be composed of particles sufficiently ad-
herent, so that, when passing through the dye plate, this
adherence is not impaired.

328 LAND DRAINAGE.

2. The earth ought not to contain any particle of pure
chalk, even so small as the fiftieth part of an inch; bak-
ing it would produce lime; and lime, in contact with
water, would slack and burst the pipe. There ought not
to be any particle of either sulphuret of iron or of py-
rites, as these would produce the same result.

3. It must dry readily, and with evenness.

4, The process of drying must be carried on, in such a
manner as to evaporate the water which gave adherence
to the particles, without producing cracks or deformities
in the pipes.

We will now examine the various kinds of plastic mate-
rials which may be used in the fabrication of drainage
pipes.

Natural plastic materials comprise clay, and clayey
marl.

Clay is, in the potter’s sense, an earth which forms a
paste with water, working easily and hardening by fire.

Clay is plastic when it contains nothing but silicum and
aluminum. This variety of clay which often bears the
name of potter’s clay, on account of its tenacity, does not
readily admit water to penetrate, but when saturated it is
very retentive of moisture.

Clay is fuliginous when it contains some lime, in the
maximum proportion of 5 to 6 per cent., part of it as car-
bonate, and part may be in the state of silicate. This
clay is still coherent, but less tenacious than the plastic
above mentioned. It produces a slight effervescence with
the acids, but this effervescence, caused by an emission of
carbonic acid gas, soon ceases.

These two kinds of clay may be combined with an oxide
of iron, and sometimes with particles of gypsum (sulphate
of lime), or plaster.

Plastic clay, when not combined by these bodies, is al-

SELECTION OF MATERIALS. 329

together fire proof, that is, it will not melt at any tem-
perature of our furnaces; should these refractory quali-
ties be wanted for any purpose, that clay must be tem-
pered by using sand formed of pure silicum or flint.

In regard to drain pipes, both kinds of clay must be
tempered, but with common materials as above described.

In the special point of view, for which alone we are
writing, we will say that, both plastic and fuliginous clay
should be used only to give plasticity to other materials.

No person can learn any trade, be it ever so simple,
by reading alone. No matter how carefully the books
which treat of such trade may be written, practice is nec-
essary to perfect the workman in it. Books are a great
auxiliary to effect a perfection of knowledge, and to those
who have.already made some progress in a practical ac-
quaintance with any handiwork, reading greatly enhances
their ability to pursue their occupation profitably. Those
who have been engaged in the fabrication of pottery,
tiles, or brick, may, by means of the theoretical informa-
tion to be derived from books, cursorily learn sufficient of
the operations of making drain tiles, as to succeed in their
fabrication very well.

Clay suitable for drain tile is such as is proper for the
fabrication of roofing tile, or even fine brick. It should
not be too poor, or meager of clay constituents, and
should be free from pebbles and pieces of limestone, al-
though it is an error to suppose that it should be entirely
void of lime, as this, in small quantity, and very evenly
commingled, assists very much in melting the mass when
subjected to heat. If the amount of sand contained in
the clay intended for drain pipe be too small, in propor-
tion to the other constituents, they are too easily curved
in handling before dry, and are very liable to crack, both
while aryme and subjected to heat; and, therefore, when

29

330 LAND DRAINAGE.

a bed of clay is worked for this manufacture, too pure
for the purpose, a proper proportion of sand must be
added, to give the due consistence to the tiles when
molded. Too great care in preparing the materials, can
not. be taken, and the results of proper precautions in
this particular, will be a diminution of the average cost
of the product.

Clays of Ohio.—Fortunately for the farmers of Ohio,
clay suitable for tile making may be found in nearly every
part of the state; in fact, almost any clay that will make
good bricks, may, with care, be made into tiles. The
principal requisite is, that the tile maker thoroughly un-
derstand the character of the material he uses.

The blue clay which lies directly upon the shale, or
limestome, in most of the northern and north-western
counties of Ohio, has been found to be well adapted to
the manufacture of tiles. This clay contains a large
amount of carbonate of lime, in a state of minute division ;
it also contains water-worn fragments of limestome, shale
and primitive rocks. It varies considerably in the degree
of plasticity, and in the amount of stones in different lo-
calities. In one tile yard, near Cleveland, it is taken di-
rectly from the bed to the tile machine, without the need
of any tempering whatever. In general, however, it re-
quires much working, and the employment of the screen
or rollers.

Above the blue clay, there is, in the same localities, a
layer of yellow clay. It contains nearly the same rocky
fragments; it has but little lime diffused through it, but
contains much more oxide of iron. This clay is exten-
sively used for brick making, and is found to make excel-
lent tiles. The use of the screw or roller mill, is gene-
rally needed where the yellow clay is used. The pottery
clays, peculiar to the ceal regions, will, of course, make

SELECTION OF MATERIALS. 331

excellent tiles. It has, however, been supposed by
some, that tiles should be porous, so as to permit the
water to filter through their sides, and, therefore, that
clay suitable for stoneware or earthenware, would not be
proper for tiles. This opinion is founded on an error,
for the water in drains does not filter through the tiles,
but enters at the joints, and there is not the least objec-
tion to having tiles made of the hardest and most com-
pact material. Indeed, the manufacturing of tiles from
the better clays has this advantage, that they may be
made much lighter, and therefore cost less for carriage.

The marly clays of south-western Ohio, are well
adapted to tile making. The lime acts as a bind or flux,
to effect the semi-fusion of the other constituents, and
extremely hard and durable tiles are made of such mate-
rial, the main point being to secure a thorough burning.

In almost every township of the state are small swamps,
or basins, with clayey bottoms. The clay of these
swamps, although identical in composition with that of
the surrounding uplands, has a far greater value for tile
making. From being kept constantly wet, it possesses a
degree of solidity, uniformity of texture and plasticity,
that can only be given to the clay of hillsides, after much
working. In many places, these swamp clays require no
labor to bring them to a proper condition for use.

The following letter from a very successful tile maker
in Ohio, with respect to materials for tiles, may be of in-
terest to those who intend manufacturing their own tiles:

“Woopstock, Champaign county, O.

Dear Srr—As I promised you when at Columbus I would send
you a description of the different kinds of clay suitable for making
drain tile, and where it is likely to be found, I now undertake tc
eommunicate to you what I know about it.

Clay, suitable for making tile for underground draining, may be
generally found through that portion of Ohio that I am acquainted

332 LAND DRAINAGE.

with, in the following described localities, viz: in small pond holes
(such as contain water the greater part of the year), by some called
cat swamps, usually found on white oak ridges. The clay found in
these holes is rather on the blue order, from a bluish black to a
blue gray color. This clay is of a depth of from two to ten feet.
There is also a clay found on almost all white oak land that will
answer to make tile of, but it is not of the best quality, and some-
what difficult to get it free from limestone gravel; this clay is of a
reddish cast, and runs from one and a half to three feet in depth.
There is also a clay found on low, wet prairies, where wild grass
grows. The real blue clay in some places you will find near the
surface, but frequently you will have to dig from two to four feet
before coming to it; it runs to a great depth in the ground. It re-
quires stronger clay to make good tile than it does to make brick.
In making brick, if your clay is too strong, you have to add sand
with the clay; but not so in making tile: the stronger the clay, the
better the tile. My impression is, there is hardly a township in the
state but that has clay in it suitable for making tile.
Respectfully yours, D. KENnFIELD.”

One important step in the preparation of the materi-
als is:

Throwing up the clay before the commencement of win-
ter, as one of the principal means of success in fabricating
good tile. Every farmer knows that afield plowed in the
fall into rough furrows, and left fallow, becomes much
more mellow than it would be if left undisturbed by the
plow until spring. This effect is likewise produced in
clay dug up and exposed to the frost during winter, and is
produced by the expansion of the water during the pro-
cess of freezing, which separates the particles of clay from
each other, and thus, by lessening to some degree its ad-
hesiveness, fits it for more easy manipulation in the process
of fabrication. In order to secure this object most thor-
oughly, the clay should be placed in heaps and frequently
turned over, so as to expose all parts to the action of the
frost, which does not readily act upon very stiff clay. A
great saving of labor and also of time is thus secured, in-

SELECTION OF MATERIALS. 333

asmuch as what is done in winter leaves so much the less
to do after making begins. Where the clay requires grind-
ing, this process may very well go on in connection with
the digging ; for, although the clay does not grind so easily
when first dug, there is a very great advantage in giving
it time to become settled together and thoroughly united
before it is used. If the grinding is done at the time of
the manufacture, it is necessary to pug the clay or tread
it, because it comes from the rollers in too loose a state for
the tile machine. A few months of exposure, after grinding,
is worth as much as pugging, and will render that opera-
tion unnecessary. When the iron rollers are not required,
a pug mill, similar to those used in the manufacture of
bricks, will effect all the tempering that is needed.

The purification of the clay intended for the manufac-
ture of drain tile is necessary, when the material contains
pebbles or pieces of limestone, or is too meager of clayey
elements, and can only be effected by mixing it thoroughly
with water, so as to dissolve it, as it were, and then permit
the heavier matters, as pebbles, limestones and coarse
sand, to be deposited upon the bottom of the vat or pit in
which the operation is performed, draining off the super-
fluous water and leaving the clay remain until evaporation
shall have restored it to a proper degree of consistence.

To effect this object the clay is placed in a properly
constructed vat or pit, of suitable size, provided with a
sliding gate, by means of which’to drain off the water
which remains after settling. The clay is then mixed with
water and stirred until the whole mass becomes fluid; it
is then permitted to settle, when all the supernatant water
can be drained off by the sliding gate; or, after being
reduced to a lime condition, the clay may be passed
through a wire sieve, of suitable strength and fineness,
which will readily separate the coarse materials from it.

334 LAND DRAINAGE.

This mode is more particularly applicable when the clay
is of the desired composition, except the existence in it
of pebbles and insoluble lumps.

A very convenient form of a mixing pit is furnished by
the common mortar box and bed of plasterers; the mortar
box may be used to mix the clay with water, and the bed
will answer for a fit receptacle in which a complete sep- .
aration of the light and heavy materials can occur. As
soon as this has taken place, the superabundant water can
be removed by means of a draining gate, and the mass
left to dry out sufficiently for working. The mixing can
be effected, where but small quantities of clay are used,
by means of hoes, such as are used by plasterers; but,
when the manufacture is carried on upon a large scale, a
suitable method is to make use of a mixing machine, the
form and capacity of which may best be determined by
the quantity of labor intended to be performed by it.
The common pug mill used in brick yards may be so modi-
fied as to answer the purpose very well; taking care to
adjust it so that the clay may be mixed with a sufficient
quantity of water before it is permitted to flow off by the
outlet gate.

Another convenient mixing machine may be constructea
in the following manner: Take a large hollow log, of suit-
able length, say five or six feet; hew out the inequalities
with an adze, and close up the ends with pieces of strong
plank, into which bearings have been cut to support a re-
volving shaft. This shaft should be sufficiently thick to
permit being transfixed with wooden pins long enough to
reach within an inch or two of the sides of the log or
trough, and they should be so beveled as to form in their
aggregate shape an interrupted screw, having a direction
toward that end of the box where the mixed clay is de-
signed to pass out. In order to effect the mixing more

SELECTION OF MATERIALS. w3b

thoroughly, these pins may be placed sufficiently far apart
to permit the interior of the box to be armed with other
pins extending toward the center, between which they can
easily move. The whole is placed either horizontally or
vertically, and supplied with clay and water in proper
quantities, while the shaft is made to revolve by means of
a sweep, with horse power, running water or steam, as the
case may be. The clay is put into the end farthest from
the outlet (if horizontal), and is carried forward to it and
mixed by the motion, and mutual action and reaction of
the pins in the shaft and sides of the box. Iron pins may,
of course, be substituted for the wooden ones, and have
the advantage of greater durability and of greater strength
in proportion to their size, and the number may therefore
be greater in a machine of any given length. ‘The fluid
mass of clay and water may be permitted to fall upon a
sieve or riddle, of heavy wire, and afterward be received
in a settling vat, of suitable size and construction to drain
off the water and let the clay dry out sufficiently by sub-
sequent evaporation. A machine of this construction
may be made of such a size that it may be put in motion
by hand, by means of a crank, and yet capable of mixing,
if properly supplied, clay enough to mold 800 or 1000
pieces of drain pipe per day.

In Ohio, where clay of suitable character is accessible
in so very many localities, this process of mixing and pre-
paring by filtration and settling, need be instituted only in
very few instances ; and the question of comparative cost,
between tiles purchased and transported from manufacto-
ries situated where natural facilities are greater, and the
home manufacture of such tiles, under the disadvantages
accruing from less suitable clay beds, must be determined
by every one for himself. Where the home manufacture
of drain pipe is found preferable, the preceding nints will

836 LAND DRAINAGE.

be found of invaluable assistance in obviating difficulties
otherwise almost insurmountable.

There are other methods by which this evil may be
remedied ; the simplest is by the use of a screen in the
tile machine; the other method is to crush the clay be-
tween heavy iron rollers. The choice between these
methods depends on the number and character of the
stones to be disposed of. Where they are few in number,
or anything else than small limestones, the screen will be
sufficient. If; however, the stones are numerous, and
among them are many fragments of limestone, of the size
of peas, or smaller, the rollers will be better than the
screen ; for though such small limestones would not inter-
fere with the molding, they will occasion the loss of tiles
in burning. The presence of stones requiring the rollers,
is no serious objection to the use of a clay, otherwise suit-
able. Grinding the clay will add to the cost of manufac-
turing about fifty cents a thousand. The purchaser can
much better afford to pay this extra price, than to add
two or three miles of carriage from some more distant
locality. Five hundred two inch tiles will fill the box of
a lumber wagon; the labor of extra carriage may there-
fore easily exceed the additional cost of manufacture.

When the clay is not free from the admixture with stones
or pebbles, or when it contains too little sand, some manu-
facturers use a clay cutter; but such a machine can not
supersede the mixing apparatus mentioned. A very use-
ful machine for working clay, and one that will obviate
much hand labor, may be constructed of two or more cast
iron rollers, referred to above, and which we will soon
explain more fully, so arranged as to rotate closely to-
gether. Between such rollers the clay may be passed,
and by this means made to assume a proper consistence
and plasticity for molding.

SELECTION OF MATERIALS. 337

Moistening the clay to a proper degree is always neces-
sary, whether it may have been necessary to purify it by
washing and settling or not. For this purpose, pits are
dug in the earth, and walled up or lined, so as to have
five or six feet of length and breadth, and four feet in
depth, clear. The clay is removed into these pits from
its winter beds, and thoroughly mixed with water by means
of any suitable instrument, as shovels, so as to be uni-
formly moist throughout. The degree of moisture should
be about equal to that of potters’ luting clay, and is neces-
sary as a preliminary step to its further working upon
the kneading board.

The process of preparation, carried still further upon
the kneading board, in some foreign manufactories of
excellent drain tile, is, in short, as follows:

The clay is taken from the moistening pit, or settling
bed, as the case may be, after being reduced to the proper
condition, and spread in thin layers upon the kneading
board. If too rich, the proper proportion of sand is
added, and the whole mass is thoroughly trodden by men.
It is then piled up in a low heap, and well worked by
means of a stirrer, shaped something like a saber, fixed in
a handle three feet long, moistened, if necessary, and
again thoroughly trodden and kneaded by the feet. By
these means, any pebbles existing in it may be discovered
and removed.

After being thus worked, it is piled up in the form of a
large sugar-loaf, four or five feet high, and of about two
feet base. The pile is begun by placing a layer of about
six inches hight, and then beating this down with a large
wooden maul, as firmly as possible. Upon this a second
layer is superimposed, and beaten down in like manner,
until the cone is sufficiently high. A workman then, with

a scraper, having a handle at each end, proceeds to shave
30

338 LAND DRAINAGE.

down the whole cone into thin shavings. By this means
the smallest pebble is discovered and readily removed.

The clay shavings are then cast upon another plank
table, where it is beaten into masses of suitable size and
form, to fit the box of the molding press. This last ham-
mering must be performed very carefully, to drive out any
air which may yet be confined in the clay, or intervene
between the clay blocks and the ridges of the molding
machine, as the existence of air in the press would mate-
rially interfere with the perfection of the tile.

This method of preparation has several advantages over
those in which machinery is employed, upon the durabil-
ity of which the profits largely depend. A clay cutting
machine is expensive, and yet the clay can not be best
prepared, by its use, for the molding press. Some per-
sons make use of sieves, or perforated plates, particularly
when the clay has been prepared by machinery, through
which the materials are forced to strain the pebbles re-
maining ; but they are continually liable to become clog-
ged, and hinder the progress of the work by the loss of
time necessary to keep them clean, and demand a great
deal of power to drive the clay through their small inter-
stices. These difficulties are obviated by working the
clay by hand, and a sufficient force can be set to work
to produce the desired amount of prepared material with
certainty; which can not be always accomplished by the
best of machines, on account of the accidents to which
they are liable. |

If the prepared clay can not, when made into masses
for the press, be worked up fast enough, the blocks may
be kept moist by covering them with wet cloths, until such
time as they may be needed for use.

It is a matter of the greatest importance that the clay
to be worked should be properly tempered, and kept so,

SELECTION OF MATERIALS. 339

from the beginning of the process; and to this point par-
ticularly, the attention must be constantly directed, but
especially when it is put into the press. If it be worked
too moist, the sides of the pipes fall together, or coliapse,
as they come from the mold, or they shrink greatly and
become curved and wry. If the clay is too stiff, the work
is difficult, and the pipes are rough, cracked, and selly,
when burnt, and often fall to pieces. Beside, it must be
observed, that the same degree of moisture is not suitable
for the fabrication of pipe tile of different diameters.
Large pipes are made of stiffer clay than small ones. If
clay of the proper temper for making inch pipe were
pressed through a four inch mold, not a single piece
would be found perfect—every one would be flattened
and distorted. Experience is the only guide, and by this
alone can a proper acquaintance with the matter be ob-
tained.

Whatever method may be adopted for removing small
stones from the clay, it is very necessary that this clay
should be pugged, except, indeed, in such very rare cases as
the clay formation at Cleveland.

1. The Pug Mill of tile yards differs little from that
commonly used in the manufacture of bricks; the only
material difference being in the arms or pins by which the
clay is tempered. The clay being used in a much stiffer
state for tiles than bricks, iron knives are needed for cut-
ting the clay, in the place of wooden pins. These knives
are made strong and sharp, and when set in the upright
shaft, the advancing edge is raised a little, so that the. ef-
fect of their movement is to press the clay downward to-
ward the opening. Instead of several iron knives, some
use a smaller number of heavier ones, and these have
riveted into them, at right angles, a number of short
knives, which are so arranged as to pass each other some-

340 LAND DRAINAGE.

what closely, and serve to cut the lumps of clay to pieces
thoroughly.
The subjoined cut represents
> the section of an excellent pug-
yging mill. It consists of a cyl-
Z,indrical body, well bounded by
= stout hoops—the upper portion
7 expands outward from the body,
so as to form a hopper or funnel,
into which the clay is thrown.
A stout iron bar, a, a, is placed
in the center of the body, so as
to revolve. This center bar is
furnished with stout iron arma-
tures, 6, placed on alternate
sides of the bar; the armatures
furnished with three teeth, c, one
of which is placed on the upper
side of the armature, and just
midway between the two which
are placed on the lower side.

YY) Hii, Nherever this mill has been
Fic. 43.—SkrEcTIon OF A PUGGING used, it has given the most am-
ie ple satisfaction.

2. The Roller Mill, which is found necessary in some
localities, consists of two iron rollers, each about fifteen
inches in diameter. Some prefer to have one roller
smaller than the other, so that if they revolve in equal
times, the surface of one will move faster than that of
the other, and combine a rubbing with the crushing move-
ment. This, however, is probably of no real benefit, and
is attended with the disadvantage of not feeding as well
as a mill where the rollers are both large. The rollers
are about 30 inches in length; they are thick, but not

SELECTION OF MATERIALS. 341

solid, and should weigh about 400 pounds each. They
are cast in aniron mold orchill. This secures a perfectly
hard and smooth surface, and much more durability than
when they are cast in the common sand molds. The
shafts of the rollers work in boxes lined with babbit
metal, which, by means of set screws, are made to slide
upon the iron frame, and give the rollers any degree of
closeness that may be desired. From one eighth to one
sixth of an inch is a distance that will permit no stones
to pass, large enough to do mischief, either in molding or
burning. The gearing of the mill should be so adjusted
to the power, as to give only about ten to fifteen revolu-
tions of the rollers in a minute. A rapid movement not
only requires a greater force, but greatly increases the
danger of breakage of the machinery. A plank hopper
is set over the rollers, large enough to hold a wheelbar-
rowful of clay. To the underside of the iron frame, on
which the rollers rest, it is necessary to attach scrapers
of iron or steel plate, to scrape the clay from the rollers,
otherwise they will clog and become immovable. In set-
ting the mill, it should, if possible, be elevated four or
five feet above the level of the yard, and placed on hori-
zontal timbers of some length, rather than upon posts
set immediately under. The object of this is to secure
space for the ground clay under the mill. The whole ex-
pense of such a clay mill, at the Cuyahoga Steam Fur-
nace, in Cleveland, will be about one hundred dollars.

3. The Horse Power to drive the mill, whether the
endless chain or lever power be used, should be arranged
for two horses. A single horse, unless very strong, or
the mill be geared for a slow movement, will, if there be
many stones, or the clay be very lumpy, find the work
rather severe. It is better, therefore, in the first instance,
to obtain a power on which two horses may be used, if

342 LAND DRAINAGE.

necessary, or a single horse, if one is found to be suff-
cient. If the clay be dug up in the fall or winter, and
thoroughly frozen, or if it be turned over and well wetted
a few days before grinding, the work will be much easier;
if taken fresh from a bank or hillside, and ground imme-
diately, a good deal of additional power will be required.

Tile Machines.—It would be a useless task to describe
all the different forms of tile presses in use. All possi-
ble forms of construction have been used, but those
known as Clayton’s or Whitehead’s, are among the prefer-
able kinds. ‘These machines are strong, simple, and re-
quire comparatively little power to drive them, and are
not apt to get out of repair.

A passing description of both these machines, may be
introduced with propriety.

The clay box of the Clayton press consists of a per-
pendicular cylinder, terminating below in the mold box.
The cover of the clay box is a kind of piston head, which
is made to drive the clay downward, while working, by
means of a cogged piston rod, in the cogs of which mash
the cogs of a small wheel, which is driven by a larger
cog-wheel, and this in turn by a smaller cog-wheel at-
tached to the handle or working lever of the machine.
The pipes are pressed out at the bottom, and hanging free,
are received upon the prongs of a fork, which correspond
in number to the number of pipes pressed out at one time.
The tiles are cut off by a wire, which is attached to the
machine. ‘Two cylinders properly belong to this kind of
machine, one of which is removed when emptied, and
replaced by the otherfull. Latterly, this machine has been
so modified, that the pipes are forced out horizontally,
and received upon a truckle-bed, and are not cut off until
this is full, when they are separated and borne away upon
forks.

TILE MACHINES. 343

Whitehead’s machine has a flat-lying quadrangular box,
closed by a cover. In front is the mold, and by means
of a cogged piston rod, the plunger, consisting of the
entire posterior end of the box, is driven forward, which
presses the clay through the mold. When empty, the ac-
tion is reversed, the plunger again becomes the back wall
of the box, the cover is raised, more clay is filled in, and
the work proceeds again. The cogged piston or plunger
rod is worked horizontally, by means of three cog-wheels
meeting with each other, as do those of the Clayton ma-
chine. The pipes are received upon a truckle-bed as
they are expelled.

Neither of these machines is without its advantages and
defects, and yet six or eight thousand tiles can be molded
daily, by some of the latter machines, while the former
may be made to produce more, and is therefore better
calculated, perhaps, for use in large manufactories. Proper
machines can be manufactured after models, in almost any
machine shop, but purchasers should always take care to
secure good and warranted machines. ae

Mons. Barrall, in his excellent treatise on drainage,
gives a detailed description, accompanied by engravings,
for the most part, of fifty-nine different tile machines,
used in England, France, and Germany. Many of these
machines are very expensive, but at the same time, manu-
facture a large number of tiles daily. One machine which
is there figured and described, would require ezght active
boys to carry away the tiles as fast as they are made—
each boy taking six tiles at a time!

In this country, several gentlemen have invented ma-
chines for the manufacture of tiles. Of those in most
general use, in this state, are the Mattice & Penfield
machine and the Daine’s machine. We present a cut and
a short description of each.

344 LAND DRAINAGE.

This machine
not only grinds the
clay, and molds the
tile, but places
ini them upon the dry
= i A ing boards. 4, re-
| il ! I presents the die;

4 8, the tile; and

ae 2, 2, the drying

: boards, which are
cut the length of |
three tiles; and
placed upon the
= carriage, 1, the
portion of which,
== fF under the machine,
is covered with an
endless belt, upon
me which these boards
Z@ are placed, on the
rear of the car-
riage, and are
drawn under by the tiles as they issue from the die, and
deposit themselves upon the boards. 7, 7, is a frame,
held together by the handles, across which small wires
are stretched, 8, 8, for the purpose of cutting the tiles.
This frame is movable, for the purpose of cutting the
tiles where the end of the board occurs. 6, is the shaft
which passes through the machine, upon which iron
knives are fastened to grind the clay. To the lower ends,
eccentrics are fastened, that move the plunger in the clay
box, to which the die, 4, is fastened. 5, is the lever by
which the cut-off plate is driven over the clay box, after
it is filled, to prevent the clay from pushing back up in

I ; sh
ini

Vig

ao

Ney HA ANNE
HN
NH
iti}
i A |
U
f
j
i re Sapa
‘

Fig. 44.—Matrice & PENFIELD’S DRAIN TILE , Tit

TILE MACHINES. 345

the machine when the plunger pushes it out. 9, is the
yoke upon which a slide is fastened, driven by an eccen-
tric on the shaft that moves the lever, the plunger throw-
ing it back when making the plunge, where it remains,
leaving the cavity open again. A, is the sweep. The
machine makes a plunge at every turn of the shaft. Less
than one fourth of the time required to make a turn of
the shaft, makes a plunge, which gives the man that cuts
the tiles ample time to do so, and set them on the drying
racks, which are placed upon the carriage for the purpose
of moving them from the press, when dried, to the kiln.

The American Tile maker.—The Tile Maker is only
eight feet in length, including aprons. It is mounted
upon wheels, and is simple in construction, easily kept in
order, and not liable to accident from any ordinary cause.
It will make horseshoe or sole tile of any size, according
to the nature of the die which may be used; the power
applied to drive the clay through the dies is the screw,
worked by a small balance wheel, as shown in the engrav-
ing. This machine is made of cast iron, and consists of
a box set on feet, to which are attached small wheels, by
which it can be moved from place to place. The iron box
or frame is about five feet in length, and fourteen inches
wide ; at one end is fastened the die, which is easily taken
off or put on by screws. The box into which the clay is
put, and in which the square plunger compresses the clay
through the die, to form the tile, is the main division of
the frame, and occupies about two feet in length; one
half of this division is covered with an iron plate, screwed
down solid; the other consists of a lid, which lifts with a
handle, and which, when the clay is filled in is shut and
fastened by strong iron latches on each side, which swing
into their place by weights. The other two feet of the
frame is occupied by the iron tube, in which the screw of

346 LAND DRAINAGE.

Fig. 45.—DAaine’s AMERICAN TILE MACHINE.

the piston or plunger works, which is worked by a handle
attached to a small balance wheel; attached to the end
where the tiles are made, is a small wooden frame, sup-
ported on a level with the lower line of the die, by legs
that fold up when it is taken off to be moved or packed

”

TILE MACHINES. 347

away; it is about three and a half feet in length, and is
made in three divisions, of twelve inches each; these divi-
sions have each a series of small wooden rollers, on which
a cloth apron moves when the clay is forced through the
die. It comes out in three long parallel tubes of tile,
moved and supported on these aprons, each of which is
the length of a tile; when the table is full, the tiles are
cut into exact lengths by wires which are passed down
through gauges, which form a part of the wooden frame-
work of the apron stand. The whole is easily worked in
a space of eight by ten feet.

But the following cut illustrates the simplest and cheap-
est tile machine of which we have any knowledge. We
propose to name it the “ Buckeye” tile machine ; it may
be made by any ordinary mechanic, at a cost not exceed-

ing $5.

4 i}
1 ‘
AL
qi t i RS. of ,
NU } het - :
7 \SSNmsnasnaaayuan canal (Ab
RH 147 }
A | By Mp
i) od ui f
Cre ,
vies ell At HUA

SQ TTT ee
1

Fie. 46.—TuHE “‘ BucKkEYE’’ T1LE MACHINE.

It consists of a stout box, A, whose sides are about
eight inches high, twelve long, and the ends about eight
wide. The back part of the box is occupied by a post, @,
eight inches wide, and four thick, and from two feet to

348 LAND DRAINAGE.

thirty inches high. In the top of this post is fastened a
lever, H, and to this latter is fastened the plunger, F. The
dies are represented at B. The box is filled with mortar,
the plunger placed on the mortar, and by the lever is
then pushed home; this operation forces the clay through
the dies and forms the tiles. The carriage consists of
' twenty rollers, or five sets of four rollers each; over each
set of rollers is an apron—the force and weight of the tile
issuing from the dies, causes them to rotate so as to carry
off the tile the entire length of the carriage. When the
tiles are forced through the die, and cover the extent of
the carriage, the frame, E E, is closed like a lid over the
tile, and cuts them by means of the wires, DD DD D, into
proper lengths. They are then removed from the apron
to the dryer.

This machine can be operated, in all its departments,
by a “man and a boy ’—the man to fill the box, press
the tile and cut them off, while the boy uses an implement
shaped somewhat like the letter y, or rather, like a two-
pronked table fork—each prong about ten inches in length,
and one inch in diameter. The prongs are inserted into
the cavity of the tiles and thus borne away to the dryer.

Not much reliance can be placed upon statements, as to
the amount of tiles which may be made in a day upon any
of the machines—some days double, if not triple the
amount can be made than on other days. Daine’s ma-
chine claims to make 250 two inch tiles in an hour—this
would amount to 2,500 in a day of ten hours. From 700
to 900 would be a fair day’s operation on the “ Buck-
eye.”

Pressing the pipes is a very simple business. The blocks
of clay are to be placed in the press-box, and hammered
in the filling, to prevent the retention of any air, as this
might occasion the bursting of the pipes, or the formation

DRYING TILES. 349

of air-cells in their walls, to such an extent as to render
them useless. When the clay is properly packed in, the
cover shut down and secured, and the press put in motion,
the wince is turned until the truckle-bed is filled—the
cutting apparatus is brought down, and one pressing of
the rough pipes is completed.

The smaller kinds of pipe must be handled by means of
properly made forks, with extreme care, and placed upon
a drying rack. If great care be not taken, the sides of the
pipes will either fall together, or the soft clay will be
pressed out of shape, and the passage more or less ob-
structed. The larger kinds are taken off the truckle-bed
by hand, and set up perpendicularly for drying.

As all kinds of clay and loam shrink more or less in
drying, this change of volume must be regarded in the
pressing; and because different qualities of clay have
different shrinkage in drying and burning; and because
of the different degrees of humidity at which the clay is
worked, and the different length of time the working is
continued, and that of drying and burning required—all
have their influence upon this shrinkage—no rule can
be given of general application, and every manufacturer
must learn by experience to give a proper length and
thickness to his drain tiles. As a general thing, if the
green tile are 13 inch in length, they will scarcely be 12
inches long when burned; and tile measuring 2 inches
from outside to outside, when green, will not measure
over 12 when burned.

Drying tiles is a matter of great importance, and spe-
cial attention must be directed to this part of the manu-
facturing process. The tile to be good must be dried in
a shed; in fact, a good shed is indispensable to the manu-
facture of tiles. The clay must be tough to retain its
shape after running through the dies of the tile machine ;

350 LAND DRAINAGE.

and such clay will warp and crack in drying, unless the
process is conducted in the shade. If the manufacture
goes on under a shed, no time is lost on account of rainy
days, and the tiles, while drying, are protected alike from
rain and sun.

A convenient arrangement of the shed is of consider-
able importance; in form, it is long and narrow, and must
be so set as to allow the kiln to be put directly at one end,
while the clay bank or pit and pug mill are at the other.
Where it is intended to make from one hundred to one
hundred and fifty thousand tiles in a season, the shed will
need to’ be sixty feet in length by eighteen in width.
It is not necessary to put up an expensive frame, a
lighter structure answering equally well. Four sills,
either of timber or plank, may be laid upon the ground,
and leveled to receive the feet of the posts. The sills
are laid parallel to each other, and lengthwise of the shed
the inner ones ten feet apart, and the outer ones, one on
each side, and four feet from the inner. The posts made
of scantling, four inches square, stand upon the sills,
making two rows on either side of the central space.
The outer posts may be six feet in length, and the inner
eight feet six inches, the tops being halved to receive
the rafters, of two-by-four scantling. It is convenient
to have these posts and rafters of a. uniform distance of
six feet apart, through the whole length of the shed.
The rafters may be tied together by three pieces of the
same scantling, and these so placed as to give the best
support to the roof boards, which lie lengthwise up and
down the roof. The rafters and roof boards should be
fourteen feet in length, so as to project about three feet
beyond the outer posts; this is to prevent the rain from
beating under and injuring the tiles. The supports for the
shelves are narrow strips of board nailed to the scantling

DRYING TILES. 351

posts, the top of one being eight inches from the top of the
next. The shelf boards should be twelve feet long; they
will then have a support at both ends; and in the middle
they should be made of narrow but straight and well sea-
soned oak stuff, and laid loose upon their supports, and at a
distance of about an inch from each other. The tiles dry
better on these than upon wide boards. In this way the
shed will have shelving on each side of the central space
in which the tiles are made; each shelf inside the posts,
will be a little more than three feet wide, which is suffi-
cient for three tiles endwise in the green state; there will
be nine tier of shelves, one over the other. A shed of
this size will dry about ten thousand tiles at a time.

Through the center of the shed a railway track should
be laid. This may be made of two-by-four scantling set
endwise, and tied together by cross pieces, and sunk
nearly to the level of the floor. Upon this a little four-
wheeled car runs, carrying the clay from the pug mill to
the tile machine, and afterward the tiles from the shelves
to the kiln.

A shed something like what is described above is needed
where hand tile machines, similar in principle to Daines’,
are used. If it be intended to use Penfield’s tile machine,
which works by horse power, and has another arrange-
ment for drying, scarcely any shedding is absolutely re-
quired. In this method, the tile machine being a fixture,
drying carriages are constructed, and these are put on a
track connecting the machine to the kiln, and are moved
along as they are filled.

The internal arrangement of the shed should be such
that the tile machine may be placed as near the center as
possible. In the east and west ends of the shed “ racks,”
as represented in the following cut, should be placed, on
which to dry the tile. Tile should always be dried in the

352 LAND DRAINAGE.

&, ZZ
S im

Fig. 47.—Rack For Dryine TILE.

shade—they dry more uniformly there than in the sun;
beside, should inclement weather intervene, they are then
protected. The rack is very cheaply and simply made;
6 is an upright, made of scantling, say, 3-by-4 inches, on
which are fastened, with 4 or 5-inch spikes, the bats a, a,
a, a; the slats or dryers, c, c, on which the tile are placed,
may be of lath one-by-one and half inches. The uprights
(6) should be no more than 6 feet apart—in fact, 4 feet is
a good distance—in order to prevent the slats from warp-
ing, or “ sagging,” as the tile makers say.

The cut is intended to represent a rack to dry 16-inch
tile; but it is best to make them wide enough, so that three
tile may be laid on endwise. The vertical spaces between
the slats c, c, or bats a, a, a, a, should vary with the size
of the tile made—thus the distance from a to a should be
greater for three than for 14-inch tile. When the tile are
molded by the machine they are carried away and placed
upon the dryers, as represented at d, d.

Or the drying racks mav be conveniently made as fol-

DRYING TILES. 353

lows: Two upright posts of roofing lath should be fixed
sufficiently far apart to permit one end of a drying board
to go between them, and at the length of this board two
more to receive the other end. When the tiles are cut
off, they should be closely laid upon drying boards, the
length of which should, for convenience, be about four or
five feet, and the width equal to the length of the tiles.
When the board is full it should be placed in the rack,
upon pieces of scantling or other supports, and upon each
end should be placed a similar piece of scantling, half an
inch or so thicker than the tile, and upon these the next
drying board filled is to be placed—the other supporting
scantlings at the ends and drying boards upon them until
the rack has been filled to the desired hight. The number
of racks and their distance apart must be determined by
the size of the dry house and the necessary movements
between them.

Upon these racks the tiles remain to be dried, but they
still require constant care and watching to effect drying
properly. To keep the tiles straight, they should be
placed close together, and if, in the process of drying,
they become curved, the bow should be twined upward, so
that they may assume their straight form again. The ad-
mission of air should be carefully regulated to dry the tiles
uniformly; otherwise, they are liable to crack. In point
of fact, the tile should be dried by the winds—not by hot
southern winds, but cool north or northwest ones.

If the clay is well prepared, and proper attention paid
to the pipes during the drying process, the remaining
parts of the fabrication will go on well. The admission
of air in proper quantity is always a matter of importance.

The larger kinds of pipe, which are placed upright
while drying, should be reversed frequently, until hard

enough to be laid down without injury, because the upper
31 |

304 LAND DRAINAGE. —

end always dries the most rapidly. When the pipes be-
come somewhat dry, they may be laid in piles of several
pipes in hight, according to their dryness; and, when dry
enough to burn, five or six of even the largest size may
be superimposed upon each other.

Some manufacturers dry their pipes upon hurdles or
frames made of laths, in order to favor the admission of
air; but this mode has searcely any advantage over the
simple drying board, and is far more expensive, and the
pipes are more liable to be bent by being placed upon such
racks.

Rolling and rimming the tiles is to be performed to se-
eure a faultless product, and is done when they have lain
long enough to be somewhat stiff, but still not hard enough
to crack when handled and bent. This step in the pro-
gress of fabrication is too much neglected in this country,
but in England is considered indispensable.

Rolling the pipes is thus performed: A round, smooth
stick, one quarter or one third of an inch less in diameter
than the clear capacity of the pipe, and long enough to
reach through and afford a hand hold at each end, is passed
through the opening, and the pipe gently rolled upon a
smooth table two or three times to straighten it, and thus
prevent any inequality which may have occurred during
the progress of drying from becoming permanent. After
rolling, the pipes are rimmed, by inserting into each end
alternately and turning around the rimmer a wooden in-
strument, which is constructed of a round, smooth stick,
just large enough to fill the end of the pipe, around the
end of the shaft of which, and between it and the handle,
is a collar, or square offset. This instrument, properly
used, gives an exactly square end to the pipe, and insures
their closely fitting together when laid down. The top
or shaft of the instrument should be somewhat tapering,

TILE BURNING. 355

so as to favor its insertion and only exactly fill the open-
ing at the shoulder or collar. This shape favors its inser-
tion and prevents the clay from being pushed into ridges
when it is inserted.

The operations of rolling and rimming are very import-
ant to secure good tiles, and the expense is so slight that
it will be more than repaid in the better quality of the
product.

For convenience, a light table, about fifteen inches
broad (where the tiles are twelve inches long), should be
used. The tiles can be lifted off and on the drying board
by means of the rolling pin, and the table moved forward
as the work progresses, and in this manner the process
may go on very rapidly.

Tile burning.—This is performed when the tiles are per-
fectly dry, and can only be done well by a person ac-
quainted with the business. No extended description can
supply a want of practical knowledge, but a word of ad-
monition, in regard to important moments in the process,
may be of great utility. One indispensable matter is a
proper burning kiln. Almost any kind of lime or potters’
kiln may be made use of, but an oven especially adapted
will be found of great advantage.

In establishing a tile yard, it is usual to make and burn
a clamp of bricks, in the first instance; then to use the
scoving, the soft and other waste bricks for building the
kiln. If the intention is to make from one to two hundred
thousand in a season, a kiln 11 feet by 13 in the inside,
and 10 feet high, will be a suitable size. A kiln of such
dimensions will hold about 15,000 tiles, the number vary-
ing, of course, according to their size, beside bricks enough
to fill to the top of the arches. The kiln must be built at
one end of the shed, and directly in a line with it, so that
the doorway into the side of the kiln, through which the

396 LAND DRAINAGE.

tiles are carried to be set, may be on a line with the car
track of the shed. Directly opposite this doorway there
should be a similar opening on the other side of the kiln,
through which the burnt tiles may be carried. The fire
holes will be through the narrowest sides of the kiln, or
those which correspond with the sides of the shed. For
a kiln of the size named, there will be four fire holes, each
end of which will be open. The walls of the kiln should
not be less than two feet six inches in thickness at the
bottom, and three feet is still better. They are carried
up perpendicularly on the inside, but gradually becoming
thinner toward the top, by drawing in on the outside.
They are better built of tempered clay, mixed with a con-
siderable proportion of sand, than of lime mortar. Some
25,000 bricks will be required to build such a kiln as the
one described.

Tile kilns, of the following construction, will be found
very appropriate for the purpose. There are two princi-
pal forms of construction in vogue in EKurope—one of
which is the high kiln, and the other the low kiln. The
high kilns are commonly 20 to 24 feet long, 10 to 12 feet
wide, and the arch 10 to 12 feet high, measured in the
clear. The walls are made four courses of brick thick,
and are supported by buttresses in the longitudinal walls.
Between the buttresses, on each side, there are 8 furnace
holes, 15 inches wide and about twice as high, and pro-
vided with a grate and ash box. They permit the firing
to be done by means of wood, coal or turf. The door,
placed at one end, should be wide enough to admit of
wheeling in the tiles, and must be walled up when the
burning is begun. Inside, between each pair of furnaces,
there is a small flue, 3 to 4 inches square, which, passing
up the wall and along the arch, terminates in low chim-
neys formed conveniently of tile pipe of proper size.

TILE BURNING. 357

There are beside 6 or 8 rows of small smoke stacks, 4 to
5 inches in clear diameter, and 2 feet high, which pass
through the arch, that may be opened or closed on the
outside at pleasure, and by means of which the heat may
be regulated according to requirement during the process
of burning. Such a kiln resembles very much a common
tile kiln. 40,000 or 50,000 pieces, of different dimensions,
may be burnt in such a kiln, if space be economized, by
placing the smaller pipes inside of the larger ones. The
furnaces must be covered with an arch of masonry, else
the pipes placed immediately upon the top of the furnace
would be over-burnt.

The low kiln resembles a common potter’s oven, and is
now greatly in vogue, as it is easily built, and yields a
well burnt product. Such a kiln consists of a long arch,
8 to 10 feet high, 14 to 16 feet long, and 10 to 12 feet
wide in the clear. The walls and arch may be built very
thin, if supported by iron arch bands—6 or 8 inch walls
being sufficient. But latterly the walls have been built
thicker and supported by buttresses. At one end is placed
the chimney, and at the other end the door for wheeling
in the tiles. On each side of the door is built a furnace,
of 18 to 20 inches breadth, and 10 to 15 inches hight, and
a third furnace is fixed in the doorway when this is walled
up. Immediately behind the doorway wall is placed the
ash pit, 2} feet broad and 6 to 10 inches deep. The hearth
of the oven lies a little higher than the opening of the ash
pit, and behind this again there is a depression 9 inches
wide and 6 deep, in which originate four flues, which, lead-
ing through the walls, terminate in the chimney. The
chimney is not placed, as in the potter’s oven, upon the
arch, but at the end, so that the fire may be forced to pass
over all the pipes, which are thus uniformly burnt in all
parts. The chimney is about 15 to 18 inches clear in

398 LAND DRAINAGE.

diameter. In the walls and gable ends are vents, which
during burning are walled up, but are opened when this
is finished, so as to favor cooling.

Twenty to twenty-five thousand pipes of different sizes
ean be placed in suchakiln. When the tiles are wheeled
in for arrangement, bricks are placed upright upon the
hearth, and the pipes are set upon these perpendicularly,
so that the fire may readily draw through the whole.
When the kiln is filled, a sieve-like wall of a single course
of brick, is built up to force the fire to spread equally
through the entire oven, and at the same time to protect,
in some measure, the first courses of tiles from the ex-
cessive action of the fire.

The following precautions must be observed in burn-
ing:

The tiles should not be placed in the oven before they
are perfectly dry; but in case it is necessary to do so,
they must be dried there, by being subjected, very gradu-
ally, to the heat of a slow fire, in order to dry them thor-
oughly, before heating them very much, as tiles burnt
rapidly, in a damp condition, are nearly always bent and
full of cracks.

The pipes are placed in the oven, perpendicularly upon
the hearth and brick work which forms the furnace pas-
sages. Small pipes are put into larger ones, but not so
nearly of a size, as to hinder a free play of the fire be-
tween them. Six inch pipe may be filled with three or
four inch pipe, and these with inch pipe. This mode of
placing is for the purpose of saving space. The upper
tier of pipes may be placed horizontally, but the lower
ones could not sustain the superincumbent pressure were
they so placed.

It is very important to be provided with good fuel, and
to keep the heat at an even temperature throughout the

TILE BURNING. 359

process. If the draught of the wind cause the heat to
be excessive upon one side, this can be remedied in the
high oven, by opening or closing the smoke stacks; and
in the low oven, by varying the intensity of the fire upon
one or the other side, as the case may require.

When the burning is completed, precaution is necessary
to prevent too rapid cooling, otherwise the tiles will be
found much cracked. It often happens that tiles are
found imperfectly baked, and are denominated “ pale” or
“soft.” These can not be used, as they crumble to
pieces in the wet, and should be reburnt with the next
kiln full. If at any particular part of the kiln the tiles
are commonly imperfectly burned, the “soft” tiles of one
burning may be placed in that part for the next burning,
and they will thus become sufficiently baked.

Fuel.—In many localities coal is cheaper than wood,
and fortunately it answers the purpose equally as well.
Where wood is employed, the soft kinds are greatly pre-
ferred to the hard. Soft maple, basswood, whitewood and
chestnut, are the best, making a steadier heat and more
flame. For kiln use, wood must be thoroughly seasoned,
split tolerably fine, of the length of the holes or shorter.
A cord of good wood should burn about three thousand
tiles.

Burning.—When holes are made on both sides of the
kiln, as recommended, the burning is effected on one side
at atime. By this method, more time is probably con-
sumed, though not more wood, and there is less danger
of an unequal or insufficient burn. In burning tiles, it
should be borne in mind that the soft burnt are worthless,
and only those that are thoroughly hard, and will ring
when struck, are of any value. It requires from two
days and a night, to four days and nights, to burn a kiln
of tiles, the difference depending on the kind of fuel, the

360 LAND DRAINAGE.

character of the clay, and the method pursued—they
should be allowed from 48 to 60 hours to cool.

We translate the following from JBarrell’s work on
drainage:

‘ Burning.—The operation of burning the pipes comprises three
divisions: 1. Placing the tiles into the oven. 2. Conducting off the
fire. 3. Cooling and removing from the oven.

‘I'he burning of pipes is of great importance, for it affects both
the quality and the price of the manufactured article. Therefore,
the more perfect is the oven, or kiln, the better and cheaper will be
the pine. We can not enter into any description of the numerous
improvements on the subject which have transpired, a whole book
wou’! not suffice; but we will give general outlines in the expres-
sion- of Mr. Brongniart, the most competent writer on the ‘Ceramic
Art.

‘“- An oven contains four principal parts, viz: The fire place, the
mouth, the laboratory and the chimney; in the fire place is thrown
the fuel, whatever it may be; the mouth is an opening through whick
the air is introduced which is to sustain combustion; the laboratory
is the place where the articles to be burned are placed; the chim-
ney is a channel though which the gases escape after having pro-
duced their effect.

‘““ Some ovens have no special chimney—it is a part of the labo-
ratory—into these the flame or gas is directed from the fire place
through holes or openings named ‘carneauz ;' when the flame is not
admitted into the laboratory, and goes directly into the chimney,
the eat is received by radiation.’

‘‘’ We will suppose an ordinary potter's kiln is employed, and pro-
ceed to the operation of placing the pipes into the laboratory: A
laye: of common brick is to be disposed in a vertical position, at a
sma ‘ distance from each other, on the floor of the oven ; upon these,
the pipes of the largest diameter are to be placed, one upon the other,
so as to form layers up to the top; some manufacturers place the
pipes upright in the same position as they were arranged to dry; this
syst . is evidently favorable, because it results therefrom that each
seri. of pipes placed on ends form as many chimneys, which favor
the ::aft, and distribute more equally the heat. The fire is next
kin« od, and kept at first very slow; after a few days heat may grad-
ually be increased up to the highest possible degree; during that

TILE BURNING. 361

time the utmost care and constant attention are necessary to avoid
accidents.

‘““‘ When the burning is not complete, or otherwise defective, the
pipes remain tender, earthy, with a dull color, either white or red ;
they are not sonorous, and break or shell off under the influence of
the air; they facilitate the generation of saltpeter, crumble to pieces,
are destroyed in a very short period or time, and finally ruin the
drains.

“¢ Should, on the contrary, the fire be untimely, or excessive, the ma-
terial will melt in part, the pipes become dark brown or black, out of
shape, and stick to each other in cooling. From this may be seen
how important it is to secure the right degree of heat, which pro-
duces tile between a dark and avery bright red; this may be easily
watched, by keeping, within reach show pieces, which may be ex-
tracted through convenient holes; it is advisable not to hurry the
operation of burning. When the fire has been brought to the proper
degree of intensity, it must be gradually diminished, and suppressed
altogether; then the mouth and chimney of the oven are to be closed
so as to exclude carefully the cold air; all must be left in this state,
during several days, to permit the pipes gradually to cool down,
otherwise they would crack or burst to pieces.

“*A skillful burner will, at the proper time, remove the pipes from
the oven, with hardly any breakage, or at most from two to five per
cent.; whereas the loss may be considerable from want of skill or

292

eare,

The price of tile at tileries, throughout Ohio, is yet
entirely too great to induce. farmers, generally, to adopt
tile draining, where they are obliged to rely upon the
tileries for supplies. There is no good reason—other
than the fact that tile making is yet a new business, and
not thoroughly understood—why tile should cost any more
than common brick. The amount of material used ina
single brick will make from two to four or five tile, ac-
cording to size; while the amount of heat required to
burn one brick will burn more tile than can be made from
the material in the brick. ‘True, a little more care is
necessary in arranging the tile in the kiln; a much smaller

32

362 LAND DRAINAGE.

quantity can be burned at a time than of brick, and every
defective or warped tile is worthless ; these, of course, are
drawbacks, but in course of time they will in a very great
degree be obviated. Good tile can be obtained at Cleve-
land, Columbus, Cincinnati, Woodstock, Painesville, Spring-
field, Claridon, etc., in Ohio, at reasonable rates.

CHAPTER VI.

HOW WATER ENTERS THE PIPES.

TuIs question is asked by all persons who, for the first
time, direct their attention to the subject of drainage,
and the solution of the problem involved in the inquiry,
is rather a subject of scientific interest than a matter of
practical moment; for the water does find ingress, as
experiment proves. But nevertheless, there are some
practical bearings in the question which demand investi-
gation.

In the ordinary arrangement of strata of earth, there is
a very permeable layer or soil and subsoil, and below, a
less permeable stratum or “hard-pan.”’ The water of
rains descends to this stratum, and is there retained for
a longer time than in the more permeable soils above ; and
it is a consequence of this retention, that the upper strata
become submerged with water. .

When drains are laid much above the level of this re-
tentive stratum, they do not begin to carry off the sur-
face water until this has completely saturated the whole
depth of soil from the “‘ hard-pan” up to the level of the
drains, which thus obtains the water which enters it from
below. It was at one time supposed to be disadvantage-
ous to the object intended, if the surface water made its
way immediately downward into the drains, as it was
supposed to be not sufficiently filtered, and much of the
soil enriching contents would be carried away into the
drain, when it should have remained in the soil. To

obviate the immediate descent of the water into the drain,
(363)

364 LAND DRAINAGE.

it was recommended to cover the newly-laid pipe with a
layer of sand, or other porous material, two or three inches,
and then overlay it with a covering of stiff clay, which
would cause the more even and natural descent of the
surface water to the impermeable stratum below, and its
subsequent ascent to the drain level, into the bottom of
which it finds entrance. But recent experiments have
shown the fallacy of this doctrine. We have shown, in
the experiments of Liebig and others, that the soil at once
absorbs all the nutritious properties borne down by the
rains. The permeable strata will not yield their moisture
to the drain until the point of saturation has been reached
below.

The manner in which the water finds admission into the
drain pipe, when it has once found its way to it, is very
simple and easy of explanation. Ifthe whole drain were
one continued, unbroken pipe, submerged into a supersat-
urated soil, a portion of water would find its way by
means of what may be termed soakage, through the some-
what porous walls of the pipes, as water makes its way
slowly through bricks. This soaking or sweating process
would go on more readily through soft, poorly burned
pipes; but in tiles very thoroughly burned, it would go
on very slowly; so slowly as to defeat the purpose for
which such tiles are laid down. The proportion of water,
however, which enters the jointed pipes (the only ones
used) by soakage, is so inconsiderable, that we must look
for some other mode of entrance, in answer to the ques-
tion, “‘ How does it get in?”

No jointed pipe can be made and laid down, in which
the joints will fit sufficiently close to prevent the free
access of water to the empty space within the tube. The
facility for entrance, by this means, afforded by a pipe of
any size, under four inches, 200 feet long, made of 13

HOW WATER ENTERS THE PIPES. 365

inch sections, will exceed, by far, the capacity of the
same pipe to discharge the stream which might thus find
entrance. The water, then, enters at the joints, which
can not be made close enough to prevent its ingress, and,
when properly laid down, the water entering the drain
has its course from below upward.

Kielman appears to doubt, that sufficient space would
occur between the joints of twelve or thirteen inch pipe
to carry off the water which would collect. But being
satisfied that the joints were the only place at which water
could enter, he manufactured tiles having a length of
nine inches only, in order to facilitate the admission of
water. This we consider very bad policy; because it
makes not only more joints than are necessary, but be-
cause short joints are more subject to disturbances than
long ones. In fact, sixteen or eighteen inch tiles afford
sufficient joint apertures for all the water they can convey
away. ‘There have been many calculations with regard
to the amount of space between the joints of pipes; and
although we have quoted Messrs. Shedd and Edson, at
page 282, as being correct in the main, we yet prefer, as
a matter of mathematical precision, those made by Vin-
cent. He says, in effect, that water requires no other
means of entering the pipes than the spaces at the joints.
The inner circumference of a one inch pipe, amounts to
about three inches. If, then, the width between the
joints is assumed to be one eighth of aline, or one ninety-
sixth part of an inch, which, in all probability, is the least
possible space which is likely to occur, under ordinary
circumstances, it produces an entrance space equivalent to
one thirty-second of a square inch. Thesection or open-
ing of a one inch pipe would then have a capacity of
nearly three fourths of a square inch. Then, twenty-four
or twenty-five joints, each having an entrance capacity at

366 LAND DRAINAGE.

the joints of one ninety-sixth of an inch, will have an
aggregate joint entrance capacity equivalent to the cali-
ber of the pipe itself. In less than two rods, we have
upward of twenty-five joints, therefore the minimum ¢a-
pacity of admission at the joints more than equals the
caliber of the pipe every two rods.

But as it is not at all likely that drainage water will fill
the pipes every two rods, the joints might even be made
closer than one ninety-sixth of an inch, and yet admit all
the water that is likely to find its way into the drain. On
the other hand, there are scarcely any tiles manufactured
whose joints will fit closer than one half a line, or the one
twenty-fourth of an inch; therefore the water would find
its way into the pipes in sufficient quantities, even if the
tiles were two feet, instead of one foot long.

CHAPTER VII.

—+-__——=

DURABILITY OF TILE.

TuIs question has not been tested fully in this, and
perhaps in no other, country. The length of time since
the first pipe tiles have been laid down here, has not been
long enough to determine this question. All the infor-
mation that can be gathered from direct experiment, and
analogical reasoning, goes to zhow that drains of properly
burned tiles, may be considered “ permanent” improve-
ments. '

A few references to known cases of durability of tiles,
and other objects of similar constitution, may aid in ar-
riving at a proper estimate of the indestructibility of tile
drains.

In Wigtonshire, England, the celebrated Marshal, Earl
of Stair, had constructed some drains of brick, laid upon
the clay subsoil, beneath the vegetable mold, one hundred
years ago, which, when examined after the lapse of that
time, were found to be uninjured, both as to materials
and permeability. They were laid, in one instance, by
setting two courses of bricks lengthwise, about four inches
apart, and covering the space inclosed by laying other
bricks endwise across. In another case, the drain was
made by laying down bricks side by side, as a foundation,
upon the edges of which other brick were set up side-
ways, and the whole covered with flat stones. In both
cases the work was next inclosed with a packing of
broken bricks, or “ bats,” and then earth superimposed.

In France, there are tile and brick drains laid down in

the early part of the seventeenth century, still in good
(367)

368 LAND DRAINAGE.

repair, and fit for the purpose intended, which proves
sufficient durability to..warrant the. construction of
drains (if properly performed), with the reasonable ex-
pectation that they will. outlast the generation of those
who perform the work. There are, indeed, in England,
certain legal enactments and regulations made to promote
and favor the construction of drains, which contemplate
fifty years as the minimum period of durability, which
may be assigned to this species of improvement, if prop-
erly made. |

The almost indestructible nature of the materials, when
properly protected, may be inferred from the fact, that
at Ninevah and Babylon, bricks have been exhumed after
having lain in the earth for more than thirty centuries, in
a state of perfect preservation. In Italy and Greece,
specimens of ancient pottery are found, the age of which
is often not less than two thousand years. Even in Ohio
the antiquary can point to the remains of a very inferior
kind of earthenware, of an age coeval with the mound-
builders, the cycle of whose life and labors is lost in the
utter oblivion of forgetfulness, while their fragile potters-
ware remains to tell us that “art is long, though life is
short,’ and insure the duration of the work of our hands,
until our name, and even nation, may pass away and be
forgotten. :

In the Great Basin of Utah Territory, may be found
the voleano-burnt clays of a period so remote in the
world’s geologic history, that no number of years can
satisfactorily designate the durability which this clay, like
that of our tiles in composition, has already shown; and
no guess as to when the common causes of its destruc-
tion will have disintegrated it again, can assign the limit
of its future permanence. |

The useful durability of our tile drains, depends upon

DURABILITY OF TILE. 369

the following circumstances: 1. A properly constituted
clay, suitable for making a ‘“‘hard tile,” that is, a semi-
vitrified product. 2. The perfect burning of this into
properly shaped hard pipes. 38. The laying of these so
deeply in the earth, as to protect them from the frost, a
most powerfully disturbing and destructive agent. 4. An
observance of the proper rules of construction, so as to
avoid curves, up and down, to such an extent as to favor
the deposition of sand and rubbish, which may find their
way into the tiles, through the crevices of the joints.
Sand will be arrested at any depressed point in the course
of a drain, and clog the conduit so as to prevent the flow
of the water. And, last, the protection of the entrance
and exit extremities of the pipes, from the admission of
small animals, reptiles, and the like, or the treading of
cattle. This object can best be attained by the use of
tile plates, perforated with fine holes at each end, and in-
closing the exit with a fence, or walling it up to prevent
the cattle, attracted by the water flowing out, from tread-
ing the tiles to pieces. (See page 382.)

In regard to the kind of pipes which are most durable,
it may be remarked that “pale,” or “soft” tiles are
readily softened and broken by the action of the water,
while tile may be made perfectly indestructible, if suffi-
ciently burned, by any means save violence, frost, or
powerful chemical re-agents, against all of which means
of destruction a proper mode of deposit will entirely pro-
tect it; and a drain thus constructed, can have no limit
assigned to its useful durability. In common phrase, it
will “last forever.”

CHAPTER VIII.

BRAYItR GC OUT PATS BS:

In laying out drains, the first thing to be determined is
the amount of fall. Therefore, the lowest spot on the
field or fields to be drained must be selected as the start-
ing point. The amount of fall which can be obtained at
the lowest point necessarily determines the depth of the
drains. After having determined the amount of fall, the
next thing to be determined is, whence comes the water?
Should it be ascertained that the water comes from an un-
derground spring, then a drain on the Elkington plan may
be advisable. If the water appears in concavity, on the
side of a hill, it will, perhaps, be well to examine the soil
immediately underneath, and, if an impervious bed under-
lies, which is in turn succeeded by a porous bed, it may
be bored through at short distances, drawing the water
into the lower and pervious stratum. Should the water
make its appearance at the bottom of the hill, flowing over
an impervious stratum, a drain might be dug parallel with
the base of the hill, which will remove the water coming
from above, and se spring will be cut off. Again, from
the bottom of this drain auger holes might be bored through
the impervious bed into the next below, should it be found
pervious. (See illustration, Fig. 48.)

In this case the purpose is merely to collect and carry
off springs that come to the surface—a knowledge of the
character and arrangement of the earth a few feet below
the surface, therefore, is very desirable. Where the water
washes its way to the surface, in a layer of sand or gravel,

lying upon a layer of clay or rock, as is usually the case,
(370)

LAYING OUT DRAINS. 371

the work is very simple. A ditch or drain is made up to
the foot of the hill or ridge, from some creek or other
place, where sufficient outfall can be Saas
obtained; it is then carried along the 7
foot of the hill or ridge, usually a 7
little above where the water makes 2
its appearance. The drain must be Yy,
low enough at the mouth to allow of “2
cutting entirely through the layer of 7777
sand or gravel that carries the water, Yj ZV
or much will escape under the drain. Yj

It is of little use to run drains end- 7
wise into banks, for the purpose of
drainage, though it is sometimes done
successfully when the object is only
to obtain a supply of stock water.

In the drainage of swamps, or small
basin-like depressions, it is customary
to cut a main drain through the cen-
ter, at a depth sufficient effectually
to drain the lowest point. In the
direction, for example, from 4 to the tis
top of the hill,1. Then other drains, Fia. 48.
as at 6, 6, 6,7, which empty into the first from both sides,
commencing as near as may be to the edge of the swamp

Fig. 49.

to catch the water in its descent from the higher lands.
Without these side drains, or a drain encircling such de-

372 LAND DRAINAGE.

pressions to a greater or lesser extent, they frequently
continue wet and cold, notwithstanding the existence of a
good central drain or ditch.

Where there is a basin-
shaped field, as in the an-
nexed cut (Fig. 50), in which
1 represents a clay soil, 2
a bed of hard-pan, 3,4 and
5 different layers of rock
and shales, 6 gravel, drains
may be cut centering at 7,
like those at G, G, G, G, in
| Fig. 51 (next page), at H,
cut through the strata into
a pit or well; and, if neces-
sary, minor drains may be
cut leading into those fig-
ured.

In thorough draining,
sufficient fall having been
obtained from the lowest
point of the land to be
drained, that becomes the
proper starting point. If

scent toward one of its sides,
along that side the main
drain is carried, and all the
ss minor drains start from and
run parallel one to another. If the lowest part of the
land to be thoroughly drained be not along one of its
sides, the main drain is carried along the lowest place,
whether straight or otherwise, and the minor drains start
from it on both sides. If the direction of the minor drains

LAYING OUT DRAINS. 373

be at right angles to the main drain, it is better to curve
the end of the minor drain for a few feet, where it enters
the main, so that its current may not be across that of the
main drain, but partly in the same direction.

The fewer main drains and general outlets to a field,
the better. In the drainage of hillsides, it has been a
question whether the parallel drains should be carried
down the line of greatest descent, or obliquely to it; but
longer experience has settled the question, where tiles are

Fre. 51.

used, in favor of the line of greatest descent, or, in other
words, running the minor drains straight down the slope.

One should think that a question apparently so self-
evident would require no argument. But we find, in the
works of the various writers on this subject, that a great
diversity of opinion exists. One party insists that if a
drain be cut across the foot of the hill, as at 1, in Fig. 52,
it will completely drain not only the stratum 3, but
also that indicated by 2, and all above it; and, therefore,
object to making drains in the direction of the greatest
descent. Another party would make a drain to carry off

374 LAND DRAINAGE.

the water from each stratum which would crop out from
the hillside. But, in order to drain land effectually, it is
essentially necessary that we have a correct idea of the

sources from which the water is derived that is to be car-
ried off ; whether the water is directly from the clouds, or
is derived from fields enjoying a greater elevation, and
sloping toward it, so that the water comes dowa, like on a
roof, from the other fields; or whether it comes up in
springs, which find vent in particular spots, as indicated
at 7, Fig. 49. Ifthe water is not derived from adjoining
fields but from the clouds direct, a different mode of drain-
ing is required than would be if the water came from
higher fields. When lands are situated midway on an un-
drained slope, from which the water spreads over the sur-
face of the land, such a system must be adopted as will
not only drain the field in question, but also to cut off the
supply of water from the higher fields.

One thing must be borne in mind, that water runs down
hill, and does not spread so as to run laterally. From the
fact that water always seeks the lowest level by force of
gravitation, and drains are simply lower levels to conduct
the surplus water away, in order to decide correctly what
direction a drain should have, it is not only necessary to
have a correct idea of the sources of water, and the super-
position of strata, but a definite idea as to the special
office the drain is to perform so as to carry off the surplus
water and drain the land.

LAYING OUT DRAINS. STs

As before stated, drains should be dug up and down the
slope, as from 1 to 2, Fig. 52. Suppose a man has a field
lying on a slope, which he wishes to drain. If he lay out
his drains thirty feet apart, and cut them up and down the
line of greatest descent, it is very evident that the drains
will then intersect all the strata, and bear away the water
from all of them. But, if he lay out his drains the same
distance apart across the line of greatest descent, the lower
drain will receive the water from the thirty feet next above
it; the next drain from the thirty feet next above that,
and so on; thus compelling the water to traverse or per-
colate through thirty feet of soil before reaching a drain.
But in the other case, the water will traverse a distance
of fifteen feet only to find a conduit. The line of the
greatest fall is the only line in which the drain is rela-
tively lower than the land on either side of it. The water
must be disposed of which rests upon the impervious strata,
whether it has found its way there from fields or strata
above, or whether it is water from the clouds, and has re-
cently found its way there. But, in order to drain a field
lying on a slope, with higher lands above it, it is, perhaps,
as well to cut the upper drain across the line of greatest
descent, and lead it, as a sub-main, down the line of great-
est descent, at the side or center of the field, to the out-
let. This answers the purpose, as these drains signifi-
cantly have been termed, of mere catch-waters.

Now, looking at the operation of drains across the
slope, and supposing that each drain is draining the
breadth next above it, we will suppose the drain to be
running full of water. What is there to prevent the
water from passing out of that drain in its progress, at
every point of the tiles, and ‘so saturating the breadth
below it? Drain pipes afford the same facility for water
to soak out at the lower side, as to enter on the upper,

376 LAND DRAINAGE.

and there is the same law of gravitation to operate in
each case. Mr. Denton gives instances in which he has
observed, where drains were carried across the slope, in
Warwickshire, lines of moisture at a regular distance be-
low the drains. He could ascertain, he says, the depth
of the drain itself, by taking the difference of hight be-
ween the line of the drain at the surface, and that of the
line of moisture beneath it.! He says again:

“T recently had an opportunity, in Scotland, of gauging the quan-
tity of water traveling along an important drain carried obliquely
across the fall, when I[ ascertained with certainty, that, although
the land through which it passed was comparatively full of water,
the drain actually lost more than it gained in a passage of several
chains through it.”

So far as authority goes, there seems, with the excep-
tion of some advocates of the Keythorpe system, of which
an account. has been given, to be very little difference of
opinion. Mr. Denton says:

‘‘With respect to the direction of drains, I believe very little dif-
ference of opinion exists. All the most successful drainers concur
in the line of the steepest descent, as essential to effective and eco-
nomical drainage. Certain exceptions are recognized in the west

of England; but I believe it will be found, as practice exends in
that quarter, that the exceptions have been allowed in error.”

In another place, he says:

‘The very general concurrence in the adoption of the line of
greatest descent, as the proper course for the minor drains in soils
free from rock, would almost lead me to declare this as an incontro-
vertible principle.”

We will suppose A, B, Fig. 58, to represent a portion
of the higher field above. Then the catch-water or
drain across the line of greatest descent will be repre-
sented by A, H, E, H, B; and when the nature of the

1 French on Drainage.

LAYING OUT DRAINS. 377

‘Pe, % aE a %
ded ¥ ,

ie ‘pil M4,"

Z

eS “ Tyee at na a

ning, ay, a antes ‘i

ae {gle » (oe ee So unailly, oy, r : at a, ane!

PW Rida 1) ae EE Ct Sad ain ee roles sasntiyg, AM de sn ag sue ohn, ge

ground will admit, or should there be a depression toward
the center of the field, the catch-water may be led from
E to J, as a sub-main, being some distance below J, the
main drain, The minor drains then should run parallel,
or nearly so, to EH, J.

Where the distance from E to J is considerable, it is al-
ways advisable torun the minor drains F, F, F, etc., into sub-
mains, G, G,G,G. In draining a piece of land, situated
like that represented in Fig. 52, which would involve the
cutting of ditches to the depth of eight or ten feet be-
tween 1 and 2, so as to have the drains of a proper depth at
8, it will be found advisable to lead the minor drains into a
sub-main from 4 to 3, and then commence a new series of
drains between 2 and 1, and lead them into another sub-
main at 1.

Some good drainers advise, that when works stop on a
33

378 LAND DRAINAGE.

slope, a drain called a header should connect the tops of
the minor drains, thus preventing the water lying between
the upper sub-main, A, E, B, of Fig. 53, and the minor
drains F, F, F, F, ete., from passing down into the ground
between the minor drains, and also relieving the minor
drains from the pressure of the water above them, and by
which they will the more easily become clogged than when
protected. However, when the sub-main is dug above the
minor drains, as in the figure, the necessity of headers is
very slight, except when the quantity and pressure of
water is sufficient to cause it to flow over the sub-main.

Even the sub-main will not drain the slope above it en-
tirely. Capillary attraction, and the resistance offered to
the descent of the water will prevent the sub-main from
bringing about a complete drainage.- The cuttings of our
railways and high banks of rivers show that no depth of
ditch can remove the moisture from a very considerable
distance. This part of the subject has been more fully
discussed in the Chapter on Distance of Drains.

The sub-main draining the highest portion of the slope
should be independent of all minor drains and branches,
for being directly in contact with the head of water from
above, it will necessarily carry down more mud and silt,
and have a tendency, if allowed, to choke up the minor
drains. , |

It is sometimes found advantageous to construct a tank,
sink, or silt-basin, in both surface and covered drains.
This is more especially the case where an open enters into
a covered drain. From this sink the water flows off com-
paratively clear. This arrangement will not be found to
answer its purpose, when the amount of water flowing
through the drains is very great, for then the motion of
the stream passing through the tank will prevent the mud
from depositing. It will also be necessary to haye the

LAYING OUT DRAINS. 379

tank frequently cleaned from its deposit, for when filled
with mud it is only an obstruction.

We have now described the proper method of cutting
off the supply of water from an underground spring, as
well as draining the underground water from an adjoin-
ing slope, and it yet remains to say a few words upon
conveying away the amount discharged by the clouds.
This is a subject upon which much has been written, and
is even yet an exceedingly controverted point. It is, in
fact, the egg of Columbus for drainers, as it involves not
only a calculation of the distance between drains, the
depth of drains, fall, and size of tile, but also evapora-
tion and filtration. All of these points have been dis-
cussed in the preceding pages. We may assume that the
meteorological precipitations for Ohio, will average 43
inches per annum (see page 77). The precipitations then
will be 10°34 inches during the spring months; 13-40
during the summer; 9°60 during autumn, and 9-66 during
winter. Assuming, then, in the absence of positive ex-
periments, that evaporation is the same, pro rata, as in
Continental European countries, it will amount to 15
inches per annum in Ohio, leaving 28 inches to be fil-
trated, and to flow off the surface. Of this, about one
half, or 14 inches, finds its way into the soil, and the re-
mainder into brooks, creeks, etc. Now, if these assump-
tions are correct, then underdrained soils inaugurate a
vast change in these proportions; because where obser-
vations have been correctly registered, it was found that
eleven twentieths of the summer precipitations were dis-
charged by the drains, and often more than three fifths
of the autumn and spring precipitations, while the dis-
charges from the drains averaged more than three fourths
of the winter precipitations. Hence, the assumption,
that one third of the precipitations are absorbed by filtra-

380 LAND DRAINAGE.

tion, is no criterion for the drainer. He must assume that
at least one half of the meteorological precipitations are
to be carried off by the drains. Now, the summer and
autumn precipitations must not be taken as a basis, upon
which to predicate either the distance between the drains
or the capacity of the tiles, because the soil is then in a
condition to dispose of the precipitation without any ob-
struction. But the winter and spring precipitations will
constitute a more reliable basis. Freezing during the
winter months, arrests the operation of the drains, and
when the genial weather in spring time sets in, the water
of the two seasons have both to be drained at once. Now,
if we take the amount of the precipitation of the three
winter months, and add to it that of two spring months,
this will give us the largest mass of water to be drained
in the shortest period of time, so as to relieve the grow-
ing crops from sustaining any injury. The period in
which this water should be drained away, should never
exceed fourteen days.

Having given tables in the preceding pages, of fall,
width between drains, and capacity of tiles, each one
may make his own calculations for the piece of ground
intended to be drained.

CHAPTER IX.

ee

MAIN DRAINS.

THE main drain should be located on the lowest por-
tion of the farm. It should be an open ditch, at least
four feet deep, but when circumstances will permit, six
feet. The side should have a slope of a foot and a half
to each foot of depth. If then the drain be four feet
deep, and eighteen inches wide at the bottom, the width
at the top will be thirteen and a half feet. The ground
excavated, if thrown up on the sides, will form a capital
fence. In fact, the ha-ha fences of England are built in
this manner, for the reason that they occupy less space,
and are equally as preventive as hedges are against the
irruptions of unruly cattle. The main should invariably
be made before the minor drains, for very obvious rea-
sons, prominent among which is the determination of the
amount of fall and depth of the minor drains. The
main drain should invariably be a foot or eighteen inches
lower than the outlet of the minor drains, if they dis-
charge immediately into the main drain; but where sub-
main drains are employed, the main should be at least
eight inches below the outlets of the sub-mains, while the
sub-mains should be at least 6 inches lower than the minor
drains. Of course where these proportions are not prac-
ticable, less fall between the minor drains and sub-mains,
and between the sub-mains and mains, must be admissible.
But where these proportions can be attained, greater se-
curity will be given to the drains, against disturbances by
frogs, lizards, or other amphibious. animals, . Where a

sub-main or minor drains empty into the main drain, the
(381) mi

382 LAND DRAINAGE.

exit pipe should be secured by a system of masonry, simi-
, ... lar to that represented
3S SS => in Fig.54. This effec-
ESS SANA) tually prevents the en-
2 RL S's. SS
ee trance of frogs, craw-
fish and other “ var-
mints.”

We have mentioned
minor drains emptying
into the main drain, or
open ditch, thus making a separate outlet for each
minor drain. We do not wish to be understood as re-
commending this method, by any means, because these
outlets are not only liable to be frozen up in winter
time, but are exposed to cattle and to mischievous boys,
and to become obstructed by deposits which are discharged
by the drains themselves. A much better plan is to have
the minor drains empty into a sub-main, as G G, emptying
into J, in the lower portion of Fig. 53. The smaller the
number of outlets, in any system of draining, the better.

Some may object to our plan of one outlet, on the
ground that, should any obstruction occur in the minor
drains, it will be more difficult ofinspection. This is true
in a certain sense; but we think that surface indications
will show when and where any serious obstruction takes
place, with as much certainty as the open end of the drain.
And surely, the additional security of having a few open-
ings, well protected, is a much greater advantage than a
drain left open for the purpose of investigation. How-
ever, to obviate any difficulty which might arise from
either of the above methods, some good drainers recom-
mend that “peep-holes” should be placed at regular dis-
tances, by which, should any derangement occur, its
locality and extent could be easily determined. The con-

Fic. 54.

MAIN DRAINS, 383

struction of these “ peep-holes”’ may be varied to suit
the taste or means of the proprietor. A very easy method
of making them will be to sink a stout barrel or hogshead
over the drain. This, however, will be but a temporary
concern. Another form, more in place with the whole
system, may be-constructed after the annexed cut, Fig.
5d, either of earthenware or cast iron. It should be well

it
“Incoming

protected at the surface of the ground, against cattle, etc.,
by a strong cover, asrepresented. This arrangement will
furnish ample means for investigating drains, convincing
the incredulous, and also, of making observations on the
working of the system in different portions of the work.
We have before spoken of sinks or silt-basins. These
should not be confounded with “ peep-holes.” The ac-

384 LAND DRAINAGE.

companying cut gives a very good idea of their construc-
tion. They should be built of solid masonry, large enough
to admit of being cleaned out without inconvenience. A
relief-pipe, as shown in the figure, will not always be ne-

VIB et >.
San gmat
or ) soil
Bs, v |
ak :
7 Lincs 0
* il
2 :
— a
S Relief Pipe 2
, —-
pk fii
z fi mart
cued | mco wag Y
®y \Main Drain G

Woutlet Main Drain

Se 3

Fic. 56.

cessary, and may give rise to some inconvenience. The
chain, which is attached to the flap covering the incoming
drain, is operated from above.
The object of this flap or valve
is to prevent the water from
flowing through the drain for
any desirable length of time.
The pent-up water, when re-
leased, rushes down with force,
sufficient to carry down the sand

Fic. 57. and other impediments from the
tiles above, also effecting a partial cleansing of the basin

MAIN DRAINS. 385

itself. The lid, Fig. 57, should be made of cast iron, and
firmly fixed, to prevent displacement and accidents.

Large Outlet.—No portion of the whole drain requires
to be more substantially constructed than the large outlet ;
and none is more likely to be neglected. The drains we
expect to last a lifetime, and certainly the outlet, which
is the foundation and abutment of the whole, should be
built with the same expectation. We have before spoken
of the outlets of the minor drains, where they are emp-
tied into the open or main ditch. We have now to speak
of a preferable plan, namely, where the minor drains are
united, forming a sub-main, and of the outlet which this
sub-main should have. On this subject Mr. Denton says:

“Too many outlets are objectionable, on account of the labor of
their maintenance; too few are objectionable, because they can only
exist where there are mains of excessive length. A limit of twenty
acres to an outlet, resulting in an average of, perhaps, fourteen

34

386 LAND DRAINAGE.

acres, will appear, by the practices of the best drainers, to be about
the proper thing. If a shilling an acre is reserved for fixing the
outlets, which should be zron pipes, with swing gratings, in masonry,
very substantial work may be done.”

We present, in Fig. 58, preceding page, a section of
such outlet as has been found to answer its purpose effec-
tually. It is composed of solid masonry, strongly braced.
The exit pipe is of cast iron, projecting a few inches from
the work. The exit should be some inches, or even a
foot and a half, if that distance can be had, from the bot-
tom of the main drain, both that the water may flow off
readily, and that it may be protected from any backwaters
ascending the main drain from the stream or pond in
which it flows. It would be still better, if a fall could be
given to the main drain before discharging its water into the
creek or pond, thus preventing any backwater whatever.

CHAPTER X.

DRAINING TOOLS, INSTRUMENTS, ETC.

TuE instruments used in the construction of drains are
simple and few in number. They consist, mainly, of
shovels, such as are used for ordinary purposes, spades,
scoops, and picks. In addition to these, a pipe-layer will
be necessary, for narrow drains, and a drain gauge and
level are very convenient, if not necessary.

Some of these tools are not made in this country, at
present; they must either be imported, or some substi-
tute obtained of an ingenious blacksmith.

Fie. 59 Fig. 60. Fig 61. Fig. 62.

Shovels.—Ordinary shovels will be very useful in re-
moving the earth, when the ditch is not less than one foot

in width. They should be made of the best material and
(387 )

388 LAND DRAINAGE.

strongly braced by two slips of iron, extending some dis-
tance up the handle from the socket. The long-handled,
pointed, scoop shovel, in common use on our railroads,
will be found very useful in removing light soil or gravel,
after being turned up with the pick.

Spades. — Three spades are all that are necessary.
These should be of different sizes, gradually diminishing
in width, to suit different depths. When the ground con-
tains stones, or other impediments, they should be made
perfectly flat, as in Figs. 59, 60, and 61 (preceding page).
When the soil is free from all impediments, a curved form,
represented in Fig. 63, will be found advantageous.

Morton, in the Cyclopedia of Agriculture, gives the
spades, Figs. 61, 62, and 63, as those most in general use,
for digging the last, or lowest portions of the drain.

Fig. 63. Fig. 64 Pia. 65. Fia. 66,

Fig. 64represents abroad and curved shovel, somewhat
triangular in shape, with a bent handle. This is used for
removing dirt from large drains.

viAINING TOOLS, INSTRUMENTS, ETC. 389

Scoops.—For removing the soil from the bottom, and
shaping out the ditch for the reception of the tile, scoops
are necessary. For small and narrow ditches, differ-
ent forms are used, as shown in Figs. 67 and 70. These
are to be used standing on the surface of the ground.
The instrument shown in Fig. 70, is especially adapted to
fitting the bottom for round tiles or pipes.

Fie. 67. Fia. 68. Fie. 69. Fig, 70.

When the ditches are made with flat bottoms, such a
tool as represented by Fig. 68 is used for scooping it out.
Where the bottom is soft, or the crumbs mixed with water,

390 LAND DRAINAGE.

a similar tool, with the sides turned up, as represented by
Fig. 69, is used to clean out the ditch.

Picks.—Where the subsoil is stony, or hard-pan, a vik
will be necessary to loosen it. The dirt is then removed
with the long scoop shovel. The common pick (Figs. 71

Fig. 71. Fie. 72, Fig. 73,

and 72) is all that is necessary for this purpose, though,
in some cases, a foot pick (Fig. 73) may be advantageously -
used.

Pickaxes may be made either heavy or light, as suits
the workman. They should be strongly made, and the
usual form, with a pick at one end and chisel at the other,
is best. A

Pipe layer is a convenient tool ; the handle is lotig and
light, like that of a rake; from the end of this passes a
stout piece of iron wire or rod, a foot in length, and hav-
ing a direction almost at right angles with the handle.
This is for the purpose of laying the tiles or pipes into
the drain; and, if the drains are made as narrow as they
ought to be, it will then be not only convenient but highly

DRAINING TOOLS, INSTRUMENTS, ETC. 391

useful. It is better understood by reference to the cut
(Fig. 74) than from description.

Fig. 7i—PIPE LAYER, Fria. 75 Fra. 76,

Drain gauge.—This necessary though simple instru-
ment is shown in Figs. 75 and 76. It should be strongly
made, not liable to be altered, either by accident or de-
sign on the part of the workman. It may be constructed
according to either figure, and shows both the depth of the
drain and its width at top and bottom. If stones are used,
it may be made to show the depth of filling.

A water level is the first instrument of which one who

392 .. LAND DRAINAGE.

has lands to drain should possess himself. This need not
be an expensive article, for one of very simple construc-
tion will answer every purpose. Take a piece of lead
pipe, two or three feet in length, and about half an inch
in bore, bend up an inch or two at each end to a right
angle; then take a small glass phial that will slip into the
tube, break off the bottom, which may easily be done by
making a crease round on the corner of a grindstone; then
secure the phial in the tube with sealing wax; both ends
are to be fixed alike. The level should be fastened to a
small piece of wood, to give it stiffness and security. A
nail, or screw, or peg, is put through the middle of the
wood, just on one side of the lead pipe, to serve as a pivot
in directing the instrument. For a tripod, three notches
may be made in a little block of wood, and each leg se-
cured by a nail, so as to make a movable joint; then bore
a hole in the top of the block, to receive the pivot of the
level. When about to be used, the level is filled with
colored water, about half way up both phials, which are
then corked, so that it may be carried about. When the
level is put on the tripod, and as near right as can be
guessed, the corks are removed, and the fluid in the phials
stands at a water level. There is then no difficulty in
obtaining accurate levels in any direction... Instead of the
lead pipe, a glass tube may be substituted, and the ends
bent up, after heating in a spirit lamp. Descriptions and
plates of this water level are given in “‘ Thomas on Farm
Implements,’ ‘“Munn’s Practical Drainer,”’ and in the
“‘ Register of Rural Affairs.’ It is much better to use a
level in laying out all draining work than to depend on
the best estimates otherwise obtained. It is not only de-
sirable to know the lowest points of the field to be drain-
ed, and the highest, but also to know the exact difference
in inches, in order to have the fall regular and uniform,

DRAINING TOOLS, INSTRUMENTS, ETC. 393

A span level is the best instrument for determining the
exact fall in a drain that is being dug when no water is
present. Three narrow strips of board are hnequired, each
about six feet in length;
these are nailed together in
the form of the letter A, the
span or stretch being ex-
actly half arod. (See Fig.
77). From a nail or pin at
the top a plummet is sus-
pended. - It is then placed, for the purpose of marking,
upon a floor or piece of timber, which is perfectly level,
and the place where the plumb line touches the cross bar
marked; one foot is then raised one fourth of an inch,
and the place where the line crosses the bar again marked,
and will show a rise or fall one half inch to the rod.
The foot is then raised to half an inch and the bar
marked, indicating one inch to the rod. These mark-
ings can be made to any extent desired, and the in-
strument, by dropping it into the drain occasionally, will
show that the drain is dug with uniform fall, and precisely
that determined on at the outset.

We have not aimed at prescribing a set of tools which
are absolutely necessary, being too well acquainted with
the genius of the western people, and knowing too well
that they will make almost any kind of tool answer the
purpose; but we deemed it necessary to give a general
description of the tools employed by expert drainers.

Fic. 77—Span LEVEL.

\

CHAPTER XI.

DIGGING UNDERDRAINS.

AFTER proper levels have been taken, and the rate of fall
ascertained, the digging may commence, the workman
being kept straight by a line, as represented in Fig. 78,

—=—
ee IN!
SS

="
Cad
2°
0°
er
-
Fail

The dotted line represents the bottom of the drain; the
dotted lines forming a triangle, or wedge-shape, represents
a section of the ditch, as seen from the body of the ditch.
Every three or four rods, two narrow boards, having a slit
sawed in from the upper end, should be placed on a line
with the center of the ditch. A line is then placed in the
slit of the board, at the end of the ditch, and continued
to the other board, supported by frames or braces resem-
bling on iron square—these latter are placed at the side
of the ditch, and the line suspended over the projecting
arm, to keep it taut, or to prevent it from “ sagging.” If
the line is properly placed it will always enable the work-
man to ascertain whether the drain is of the proper depth,
because the distance from the line to the bottom of the

*This cut is from French’s work—but the plan has been adopted by ditchers in Ohio

during the past twenty-five years.
( 394 )

DIGGING UNDERDRAINS. 395

drain must always be precisely the same, whether the sur-
face of the ground is level or full of undulations.
Without some care, a ditch will not be dug straight even
where a line is used, for in passing over swells or eleva-
tions, if the surface of the top is not removed enough
wider to allow for the regular slope of the sides, the bot-
tom will not be straight, or the sides will be too perdicu-
lar. To correct this latter difficulty, a draining gauge,
Fig. 79 or 80, is employed. These gauges consist of an
upright wooden strip, say, four
feet in length, with a foot at the
bottom, the precise width of the
tile to be laid; and near the top a
cross piece, the length of which is
the exact width of the drain.
Where great precision in the slope
of the sides is required a central
cross piece, as in Fig. 79, having
for its length the exact width of
the drain at that point, or rather
a mean between the foot piece and
upper cross piece.
The first spit, or spade depth
Fic. 79, Fie, 80. Of _ turf, or surface soil, is usually
removed by a common spade; a stronger one being re-
quired than would be chosen for gardening purposes. The
width of the drain, on the top, must always depend on
the depth required ; skillful drainers dig a much narrower
drain than the unskilled. The narrowness of the drain
is an advantage, there being less earth to throw out, and
of course less to return. For a depth of three feet, one
foot on top is abundantly wide, and many drains would
not require so much. The crumbs are all shoveled out
with a common shovel. It is usual, at this stage of the

396 . LAND DRAINAGE.

work, to bring the bottom of the drain to its true level,
at least so far as to correct any noticeable unevenness of
the surface. The span level before described must be uscd —
occasionally, unless water be present. Sometimes a turf
of only a few inches is taken off before the first full spit
is dug.

The second spit is dug with the narrower spade or proper
draining tool, and the crumbs are removed by a draw
scoop; or a long handled shovel, with the sides turned up,
will answer very well. The removal of the second spit
brings the drain to two feet in depth, and seven inches in
width on the bottom, unless greater width and depth are
required. The third and last spit of a three feet drain is
cut with the same narrow spade as the second, or one still
narrower. The bottom is made of the exact width of the
tiles to be put in, and when these are less than four inches
across outside, the tool must be narrower ; or if it be re-
quired to cut a channel three inches wide on the bottom,
with a tool four inches in width, this is readily done, where
the tool is a little curved, by holding it obliquely, instead
of transversely across the drain. The crumbs are re-
moved, and the bottom fitted for the tiles with the draw
scoop. The drainer never sets his foot on the bottom of
a narrow drain; in fact, he could not get it there. What-
ever the size of the tile used, that must be the width of
the bottom of the drain; there should be just room to ad-
mit the tile, but not the least possibility of its getting out
of place.

New beginners in digging drains, as a general thing,
remove double the quantity of earth necessary to make
the drain. This is an error, however, which generally
corrects itself by practice. Some drainers prefer making
the ditch. say 18 inches wide at the top, and give the
sides c, Fig. 81, a gentle slope, until a depth of two feet

DIGGING UNDERDRAINS. 397

is attained—leaving the bottom of the ditch, 6, 5, fourteen
or fifteen inches wide. This part of the ditch may be
made with the ordinary spade, Figs. 59, or 60. Then

=

Aes.
fa

Le | 7

the narrow spade, Figs. 61, 62
or 65, is used to excavate the re-
maining foot of earth, a; this
leaves the. bottom, 2, 3, or 4
inches wide—according to the
tool used—and just the size for
e} the tile. When this style of
TE \ || ditching is adopted, the tools,
a Figs. 67 and 70 are used to clear
= |= 4 Hii!| the bottom of all pieces of ground
which may have fallen in, as well
hi iy (i Hil as to remove any inequalities in
i il Ah WW! the bottom. The tile is then
: WHEE taken up with the short arm of
the pipe layer, Fig. 74, laid in
the bottom of the ditch and properly adjusted.

F hi

Fie. 79.

_ Alderman Mechi, says:

“On Digging a Drain.—Before I proceed to describe my mode
of digging, I will remark that a very great mistake is made by most
drainers in removing more earth than is necessary. My men, fora
5-feet drain, only open the surface 18 inches wide, and at 4 feet they
ean do it in 12 to 14 inches; at 6 feet deep they allow themselves
22 inches; this is when the land is tolerably dry; when very wet
and adhesive, they sometimes allow themselves an inch or two more,
to prevent the earth touching their clothes. As they are paid by
the piece, they are very particular not to remove a bit more earth
than is absolutely necessary. In stony and hard soils, requiring the
frequent use of the pickaxe, the workmen require rather a wider
opening; but even so deep as 6 feet deep, it is seldom necessary to
open 2 feet wide. It must always be borne in mind that the pipes
can not be placed by the hand in such narrow drains, the bottom not
being 2 inches wide. The drniners have a stick with a piece of iron
like a long cock’s spur, on which they place the pipe, and standing

398 LAND DRAINAGE.

astride on the top of the opening, place the pipes abutting against
each other in a continuous line, giving them a tap or two to set
them firm in their places. Great care is required to scoop out all
the crumbs, leaving the bottom of the drain smooth, with a sufficient
fall. The bottom of the drain should riot be wider, if possible, than
the outside diameter of the pipe; it is thus kept firmly in its place.
A common carpenter's level answers very well; but the workmen
are generally sure to give. fall enough to spare their labor in going
too deep. We never plow out for the laborers. They streteh a gar-
den line, so as to open their work straight and true The ordinary
spades are not at all calculated or proper for draining in tenacious
soils. We use the patent grafting tools, made by Mr. Lyndon, of
Birmingham; they are thin, well plated with steel, and ring like a
bell, and will go easily into hard clays, when the common spades
could not be used at all. They may he had of Mr. Lyndon direct,
or ordered through the iron-mongers. The middle spits are removed
by a narrow thee quarter spade, with a projecting iron for the foot;
and the lowest spit is taken out by a long 14-inch dagger-like spade,
with two cutting edges, a sharp point, and an iron rest for the foot;
this is worked edgewise first, and then removes a considerable thin,
but broad deep mass. The scoop follows for the crumbs. All these
tools may be had of Mr. Lyndon.”

As digging ditches for drains is frequently done by
contract, “‘ by the job,” or by the rod, we have deemed it
proper to insert the following table, giving the number of
cubic yards of earth to be removed in digging ditches :

DIGGING UNDERDRAINS. 399

CUBIC YARDS OF DIGGING IN DRAINS.
Depth 2 feet 6 inches.

$ Width | Width | Width | Width | Width | Width | Width | Width
=| 9 lu ll 1 foot. 1 foot 2 feet. 2 feet 3 feet.
Re inches. | inches. | inches. 6 inches. 6 inches.
Yarde. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft.
% 3 3 3 4 6 7 9 11
1 6 6 7 7 11 15 19 22
2 11 12 14 15 22 uy .o3 1 10 & 18
3 17 19 21 22 Me = 18 ze 2 2 13
4 22 25 i 1 3 1 18 am £2 2 3h .9
5 164 9 i 1 10 2 2 2 21 3 138 4 4
6 Lo@ 1 10 1 14 1 18 2 13 = 2 4 4 6
7 1 12 1 17 1 21 1 25 2 2 3 24 4 23 5 22
8 1 18 1 23 2 @ 2 6 3 2 4 12 6 15 6 18
9 1 24 2. .g 2 8 2 13 2 20 6 6 7 13
10 2 8 2 8 2 15 2 2 4 4 & 165 6 25 8 9
1L 2. 8 2 15 2 22 a A 4 16 6 3 Rh WW ois 4
12 2 13 2 Wh 3 3.9 5 6 18 8 9] 10
13 2 19 3 3 8 3 16 6 ll % 6 9 2 | -logi22
14 2 25 Ss 6 3 15 3 24 5 @ im 2h 9 19} 11 18
15 3 3 3 13 3 22 4 4 6 @ £ 2) 1 } (12er3
25 S. © 5 21 6 10 6 2] WM} 1s 24) 17 19| '2022
40 8 8 S | 10° &@) MB BS) 6 Wil 122 Stl (27. We) say 9

3 Width | Width | Width | Width | Width | Width | Width | Width
= 9 10 11 1 foot. 1 foot 2 feet. 2 feet 3 feet.
wa inches. | inches. | inches. 6 inches. 6 inches,
Yards. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft.| Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft.
¥% 3 3 4 4 6 eT sy 12
1 6 7 8 8 12 16 21 25
2 12 14 15 16 25 me 6 1 14 1 20
3 19 21 23 25 1 10 1 22 2 8 2 20
4 25 1 a Bog 1 22 2 12 os 2 3 «48
5 1 4 Leuk pi! 1 14 2 8 3 sé&41 3 22 4 16
6 1 10 1 14 1 18 2 20 3 18 4 16 5 18
7 1 16 1 21 1 26 2 4 3 6 4 7 By 9 6 11
8 I 22 & Ff yo 2 12 3 18 4 24 6 63 “/ 9
9 2 2 2, & 2 14 2 20 4 3 5 13 6 24 & 7
10 2 8 2 15 2 22 & & 4 16 6 3 7 17 9 4
11 2 14 2 22 Se F 3 10 eo 6 19 &: LE} 1c. 2
12 2 20 a, k 3 10 3 18 5 13 nm 3 $ .@) a
13 2 26 ay 8 a Ty 3 26 5 26 7 25 9 25) WW 25
14 ax; 6 3 15 3 25 4 4 6 11 8 15 10 19 12. 22
15 3 12 3 22 4 5 4 16 6 24 or 2 | ae WB.) e220
25 5 20 6 10 & eG 19) SP 12 | Wee eS) Se | 2225
40 S “Si 20. Ga TE; &| 22: Gul IS Gl BE 104- 360 tae) 36.418

—————— — SeeSeSeeSeSeFeFeSeSFeSeSeSFeSeeSSESSNN____

400 «LAND DRAINAGE.

CUBIC YARDS OF DIGGING IN DRAINS.
Depth 3 feet.

| Wiath | Width | Width | Width | width
a 9 10 ll 1 fuot. | 1 foot
4 inches. | inches. | inches. 6 inches.
Yards. | Yds. ft.| Yds. ft.| Yds. ft.| Yds. ft.| Yds. ft,
BY, 3 4 4 4 7
rt 7 7 8 9 13
2 13 15 16 ws{ 1
3 20 22 25| 1 1 13
4 «tla. 81,8 8112 8.2
5 1 7| 2b wo] 1u4l| £ Bw] 2 18
6 118] 1 | 2 2| @ 3
7 1% 20| #a5| @ 4| 2 89] & 2B
8 2 * 6) €¢ wis wi
9 2%7| 2 13| 2 2] 8 4 13
10 213| 221/ 3 1] & 9] 5
11 220| 3 1| 3 20/] 3 18| & 13
12 3 * ¢| 3s wl is 6
13 s #|.8 060|.2s| # @l8 B
14 3 138| 3 2@| 4 7| 418] 7
15 mle 21 8 we 7 13
25 6 7) 6 | 7 18) 8 9] 12 13
40 | 10 163] 2 6| 13 9] 20
6 | 13 20| 15 7| 16 22! 18 9| 27 18
70 | 17 13] 19 12! 21 10] 23 9] 35
8 | 21 7| 23 16| 2 26] 2 9| 42 18
100 | 25 27 21 | 30 15| 33 9] 50
200 | 50 55 15 | 61 38 | 66 18] 100
500 | 125 138 24 | 152 21 | 166 18 | 250
1000 | 250 277 21 | 305 15 | 333 9 | 500

Depth 3 feet 3 inches.

= Width | Width | Width | Width | Width | Width | Width | Width
=] 9 10 Pe sl hao. lfoot | 2feet. | 2 feet 3 feet.
a inches. | inches. | inches. 6 inches. 6 inches.
Yards. | Yds, ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | ¥ds. ft. | Yds. ft.
% 4 4 4 5 7 10 12 16
tr; t 8 9 10 15 19 24 2
2 15 16 18 7 Ao _ 2 ae b ¥* 22 2 #4
3 22 24 1 ES 1 $17 Fe 2). Seek a:
“4 7 f| Fei 2 e| 2.1 & 2) so oe) tae ee
5 rT 1¢ 1 4 E44 TY 22 2 19 3 16 4 14 ae
6 ry 1 22 2 2 4 x = £ ¢F 5 it 6 13
a 1 24 2 § 2 9 2 14 3 21 Zn £ @ ¢ 716
8 2 4 g* 1% 2°17 2 24 ¥ § 5 21 c © 8 18
9 2- 12 2 19 2 26 qt 4 24 6 13 8 3 9 20
10 2 19 3 3. 8 3. 16 6 il co 9 1 10 22
11 2° 26 3. 8 3.17 3 26 5 26 7 26 9 26 11 25
12 ee 3 16 3 26 q 9 6 13 8 18) 10°22) 13
13 3 14 3 25 4 §& 4 19 (A aee SF 10) LE" 26) 4
14 3 21 4 6 4 17 5 61 Tr 1¢| te f|. te le) te
15 4 2 414 4 26 5 ll § Fi Gea) iss iz) 6
25 6 21 7 #14 a TF eo FY is 16) to" FP) Bae ig | ey
40 10° 22; 12 f} 13 14 12] 21 18] 28 24) 36 3] 43

200° 54 4/ 60 5] 66 5]! 72 6/108 9] 144 12] 180 15] 216 ©
600 | 135 11 | 150-12] 165 14) 180 15] 270 22] 361 3 | 451 10} 541
1000 | 270 22 | 300 25 | 331 361 3 | 541 18 | 722 6 | 902 21 {1083

DIGGING UNDERDRAINS. 401
CUBIC YARDS OF DIGGING IN DRAINS.
Depth 3 feet 6 inches.
= | Wiath | Width | Width | Width | Width | Width | Width | Width
8 9 lu ll 1 foot. 1 foot 2 feet. 2 feet» | 3 feet.
Pe inches. | inches. | inches. 6 inches. 6 inches.
Yards. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft.) Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft.
¥% 4 4 5 5 8 10 13 16
f 8 9 10 10 16 21 26 EB 4
2 16 17 19 21 T A p ae ts) I 26 2 9
3 24 26 p> 2 ; ae 1 20 oe 2 25 3 13
4 1 4 7 3 >. % wb 2 9 3 3 3 24 4 18
5 1 a. W 1 21 1 2 2 25 3 24 4 23 5 22
6 1 20 1 25 2 4 2 3 3 13 4 18 5 22 7
7 o 4 wo 2 13 2 4 2 5 12 6 22 8 4
8 2 9 2 16 2 23 e 5 4 18 6 6 | 9 9
9 2 2 2 3 «6 3 13 oe 7 8 20; 10 13
10 2 25 3 6 3 15 3 24 5 22 TS > w| Ie is
11 3 #6 3 15 3 25 4 7 6 ll & Wt We i) 18,22.
12 3 13 3 24 4 7 4 18 7 Sey LL Tee ee
13 3 21 4 6 4 17 o. mow 8) ee Ww We 4
14 4 2 4 14 5 6 12 S 4/| WW A\| Ww | 16 9
15 4 10 4 23 a 5 22 > Be IS) ie 16) Yno18
25 " 8 383 8 25 2 if| @ mw a fi 2 4
40 it 18) 1 | 4 Ti G 1) B@ Bf) H F| 3 | 46 18
55 i: Wt 22 Mm ig} Zo te; a By 2 Zi 63 13| 64 4
70 20 I1| 22 18| 24 26) 27 6| 40 22| 54 12| 6s 1) S1 18
85 24 21 27 15 30 8} 33 1] 49 16) 66 3] 82 17 99 4
100 29 4 32 11 35 17 38 24| 58 9 17 21| 9F 6G} 116 18
200 68 9 64 22 a & 77 211116 18| 155 15) 194 12 | 233 9
500 145 22|}162 11/1178 6) 194 12) 291 18) 388 24/486 3] 583 90
1000 291 18 | 324 2 | 356 13 | 388 24{| 583 9] 777 21|972 6 jL166 18
Depth 3 feet 9 inches.
ot Width | Width | Width | Width Width | Width | Width Width
€ 9 10 iL 1 foot. 1 foot 2 feet. 2 feet 3 feet.
nl inches. |} inches. | inches. 6 inches. 6 inches.
Yards. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft.
yy 4 5 5 6 8 1L 14 17
8 9 10 11 17 22 ae | : cw f
2 17 19 21 + 22 es 1 18 mG 2 13
3 25 i. 1 4 ue 1 24 2 13 3 3 3 20
4 L & LW 1 1 18 2 13 3.9 4 4 5
5 1 b 1 20 L 2 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 6 oe 7
6 1 24 a & 2 8 2 13 3 20 5 oS a is
7 Zz & 2 12 2 18 2 25 4 10 5& 22 me 8 8 20
8 2 13 2 21 Ss # & 9 5 6 18 S 10
9 2 22 a 3 3 12 3 20 5 17 % I 9 10 1¥,. 7
10 3 3 3 13 3 22 4 4 oe F 8 9 10 il 12 13
M1 3. 12 3 22 4 6 4 16 6 24 9 4; Ill 12 13° «20
12 3 20 4 4 4 16 5 a B 10 12 13] 15
13 4 2 4 14 4 26 & WW § 2 10 22) 13 15) 16 7
14 4 10 4 23 5 9 5 22 § 20| Ie 18 14 16 if 13
15 4 19 56 6 5 20 ae 9 10 12 13 15 17 18 20
25 7 22 8 18 9 10 il 15 17 20 22 26 1 ods f
40 12 13} 13 24 SF 16 18 | 25 33. «(9 41 18 50
55 Mi &! DB Sh at 22 25 34 10) 45 22 br 3 68 20
70 21. 24) 24 8} 26 20) 29 4) 48 20) 58 9] 72 25| 87 13
85 26 15 | 29 14) 32 13) 35 It 53 3) 70 22 88 15|106 7
100 $1 67} «34 #19 38 5) 41 18 62 13]; 83 9}104 4 | 125
200 62 13 69 12 7™6 10 83 9 | 125 166 18 | 208 9 | 250
600 | 156 71]173 16|190 26] 208 9{ 312 13] 416 18 | 520 22 | 625
1000 313 3 347 6 {| 381 251416 18 | 625 833. 9 |1041 18 11250

402 LAND DRAINAGE.

CUBIC YARDS OF DIGGING IN DRAINS.
Depth 4 feet.

5 Width | Width | Width | Width | Width | Width | Width | Width
é 9 10 ll 1 fuot. l foot | 2 feet. 2 feet 3 feet.
re inches. | inches. | inches. 6 inches. 6 inches. Fr

Yards. | Yds. ft.| Yds. ft.| Yds. ft.| Yds. ft.| Yds. ft.| Yds. ft.| Yds. ft. | Yds. ft.
yy 4 5 5 6 9 12 15 18
t 9 10 ll 12 18 lia site 9
2 18 20 22 24 ee 3 21 2 6 2 1g
3 1 I a : ae 7 ~ 2 a is 3 9 i
4 1 9 iB 1 ae | 2 18 3 15 4 5 9
5 1 18 1. S 2 a 2 6 3 9 4 12 56 Bb 6 18
6 2 x 6 ie 3 2 18 4 5 9 6 18 8
T 2 9 2 16 s 3 . 4 18 6 6 7 22 9 9
8 2 18 2 26 a 3 15 5 9 a ZT 8 24] 10 18
9 3 3 ae x 8 4 6 8 10 12
10 a 3 19 a. 2 4 12 6 18 § 24/ ll 8] la& 9
ll 3 18 4 2 4 13 4 24 a ae 9 2 | B si}; 4,18
12 4 4 12 4 24 5 9 8 10 18] 13 9| 16
13 4 9 4 22 a 5 $18} ll b6|'M BI le 9
14 4 18 5 5 5 19 6 6 9 9] 12 12] 15 1] 18 18
15 5 5 15 ee: 6 18} lo 13 9] 16 48} 20
25 > 5 7/10 5] 8 3| te 18)' 2)'a? Sl tade 9
40 3. 9| 4 2| 16 S| 1 2h)'S tel & | )44 | toes 9
55 Is -39./ °20. 1 | 28 | ae 12 Se |) a Se Oe Se ae “9
70 23 9] 2 25; 28 14] 31 3] 46 18| @& | 7 2] 92- 9
85 9] 31 13 | 34 17] 37 21; 56 18| 7% 16| 94 12/113. 9

100 3 9] Bt. 1.| 40 20) 44 12!) Ge 18) 88 Bit | asd. 9

200 6618.) 7 2) °-81 19) 88 2123-9) 177 Bh) B22 ce | Bees

500 | 166 18|185 5] 203 19] 222 6] 333 9] 444 12] £55 15 | 666 18

1000 | 333 9 | 370 10} 407 11 j 444 121] 666 18 | 888 24 [1111 3 [lo33. 9

Depth 4 feet 6 inches.
= Width | Width | Width | Width | Width | Width | Width | Width
= 9 10 il 1 foot. 1 foot | 2 feet. 2 feet 3 feet.
re inches. | inches. | inches. 6 inches. 6 inches.

Yards. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft.
5A 5 6 6 7 10 13 17 20
1 10 11 12 13 20 i ae $13
2 20 22 25 1 ke 13 2 2 13 3
3 1 3 F 1 10 118 2 ¥ 3 3 20 4 13
4 12 1 18 1 2 2 3 4 5 6
5 1 24 2 2 2 8 2 18 3 20] 5 6 7 ™ 13
6 28 2B 2 20 3 4 13 6 7 13 9
% 2 17 2 2% 8 6 3 13 & 2 7 8 20/ 10 13
8 3 3 9 3 18 4 6 8 10 12
9 2 10 3 20 4 2 4 13 6 20 9 ma: #.| 19-13
10 3 20 4 4 16 5 7 13/| 10 12 13] 15
ll 4 3 4 16 i. A 5 13 s F| 13 20] 16 13
12 4 13 5 5 13 6 9 12 15 18
13 4 24 5 i 5 26 6 13 9 20] 13 1 7] 19°18
14 a 5 22 6 ll 7 10 18] 14 vy Wl 2
15 6 17 6 7 6 24 7, iw) Mm F| 6 18 20] 22 13
25 9 10/ 10 lh| 1 22| 12 13] 18 20] 25 am %) 8213
40 15 16 18! 18 9] 20 30 40 50 60
55 20 17 | 2 2| 2 @| 2 Me) 41. ve) 55 68 20| 82 13
70 26 7%] 29 #@/| 32 @| 25 52 13] 70 87 13] 105
85 31 24] 35’ 12 | 38 26| 42 18 | 63 20:| 85 106 7 | 127 13
100 37 13] 41 18| 45 22] 50 15 100 125 150
200 75 83 9; 91 18] 100 150 200 250 300
500 | 187 13 | 208 9 | 229 4/1 250 375 500 626 750

1000 | 375 416 18 | 458 9 | 500 750 1000 1250 1500

DIGGING UNDERDRAINS. 403

CUBIC YARDS OF DIGGING IN DRAINS.
Depth 5 feet.

sl Width Width Width Width Width Width Width Width
S 9 10 11 1 foot. 1 foot 2 feet. 2 feet 3 feet.
he inches. | inches. | inches. 6 inches. 6 inches.
Yurds. | Yds. ft..| Yds. ft. | Yda. fe. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft.
“ 6 6 7 7 1 15 19 22
f 1 12 14 16 a a ea) oe eee Ba
2 22 25 is 4 aon e Yr 18 7 sa 2 2 3s. 9
3 s Ue pe 1 14 2 YS 2 13 o°°9 4 4 5
4 1 18 1 23 ZF 2 6 a 9 4 12 5 15 6 18
5 Zz 2 Z° 68 2 16 y' QF 4 4 56 15 6 25 -$& 9
6 STs 2 2 Se: | 3 9 5 6 18 8 9 10
ij 2 25 a 6 3.35 3 24 5 22 y ie 0 9-19 11 18
8 3 9 3. 19 4.28 4 12 6 18 8 24 11 6S pl, 19
9 a , 26 4 4 4 16 5 rae 10 12. 13 15
10 4 4 4 17 bp 5 15 Sune BP< 3 13 24 16 #18
11 4 16 5 @& 5 16 6 $s Gi? | 12 6 #54 2.7 18 9
12 5 5 15 6 S 6 18 10 13° «9 16 18 20
13 &” tt 6 6 LT {ae 10. 22 14 12 3 Ss 21 18
14 5 22 13 fc v (2f 11 18 15 15 19 12 Dor +,9
15 i 6 25 fe | ¢ 8. 28 1g 13 16 18 20) 22 25

25 10 11} IL 15} 12 20) 13 24} 20 22) 27 21) 34 19) 41 18
40 6 1s) 3S Ye"). 20 10") 22 6" 9| 44 12] 55 15}] 66 18
55 22 25 | 25 12] 28 30 15) 45 22! 61 3] 76 10] O1 18
pe PE). Bo NTS) yee) ZR) Ase Sr ae Se eT NBO! BLGNS 18

4
Son ee. Me es i te Os 7 6 | 70 22) 94 12) 18 7} 14 “18
100 41 18 | 46 8 50 25 | 55 15 | 83 911T1F S| 138 24) 106° 18
200 88 9 | 92 16 ;:101 23} 111 3} 166 18) 222 6) 277 2h} 333 (9
500 | 208 9 | 231 13 | 254 17 | 277 21 | 416 18 | 555 16 | 694 12} 833 9
1000 | 416 18 | 462 26] 509 7 | 555 15] 833 9 {L111 3 11388 24 {1666 18

Depth 5 feet 6 inches.

= Width Width Width Width Width Width Width | Width
FI 9 10 11 1 foot. 1 foot 2 feet. 2 feet 3 feet.
is inches. | inches. | inches. 6 inches. 6 inches. |
Yards. | Yds. ft. | Yds, ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft.
4% 6 7 8 8 12 16 21 25
1 12 14 15 16 25 1 6 a 14 22
2 25 1 ES I 6 i 22 2. ea 3 18
3 1 10 1 14 bt I 22 2 20 3 #18 4 16 B13
4 Pr 23 Ee | 2 s 2 12 3.418 4 24 Bate we
5 2. We 2' 22 oa 4 16 ee BT Ue |
6 2 20 or o£ 3- 10 3 18 & 18 ae 9 4 11
7 a $.%5 3° 25 4° 6 11 8% Ww WW TS 22
8 3 18 4 2 4 18 4 24 7 9 9 21 2 6 14.18
9 e 8 4 16 oo & 13 a 11 i 20 b6 13
10 4 16 oF og 5 16 G3 9 4 2) i. 7 1s 9
11 a y» LG 6 4 6 19 19° 2 is’ 12 16 22 RET 4.
12 bY led 6. 33 6 19 Fe 9 ll 14 18 18 Y 22
13 5 26 6 17 v 8 t 35 Th’ 26 15 24 19 23 Pay 22
14 io Te 78 ? 23 8 15 12 22 yw 3 21 10 25 18
15 6 24 te? Xe 8 ll 9 44] 13 20 18 9 22 2 | 27.13
25 1 124) TS 26 14 1h 22 25 30 15 338°C SS | 45 22
40 #8 9) 20-104 22 12 24 12 36 18 48 2t Gh oF 73). 9
55 25, 6 |. 28 30. 22 33 «16 50 11 wy 6 Se oh | 24 92
70 on By Bb... le 39 6} 42 2t 64 4] 85 15] 106 25! 1lyxs y
85 38° 26) 8d Sl ae 17 51 25 77 25) 103 24 | 129 23) 156 2

500 | 229 4 254 17] 280 2) 305 15] 458 9/611 8 :
1000 '458 9{| 6509 716530 51|611 31 916 18 {1222 6 |1527 21 [1833

ee ee ST ENR AP

404 LAND DRAINAGE.

CUBIC YARDS OF DIGGING IN DRAINS.
Depth 6 feet.

3 Width | Width | Width | Width | Width | Width | Width | Width
= Bias 10 11 1 fvot. l foot | 2 feet. 2 feet 3 feet.
a inches. | inches. | inches. 6 inches. 6 inches.
Yards. | Yds. ft.| ¥ds. ft.| Yds. ft.) Yds. ft.| Yds. ft.| Yds. ft.) Yds. ft. | Yds. ft.

4% i T 8 9 13 18 22 1

1 13 15 16 18 1 1g 9 1 18 2

2 1 Ss le 6 Le 3 2 2 18 See 9 4

3 1 13 1 18 1 22 2 3 4 5 6

4 2 2 6 2 12 2 18 4 5 9 6 18 8

E 2 13 2 21 Sue. Say 9, 5 6 18 §. 9) 10

6 3 337. 9 3 18 4 6 8 10 12

7 3 13 3 24 Bees .t 4 18 7 9. OD} Mets 14 p

8 4 4 12}. 4 24 i. 9 8 10;:18,| Ta) Sq 16

9 4 13 5 5 13 6 9 12 15 18
10 5 5 15 ee Ss 6 18; 10 13 9] 16 18} 20

ll 6 13 6 3 G..19 G -S) AE 14 18| 18 9j 22
12 6 6 18 ag 8 12 16 20 24
13 6 13 te & 7. 25 8 18] 13 17 9] 21 18] 26
14 7 7 21 8 15 9. 9}. 14 18 18] 23 Oj] 2
15 7 13 8 9 9 4); 10 15 20 25 30
25 12.13) 13.24) 15. ‘74 16.18, 25 33 9] 41 18} 50
40 20 22 6| 24 12] 26 18] 40 53 9] 66 18} 80
55 27 13] 30 15] 33 16} 36 18] 55 73 9] 91 18] 110
70 35 38 24] 42 21] 46 18] 70 93 9116 18 | 140
85 42 13| 47 6] SL 25] 56 18] 85 113. 9 | 141 18] 170
100 50 55 15} 61 3] 66 18] 100 133. 9 | 166 18 | 200
200 | 100 ll 38{122) 61133 9 | 200 266 18 | 333 9 | 400
500 | 250 277 21 | 305 15 | 333 9 | 500 666 18 | 833 9 {1000

1000 | 500 555 15 | 611 3 | 666 18 {1000 1333 9 {1666 18 {2000

Depth 6 feet 6 inches.

= —

= Width | Width | Width | Width | Width | Width | Width | Width
S 9 10 11 1 foot. 1 foot 2 feet. 2 feet 3 feet.
3 inches. | inches. | inches. 6 inches. 6 inches.
Yards. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds, ft. | Yds. ft. |} Yds. ft.
% 8 9 10 1 1 ee
1 15 16 18 19 by 2 1 12 1 22 2 4
2 : ae ay: | b i2 2 4 2 24 3 16 te 9
3 1 ER 4 1 22 2 2 4 ae 3g 4 9 5 ll 6 13
4 2 4 a 1s 2 17 2 24 4 9 5 21 y 8 18
5 2 19 3 3. 8 3 16 5 11 he 9 tL} W,22
6 3 af 3 16 3 26 4 9 6 13 8 18] 10 22} 13
7 3 21 4 6 4 17 Br TA IG FOr 2). 3S Ee 2654
8 4 9 4 22 5 18 5 21 8: 18.) Eb: Wah a4e TR) Big 9
9 4 24 5 ll 5 26 6 13 9 20] 13 16 &]. 9418
10 6 ll 6 6 ig 7 G&| 10; 22| 14 12} 18-3) 21,48
11 5 20 6: Ty gy §& 7: 25) WE 2h) 15,28] 19 2} 2s ez2
12 6 13 ar 6 7. 25 8 18; 138 i 9 |: 2b Ie) 26
13 i 2 7 22 8 16 9 10! 14 2| 18 21] 23.13] 28,4
14 7 16 8 ll % Fi) 10, 3) 1b) 4] 20. 6) Bos Zi 3Oge9
15 & 3 2 ee | 9 25; 10 22) 16 7] 21.18] 27 2] 32 13
25 13 | 15) -B) We 164 18. 4y BT: 2g BGs Sy SS 44 Bees
40 21 18} (24 .2:|. 26; lai) 28% 22) 43. Oo Bae 2h) 72 Ga Beads
55 29 21.) 33 3| 36-11] 39 19%) 59 16) 79 12] 99 84119, 4
70 37% 26) 42 3.| 46. 9; 50 155) 75 22} lOke 34 126 10) 151 -48
85 46. Bi 5k 4) 56 Fol Oh. 105] 92. 2s) 122 214 153, lad Tete 4
100 54 4] GO 5| 66 5] 72 6] 108 9] 144 12] 180 15] 216 18
200 | 108 914120 10] 132 11} 144 12] 216 18] 288 24] 361 3 | 433 9
500 | 270 22 | 300 25 | 331 36L 3 | 541 18] 722 6902 21 )1083 9
1000. | 541 18] 60L 23 | 662 1] 722 6 {1083 9 [1444 12 {1805 15 [2166 18

DIGGING UNDERDRAINS. 405

CUBIC YARDS OF DIGGING IN DRAINS.
Depth 7 feet.

= Width | Width | Width | Width Width Width Width | Width
=) 9

.*

|

10 ll 1 foot. 1 foot 2 feet. 2 feet 3 feet.
inches. | inches. | inches. 6 inches. 6 inches.

Yurda. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft. | Yds. ft.
¥% 8 9 10 10 16 21 26 1 4
i 16 17 19 a ge” | 1 Ae laggebo BE 9
2 1 4 1 Ss a ae | % 15 2. 8 oe. 3. 24 4 18
3 1 20 1 25 274 2 9 sis 4 18 & 22 7
4 2 20 2 16 223 eo RR: 4 18 6 6 T 2 9 9
5 225 S$ 6 a 26 3 24 & Zz 7 21 9 19} 11 18
8 ae 3 24 4 7 4 18 in 9 8} FE Ys] 2
7 4 2 4 14 5 6 12 8 4); 10 24| 13 16] 16 9
8 4; 189i 6 6 6 19 6 6 9. Ol be ie |} 16. Ta) ts is
9 b .T 5 2. 6 ll 7 10 13); 14 VEris.}. St
10 & 22 G: to 2 SC ¢ #2t,) 30. 18) 36.15") WS Ss 9
ll 6 ll TES wos23 Se 15:44 18 22 Pe Bele SE 10: |b B64 38
12 7 es | 8 15 9 9j 14 Is | @ st 3
18 7 16 8 ll $ 7 \<100, 345 We Hh 20.161 eat Js 30..°9
14 8 4 9 2 9 26 (lovee! 16 S$. Sl Sb | er. 6 | Sk Is
15 8 20 9 19 10 19} 11.18; .17.18)],.28. 9 29.208 | 35
25 144 $#16/ 16 %5S| 17 22; 1 12] 2 4) 38 24} 48 16; 58 9
40 935.9.) 25. 95.) 28 14]. 38L...3.)) 46. 181° 622 6.77: 211.93. 9
55 Sa, 2 iar i) of 6 O|- 42" 27 Ge 27 es 15 flee’ os; ies- "9
70 40 22) 45 10} 49 24} 54 12] 81 18] 108 24/136 3/163 9
85 49 16 4 60 16 66>, 3 99°" 14" "132" "6 | 165 “71198 +9

100 58 9 G4. 22.) 71 77 21) 1316 18) 155 15.| 194 121.233 9
200 | 116 18 |129 17 | 142 16) 155 15} 233 91] 811 31] 388 24] 466 18
500 | 291 18 | 324 2] 356 13 | 388 24] 583 9) 777 21|972 6 j1166 18
1000 | 583 9 | 648 41] 712 26) T77 21 1166 18 /1155 15 |1944 12 [2333 9

For example, it is required to know how many cubic
yards of earth are to be removed in making 100 yards of
drain, 3 feet deep; the top width being 18 inches and the
bottom 4 inches.

18
4

2) 22 |
stl inches, mean width.

Find, under the head of 3 feet deep, in the column length,
the number of yards; then under the column of 11 inches
wide, opposite the number of yards, will be found the
number of cubic yards in the proposed drain.

Many machines have been invented for the purpose of
digging ditches, thus not only making them in a much
shorter period of time, but much cheaper. We believe
ditching, or drain plows (not mole plows) have been ex-

406 LAND DRAINAGE,

hibited at every fair held by the Ohio State Board of
Agriculture since 1856 ; but we do not remember of having
seen a single one, among the entire lot, which we could
recommend to the farmers as being an implement with
which they would not be disappointed,

Messrs. Pratt, of Canandaigua, N. Y., have invented a
ditching machine, which is highly recommended by the
“ Rural New Yorker;” but parties who have witnessed
its operation are not so favorably impressed with it. Mr.
B. B. Briggs, of Sharon, Medina county, Ohio, in 1859,
invented a machine, which looks not very unlike a mole
plow, to lay tile without digging a ditch. The following
is Mr. Briggs’ own account of the working capability of
the machine. While we have no disposition to deny that
this machine will do precisely what Mr. Briggs claims for
it, we must, at the same time, be permitted to state that
we would not recommend any one to undertake to under-
drain any considerable quantity of land in this manner ;
because it is a matter of impossibility to have the tile as
firmly and as correctly laid as if done by hand.

“My mode of taking round tile (which are considered the best
by those most experienced) is this:—Make an excavation at the
heel of the mole, with a gentle inclination backward; then fasten
the first section of rope to the heel of the mole; then string said
section with tile to within about four feet of the mole, and secure it
by means of a set of clutches, and the hook of the succeeding sec-
tion; each section to be about twenty-five feet long, though I have
taken in upward of fifty feet to each set of clutches. The machine
can then be moving forward, as the next section is being strung and
secured as before, and so continue to do, until so much is taken in
as the strength of the rope will justify, say four hundred or more
feet. Next, dig down again at the heel of the mole (making the
excavation as before), and detach the rope; then draw it out by hand
from the place of entrance, and again proceed as before. The spaces
left at the excavation can be filled in by hand, and the joints of tile

DIGGING UNDERDRAINS. 407

set close together, by prying from either end, as one can move four
hundred or more feet with an iron bar.

“This machine can be used in all
places where the mole plow can, and Z
for laying almost any kind of tile; Wy
for the arch and sole, or horseshoe, 7
the clutches are made fast to one con- yy
tinuous rope, at such intervals as Y,
may be thought necessary. The main, 7
or one into which the smaller ditches yy
empty, should of course be larger,
and put in by hand, as they could Yj)
not be joined by the machine.” y

Mr. Paul, of Thorpe Abbots, 7/7
near Scole, Norfolk, England, “/
has lately invented an ingeni- ///
ous machine for cutting drains, 7
of which we give an elevation, 7
Fig. 82. It is drawn, as will 77
be seen, by means of chain and ;
capstan, worked by horses; and 7
at the same time that it moves 7 J
forward, it acts as a slotting Y Y
machine on the land, the tools 7/7
on the circumference of the “7 Yj
acting wheel taking successive GZ/j/7///|q
bites of the soil, each lifting a Y//V7,
portion from the full depth to 7
which it is desired that the 7/77 Yj,
trench should be cut, and lay- G77
ing the earth, thus removed, 7
on the surface, at either side.
There is a lifting apparatus at
the end of the machine, by which the cutting wheel may
be raised or lowered, according to the unevenness of the
surface, in order to insure a perfectly uniform “fall” in

Fic. 82.

408 LAND DRAINAGE.

the bottom of the drain. The whole process is carried
on at the rate of about four feet per minute; and it re-
sults, on suitable soils, in cutting a drain from three to
five feet deep, leaving it in a finished state, with a level
bottom for the tiles to rest upon. It seems to present
the right idea of a draining plow, and whether success-
fully developed in the present instance or not, we think
it probable that a machine constructed on these princi-
ples, will yet be found cheaply effectual for the purpose
which now involves such an enormous cost of manual
labor. Mr. J.J. Thomas, one of the editors of the Coun-
try Gentleman, says:

“The writer has made many experiments with various ditching
machines, with a hope of greatly reducing this heavy expense, and
has at last attained the desired object in a considerable degree—so
that ditches, costing at three feet in depth not less than 30 cents a
rod in the hard clayey, tenacious soil operated on, have been cut for
about 12 cents a rod; and it is believed that, with the practical
knowledge now attained, 3-feet drains may be cut for 10 cents a rod,
or at one third the cost when done wholly by hand.

“The process is a very simple one. A subsoil plow of peculiar
construction, is so made that the draught-beam and handles may be
successively elevated, as the ditch becomes deeper; with this plow
and a pair of horses, the hard earth in the bottom of the drain, which
is only loosened by the pick, in the common process, is broken up,
and all the hand labor required is throwing out this loose earth.
This labor is performed with the common long-handled, pointed
shovels, and when the ditch has been cut to about one half of its
intended depth, a similar shovel, with the sides bent up at a black-
smith’s, to fit the narrow channel, is then made useof. A very hard
or stony hard-pan requires considerable dressing off with the pick,
to prepare the bottom for laying the tile; but where the soil is more
favorable, such dressing is scarcely necessary. One two-horse team
will commonly plow fast enough to keep from six to twelve men
constantly shoveling, varying with the hardness of the soil.

“In an experiment performed the present autumn in cutting drains
a mile and a fourth in aggregate length, a small portion was much
intercepted with rocks and some quarry stone, with great numbers

DIGGING UNDERDRAINS. 409

of smaller stones. Through these portions, the subsoil loosening
plow could be used but imperfectly, and it was necessary to occupy
eight days’ work in quarrying, etc., and ten days more in dressing
off these stony and hard bottoms with pick and crowbar.

“The following is the actual cost of 400 rods :—

4 days with two-horse team, - - - = = $ 8,00

35 ‘ shoveling, 87} cents, - - - > - 30,75
10 “ dressing bottom, etc, - - - « 8,75

8 “ quarrying rocks, ete,- - - - = 7,00

5 “ Jaying tile and coveringit, - - - 4,37
5500 tile, 95 cents, - mite 6B. wo ke wie et oy cm 4 Oe
Drawing half mile,- = - - re eg 2,00
Plowing in ditches, . ea ee ee 1,50
$114,62

or, 284 cents a rod completed.

“Omitting the four last items, connected with the tile and laying
it, the cost of merely cutting the drains is $54.50, or 134 cents a rod ;
or, omitting the cost of quarrying the stone, and two thirds of dress-
ing the bottom (this being confined to a very small portion), the ex-
pense would be 10 1-5 cents a rod.

“A part of the work was done during a severe drought, when the
subsoil was very hard, and the loosening was consequently slower
and more laborious. Earlier in the season, when the earth is softer,
the loosening plow would do its work in less than half the time here
required. This would be especially important where a fractious
hard-pan exists. From one to six inches of earth are loosened at
each passage of the plow. An “evener,” or central whipple-tree,
from five to seven feet long, is required, the horses walking on oppo-
site sides of the ditch.

“It is also very obvious that no complex machine can ever succeed
as a ditcher, especially among stones, which constantly tend to jar
and break it, but that the very simplest form of excavators must be
adopted, which are easy to handle, light in striking stones, not liable
to breakage, and easily and cheaply repaired.”

36

CHAPTER XII.

TIME TO CUT DRAINS, AND LAY TILE.

No one should ever undertake to make drains in wet
weather, or in severe frost. When the land is unoccupied,
and the weather dry, draining may be carried on with suc-
cess. It can be managed to the best advantage when the
land is in stubble or pasture, and is afterward to be plowed
foracrop. After the removal of acrop in the fall, is a very
favorable time, but it must be finished before the fall rains
set in, or before hard frosts come. In any case, it should
be done in the spring before a crop is put in, or before
the Jand is fallowed in the fall, or rather one of the oper-
ations should follow it in a short time, that the superior
condition into which the soil may then be brought may be
realized at the earliest possible moment.

Tile lying may commence at either end of the suis
When the soil is sandy, and liable to fall in, it is usual to
begin at the lower end, and fill in as the work progresses,
taking care to have the last tile well stuffed with straw to
prevent the mud from entering, while another piece is be-
ing dug. Where there is little danger of the sides falling
in, it is decidedly better to have the whole drain dug out
before a single tile is laid, and to have the tile laying com-
mence at the upper end of the drain. In this way the
tiles are kept clear of mud, and there. is. an opportunity
to correct any defect in the digging, or to equalize the
fall more perfectly than could otherwise be done. Tiles
are usually laid with the instrument heretofore described.
(See Tile Layer, Fig. 74, page 391.) They are laid as
closely together, and the joints made to fit as perfectly as

(410)

TIME TO CUT DRAINS, AND LAY TILE. 411

possible. When the warping of the tiles in burning makes
it impossible to lay them absolutely straight, all deviations
must be lateral, so as not to interfere with the true level of
the bottom of the drain. Straw is sometimes put thinly
upon the tiles before the earth is thrown in; and it is an ex-
cellent practice. Sometimes brush is laid upon the straw,
so as to fill up the drain in part; some benefit is derived
from this in deep drains, in very tenacious clay. Others
lay in the turf next to the tiles, the grassy side down-
ward; this is some trouble, but it answers an excellent
purpose. Small stones are frequently laid upon the tiles ;
this brings the pressure so unequally upon the surface of
the tiles, as to result in their fracture. When drains are
dug on stony land, they are necessarily made wider on
the bottom to allow of the use of the pick and shovel; it
is then important to pack small stones by the side of the
tiles, so as too keep them firmly in place.

If the drains are wider at the bottom than is required
for the tiles, care must be taken in returning the earth
not to disarrange them, or admit loose earth into them.
Some pack earth or clay between the tiles and the sides
of the ditch, or place a part of the turf or top spading
upon them. In filling the drains great care should be
taken not to leave a body of earth, and especially clay on
the surface. In grass land the turf may be laid in its
original position, so that no portion of the land will be
made unproductive for a single season.

In some instances, it may be difficult to known how to
dispose of the clay, when it can not be used in filling the
drains. Mr. Donald! says: “If the surface soil is not
too stiff, the clay may be spread over it, and after being
fully broken down by the influence of the atmosphere,

1 James McDonald (England) on Land Draining.

412 LAND DRAINAGE.

and separated by harrowing, it may be mixed with the
old earth.”

The filling of drains is often done too carelessly, as
though this were of no consequence. The earth thrown
directly upon the tiles, or upon their covering, ought to
be put on with care, so as not to displace the tiles. It
is also well to tread the earth a little as it is thrown in,
otherwise it will be so loose as to admit the descent of
the water too rapidly, carrying with it much sand into
the drain. After the drain is full, the remainder should
be carefully laid in a ridge on top, to sink down as that
below settles. There is no great difficulty in rigging
a plow so as to fill in most of the earth removed from
drains.

Minor Drains.—These should always be cut in the
direction or up and down the line of greatest descent, and
should, when practicable, be cut parallel, or at most, hav-
ing a slight angle only to the sub-main drain, E, J, Fig.
53, page 877. When the minor drains are led into a col-
lecting drain, as G, G, same Fig. and page just referred
to, the drain, G, should not be dug at right angles with the
outlet of the minors, nor should it be dug at right angles
with the sub-main, but should make a slight angle with
both, as represented in the cut, so as to cause the least
possible impediment in the flow of water from one into
the other.

The point of intersection between the minor and col-
lecting drain should be made at a considerably greater
angle than the general direction of the drains respectively,
as represented at Fig. 83. The collecting
drains should be several inches lower than
the minor drains, and the last joint of
the minor should be lowered at the con-
necting end, so as to be on a level with the collecting

Fig. 83.

TIME TO CUT DRAINS, AND LAY TILE. 413

drain. With pipe tile the connections are best made at
the joints, by breaking off a portion of the side of each
piece of tile which is to receive the incoming drain.
Where horseshoe tile are used the connection is made at
the center of a piece of the re-
ceiving tile, as shown in Fig. 84,
where a is the tile of receiving
drain, and 6 the tile of the in-
coming drain. Whentile are laid
by commencing at the upper
end of the drain, the upper end
of the first tile laid should rest
firmly with its entire end against
a brickbat, or other close fitting surface, so as to prevent
the ingress of sand or mud ata point where it is not likely
to have a sufficient current of water to carry it off. It is
always best to surround the points of junction between
the drains by small stones, and these covered with straw,
or turf, so as to prevent the introduction of sand, silt or
mud.

Pia. $4.

CHAPTER XIII.
ia tea oe BA
OBSTRUCTIONS IN DRAINS.

Tur Central Society of Agriculture, at Paris, having
investigated the causes of the obstructions in pipe drains,
Mr. Barral said t at there are three causes, viz: deposits
of carbonate of lime, sediments of hydrate of peroxyd
of iron, and intrusion of roots.

It was remarked that, in general, those obstructions had
a primordial cause in the defective laying of the drains:
some of them lacked sufficient declivity; others had pipes
with imperfect joints; but the most frequent occurrence
was the intervention of roots. However, a fall of 1-500
is sufficient to carry away the roots, and these are found
in balls at the exit of the main drain.

Obstructions are easily detected by an extraordinary
moisture which is manifested in the soil at the place where
the pipe is obstructed.

Mr. Hervé Mangon, Drainage Engineer of the French
government, says:

“T have found obstructions caused by sediments of carbonate of
lime and oxyd of iron. I will present the result of my studies, on
these two classes of deposits, and indicate the means by which I
prevent them.

Calcareous Obstructions.—Spring water sometimes contains car-
bonate of lime in sufficient quantity to produce incrustations; that
is, it deposits calcareous salt; the same phenomenon takes place
within drain pipes, the section of which rapidly decreases, until it
does not allow any passage for water, and soon the profitable, whole-
some effect of drainage, which is established at great expense, is
entirely lost.

“Water, thus impregnated with carbonate of lime, does not dis-

(414)

OBSTRUCTIONS IN DRAINS. 415

solve it, unless it is acted upon by carbonic acid yas, which it also
contains; water remains limpid as long as that gas is not disengaged.
The calcareous deposit is produced only when the quantity of this
gas is no longer in proportion with the calcareous salt present in
water. !

“In order to prevent the formation of the calcareous obstructions
in drain pipes, all that is required is, to prevent the separation of
the carbonic acid gas from the water which flows through the pipes.
This may be easily accomplished by protecting the water in the
pipes from communication with external air.

“The atmosphere which is confined within the subterranean ducts,
soon becomes impregnated with a full proportion of carbonic acid
gas, as compared with the volume that is dissolved in water; this
latter gas does not then any more tend to disengage itself; water
charged with its caleareous salt, preserves its limpidity ; and it may.
flow forever without impediment.

“This theory is very readily put into practice. A pneumatic pipe,
set upright a few yards above the exit, and others, if necessary, at
the point of junction of the most important main pipe drains, will
be sufficient. These pneumatic pipes are made of two or three large
pipes, well joined together, laid over a flat stone, and covered with
another. Some mason work ought to be laid around and beneath
the upright, and the horizontal pipes connecting with it; those flow-
ing in, must be placed a shade lower than those flowing out ; water
will thus intercept the air, and the object is attained; that is, car-
bonic acid gas will be retained.

“ Ferruginous Obstructions, are formed by sediments more or less
impregnated with oxyd of iron, and may be of a red, dark brown, or
pale yellow color. When precipitation takes place in quiet water,
there appear on its surface rainbow-like cuticles, which are sunk at
the bottom by the slightest motion of the liquid. That sediment
soon obstructs the pipes and completely stops the drain.

“Waters containing such deposits are met with, especially, in soils
strongly impregnated with either oxyd or sulphuret of iron, in
marshes, turf, and lands which are exposed to filtrations from woods
situated on.a higher level. The acids named crenic, and apocrenic
also perform an important part in the formation of the above de-
posits. The elements of the soil have, of course, a great influence
in the case; most of the deposits contain large quantities of clay,
sand, or detritus of vegetables; so that all the analyses presented
widely different results.”

416 LAND DRAINAGE.

Without following the author in his minute chemical
demonstrations, we proceed with a practical and very in-
teresting experiment. He says:

“Having collected a fresh deposit, with the very water in which
it was formed, I put it on a filter and obtained a perfectly clear
liquid; which, being placed into flagons entirely full, and well
corked, or within an atmosphere deprived of oxygen, remains trans-
parent. Having exposed one flagon to the action of pure oxygen
and another to the open air, both became dim after a short time, and
allowed the ocher-like substance, which is the basis of the aforesaid
obstructions, to settle or precipitate.

“This substance, which is the same that settles in the drains, was
easily separated from the liquid; being exposed to the air, it be-
came more and more reddish, until, after a few hours, no further
change took place; being then inclosed within an air-tight flagon, it
soon resumed a dark brown and almost black color. After a few
weeks, the same sediment being placed again on the filter, the result
was the same, that is, a clear liquid that became dim by contact
with air, and deposited the identical yellow substance. On the other
hand, the matter left on the filter resumed the reddish tint which it
possessed when placed in the flagon.”

The same operation may be repeated any number of
times on the same sample, with the same result.

It is then evident that this body presents the double
quality of becoming insoluble by its orydation, and of re-
ducing itself, when left alone, so as to become partly
soluble.

The above may be summed up in the following two
propositions: First, the water which causes ferruginous
obstructions within drain pipes, preserves its limpidity,
and gives no sediment when not in contact with the oxy-
gen of the air; second, the deposit recently formed may
exercise a reducing action upon itself, which causes it to
resume in a great part its soluble property.

From these two facts, it is easy to conclude that pneu-
matic upright pipes, as described above, will preveut the

OBSTRUCTIONS IN DRAINS. 417

formation of ferruginous obstructions by excluding the
oxygen of the air, as well as calcareous sediments, by
including carbonic acid gas.

Brandt had observed that the water impregnated with
ferruginous matter collected from the bottom of a meadow,
kept in open bottles, began to thicken at the end of three
days, and to deposit flakes after five days. The occur-
rence in some experimental holes made in the meadow,
produced similar result. As the drain water, even under
the most unfavorable circumstances, does not admit of so
long a stay in the pipes, Brandt, for the sake of further
observation, made an experiment in which he employed
three tubes of 120 feet in length, 3 feet in depth, and 6
inches fall (on the whole length), to be laid in the meadow
in question.

The tube A was provided with a wooden discharge pipe
two feet long, which was perforated in an oblique line, and
placed so that the discharged water was compelled to fill
the opening of the tube.

The tube B had a free discharge pipe.

The tube C had likewise a wooden discharge pipe, which
for a length of 5 feet was stamped around with clay, in
order to produce a damming of the water in the tube.

The works were undertaken in December, 1852; eight
days, however, after the three tubes had been laid, all the
drain water was turbid, the openings assumed an orange
color, and a short time after, when it rained, the tubes dis-
charged—owing to the more violent intrusion of bottom
water—a large amount of oxyd of iron. After a minute
investigation, the cause of this occurrence was found in
the fact that the single tubes were not placed in the ground
in a mathematical straight line; but that they, deviating
from the latter more or less, had here and there some
points of stoppage in which the water remained station-

418 LAND DRAINAGE.

ary, and the formation of oxyd of iron took place slowly
but uninterruptedly. Stronger water currents in the tubes
overcame these stopping points, and — away the sed-
imentary matter.

The tubes A and B were anes in May, 1853; ne
third, C, was constantly kept clear by the frequent dam-
ming of its own water, effectuated by closing the dis-
charge pipe with a tenon. In order to see how high the
water was dammed in the tubes, the tenon was perforated,
and a small glass tube placed in the perforation. Two or
three days were generally sufficient to press the water to
the margin of the small pipe. After the removal of the
tenon the water, filling the entire space of the pipe,
flowed off with the deposed substances of iron, and it did
so, finally, in general very pure; which result justified
the opinion that in this manner an arrangement had been
found for protecting against obstructions from oxyd of
iron. The draining of the meadows undertaken in the fall
of 1853 and spring of 1854, was then executed by tubes or
pipes 20 perches long, laid at the upper end 23 feet, on
the lower 3 feet deep. The tubes were laid with great
care, and clay slightly stamped around; the discharge
pipes were of wood, and led into a ditch, which latter
could, by means of a dam, in two days be dammed up 1
foot above the highest point of the drain pipes. By al-
ternate damming and discharging, repeated every fort-
night, the drain tubes had up to the middle of 1855, re-
mained free from any obstruction.

Tischendorff tries to remove the obstructions occurring
in the drain pipes by pressing water into the tubes at the
upper end of the obstructed pipes by means of a simple
pump-work. (Zeztschr. f. d. Landw., 1855, 64.)

There are no definite reports on the success of the fun-

OBSTRUCTIONS IN DRAINS. 419

nel pipes recommended for the prevention of intrusion
of quicksand. (cf. Jahresb., 1854, J, 69.)

Dr. Motherby-Areusberg (East Prussia), reports that,
in draining in quicksand he had left none of the means
recommended untried, but found none always reliable, and
that he now gives preference to the following plain method,
the principle of which consists in as speedy a performance
of the successive operations as possible, in order to pre-
vent the movement of the quicksand. The contemplated
ditch is first thrown out deep enough to allow only one
more cut to the stratum of quicksand; into the walls of
the yet shallow ditch leveling pegs are driven sideways,
and to them is fastened a cord, by which the depth can at
any instant be correctly ascertained—this being the most
important item in the rapid succession of operation. The
workmen now begin one after the other, and so close to
each other that the necessary free movement only is al-
lowed to each. The second workman commences only
after the first one has made his first cuts; the rest pro-
ceed in the same way, so that they stand in their work
entirely by steps, and the last must constantly be prepared
with his hook, ready to receive the tiles and place them
accurately and quickly, so that they may be immediately
covered by a workman stepping over the ditch, with one
foot of earth. In order to be perfectly sure as to the
work being everywhere done right, stoppages are made
from time to time, which, if arrested, furnish the best
proof whether the work has been perfectly made, or where
the mistake is which as yet can easily be remedied. In
order to make these stoppages, the drain ditch is closed
from distance to distance by a small loam dam; the pipe
itself projecting from this dam is closed by a cork; the
water is then permitted to gather in order to observe

420 LAND DRAINAGE.

whether, after removing the cork, a complete discharge
of water takes place.

As to the intrusion of roots, Mr. B. de Latour states
that a pipe drain, four feet below the surface, being choked
up, he ordered it to be repaired; that a great number of
thread-like beet roots, ten to twelve feet long, had pene-
trated and filled the largest pipes; that in another field
carrots had caused the same accident; that potatoes had
not done it, and he feared nothing from the roots of fruit
trees and vineyards.

Mr. L. Giraud and Mr. Th. Galos, from the neighbor-
hood of Bordeaux, state that pipe drains, in the vineyards
of that district, are protected against the intrusion of
roots, by surrounding the pipes with straw, after having
covered the joints with short pipes or collars.

CONCLUSION.

Seema peed

WE have now discussed all the prominent principles in-
volved in underdraining, and have given such practical
directions for determining the construction of the drains,
that, with a little experience, no one guided by them will
be liable to commit serious errors.

It may be objected that we have not advocated any
special system of underdraining—that we have not adopted
Elkington’s, Smith’s of Deanston, Josiah Parkes’, Pusey’s,
Wharncliffe’s, Keythorpe’s, Barrall’s, Wauer’s, Shoener-
mark’s, Gropp’s, Mollenkopf’s, or any other special sys-
tem; or that we have not introduced whole page engrav-
ings, exhibiting entire fields of underdrains, or introduced
engravings representing Johnston’s, Yeoman’s, or some
other farms as models. We have deemed it best to discuss
simply the principles involved, and then let the reader
apply the principles in practice as best suits his location
and circumstances. We doubt very much whether twenty
farms are drained precisely alike in any other respect than
upon the general principles—the details necessarily differ
in each according to soil, situation, finances, etc. We
were induced to adopt this method when we learned the
fact that, so far as crops are concerned, underdrains with
the mole plows, where the nature of the soil would permit,
produced the same effects that the system of frequent or
thorough drains advocated by Gisborne and Parkes did.
The advantage of tile drains over the mole plow consists

in this, viz: tile drains can be made in all soils; are made
(421)

422, CONCLUSION.

with greater regard to precision; are permanent; while
the mole plow drains can be made in clay soil only; are,
from their manner of construction, unavoidably subject to
irregularities ; and what is more than all, are merely tem-
porary expedients.. But the physical conditions of the
soil are rendered the same; and the increased productive-
ness is the same, whether made by the mole plow or laid
with tile. f

With systems differing so greatly in their details as
pipe tile and the mole plow, and yet producing the same
results, and involving the same general principles, it ap-
peared to us like unmitigated prejudice to be partial to
the details of one system and exclude all.others, especially
when we are fully aware that innovations, changes, and
differences of detail are introduced by almost every one
who undertakes to drain any considerable amount.

We would address ourselves particularly to the young
men of the West, and suggest to them that it would not
only be well, but honorable and profitable, for them to
qualify themselves to take charge of drainage works on
farms; that is, to examine the grounds, determine the
proper depth and position of drains, and advise as to the
best method of making them. Judging from the tenor of
many letters addressed to the writer in his official capacity,
making inquiries respecting “drainage engineers,” he is
convinced that in a few years those who qualify themselves
for the position will have much better cause for congratu-
lation than those who enter the ranks of professional life.
Drainage will soon become a new field of industry, which
will demand more engineers than the railways have done—
more “surveyors” than the western wildernesses. It is
a field in which thousands and tens of thousands will find
employment, and will go on increasing until the greater

CONCLUSION. 423

portion of the whole North American continent will be
underdrained.

Let young men of the present and “rising generation ”
turn aside from the overcrowded ranks of professional
life—from the fascinations of the mercantile avocation, or
the dazzling speculations of commercial enterprises—and
become promoters of the productiveness of the soil.

APPENDIX.

—_>—___—-

LAWS OF OHIO RELATING TO DRAINAGE.

Ar Act to provide for locating, establishing and constructing ditches, drains
and watercourses.
[Passed and took effect March 24, 1859. 56 vol. Stat. 58.)

Section I. Beit enacted by the General Assembly of the State of
Ohio, That the county commissioners of any county shall have
power, at any regular session, whenever, in their opinion, the same
is demanded by, or will be conducive to the public health, conveni-
ence or welfare, to cause to be established, located and constructed,
as hereinafter provided, any ditch, drain or watercourse, within such
county.

Sec. II, That before the county commissioners of any county
shall take any steps toward locating or establishing any ditch, drain
or watercourse, there shall be filed with the county auditor a petition
from one or more persons owning lands adjacent to the line of such
proposed ditch, drain or watercourse, setting forth the necessity of
the same, with a description of its proposed starting point, route and
terminus, and shall, at the same time, file a bond with good and
sufficient sureties, to the acceptance of the county auditor, condi-
tioned to pay all expenses incurred, in case the commissioners shall
refuse to grant the prayer of the petition, and it shall be the duty
of the county auditor immediately thereafter, to place a correct
copy of said petition in the hands of the county surveyor or a com-
petent engineer, who shall thereupon, taking with him the necessary
assistance, proceed to make an accurate survey of the route of such
proposed ditch, drain or watercourse, and on the completion thereof,
shall return a plat, or plat and profile of the same to said county
auditor, and shall also set forth in his return a description of the
proposed route, its availability and necessity, with a description of
each separate tract of land through which the same is proposed to
be located, how it will be affected thereby, and its situation and
level as compared with that of adjoining lands, together with such
other facts as he may deem material. It shall be the duty of the
county auditor, immediately on said report being filed, to cause no-
tice in writing to be given to the owner or one of the owners of each

(425)

426 APPENDIX.

tract of land along the route of such proposed ditch, drain or water-
course, of the pendency and prayer of said petition, and of the time
of the session of the county commissioners at which the same will
be heard, which notice shall be served at least ten days prior to
said session, and an affidavit of said service filed with the county
auditor; and in case any such owner is not a resident of the county,
or should any party or parties in interest, die during the pendency
of said proceeding, such death shall not work an abatement of such
proceeding, but the commissioners, on being notified thereof, shall
make such order as they may deem proper, for giving notice to the
person or persons succeeding to the right of such deceased party or
parties, and notice of the pendency and prayer of said petition, and
the time of hearing the same shall be given to such owner or per-
sons, by publication for two consecutive weeks in some newspaper
published or of general circulation in said county.

Szo. IIT. That any person or persons claiming compensation for
lands appropriated for the purpose of constructing any ditch, drain
or watercourse under the provisions of this act, shall make his, her
or their application in writing therefor to the county commissioners,
on or before the third day of the session, at which the petition has
been set for hearing, and on failure to make such application, shall be
deemed and held to have waived his, her or their right to such com-
pensation.

Sec. IV. That said county commissioners, at the session set for
the hearing of said petition, shall, if they find the requirements of
the second section of this act to have been complied with, proceed
to hear and determine said petition; and if they deem it necessary,
shall view the premises, and if they find such ditch, drain or water-
course to be necessary, and that the same is demanded by or will be
conducive to the public health, convenience or welfare, and no ap-
plication shall have been made for compensation as provided in the
third section of this act, they shall proceed to locate and establish
such ditch, drain or watercouse on the route specified in the plat
and return of said county surveyor or engineer. But if any appli-
cation or applications for compensation as aforesaid, shall have been
made, further proceedings by the county commissioners shall be ad-
journed till their next regular session; and the county auditor shall
forthwith certify to the probate judge of said county a copy or copies
of said application or applications, together with a description or
descriptions of the property sought to be taken and appropriated, as
contained in the plat or report of the county surveyor or engineers ;

APPENDIX. 427

which shall be forthwith docketed by said probate judge, styling the
applicant or applicants plaintiff or plaintiffs, and the county com-
missioners defendants; and such proceeding shall thereupon be had
to assess and determine the compensation of such claimant or claim-
ants, as are authorized and required by the act entitled “an act to
provide for compensation to the owners of private property appro-
priated to the use of corporations,” passed April 30, 1852, and the
acts amendatory thereof and supplementary thereto, so far as the
same may be applicable; and the compensation so found and as-
sessed in favor of said claimant or claimants shall be certified by
the probate judge to the county auditor and paid out of the county
treasury, from the general fund, or remain deposited therein for the
use of such claimant or claimants; and said county commissioners
shall, at the next regular session after such compensation shall have
been assessed and paid or deposited as aforesaid, proceed to locate
and establish such ditch, drain or watercource as herein before
provided.

Sec. V. That said county commissioners, whenever they shall
have established any such ditch, drain or watercourse, shall divide
the same into suitable sections, not less in number than the numbers
of owners of land through which the same may be located, and shall
also prescribe the time within which the work upon such sections
shall be completed.

Sec. VI. That the county auditor shall cause notice to be given of
the time and place of letting, and of the kind and amount of work
to be done upon said sections, and the time fixed by the commis-
sioners for its completion, by publication for thirty days, in some
newspaper printed, or of general circulation in said county, and
shall let the work upon said sections respectively to the lowest bid-
der therefor; and the person or persons taking such work at such
letting, shall, on the completion thereof to the satisfaction of the
county commissioners, be paid for such work out of he county treas-
ury upon the order of the county auditor; provided, that if any
person or persons to whom any portion of said work shall be
let as aforesaid, shall fail to perform said work, the same shall be
re-let by the county auditor, in the manner hereinbefore provided.

Sec. VII. That the county auditor shall keep a full and complete
record of all proceedings had in each case under this act.

Seo. VIII. ‘That the auditor and surveyor or engineers shall be
ullowed such fees for services under this act, as the county commis-
sioners shall, in each case, deem reasonable and allow; and all other

428 APPENDIX.

fees and costs accruing under this act shall be the same as provided
by law for like services in other cases, and all costs, expenses, costs
of construction, fees and compensation for property appropriated,
which shall accrue and be assessed and be determined under this
act shall be paid out of the county treasury, out of the general fund,
on the order of the county auditor, provided that no part of the same,
except the compensation for property appropriated, shall be paid out
of the county treasury till the sum shall have been levied and col-
lected as provided in the next section of this act.

Sec. 1X. That the county commissioners shall make an equitable
apportionment of the costs, expenses, cost of construction, fees and
compensation for property appropriated, which shall accrue and be
assessed and determined under this act, among the owners of the
land benefited by the location and construction of such ditch, drain
or watercourse, in proportion to the benefit to each of them through,
along the line, or in the vicinity of whose lands the same may be
located and constructed respectively; and the same may be levied
upon the lands of the owners so benefited, in said proportions, and
collected in the same manner that other taxes are levied and col-
lected for county purposes.

Sec. X. The act entitled “an act authorizing the trustees of
townships to establish watercourses and locate ditches in certain
cases,” passed May 1, 1854, and the act amendatory thereto, passed
April 14, 1857, and the original act, passed February 24, 1853, on
the same subject, are hereby repealed: Provided, that no proceed-
ings had or commenced under any law repealed by this act shall be
affected by such repeal.

Src. XI. This act to take effect from and after its passage.

An Act to authorize the making roads and drains in certain cases.
[Passed February 8, 1847. 45 vol. Stat. 50.]

Section I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State
of Ohio, That any person, persons, or company, having the owner-
ship or possession of low lands, lakes, swamps, quarries, mines, or
mineral beds that, by means of adjacent lands belonging to other
persons or public highway, can not be approached, worked, drained,
or used in the ordinary manner, without crossing said lands and
highways, may be authorized to establish roads, drains, ditches, rail-
ways, or tunnels to said places, in the manner herein provided.

Sec. II. The party desiring to make such improvements shall
file a petition therefor with the commissioners of the county

APPENDIX, 429

where the premises are situated, setting forth, in detail, the proposed
work, and the situation of the adjoining lands, accompanied by a
bond, to the satisfaction of the county auditor, and made payable to
him, conditioned to pay the expenses of the committee of view or
review, as hereinafter provided.

Sec. II]. The commissioners of the county, on the filing of
said petition and bond, and at their first meeting thereafter, shall
appoint a committee of view, and fix théir compensation per day, to
be composed of not less than three, nor more than five judicious, dis-
interested persons, to meet on the premises on a day named, within
one month from the date of their appointment, and by examination
and inspection, determine whether the proposed improvement is
necessary to the ordinary working, occupation and beneficial use of
said grounds, swamps, ponds, low lands, mines, or mineral beds; and
if so, said committee shall proceed to lay out and establish the same,
of a width not exceeding sixty feet, and in such a manner as to do
as little injury as practicable, and shall, furthermore, fix and assess
the amount of damages which any proprietor of adjacent lands will
be likely to sustain, and report and return the same, with all their
proceedings, to the county auditor, within ten days from the time
when said appointment shall be completed; but before said commit-
tee shall proceed to said examinations, they shall be satisfied that
three weeks’ notice, setting forth the time and place thereof, has
been published in some newspaper in general circulation in the
proper county, prior to the day fixed upon by the commissioners.

Sec. IV. At the next meeting of the county commissioners,
after the return of the committee is received, said commissioners
shall proceed to consider the subject, and if they shall be of opinion,
taking into view the public as well as private interests, that said im-
provements would be advantageous and desirable, they shall fix the
same in the manner described in the petition and report, and cause
a copy of said description and record to be made out for the benefit
of the party praying therefor, unless either party shall, ten days be-
fore said meeting of the commissioners, file a petition for a commit-
tee of review and reassessment.

Sec. V. In case a petition for review is filed, as aforesaid, the
party filing the same shall file a bond, as aforesaid, for the pay-
ment of the expenses of said committee, and the same shall be ap-
pointed and act, in all respects, in the manner pointed out for the
committee of view, and on return and report of their proceedings

430 APPENDIX.

of review, the commissioners shall take the same action as in the
case of the committee of view.

Sec. VI. The party praying for said improvement, shall cause
the final report of the commissioners to be recorded in the
record of deeds, and shall pay or tender to each of the parties re-
ported to be injured as aforesaid, the full amount of money assessed
by said committee of view or review, before entering upon the prem-
ises in order to complete said works; and if the same shall be re-
ceived, it shall be in full of said damages, but if it shall not be re-
ceived, it shall be deposited with the county treasurer, for the use
of the party injured.

Sec. VII. The party refusing said award and tender, shall not
be debarred his action at law for damages, in the proper courts,
but unless a larger amount is recovered than the tender aforesaid, or
otherwise, the plaintiff shall pay his own costs.

Sec. VIII. Works constructed under the provisions of this act,
shall be entitled to the benefit of all laws for the protection of
railways and canals in this state.

An Act to amend the act entitled ‘‘ an act to authorize the making of roads
and drains in certain cases,’’ passed February 8, 1847.
[Passed March 8, 1850. 48 vol. Stat. 48.]

Section I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State
of Ohio, That every petition filed with the county commissioners,
under the law to which this is an amendment, shall set forth the
names of all persons interested (if known to the petitioner), as well
those whom it is supposed will be benefited as those who will be in-
jured by the proposed improvement, and the notice required by the
third section of said act shall also set forth the names of all the per-
sons interested, as fully as the same are stated in said petition.

Sec. Il. Whenever any committee appointed by the commis-
sioners, either of view or review, shall determine that the pro-
posed improvement is necessary, and shall lay out and establish the
same, and shall find that damages will be sustained by any proprie-
tor or occupant of any adjacent Jands, and the amount which they
will respectively sustain, said committee, either of view or review,
shall then determine the proportion of said damages which shall be
paid by each of the proprietors of the adjacent, lands, having strict
regard to the benefits which they will receive, and the award so made
shall be held as conclusive upon each of the parties charged with
such payment.

APPENDIX, 431

Sec. III. When any petitioners shall have paid over or depos-
ited the full amount of all the damages so assessed, and after the
improvement is finished in conformity with the details of the work
as set forth in the petition, and in the manner contemplated by the
viewer or reviewers, such petitioner may bring suit in any court of
competent jurisdiction, and recover from each party the amount
with which he stands charged by said award: Provided he has, be-
fore the commencement of such suit, made demand of such sum
upon the party so charged by said award.

Seo. 1V. Whenever it may be necessary to repair such work,
any one of the persons benefited by it may cause such repairs
to be made, and may compel contributions from each person bene-
fited, on the basis of the award, the just and fair price of such
repairs,

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INDEX.

PAGE.

ABSORBING qualities of soils, - - - > . - 53, 139, 187
Absorption dependent on physical condition, - - - - 141
Absorption of potash, - - - - - - - = - 3098
Acid, azotiec, - - - - - - - 2 - 3 142
Admission of water into pipes, - - - - - - - - 364
Advantage of few outlets, - - - - - : - - 382
Advantage of warm soil, - - - - : - s = - 129
Age of drains, - - - - = - = re : = 367
Agricultural Institute of Versailles, farm of, - - - - - 180
Alder impedes drains, - - - - - - - = = 267
Alimentation of plants, - - - - - - - : - 140
Aluminum in tile clay, - - - - - = “ = - 325
American tile maker (DatrnxEs’), - - . - - - - - 345
Ammoniac, - - - ~ - - - - = J 141, 203
Ammonia in drain water, - - - - - - - - - 210
Ammoniacal salts, - * - - - - = = = 142
Analogy between the plant and the sponge, - - - - - 190
Analysis of river and spring water, - - - - - - 207
Analysis of water from drains, - - - - - - - - 168
Ancients, drainage among the, - - - - - - - 4
Appendix, - - - - - - - - - is - 425
Appropriation for drains by England, - - - - - - 23
Artesian wells illustrated, - - - - . - - F Pare
Ash impedes drains, - - - - - - - . = 267
Attraction, water of, - - - - - - - - e - 292
Auger holes in drains, - - - - - - “ - ss 370
Axiom of Alderman Mecut, - - - - - E - - Ag
Azotic acid, - - - - - - - « o * - 142
Bars’ mole plow, - - - - - - = s a - 239
BarraLi, Mons., on drain tile machines, - . - - - 343
“ on burning tile, - - - - - = < “ - 360

Pr gneteg aah + ata OE Oe ae 179
Basins, draining, - - - - - - - . - - 871
Basin-shaped fields, - - - - pti - - + 372
Baxter, Mr., on shallow drains, . - - - - - -. gs
Beating clay for tiles, - - > - - - - - - 338
Black swamp in Ohio, - - - - - - - - 182

38 | (433 )

434 INDEX.

Buiau, Walter, - - - - - = :
Blue clays of Ohio, - - - - - =
Boards for tops of stone drains, - - - -
Bocuen, Mr., quoted, - - - = -
BOEDECKER, experiments of, - - - - -
Bog drains, - + - : - - -
Books »v. practice, - - - - - - s
BOUSSINGAULT, experiments of, - - - -
Branpt, Mr., observation on obstructions, - -
Brick drains, - - - - Z ‘ 3
‘* for drains, - - . - - ~ 2
“« of Ninevah and Babylon, - - - -
Briees’ tile laying machine, - . - . 3
Bricut, Mr., experiments in draining, - -
Brush drains, - . - “ c e :
a in France, - - = = -
x Mr. FRENCH, on, - - att one -
ss Mr. THOMAS, on, - - - -
BRvsTLEIN, F., experiments of; - - - -
Buckeye tile machine, - - - - -
Burke, Mr. J., statement of, - - - -
Burning changes the constitution of clay, - -
Burning tile, - . - - - = 2
= BaRRALL, on, + - - - -
Calcareous obstructions in drains, - - - -

Caliber of drain pipe tile, - ~ - - -
Cambridge, Mass., evaporation at, - - -

Canals, - - - . - - - -

«« contents of, .—_ - - - - - -
Capacity of pipe tile, - . - - -
Capacity of soils for retaining moisture, - -
Capillary attraction, - ~ . - . -
Carbonate of lime, ~ - . - - -
Carbonates necessary to absorption, - - -
Care required in digging drains, - - - -
Care required in drying tile, - > - -
Catch-waters, . - - - - - -
Causewuys, underground, described by Patuapivs,

oh a among the Greeks, -
Cayuga county, N. Y., drainingin, - - -
Cecidomyia destructor, - - - - - -

xed tritici, - . - - -

Cement for drains, - - - = : s
me. . tile of, - . - - : ie

INDEX.

Central Park, drainingin, - -
CHAFFEE, Mr., crop of, - - ‘s

Cuarnock, Mr. Charles, experiments on soils,

* tables of, -
CuasE, Gov., opinion of, - ~
Classification of soils, - - =

Clayey and impervious soils, drainage
Clay cutter, . - - - -

Clay, amount of in clay soil, -
al = in loamy soil, - -
vd a in sandy soil, -

Clay pipe used by the Romans, -
Clay pipes invented by Mr. Smith,
Clay soils, physical properties of,
Clay suitable for drain tile, - -
Clays, effect of drought on, - *

«« not impervious, - - >

«« of Ohio, geological position of,
CLAYTON’s drain tile machine, -
Coal beds, effect of mining on land,
Cohesion of soils, - - - -
Cohesive soils, properties of, - -
Cote & Watt mole plow,’ - -
Collars, pipe, cost of, - - -

Sf authorities differ on, -

gs for pipes, invented, - -

‘ Mr. GISBORNE on, - -

a Mr. DENTON on, - - -
CoLUMELLA on open trenches, -
Color of soilimportant, - - -

«4 “« varies with temperature.
Composition and qualities of soils, -
Conclusion, - . - - -
Condition of moisture in the soil, -
Condition of healthy soil, - -
Conditions of soils, - - - >
Conduit for bog drains, - -
Congress, proposition of, - - -
Constituents of clay soil, - -
Gooling tile, = - 2 - © uf fu
Cost of different depths of drains,

Af draining with mole plow,

af stone drains in Ohio, >

«« tile drains in Ohio, - .

As tile, - - . - -

436

Country Gentleman quoted,
Crops, draining improves,

Cxossy, Mr., statement of,
Crushing clay,

Crust of earth, structure of,

INDEX.

Cubie yards of digging in drains, - - - - -
Cylindrical pipes, invented by Joun Reap, - -

Datnes’ tile machine,
Darton & Hoy ie, experiments of, - - | Se i

Daniou on drainage, -

Deep culture,
Deepening the soil, advantages of, - - - -
Deep drains, Alderman MEcuI on, - - - -
Deep draining sometimes impracticable, - - -
Definition, -

Density of soils,

- - = - .

Denton, J. Bailey, on discharge from drains, - -
” % on collars for pipe tile, - =
“ “s on draining slopes, - - - -
ne ms quoted, - - - - -
Depth of drains depends on outfall, = - - - -
‘6 ‘“ ‘é soil, 2 is 4 =
As ss determines size of tile, > + -
46 ‘¢ GISBORNE on, - - - - -
a“ « minimum, - - - - - -
“of frost, - - - - - - - -
“ of roots, - - - - - - > -
Description of first mole plow, - - > - -

Dickinson, Major, introduced mole plow in New York, -

‘é

6

“cc

quoted,
Digging drains, cost of, -

si MECHI on,

ag underdrains, - - - - - - Z
Direction of drains, - - . - - = <
Disadvantages of many outlets, - - - = -
Discharge of water from land, - - - - -

" ‘« influenced by season, - - -

Distance between drains, -

bs

“4

46

46

ac

sé

&é

4

determines size of tile,
JouN’s calculation, - -

minor drains, - - - - -
Disturbances from animals,

Ditches, open, not required on drained land, - -

Ditching machine, Pratr’s,

er |

PAGE.

119, 122, 124, 145, 150, 224, 253,

257
153
147
336

57
399

24

INDEX. 437

PAGE,
Ditching machine, THoMAS on, - - < ° . . - 408
Diversity of opinion on direction of drains, - - - - > 373

Donapson, F. & W., statement of, - - - - - - - 147

Drainage among the ancients, - - - * * * = 4
ne ae Greeks, - - - - « « * 5 6
oa ws Romans, - - : - - « " 4
*“ an improvement, - - - - - ~ . - 1
‘4 & permanent improvement, - - - - - - 217
me carries down soluble substances, - - - - - ~ a4
a élayey and impervious soils, - - . - w = 178
rie deepens the soil, - - - - - ~ « —
Sh definition of, - - - . - - s : - 7.
> does not impoverish soil, - - - - - - - “187
ve effect of on streams and rivers, - - - . . 111
ne equalizes temperature, - - . id rig « +433
ig external signs of wantof, - - - - - - 179
= facilitates pulverization, ~- - - - » . o* 171
*; flower-pot illustration of, . - - . - z 3
> garden, * =~ °- - ih ete sat poe heige Si Soet AaTS
a grass lands, - - - - - - - « = 175
pe history of, - - - - - . = “ “ 2 3

Ae how it operates, - - - - - = = bg 60
44 improvement in, - - - - = < « < 2
sy improves quality and quantity of crops, - - - 153
= increases the effect of manures, - - - * - - 165
id in Belgium and Germany, - - - - - - 25
a in England, - . - - = - Ps “ J*--15
- in France, - - - - - - « . = 26
se. the United States, - . - - « . “ ah ay
“i lengthens the seasons, - - - - - * = 112
« low places, swamps, etc., « - - - « - «' 177
oe makes farming easier, - - - - - - - 117
- Mr. DaANIOL on, - - - - - - - - - 2
se nursery, - - - - - > - . - 174
yl object of, - - - - - - - . . - 39
“c orchard, - - - - - . - - - 174
< practical, - - - - - - - - - - 217
6 prevents “ freezing out,” winter killing,’ ete., - - 90-144
“ ss “ heaving out,” - - - - - - ~ 80
as Zs injury from drought, - - - - + 147
a ~ rot in potatoes, - - - - - - - 169
“i ws rust in wheat, - - - - - - - 169
ng es surface washing, - - - - * * - 1372
“ ie”. Wrhnter RiMing, =o <2 = Ps) epawimtd vamngoging A190

er removes stagnant water, - - - - oo. . - 72

438 INDEX.

PAGE.

Drainage removes surplus water, - - - - - . < 98
nm rot in potatoes prevented by, - - - - - - 169

‘ rust in wheat prevented by, - - : - - - 169

ia sandy or porous soil, - - - - “ zs z ~.. 198

wd springy places, - . - - - 2 z “ 177

us system of JNO. JOHNSTON, - - - - = g Pay

#6 theory of, - * - - - * = | - ' 39

“a tilled lands, - - - - - - . i = sre

af warms soil, - - - - - - - 7 - 89,128

pe will it pay? - - - - - - e: = = +aee
Drained land, season of growth lengthened, - - - - - 89
ad «¢ warmer than undrained, - - - - - - » 89

ae water, influence of soilson, - - - . - - 91
Draining, ancient mode insufficient, - . - - - 3 a sone
& basins, - - - - - - = . 7 -- 371

os clay for tiles, - . - - - - te - - 0335

me does not supersede pulverization, - - - - - 108

x ELKINGTON’S system, - - + - - = a ae |

= fund of England, - - - - = - - + 23
= hill-sides, - - + - - - : - - - 373

=a meadows, - - - - = - - a = 310

af result of, - - . - - - = = ~ ee
aa slopes, - - - - 4 - - a “ < 375

- gprings,:-- jerpwedied Yieteuen bwe eiiler Yer

af surface water, - - - - - ~ = S 379

es . - MECcHI on, - - - - i ~ - 299
= system of, changed in 1810, - - - - = : 20
- tile and soles used in, : : - . - - ae

sf time gained by, - : - - - - x * 89

ae tools, - - - - - - - = * rf - 387

= want of, indicated by plants, - . . - - - 179

“ what lands need, - - : - - - - ~ IF

Y with plug, - - - - - - ° ™ é 226
Be with stone in Ohio, - - - - - . - - 258
Drain gauge, - - - - - = - x . g 391
ee ee i
a ‘« invention of, - - - - - - - Z 13
«« tiles invented by Mr. Suitn, - - - - - - ~".2'93
«« water, analysis of, - - - . - - - ~ 208
Drains are lower levels, - - - bas ~ * * ae |
PeROg- <2 Mm eo te pe Pipe | res 249
«brush, - - - - - - ° - s = - 229

‘¢ depth of, - - - - - - - - - = _ 287
‘« discharge from, - - - - - - - - - 86
“do not rob the soil,

‘

4

i]

a

4

4
?

i]
—_
o
=~J

Drainsearly, too shallow, - - ~~ -
s¢ in northwestern Ohio,
« «England, age of, = *

'
‘
*

«06 France, a - a :
oni» Ohio, - - = ss
af. 4* Sootland, .. - - = ns
TR Se 6 eT DS - = ‘
‘« materials for, - - - -
‘* minimum depth of, - - ~
“« of brick in 19th century, - -
ye eee POLAR, - - - .
"© pails... - - - = <
vo wood, - - - =
“¢ sheep, - - - - = s
‘« shallow, Baxter on, - -
“« size of tiles for, - - - -
ss stone, . - - = zi =
.f ie cost of, - - - -
+4 a“ depth of, - - -
aE a how made, - - -
nf ef materials for, - -
‘i ¢ Mr. CaLKINS, on, - -
pe pe under fences, - -
«¢ stopped up by roots, - - -
‘¢ straw for, - - - .
tie = - - - - -

‘* trees should not be planted near,
Draught, amount of, obtained, - -
Drill husbandry, remarks on, - -
Drought, drainage prevents injury from,

gs effects of on clays, - -
Drying tile, - - - - - -

Durability of tile, - - - -
«¢ depends on what, -

Dynamometer, - - - - -

Earthenware of aborigines, - -
Effect of drainage on streams and rivers,
Effect of drought on clays, - -
Effect of manure, drainage increases, -
Effect of manure on land, - - -

Effect of seasons on drains, - - -
Elements ofclay, - - = <
ELKINGTOoN, Joseph, notice of, - :

as - system of draining,

440 INDEX.

PAGE.

ELkineTon, Joseph, system adapted to springs, - - : < 24
“ “i treatise on draining, - - - - * - 9962
Elm impedes drains, - ’ - - - - - F 6 267
ExErson’s plow, eee eee eee
England, drainage in, - - - - - - ° z e 15
Erroneous belief, - - - . - - - 2 r ~) ee
Evaporation a slow process, - - - - - - “ ss 73
2 Cambridge, Mass., - > - - é “ ». see

ef at Ogdensburg, N. Y., — - - - < ‘ g 88

35 at Salem, Mass., - - < - - 4 é .. See

= at Whitehaven, Eng., - - - - - - 88

= from Baltimore reservoir, - - - . é - 88

sd in Ohio, - - - - - - = 5 FA 88

ee leaves ground poorer, - - > + - - - 89

=f rate of, - - - . - - - . £ 73

3g removes gases, - - - - = ~ $ oie

2g when it commences, - - - - - - - 88
Excess of water, effect of, - - - - - - * 4 - Ww
Exit pipes, - - . - - - - - - ie 2 382
Expansion and contraction of soils, - . - - - - - ee
Expenditures on land, - - - . - - “ = 3 297
Experiments from Patent Office Report, - - - * 2 = ag
- of H. B. Spencer, - - - - a ‘ 2 169

Bia on clays, - - - - - - . —

ss on evaporation and filtration, - ae - “ “ 3

Sf on soils, by Charles CHaRNOCK, - - - = . ae

se on soils, by Dr. Hugo Scnoxgr, - - - - 84

sd on soils, by SCHUEFBLER, - ~ - - ~ ~ ins ele

“4 in Tharand, Saxony, - - - - - é 113

= with Bogenhausen lime, - - . - - - 192

a with chloride of potash, - - - - - - 192

iad with common salt, - . - - . - - 192

ef with dried earths, - - - - - - - 200

saa with garden mold, - - - - - - - 191

“49 with liquid manure, - - - - - . - 192

- with salts of natron, - ~ - - - - - 192

as with soil from Hungary, - > - - - - 191

sd with sulphate of natron, - - - - - - 192

= with sulphate of potash, - - ~ - - . 191
External signs of want of drainage, - - - - - - > 179
Extremes of heat and cold, effect of, - - - - - - 90
Eyelet holes in tiles, - - . - 5 - - - - - - 263
EYTELWEIN’S formula, - . - - - - oO aE - sume

Fall, determines size of tile, - - - . ~ - - - 272

- INDEX, 441

PAGE.
Fall of drains depends on materials, - - - - . - 274
Fall, tables of, - - - - - . - = - - 281, 313
Fallows on drained land, - - - e P é 4 = 167
Farm of Mr. SPALDING, - - - « =) é é ‘ - 162
Farmers, condition of, - - - - ° ° - = 2 296
Ferruginous obstructions in drains, - - = ~ - > - 415
Filling drains, - . - - - - - - . - 412
Filtration, table of - . - - - - = - é: oe
Filtration fixes gases, - - - . - - - - - 89
Fire proof clay, - - - - = - = a - : - 329
Flower pot, illustration of draining, - - - - -— - 3
Flat stones for drains, - - ° - - - - - - 255
Foreign bodies in tile clay, - - - - < ° = = 825
Formation of springs, - - - ~ . a “ 2 an
Freezing out prevented by drains, - - - - - - 90, 144
FRENCH, on drainage, quoted, - - -— - 88, 116, 259, 279, 376

o ‘“‘ brush drains, - - = - = = . c 223

= ‘« water of pressure, - - - - e ss ~ = 109
Friction of water in drains, - - - - > - ~ = 274
Pe depends on porosity of soil, - - - - . - - 304
Frost, depth of, - . - - - - - - - ~ 298
«« influence of on drained soil, - - . > - - - 123
Fuliginous clay, - - = = . = = é 2 398
Fuel for burning tile, - . - - - - - 2 - 359
Gallery of Nature quoted, - - - - - - = = 75
Gatos, Mr. Th., quoted, - arte tw - - - - - - 490
Garden, drainage of, - - = - - - - - - 173
Genessee Farmer quoted, - - - - - - - ~ 2.
GERARDIN quoted, - > - - - - - - « 43
Germination, - . - ere - - = e = = ee
Gitt, J. L., cropofcorn, - - - - - = - . 148
GIRaUD on roots in drains, - - - - = ae ne - - 420
GISBORNE on horseshoe tiles, - - > - - - - . 264

rg ‘* collars for pipe tile, - - * - * - - 270

ee ‘« depth of drains, - - - - - - - 285

si ‘¢ WHARNCLIFFE’S system, - - > > - - - 295
Gold washing illustration of tile drains, - + ~ > . 269
Gorlitz, experiments at, - - . - - - - - - 92
Gopher plow of Illinois, - - - - - - - - 235
Granam, Sir James, statement of, - - - + - > = 153
Grass lands, drainage of, - - > * - - - 175
Gravity, specific, - - - - - - - - - - 303

rs ‘¢ motive power of, - - - - - - 350

Griswo_p, L., statement of, . . Soe) SNe - - 257

442 INDEX.

PAGE.

Grinding clay for tile, - - - - - - - - . 336
Greatest descent, line of, - - - - . - - - - 373
Ground water, why it rises, - - - - . - - - 99
‘« undrained, growth retarded in, - > - - * =. 8a
Ha-ha fences in England, - - - + - - - 5 381
Handling tile, - - - - - x = = a - 349
Hamorr, G., letter from, - - - - - = 2 . 13
Hanover, draining in, - - - - - - pe 2 - ise
Havana, soils of, - - . - - - - - = e 196
Heaving out prevented by drains, - = - - > - 90, 144
Heat and cold, effects of extreme, - - - . - - - 90
Healthy soil, condition of, - - - - * - - - in
Headers, - - - - - - - = “ = 2 378
HENNEBERG and STOKMAN, - . - - - - . .. 2eR
Hewitt, Mr., crop of, - - - - - - - = . 147
Hessian fly, ravages of, lessened, - - - - - - = 5
History of drainage, - - - - ee ate - Ns 4 2
él ay - among the ancients, - - - - - - 4

“ :- 6c Walter Bricu’s work, - - - 8 a 5

4g 26 - among the Greeks, - - . - - ~ 6

*y = 6; * in France, - - - - - ul = 8
How drainage operates, - - . - - - - & =, ceil
re ae lengthens the seasons, - > - - - = 113

“* to make plug drains, - - * - - - - - ~ , 997

‘¢ water enters the tiles, - - - - - - - Ms 364
Home manufacture of tile, - - : - - = < 2 2S
Hollow log to mix clay in, - - > . . - - pa 334
Howe tu, Hon. John, stone drains of, - - - - - - 200
Horseshoe tiles, - - - . - - - < ~ = 263
Horse power in tile manufactures, - > - - - - - Sad
Hydrostatic laws, - - - - . - - - = . 303
HvuxtTABLe and THOMPSON, - - - e - ps - 134, 188
Imbibing power of soils, - - - - - - - - 2 RGA
Impervious soils, drainage for, - ~ - - - - ws 178
Importance of tempering clay, - - - - - - - - 339
Influence of soil on quantity of drained water, - - - - 91
“ ‘¢ season on discharge of water, - - - - a: Ft
Ingredients of manure retained by soil, - - - - - - 188
Injury from drought, drainage prevents, - - - - - - 147
Inspection of obstructions, - - - - 3 - - ad 382
Intersections, tile for, - - - - - i a S = Ag
Interstitial canals, - - - - - - - = 2 109
Introduction, - - - - - - - - ef * = 1

Irish drains, - - - a - * 2 - - - - 266

INDEX.
Jaegers Bodenkunde quoted, - - - -
JAUBERT DE Passa quoted, - - - @
JOHN, ealculation of distances between drains, -
“« experiments of, - - > - -

Jounxn, Wancr and VY. MoLtexporr—formule of, -
Jounson, C. M., experiments on evaporation,

&% Prof., quoted, - - - - -
JounstTon, J., letter from, condensed, - -
JOHNSON, JoHN, borrows money for draining, -

~ ‘¢ extract from, - - -
as “farm of, - - - = m
i ‘illustrations of, - - -
a “« praetice of, - - » -
i «¢ system of drainage, - ~-

Joints of pipes, width of,- - - - =

KENFIFLD, D., letter from, = - ° -
Keythorpe system, - - - - ° a
i peculiarities of, - > - .
Kiln for burning tile, - - - = -
Kind of soil, influences discharge of water, -
Kneading board, - - - - - -

Landholders, rights of, - - - > °
Land in England and Germany, condition of, -
“= this country, condition of, - -

Latour, Mr. B. pg, on obstruction from roots, -
Laws of Ohio relating to drainage, - - -

Laying out drains, - - - - ts =
Legal distinction, - > - - - =
«¢ question, - - - sade - -
Lemma trisulea, - - - - = e
as ae analysis of, = - - -
Length of drains, - - - - -
LieBiG, experiments of, - - - - -
fs es on nutrition of plants, -
‘¢ quoted, - - - - - - -
J.ime, carbonate of, - - - - =
‘¢ phosphate of, - . - - ~ =
Line of greatest descent, - - + -
Loamy soil, amount of clay in, - - . -

Loan, England’s, for drains, - - - -
Lois WEEDON, system of agriculture,
Low places, swamps, etc., - - - -

311
275
276

73

128, 133, 134

120
29

17, 18

28
32
31
27
365

331
301
302
355

91
337

110
297
296
420
425
370
109
110
140
211
312
138
192
215
197
140
373
310

23
171
177

444 INDEX.

PAGE.

Machine for cutting drains, - - - . * ‘ “ « 407
Machine for making tiles, invented, - - . - « re 24
Manppey, Dr., quoted, - - « « «* 4a Fy ‘ - 104
Magnesia, salts of, - - - - - = - ‘ e 506
Maenon, Mr. Herve, on obstructions in drains, - “ s - 414
Main drains, - - - - . ‘ « ‘ ‘ . a 381
Manufacture of tile, - - - - « . « . « 38, 324
Manufacturer, experiments ofa, - « < a ‘ b « 203
Manure, drainage increases effeet of, = - . ‘ = “ - 165
Mannure, how applied, - - - - - ~ . é = 167
ss how it acts, = - - - - - . " « - 166

: ingredients retained by the soil, . - - - : 188
ManrioTrs, observations on evaporation,
Mark Lane Express quoted, - - © ® *& *S& = = 67
Marley clays, = - - - - - . « . ‘ - 3312

t
t
t
‘
‘
'
~I
~

Marquis and Emerson’s mole plow, - - - - = _ 235
Marquis of Tweeddale, farm of, - - - - my a . « 154
Masonry for exits, - - - - - - . « ‘ é 382
Materials for drains, - - - - - < a . . <« -—8
Mattick and PENFIELD’s drain tile machine, - - - « - 344
Maxwett Brothers, statement of, + - Bee | BOOT ERT og - Ti?
McDonatp, on surplus clay, - - + - - . . s 411
Meadows, draining, - - - - - - = = . - 310
Mechanical examination of soils, - - - - « “ ‘ 105
Mecut, Alderman, on deep drains, - - - = - - - 295

a - on digging drains, - - . - & S 307

wid = on draining surface water, - - - . - 299

“ “ quoted, - - - - - - - - 121

+ = size of tile used by, - - = s é = 9278

Method of burning tile, - - - - - - - - 359
Midge, ravages of lessened, - - - - « = = - 170
Mildew in wheat prevented by drainage, - - - - - 169

MILLER, J., traction engine of, - - - é < = : - 947
Mineral substances in drain water, - - - - ~ . 214
Minimum depth of drains, - - - - : 3 = = 9287
25 fall of drains, - - = - - - e E 275
Minor drains, - - : SE aS MRS. aor, eens "S77
" “«< “cutting, - - - - - - * = = 412
Mixing pit for clay, - - - - - - = = . eee |
Moisture, capacity of soils for retaining, - - - . - 49
“6 of the soil, condition of, - - - - - . ears. |
Mole plows, - - - - - - = - ~- 2 errs
Mole plow, BaLks’, - - - - ° =o “ : - 239
- © Cote & Watts’; - - - - - 4 . - 238

” ‘¢ DRFENBAUGR’S, - : = = = “ ~ - 240

INDEX.

Mole plowin England,- - - -
“f ‘¢ in Ohio, - - - . e

dd ‘* invented by Mr. Scort, -

dd « Mareuis & Emerson’s,
Ag «6 Mr. NEwMaN on, - - -
$s “| Mr. J. M. Trimpik on, - -
Ld ‘* Pioneer, - . - -
“ ‘* report of committee on,
ad “ Row ann & Forsis’, - -
se “Arial of, - - . - -
“$ ‘¢ WitTHEROW’S, - i! te
Mortar, qualities of, - - - + -

Morrton’s Cyclopedia of Agriculture quoted, -

Moruersy, Areusberg, Dr., on obstructions,
Muck, - . - - - - -

Naked fallows on drained land,
Need of drainage, plants indicating, -

Newman, Mr., on mole plow, - - -
Ag ag plug draining, -
North-east Farmer quoted, . dee

Noursz, B. F., statement of, - -
Number of tilein kiln, - - - -
Nursery, drainage forthe, - - -

Object of drainage, - - - ° =

Observations in Tharand, Saxony, -
Obstructions, inspection of, - - .
4 in drains, - - - -
Ohio Farmer, article from, - - - -
Open trenches among the Romans, -
Operation of drains, illustrated, —- -
Orchard, drainage for, - - - -
Outlet large, - - - - . -
« amall, - - - - - -
Oval tile, - - - - - - -
Oxygen necessary for plants, - -
PALLADIUS, quoted, - - - - -
Parkes, Mr., on collars for pipe tile, -
- ‘« rain tables of, ae -
Pastes, long, - - . = eiiilcs,
“. ger,” - - - - - -
Patent office report quoted, - ~— - -

Pauv’s machine for cutting drains,

446 INDEX.

PAGE.
Peat tiles, - - - - - - - - - = ° 250
Peculiarities of the Keythorpe system, - . - - . - 302
Peep-holes, - - - - - = = - - - 2 383
Permanent investment, - - - = - - - ra + gay
Phosphate of lime, - . - - at tte - . = 140
Physical properties of soils, - > - - . - - - 42
Pick and pick-axes, - - - - ° < . - : 390
Pipes, cylindrical, invented by Reap, . - - - - -> <4

«« for drains, first used, - : - . - = “ 3 264

“< pressing, meee enh en ee oe!) ae he a
Pipe layer, - - - - - - = “ m . " 390
Pipe tiles, - fics - - - - - 2 a 2 be - 221
Pipe tiles, advantages of, - - . - - . - * 270

«represented, . - - - - - « - - 268
Pit for mixing clay, - - - * 7 - - = . 234
Pittsburg, land in vicinity of, - - ~ > . . - ~ 50
Planting trees near drains, - : . - - - - bs 34
Plants indicating want of drainage, - - - - - - - 179
Plastic clay, - - - - - - - ws = " e 328
Plasticity inclay, - - - - - - = " “ - 326
Plug, construction of, - - - - - - - = s 228
Plug draining, - - - - - - “ t al - 226-228

"= ‘« tools for, - - - - - . é é 227
Pole drains, - - - - - . = ™ 3 - 224
Poplar, black Italian, impedes drains, - > - - - < 267
Pores, - - - - - - - « - ™ ¥ ann kta
Porosity of soils, - - . - + - - - . be 49
Porous soils with clayey subsoils, - - - - - - wenhte
Pijashy- = = = = +>. + + =) = —rie 139, 197
Power of soils to absorb moisture, - - - - - - - 187
Practical drainage, - - = vtchieg Sic etd iesniee 217
Pratt’s ditching machine, . - - - - * - 406
Precaution in burning tile, - + - - =< 32 - - 358
Precipitations in Ohio, - - - sal = - - +. 379
Preparation of clay for tiles, - - > - . - - 332
Pressed tile of cement, - - - - - - = a + (296
Pressing pipes, - . - - - - = P - ® 348
Preventive of rust, - - . - - - ~ - = és
Price of tile in Ohio, - - + - - - ° * * 361
Productiveness of wheat in Ohio, - - - - - - - 127
Properties of soils, - - - - - - - - E 42
Prussia, drainage in, - - - - - - - - - - 158
Piilie ldndi.in Ohio, - « - .- «.-s5-%e = « = Gee 182
Pug mill, description of, - - - - - - - - - 339

171

Pulverization facilitated by drainage,

Pulverizing the soil, - - - - a
Purifying clay for tile, - - - as

Qualities of crops, drainage improves, -
Qualities of soils, - - - - -
a ‘“‘ absorbing, - . -
«« required in tile clay, - -
Quantity of crops, drainage increases, -
Quantity of water required, - - -

Racks for drying tile, - . - &

Rails for drains, - - - - ¢
Rain, amount of in Ohio, - - - -
sid «« © ‘carried off by drains, -

as tables,» - - - - - _

‘« what becomes of it, - - -
Rapid cooling of tile to be prevented, -

Rate of evaporation, - . - -

“Reading Farmer,’’ quoted, - - -
Reap, John, inventor of cylindrical pipes,
Regents Park, draining of, - - >

Relations of soils to the phosphates, -
Relief pipes for sinks, - - - “

Remedy for cold lands, - - - -
Removal of stagnant waters, - - 2
Repertory of Arts and Sciences quoted,
Report of committee on mole plows, - .
Researches of J.T. Way, - = x
Result of draining, - - - = ~
Retentiveness of moisture, - - 5
RICHARDSON, on rights of land holders, -
Rights of land holders, - amie 2
Rimming tiles, - - - - - E|
RIs.ER’s investigations, - - “
River and spring water, analysis of, - -
Rivers and streams, effect of drainage on,
Roller mill, description of, - = s
Rollers for crushing clay, - - “
Rolling tile, - - + - - .
Romans, drainage among, - - -

= used clay pipes, - - - -
Roots can not penetrate wet soil, - -
Roots, depth of, eee ee

‘¢ drains stopped by, -
** exposed by evaporation, - - -

“7?

448 INDEX.

Roots furnished with soluble substances, - - : - -
Rot in potatoes, - - - - - - * 3
Round stones for drains, - =o be . - 7 s si
Row.anp and Forsis’ mole plow, - * - - - :
Rust in wheat prevented, - - . : - - .

Sauispury, J. H., on capillary attraction, - - - .

Salt common, experiments with, - 2 - 7 7 " &
Salts of magnesia, - - - : * - - ° -
Salt prevents rust, - - < > - - - s n
Sand for tempering clay, - - - . : - acral
Sand in drains, - - - - - - . m ‘ "
Sandy or porous soils, - - . - - - . .

** soil, amount of clay in, . - - - : - %

Scroser, DE Hugo, experiments of,
ScHoNERMARK, on discharge of water, - - - - - -

os table of distance between drains, - - - -
ScHUEBLER’s experiments on soils, ‘a 2 oe Sele
Scientific draining of 19th century, - - - - - .
Scioto river bottoms, - - - - - - . . as
Scoops, - - - - - . " a " ‘ ‘
Scort, Mr., inventor of mole plow, . - : - - ~
Season influenced by discharge of water, - - - - m
«« Yengthened by drainage, - - - - - : .
“« of growth retarded in undrained land, - - > -
Security against animals, - - - - - * : ™
Selection of materials for tiles, - - - - - ° P
Serres, Oliver De, quoted, - ° - - - - - -
Settling of soil, - - - - - : - = “ .
Shade for drying tile, - - - . - - * - a
Shanghae plow, - - - . - - - > s
sé Maj. DICKINSON, on, - . - - . -
SuEpp and Epson on discharge from pipes, - - - -
Shed for tile manufacture, - - - - . - ‘ .
SHEPARD, Mr., crops, of, - ° - - - - - -
Sheep draing, - - : - - = sa s zs 2
Shoulder drains, history of, - - * . - . a
is * not durable, - . - - - = '
Shovels, - - - - ~ - - ’ ‘ zs =
Side drains, - - - - . - - . ~ = ”
Sieve for draining tileclay, - - - 7 * 7 >?
Signs of want of drainage, - - 2 ibe ind stnebesenne
Silicie acid in clay, - - - - - : * - *
Silicate of potash, - - - + - - - : -

Sinks and silt basins, - - . - - - ¢ *

INDEX. 449

PAGE.

Sinks and stilt basins construction of, - - - . ~ - 383
Size of tile, - - - - = - e ra 2 = 36, 272
As depends on amount of fall, - : - - - o> 4QTZ

* 43 ah depth of drains, - 3 Bipot ce ‘i 273

ot cis haa distance of drains,- - oe - = 272

¢ «quantity of water, - - 2 - = 276

= for middle and western states, - > - - - - 278
Slops, draining of, - - - - SEH LOY Be Sie, hae a 375
s - Mr. Denton, on, - - - ° “ Pe ain3%6
Small outlets, - - - = 2 = g . 4 381
SMEATON, experiments on discharge from pipes, - = - - - 280
SmitH, inventor of drain tiles, = - - * - - . 23
© of Deanston, - - - - - - - 3 s - 293
sd is system of parallel drains, A. tae Cre et ae 25
Soda, ee ne ee ee eR TS
Soil absorbs fromatmosphere, - -* - 2 2 = = 53
*¢ and subsoil, - - - . - - - . - Si SE
“* capacity of absorbing gases, - - - - ° ° a 54
nw ‘¢ retaining moisture, GE Sd ae Ne
‘¢ ‘classification of, - . . oF AE a Bee - 67
“« clay, - . - - < ‘ - 2 . - - 44
‘¢ cohesion of, - - . - ~ : - ° = " 46
«* cohesive properties of, - - - - - - - - 47
«« color of, important, - - - - - - - ~ 45
«« deepened by drainage, - - - St SS ei Ree - - 119
“ density of, - - - - - - - - = 46
«« drainage warms, - - . - . < - > - 128
«* expansion and contraction of, - - - . - - 52
‘* from Havana, experiments on, - - = (re Biggs oom - 196
66 “© Hungary, “ 66 * ~ oa VS - - 191
as « Munich, “ Ae 9 a 20) Jae - . - 194
‘¢ how drainage deepens, - - - 7 - - - - 123
‘6 mechanical examination of, - - - - - - - 105
‘¢ not impoverished by drainage, - - - - - - 167
‘« porosity of, - - . * - - . - - ~ “89
‘power of absorbing and retaining warmth, - - - - 56
“properties of, - - - - - - - - - - 42

- - 50

‘¢ ScHUEBLER’S experiments on, - - - -
‘ settling of, time required for, - - - - - ae Set SEES

‘© temperature changes color of, - - - - - - 45
“ three conditions of, - - - ° - . ~ - - 103
Sole tiles, - - - - - - - - - > - 221

Soluble ingredients of manure retained, - - - ° + - 188
«‘ _ gsubstances carried down by drains, Sette oe 134
Solution of minerals by plants,- = - ate rESe Soe ORME ae

39

450 INDEX.

Sources of water, - - . . - - - - *
Spavutpina, Mr. Nathaniel, farm of, - - - - a
Spades, - - - - - - - - - “
Span level, - - - . - - - - &

Specific gravity, - - - - - = a a 3
" “4 the motive power, - - - - a
Spencer, H. B., experiments of, - - - - a ~
Spontaneous growth on undrained land, - - - = -
Springs, formation of, - - = - - a “
Spring water, analysis of, - - . - - a -
Springy places, - oe ae ee REG Cree
Stagnant water removed by drainage, - -* - =
StanpirorD, Mr., crop of, - - - - : - -
Stark county, geology of, - . + - - - “
Statement of B. F. Nourss, - : . - - - es

as « F,& W. Donatpson, - = - oo
“s “6 J. Burke, - - - - a « -
ed ss Maxwewt Brothers, - | .- ttt
" «« Mr. CrosBy, - - - = \ a a
" «| Mr. STANDIFORD, - . - - ° m
fe ‘¢ Mr. YEOMANS, - - - - - - -
zd ‘« Sir James GRawaM, - - - - .

SreveNS and LECLERC, on discharge of water, - - -
Srocken, on discharge of water from drains, - - -
STokMANN and HENNEBURG, - - - - - - -

Stone drains, - - - - - - os e i
a “ cost of, - - - - : - ¢ =
a ee depth of, - - - - - - -
ag id how made, - - - - - - DS
a 4 in Ohio, - - - - - - =
BF 2g materials for, - . - - - ~ =
“J re Mr. CALKINS on, - - - ss “ z
as ™ Hon. Joun HOWELL, on, - - . - -
+ vd require more fall than tile, - : - >
Pe ‘© under fences, - = - - pain Ra ab ik oars:
“ i what kind of stone employed, - - -
Stone, how placed in drains, - - - - a ee
‘« pipes of, - - - - - - ~ Fs iz
Story, Judge, on rights of landholders, - - - -
Straw for drains, - - - - - - ~ Bs
Streams of water, effect of drainage on,- - - + =
Subjects to be discussed, - - - - « s -
Subsoil draining, - - - - - - - ~ e
‘¢ ScHUEBLER’s experiments on, > 4's. ee

6 warmed by drainage,- - - - 2 = =

INDEX.

Sub-mains, - - - - = = = be
Sulphate of natron, experiments with, - - -
Surface washing, drainage prevents, - - - -

«¢ water, draining, - - ~ - - -

- ‘6 MECHI on, - - - - = -

is «¢ sinks equally, - = - a
Sutton Park, mole plow used in, - - - &
Swamp lands in Ohio, - . - - - 2
Swamps, low places, etc., - - - - P3 J

Table, Mr. CHaRNock’s, of evaporation and filtration,

66

66

of average discharge from drains, . -
of cubic yards of digging in drains, - =

‘6 ~~ of Datton & Hoye, - - - - -
‘¢ of evaporation in the United States, - -
‘¢ of experiments in Tharand, Saxony, - -
‘¢ of influence of temperature on discharges, -
‘sof number of tiles in drains, - - :

‘6 of rain in Ohio, - - - - - -
‘¢ ScnHoseEr’s, on rain and discharge, - -
Talpa, or Chronicles of a Clay Farm, - an

Tanks, sinks and silt basins, - - - -
Temperature changes colors of soils, - . -
4) of germination, - - '- -
2 of soils, - - - - -
ae _ increased by drainage, -
ine “ lowered by water, - - -
se of water of drainage, - - -
Tempering clay, _—_- - - - - - -
Thames water, ammonia in, - - - - -
Theory of drainage, - - a - - -
TxHomas, Mr., on brush drains, - . -
. on draining machines, - - -
Tompson & HuxstTaBLe, discovery of, . -
se § observations of, - -
Tile, burning, - - = - - - -
= post.of, 9,.= - - - - - - -
‘¢ drains, - - > . * - -
“cs ‘© in Ohio, costof, - - - - =
«draining a permanent investment, - -
‘¢ first machines for making, - - ~ =
‘¢ for interstices, - > - - - =
«home manufacture of, - - - - =
«horseshoe, - - - - - - -

66

kilns, = - = & Z & ¢

- 129

. 128
- 107

- 286
327-339

- 210

=i BBS
313, 314
220, 261
- 257

452 INDEX.
PAGE.
Tile laying machine, Brices’, . - - - - e * 406
«maker, American, - - - - - - “ oo! Sieh
‘« machine, Buckeye, - - - - - - - - 347
= xe Marrice & PENFIELD, - - - - < - 344
‘¢ manufacture of,. - - - - - * ~ - ‘s 324°
‘¢ where obtained in Ohio, - - - = - a é - 362
‘works in America, < - - - - - " é 38
Tiles, - - - - - - - - - - as - 220

aé drying, - - - - e = - - ad ~- 349
‘6 ELXKINGTON on, - - - > - - - - - - 262

“handling, - - : - - - - - * Z 349
‘¢ number of, in drains, - - . - - ~- - 315
“« peat, - - = - - ° = = = . 5 250
«« racks for drying, - - - . - . - ‘ ~. Abt
« rimming, - - - - - > - - - r 354
“. _ rolling,- - - - - . - - - - ~ ~. 1354
‘« should be dried in the shade, - - - - ° 2 351
6 size of,- - - - - - - ° = 7 . - 36
Re we dependent on depth of-drains, - - - - 273
“es oe ae distance of drains, : - = - 273
6c 6 66 fall, - a % ys iy % 272
Tilled lands, drainage for, - --- - - - - oi 174
Time is money, - + - - . - . » ‘, 259
“required for settling of soil,- - - . - " = » "112
af ae to carry off water, - - - - - - “ 380
‘“« to cut drains, - - - - - - - - a - 410
«< to lay tiles, - ° - - - - - - ~ FE 410
TISCHENDORF on obstructions in drains, - - - - - - 418
Tools for plug draining, - - - - - - - - 227
Traction engine of J. C. MILLER, = - - - - = =. 247
Trees indicators of soils, - - . - - - - - 181
‘© killed by ditehing, - . - . - - - 2 ~~ Re

‘¢ should not be planted near drains, - - ofh jeusm . 34
Trenches, open, among the Romans, - ~ - + - - - 4
Trial holes, - - - - - - * - - e - . 801
‘* of mole plows, - ~ - - - - . - . - 242
Triangular stone drain, - “ ~ - - - = x 256
TrimBLe, J. M., quoted, - - - - - . - - - 159
Z on mole plow, - - - ee: eh oe 245
Tucker, Luther, quoted, - - - * - - - -e - 163
TuLu, Jethro, system of agriculture, - - - er: > 108
Wart draing, m= 0s = a fo 2. Gn. eee
Underground causeways described by PALLADIvs, + : - - 4

“ “ used by theGreeks, - - - * - 6

INDEX.

Undermined land, - - - - - =
Undrained land colder than drained, - -

- ‘¢ -geason of growth retarded in, -

a ‘¢ spontaneous growth on, - -

bis ‘¢ suffers from hot and dry weather,
United States; drainage in, . - - -
Urine substances, filtration of, - - . - -
Value of absorption, - - - - .

VerpeiL & RIsLER’s investigations, - ~ -
Vincent, formula adopted by, - - - -
Von MoutenporFr & WarGE, observations of, +

Waxrce & Von MoLuiEnporF, observations of, -
Want of ‘drainage indicated oe plants,- -. -
Warm soil, advantages of, = . - -
Warmth of soil, drainage increases, - - -
es power of absorbing and retaining in oils,
Watercourses, materials for keeping open, - -

Water beneath pipes, - - - - -

“«« discharge of, influenced by season, - -

«dissipates ammonia, - - - -

«¢ drain, influenced by kind of soil, - -
_ enters joints of pipes, - - - -

«fluctuation in, == - - ~ - -

‘“* from drains, analysis of, - - - -

“egiass, - ~ = = ~ * <

‘«¢ ground why it rises, - - - -

at BP = - Seay - = Ss

« of attraction, - eee - -

«of drainage, temperature of, - > -

«¢ of pressure, - - - - . -

oe sf Judge French on, - - -

«¢ power, right to, - - ae -

«quantity required, = - SH Nhs - -

«‘ spring and ground to be removed, - -

«« stagnant, removed by drains, - - >
Water-worts, observations on, - - - -
Wauer, Mr. H., quoted, . - i ae ithe

of “f on manures, - - - >
Way, J. T., researches of, - - - - -

‘6 on power of soils to absorb moisture,
Wedge and shoulder drains, - : - - -
= = - not durable, - -
Weston, Mr., experience with mole plow, - <

‘
LN)
ior)
an

158, 309
= 168
> es
- 189
= egge
- 230
<a

454 INDEX.

Weevil, ravages of, lessened, - -
Wuarncuiirrr, Lord, quoted, - -
we system, GISBORNE On, -
What becomes of the rain? - - -
What kinds of drains shall be made,
What lands need draining, - - -
WHITEHEAD’S drain tile machine, -
Why drainage deepens the soil, - -

Width of joints, . - . -
Willow, red, impedes drains, - -
Winter killing, draining prevents, -
Wooden drains, - - - - -
Yards, tile, - - - - -
Yxouans, Mr., statement of, - -

Yvarz, Victor, quoted, - a) Vem

PAGE,

- 170
294

- 295
101

- 217
177

- 343
123

- 365
267
90, 144
21, 218
- 355
117

- ig

* behing ahold acento

* i tarx>
ae Tater 009 Ve gegivoodl th
when bh Were esate tosbard ‘et
Suimicth aor hae! 1 ew
62 CUES beads oJ
V Scie. aie ce.

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+ bans /

read ter: iy A viel $

JUST PUBLISHED BY
ROBERT CLARKE & CoO.

CINCINNATI, OHIO.
a PEW VW © Biz e

ENTITLED

THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE
LAND DRAINAGE:

Embracing a brief History of Underdraining ;

a detailed examination of its Operation and Advantages ; a Description
of various kinds of Drains, with Practical Directions for their Con-
struction, the Manufacture of Drain Tile, etc., etc.

ILLUSTRATED BY NEARLY 100 ENGRAVINGS.

By JOHN H. KLIPPART,

Author of the “ Wheat Plant;’’ Corresponding Secretary of the Ohio State
Board of Agriculture, etc.

1 Vol. 12 Mo., Cloth, Price $1,235.

Within the last few years the subject of Drainage has been
thoroughly studied, and its importance and advantages practi-
cally demonstrated by the Agriculturists of Kurope, and par-
ticularly of Great Britain; while in this country it has received
but little attention from farmers generally: so little, indeed,
that when occasionally intelligent men undertake the thorough
drainage of their farms, they usually get credit from their do-as-
my-father-did neighbors, of burying their money with their
tiles. The resulting improved appearance of their farms, and
the increased quantity and superior quality of their crops,
however, soon convince even the least observant of the profit of
burying money in this way. No doubt much money may be
and has been expended fruitlessly in ill applied drainage. The
subject must be understood both in theory and application be-
fore any of the great practical results which have been attained,
can be secured by every one who undertakes the drainage of his
farm. The purpose of this work is to supply that information
in a plain, practical way, easily understood by any intelligent
farmer. It tells him the properties of his soil, and how it is

ROBERT CLARKE & CO.

affected by drainage ; what kind of land needs drainage, when
and why it will pay. Some of the advantages of underdraining
are summed up and thoroughly explained under the following
heads: 1. It removes stagnant waters from the surface. 2.
It removes surplus waters from under the surface. 3. It length-
ens the working season. 4. It deepens the soil. 5. It warms
the undersoil. 6. It equalizes the temperature of the soil during
the season of growth. 7. It carries down soluble substances’ to
the roots of the plants. 8. It prevents “‘ freezing out,” “ heay-
ing out,” or “winter killing.” 9. It prevents injury from
drought. 10. It improves the quantity and quality of crop; it
increases the effect of manures. 11. It prevents rust in wheat,
and rot in potatoes. These advantages are not suppositions,
but are proved by the actual experience of intelligent men,
which is given in detail.

In the second part of the book are given practical directions
for the location, cutting and laying of the various kinds of
drains, according to the position and quality of the land;
modes of preventing and removing obstructions in drains; de-
scriptions of the tools, the various improved plows, and other
inventions used in the operations; and of the several kinds of
tile, their respective advantages, and minute directions for their
manufacture, including the selection and working of the ma-
terials, molding, drying and baking of the tile, etc., ete.

The whole is illustrated with nearly a hundred engravings of
sections of drains, tile, implements, etc.

The work is thorough and comprehensive, and supplies the
farmer with all the information which he must possess before
he can intelligently and profitably commence operations. It
ought to be in the hands of every farmer in the country.

It is handsomely printed, and well bound in cloth.

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ee

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Aspect (Mrs. L. G.) Skillful Houséwife..........2:cctcceccecres San)
Agriculturists’ Calculator, Land Measuring, Drainage, etc., Glasgow. .2 25
peren (o> Fisk)Om the Culture of the Grapes:: oo) dss eca cee se 1 08
Bera ane sy)’ Wagan Arehiteanures Sols 25. oes Foe tone tn ean Lao
pennee( ty, Ee); Ammentan Barmy BOOK? . «150 cssese ose a cdsecdse tee 1 00
Auten (R. L.) Diseases of Domestic Animals.:.....::......-23-- 75
Pirericin Farmers’ Hineyelopredige: ess. a. secret eset pe tate emoees 400
Panvrreart es 1oristey GMIGes sos. ess shoe css aene Medics Oace mats pas
Arcuer (T. C.) Economic Botany, colored plates, Zondon.........1 75
Armstrone (John) A Treatise on Agriculture.........e.eeeeeees 50
Batrour (J:H.):~ Botanists’ ‘Companion, Zondon. .. 2... ...02.50 75
Barrour (J.H.) Manual of Botany, London......... yee oe Atte eo
Renter eG as Bratt Carteret ets oo Sato teil crew oo be Ste delete aaheres Shen 1 25
Baucuer (T.) Breaking and Training of Horses............++% «+. 1 25
Brcx (Lewis C.) Botany of the United States............2.-eueee- 1 25
Bercuer (H.W.) Fruits, Flowers and Farming ..........+-+e--e- 125
Bement (C.N.) The American Poulterer’s Companion.........-.-. 125
Bemenr (CcN.). Rabpit Fanciers ests SOOT ete eye seer 50
Brae (John 4s.)+ ‘Farmer at “Homers 008022 25 os ate ee ee Sore 1:25
Buake (J.S.) Every Day Book, or Life in the Country............ 225
Boussincaurt (J. B:) «Rural Hednomy 224/002. Setar s eer ae een 125
Breck (Joseph) Book of Flowers.........++..-- er ee eksaie cle ore 1 00
Bripceman (Thos.) Young Gardener’s Assistant.............see-- 1 50
Bripceman (Thos.) Kitchen Gardener’s Instructor..........+.+--- 60
HPrwceman (Thos) -Florist’s Guides. JON ee LS eas + 60
BripceMaNn (Thos.) Fruit Cultivator’s Manual...........eseee ci 2
Browne. American Bird Fancier..........ccccccvecvcceseccecess 50
Browne. American Poultry Yard... 0)... 0000s Sec cee cece ees 1 00
Brown (D. J.) Trees of America...... ccc ccccc cress cceccvceces 450

2 / LIST OF AGRICULTURAL WORKS.

Brown (Thos.) The Taxidermist Manual, Edinburgh..........++. $1 00
Bucuanan (Robert) On Grape Culture, and Lonewortu (N.) On
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Buist (Robert) American Flower Garden Directory........-...++- 1 25
Burst (Robert) Family Kitchen Gardener........--sececeeeeeeee 75
Buist (Robert) The Rose Manual....... a eee mon ee 75
Burt (Judge) The Farmer’s Instructor, 2 vols.,...-..--++++eeeee: 1 00
Burt (Judge) The Farmer’s Companion....... 2 baja ile Nivin sem aga 75
CampBELL (J.L.) Practical Agriculture.........eceseccceencceces 1 00
Carson (J.C. L.) The Form of the Horse, Dublin........++++20+- 75
Catitow (A.) Greenhouse Botany, colored plates, London....,..... 1 75
CatLow (A.) Field Botany, colored plates, London........see+++0+ 175
CatLow (A.) Garden Botany, colored plates, London..........+++. 175
Crom and Youarr on the Horse, London, .. << .06 seseersscbsuatecss 88
Cuartat’s Agricultural Chemistry......scccccccccccccccccccceves 50
Cuortton (Wm.) Grape Growers’ Guide. .....ct-esecccccesscees 60
CuaTrer’s Farriery, edited by Spooner, London......... 14 alin i ped I 25
CLEAVELAND and Backus. Village and Farm Cottages.......«....- 2 00
Cosserr’s American Gardener... oo0socaneseancavicisia dh sae nat veee OO
Cock (M. J.) The American Poultry Book............ «ind as he 35
Core (S.W.) American Fruit Book... + .«sesccsasadssesesenauaue 50
Corx (8S. W.) American Veterinarian... »s .,0:0)s'9.00s,08 ¢arne 4s Benen 50
CoLeman(W.S.) Our Woodlands, Heaths and Hedges, colored plates,
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Cottage and Farm Bee-keeper..........- 142.9 (medetiateles aaa 50
Couttas (Herman) What We may oo from a Tree..«..«....-<«.1 00
Curtis (John) Farm Insects, Glasgow. .......2sceeeecseees j++ -8 50
Dapp (Geo, HH.) Modern, Horse Doctor qs :6iduision.0nch ooh: tele pidge 1 00
Dapp (Geo. H.) American Cattle Doctor.............-+¢ A sidaadias 1 00
Davp (Geo. H.) Anatomy and Physiology of the Horse, plain plates. 2 00
The same work, colored plates... ..csssccdscocseccssvesscess 4 00
Dana (Samuel H.) Muck Manual...... Rinisidhiey siicwajéreld > eee 1 00
Daruineton’s American Weeds and Useful Plants........---+0e0se: 1 50
Dawseny (Dr.) Geography of Plants, colored plates, London....... 175
DeLaMer (E.S.) The Kitchen and Flower Garden, London........- 65
Dixon (E. 8S.) Domestic and Ornamental Poultry, plain plates....... 1 00
The same work, colored plates... oi sn 40 wees a somes e e she deem 2 00 -
Downine (A.J.) Cottage Residences......-.e.eeeseceercee + +, asi 2.00
Downe (A.J.) The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America........... 1 50
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Downixe (A.J.) Lindley’s Horticulture............6-.. eet

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Doy.e (Martin) Book of Domestic Poultry, colored plates, London.1 25
Eastwoop (Benj.) On the Cultivation of the Cranberry............ 50
EpcewortH (Mrs.) Southern Gardener and Receipt Book.......... 1 25
Exuiorr (F. R.) Western Fruit Book...........0..0sceccedeucees 1.235
Emerson (Geo. B.) Trees and Shrubsof Massachusetts............ 2 00
English Forests and Forest Trees, Zondon..........0.seeeceeeecee 175
Farmers’ Practical Horse Farrier... .......0...00eeccccecccse. re
FessENDEN (T. G.) Complete Farmer and Gardener............... 1%
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Peete: C hed, W.) Pear Calture: 5027. cS Srl hess Aad dacegoe 1 00
Fiint (Chas. L.) On Grasses and Forage Plants..........0.2.2.... 1 25
Fuint (Chas. L.) Milch Cows and Dairy Farming................. 125
Bence ( Henry F.) -- Farm Drainage... 2.5. 64. oie deen Satie ss 5 os i 00
RaerCW...1.): . Artificial Fish Breeding 2 .:i..0.ce.. 5 20's e ot oe ve od due ols 75
Gardeners’ and Farmers’ Reason Why, London............0e00ee0. 75
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Genny (Geo.) The Culture of Fruits and Vegetables, London...... 1 50
Guenny (Geo.) The Culture of Flowers and Plants, London........ 1 50
Gurenny (Geo.) Manual of Practical Gardening, London............ 1 50
Guenny (Geo.) Gardener’s Every Day Book, London.............. 1 50
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Gray (Asa) Manual of Botany. «..2.5...0-00.ceeseaccessecscens 1 50
Gray (Asa) Manual of Botany with Mosses, illustrated..........- 2 50
Gray (Asa) Structural and Systematic Botany............+.+----- 2 00
Gray (Asa) Lessons:in Botany... ..0.2..222 cece cscctecssesess 1 60
Gray (Asa) ‘‘ How Plants Grow’’......6 eee eecereee ceeeeenenes 75
Green (F.H.) Class Book of Botany........2+ee-eeeeeeeeeceee: 1 50
Green (F.H.) Primary Botany......-.-eeeeeee coer eceeeeeeeees 75
Guenon (Francis) On Milch Cows.........-ee-eee eee eee eceees 60
Hare (Mrs.) New Cook Book.........-000-seeetececeecereereee 1 60
Haut (Miss E. M.) American Cookery and Domestic Economy..... 1 00
Harpison (W.C.) Bees and Bee-keeping....-.+.+++-+eeereeeeeee 1 00
Hasxkett (Mrs. E.F.) Housekeepers’ Encyclopedia......-.--++-+- 1 25
Hersert (H. W.) The Dog, by Dinks, Mayhew and Hutchinson... 2 00
Hersert (H. W.) Field Sports inthe United States........-------- 4 50
Hersert (H. W.) Hints to Horse-keepers....---eseeeeeeeeeeeree 1 25
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eA cided or ticle ie SIRT Ss een Seeing we « gig inn Ple hy 10 00

4 LIST OF AGRICULTURAL WORKS.

Hino’s Farrier‘and Stud -Book, by Skinner..." 2S 20020... Se eevee eer

Horses and Hounds, by Scrutator, with Rarey on Horse-taming, Zon.1 25
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JAEGER (Prof.) Life of North American Insects......... PCr ia 125
JENNINGS (Robert) The Horse and his Diseases................00- 1 25
Jonnson (Louisa) Every Lady her own Flower Gardener.......... 50
Jounston (Jas F. W.) The Chemistry of Common Life, 2 vols..... 2 00
Jounston (Jas. F.W.) Elements of Agricultural Chemistry and
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Jounston (Jas. F. W.) Lectures of Agricultural Chemistry.:...... 1 25
Kemp (Edward) ‘On Landseape Gardening. 2.0.00... see oa PE 1 50
Kurppart (John H.) Principles and Practice of Land Drainage. .:...1 25
Kriprart (John H:) “Fhe Wheat Plant: “3222054 208. . i. 0 Pea ee 1 50
Lanestrotu (L. L.) Onthe Hive and Honey Bee........ PiE0 ART 1 25
Lesuiz (Miss) New Cookery Book............... io. SS 125
Leucuar (P. B.) How to Build and Ventilate Hot-houses.......... 125
Lizzie (J.) Agricultural Chemistry...............0.- Sroka 1 00
Lietic (J.) Familiar Lectures on Chemistry. ......0.cccccecsceere 50
Liesie {J.) Letterson Modern Agriculture......... POA a
Ermpsar (Dp: C.4°" Morean’ Prorses< 2 5225522 S02 ee IR i ih be aly.
Lixpsry (W. L.) British Lichens, colored plates, London...... rept hi |
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Loupon (J. ©.) Encyclopedia of Agriculture, London....<..:s....7 50
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Loupon (J. C.) Encyclopedia of Gardening, London.......... ue eee
Loupon (J. C.) Encyclopedia of Plants, London.............200% 13 50
Lounoy (J: 'C.)'* The Villa Gardener, Lonton 08 2 oe eee
McCuriocw. Land Measurer’s Ready Reckoner, Glasgow...:..:... 50
Macxintosn (Charles) Book of the Gardén, 2 vols., London...... 17 00
MoMsiénon. ” “Ameticnn’ Gardener: Serie. tec cence ets oa ere eee 2 30
Maenr (J. H.) How to Choose a good Milk dhe: Glasgow hs S29 amas
Manew (E.) ‘On Dogs, their Diseases and Treatment, London...... 65
Mantw (i.) “Iustfated Hotsée Doctor. To. oo cee os esa w ee eter 250
Marsu (Geo. P.) The Camel, its application to the United States, ete. 63
Mason. Farrier and Stud Book, by Skinner...............- aoe wate 1 00
Mecui (Alderman J. J.) How to Farm Profitably, London......... 75
Mixzsurn (M. M.) On the Cow and Dairy Husbandry........ Be eis,
Mires. On the Horse’s Foot, and How to Keep it Sound........... 50
Miner (T.B.) Bee-kéeper’s Manual...........00. rae ey ie sestesl OO
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Morton (J. C.) Cyclopedia of Agriculture, 2 vols., Glasgow..... 15 00
Morron (W. J.T.) . Veterinary Pharmacy, London................3 15
meen ¢5. >): Practieal Land: Drainery2 iat ge 2055 6 ai eretens bis ate ee 50
eer (0 A.) «> Progressive Farmer, isis. wise se te liieleis dawhewlsis sald 6)
Neixu (Patrick) Fruit, Flower and Kitchen Gardener’s Companion.1 00
Norron (John P.). Elements of Scientific Agriculture............. 6U
Greorn (Heury: SoeSorgho. and: lmiphees.sisiscicc ic oo sieje cine ooielvdye wise 1 00
Qur Farm of Four Acres, and the Money we made by it............ 50
Bren (R-C.).. On Strawberry Culture. stasis Wd. oo 0fd «0h nnlsss alee 60
Pansons.(s,.B.). + The Rose; its Culture, etcisisisiss asials. « oieldie dee aldivls 1 00
Paxton -(J).P.) © Botanical. Dictionary, Londons oa 4. 22 0. «6 aajslivs's etd 5 00
Pepper (James) ..Farmer’s Land Measurer.:.........e0ccceesscescs 50
Quinpy (M.) Mysteries of Bee-keeping Explained..............-. 1 09
feanrpats (Henry. S.). «Sheep ddusbandrynn ay chide cwins ble ae oa dine BS 1 25
Rerremevin (Chas.) Vine Dresser’s Manual... ......-ecesccccnveees 50
Rerron (H.) Landscape Gardening, edited by Loudon, London..... 4 00
Rim: Dictionary,of the Farm Dondoniess. sce sas des ps escent 1 25
Ruinp (Wm.) Vegetable Kingdom, colered plates, Glasgow........ 6 00
Ricuarpson (H. D.) On Dogs, their Origin and Varieties.......... 50
Bavcw (Johw W2)- American: Architect: «.,..0meisdelein de. Wale wabionn eh 6 00
Rircwie (R.) The Farm Engineer, A Treatise on Barn Machinery,
Ch6 Glasgow es IAA REO aie Hideo Wale jd bis Spas 2 eBEN 3 00
favens: (Thos.) > -TheOvrehard, House. ssi. joie... alien apts nynied ante Sm 40
Rospins (R.) Produce and Ready Reckoner.............-2+-200. 60
Roxssie (T.) How to Cultivate and Preserve Celery... .....-..-- 1 60
Runpewu (Mrs.) Domestic Cookery, London... ..esseeeeeereeees 50
Saxton. Rural Handbooks, 4 vols., each.........ceseecenees } dane
Scuenck. Gardener’s Text Book.........00. cee cseesccceececncns 50

Seeman (Dr. B.) Natural History of Palms, colored plates, London. .1 75
Sirsa (C.H.J.) | Landscape Gardening, Parks and Pleasure Grounds. .1 25

Sprincer (J.S.) Forest Life and Forest Trees........-...+-+ e000. 75
Spooner (W.C.) Veterinary Art, London... .....eeeseeecceeecees 75
Srepnens (Henry) Book of the Farm, 2 vols........++-seeeeeeee: 4 00
Srewart (John) Stable Book............e.0ee- sis, bdemak db, orale wbuneeEae 1 00
Srewart (John) Stable Economy, Edinburgh.......... Ae Sips. cats acer 1 7%
SroneHENGE. On the Dog, in Health and Disease........-+++-+++5- 4 50
Talpa, the Chronicles of a Clay Farm........ see eeeeeereeee cerns 75
Tuaer (Albert D.) The Principles of Agriculture... -.++..++++e+-: 2 00
Tuomas (John J.) Farm Implements... .....seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 1 690
Tuomas (John J.) American Fruit Culturist.........-.- alg antaecamaae 1 25
Tuompson (R. D.) On the Food of Animals.....-.seee.seeeeeeres 75
Tomson (Robert) Gardener’s Assistant, Glasgow. ..+se+eseeveres .8 50

Tuomson (S.) Wild Flowers, colored plates, LONGO Riak «0 kscawe eee 1 00

6 LIST OF AGRICULTURAL WORKS.

Topp (S. E.) Young Farmer’s Manual and Workshop............ $1 25
Turner (J. A.) Cotton Planter’s Manual...... , etdhaeds 20d eee 1 00
Vaux (Calvert) . Villas:and. Cottages. i <i. .aeseds. (1.5. ae cee 2 00
Vegetable Substances used for the Food of Man........eee.eeseeee 45
Warnen: (J. H.).. Sot).Cultares «0 a<0nitiding doe elas sat Gs Only eee 1 00
WatsH (Dr.) English Cookery Book, London.........2..0004 oe 75
Watsu (Dr.) Economical Housekeeper, London........+.ee2+e0ee: 1 00
Watsu (Dr.) Manual of Domestic Economy, Lendon........ os eon
Wagover (J. A.). Hedges and Evergreens.........secesecceees » soph 8
Wanrine (Geo. E. jr.) Elements of Agriculture. ......c.e0c008 2 sis 75
Watson (Alex.) The American Home Garden...-....eseeeeeseees 150
Wess (James) The Farmer’s Guide, Glasgow. ......sccccesccevees 75
Wrexe (John. M.). . Manual on Béeased, 6.0.06ic0 ws scans penis 50
WueeExer (G.). ._Homes for the People. 2.0.0. 60. esenean sce cel om eale 1 50
Warre (John) Rural Architectures «26... 00 ssiais vice ote oie Sicha ‘ores 13 00
Wuirr (W.N.) Gardening for the South... .........seseeeeceees 1 25
Wippirizcrep. New: Cook Book:!..... .s\<..sesess ox mepiclsis staple slab eee 1 00
Witson (John). -Our Farm Crops, London. ... 02.6 sceccscessssscces 2 00

Wixson (John M.) The Farmer’s Dictionary, 2 vols., Edinburgh. ..12 00
Woop (J. G.) Common Objects of the Country, colored plates, Lon 1 00

Yale Agricultural Lectures... .......eeceeee cr ceesceccccessccnens 50
Youarr (W.) On the Horse, enlarged by E. N. Gabriel, London... .3 25
Youatt (W.) On the Pig, edited by Sidney, London.............. 1 25
Youatr, (W.):., Om Sheep, .6 ons -weava sve ve Velen bien Vie = icone one
Youatt (W.) and Martin. On Cattle.......ceeeecceccrevcevenes 1 25
Youatt (W.) and Martin. On the Hog.......ccccescecsssscoees 75
Youarr (W.) and Ranpaty. Shepherd’s Own Book............... 2 00

Youatt (W.) and Spooner. On the Horse.........seeeeeesecceees 1 25

ROBERT CLARKE & CO. Yi
BRITISH PERIODICALS.

List of the most important British Periodicals, relating to Agriculture,
Horticulture, etc., and the subscription price per annum at which they are
supplied:

Cottage Gardener (weekly)........seeeseeeees evidd liv hie cgp'ew wowate $5 00
Curtis’ Botanical Magazine (monthly).....0.sssscevcsecsncecacccs 13 50
Edinburgh Veterinary Review (quarterly)........scccecsccccceees 4 00
Maemrors Lignatd (monthly) 0 sis.000 save ees aceh seebuslescceseete de. 1 50
Beemiets Marazing. (monthly )ie\ oo: o6.cidis sy die e's sishe sulele's'eitiela’ dale ate 8 00
Floral Magazine (monthly)... .....0sscsccecses Bieiehele’s. 6 starsgie vis Bien 9 00
Pioral World (monthly)... 0050s eee05 6 See Cee ‘new ats --.1 50
Florist, Fruitest, etc. (Turner’s), (monthly)....... sap ite olan eee aon 4 00
Gardeners’ Chronicle (weekly)...........0.0. Pr, ue Re fr 9 00
Gardeners’ and Farmers’ Journal (weekly).....ccccccsecccsssess 10 00
Gardeners’ Weekly Magazine...,........... eT eRe ree 2 50
Glenny’s Gardeners’ Gazette (monthly)....... its ore aha A a a-ainied agin 1 35
Gosnp forine Gandew (monthly).60e sic iva od cess WN alee was es 2 00
Quarterly Journal of Agriculture..........ccccccsscccceves iuevew 4 00
Pratackh Gardeuer (monthly iiss ced. Sash. sewamated dasa cess bad 2 06
ESET MEAP IARNCIOUIULY) go <iss sien siae'Gela Maveiae aolee > eid’. are eeina ees 6 00

ROBERT CLARKE & CO.,
Publishers, Booksellers and Importers,
CINCINNATI, OHIO.

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