Tile Draixage. 99 



from the ditch on the lower side for a dike. It requires a little 

 repairing every springy but aside from that it has worked to 

 perfection. 



The crops raised on this piece of land the past few years have 

 been the admiration of the whole neighborhood. The crop this 

 last year was a fair yield of early Ohio potatoes, followed by a 

 heavy crop of fodder corn, which, in turn, was followed by winter 

 wheat. At the first of the year the wheat was in good condition, 

 but of course it is now killed, owing to the severe winter. 



Another Experiment. 



My last experiment was on fifteen acres of border land along 

 the Fox river. It was too low to admit of any fall to the river 

 except when the river was very low. I dug an open ditch, six 

 feet wide at the top, two feet at the bottom and three feet deep, 

 along the lower side of the piece to be drained, to receive the 

 water from the tile drains. The earth was all put on the river side 

 of the ditch for a dike, to prevent the water overflowing the land 

 in case of high water. I also dug an open ditch from the river to 

 the dike, connecting it with the first open ditch by means of a 

 flume, which passes under the dike and can be opened or closed, 

 as the case may require. When the river is low, I keep the flume 

 open; when it rises so as to set back into the open ditch, I close 

 the flume to prevent its filling the ditch, and what water collects 

 in the ditch can be pumped out over the dike. 



In this way any level marsh can be reclaimed, and it need not 

 cost more than |25 per acre. The larger the piece drained, the 

 less the expense per acre for diking and pumping. The following 

 hints will be useful to those inexperienced in tiling. 



Practical Suggestions. 



First, get the fall of the land, and then lay the drains in a sys- 

 tematic way. Never lay the tiles less than three feet deep ; four 

 feet is better. If tiling is let by the job see to it that it is done 

 according to agreement, and always inspect the work before the 

 tiles are covered. 



