120 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



I have two i)iecos of land joining each other witli only a fence between them, 

 one of which has been cropped for a number of years; tlie other on account 

 of dampness has never been cropped till lately. A few years ago I cut several 

 drains through the damp piece containing three acres, and imniediately com- 

 menced cropping it. It has since yielded very large crops of corn and oats. 

 One year oats were sown upon both pieces and the result was, on the damp 

 piece over GO bushels per acre while on the dry one about 30 was all I got. 

 Here we see a piece of laud that as it naturally was yielded only grass and 

 that not so well as now, brought to grow various kinds of crops at more than 

 double the rate of the dry piece. There is also another advantage, that a 

 change of crop can now be given to both pieces which could not be done be- 

 fore. An incident might be mentioned here concerning one of the drains. 

 In its course it passed a willow tree at a distance of about 15 feet from its base, 

 and the ilne roots from the tree completely filled the three-inch tile in two 

 years so that it was necessary to take up the tile and clear it for a distance of 

 over 3 rods. These roots were very fine, thread-like fibers, and in number 

 simply countless. They came into the tile at every joint and ran with the 

 current until the tile was full. Since this experience I allow no willow tree to 

 grow near a drain. 



In draining a farm there should be some system in view so that every tile 

 may drain as great a surface as possible. The cost of drainage is an item 

 worth considering, and drains should be carefully planned so as to reach the 

 desired end with the least outlay of labor and expense. I know a farm of 80 

 acres upon which there is considerably over three miles of drain, and still a 

 large part of it is without drains. There are places where the drains converge 

 to a point something in the form of the spokes of a wagon wheel ; other 

 places where for some distance they approach each other and then run so near 

 together for a distance that one drain might do the work of two. This is a 

 waste of labor and expense. If the owner had had in view some system at 

 the commencement and as fast as was practicable followed out that system, it 

 seems to me the same amount of drains might have done much more good. 

 The system need not necessarily be completed at once, but may be advanced 

 toward completion with each additional drain as circumstances allow. The 

 different conditions under which drains must be built, and the difference in 

 the lay of the land as we say, will make it impossible to map out a series of 

 drains that would suit every farm. The owner must use his judgment and 

 build where he thinks best ; but as a general rule I may say that one large drain 

 should be cut running across the foot of the incline to be drained, and large 

 enough to carry the water from the entire system, then at various intervals 

 branches may be constructed. The drains should as far as possible be without 

 angles, and as nearly parallel to each other as practicable throughout their en- 

 tire length ; the branches should not be joined at right angles to the main line 

 but should join it obliquely. The branches should run directly down the slope 

 to be drained. A very little fall is enough to form a swift current in a drain 

 cut in a straight line. 



The fall of some of the great rivers of the world is surprisingly small. The 

 Amazon river of South America has only 13 feet fall in the last 700 miles of 

 its course, — less than one foot fall in fifty miles, — yet it has a current strong 

 enough to carry an amount of sediment into the sea that colors its waters for 

 a distance of 300 miles from its mouth. The entire fall of the Mississippi 

 river, with its length of 4,100 miles, is only 1,500 feet, and part of this is lost 

 in cataracts and rapids. Warren says a declivity of three inches per mile is 



