Tile Dkainage. 101 



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it; I can make good use of it." But the next year and the next 

 year after, when he went by there and found magnificent crops 

 of corn, such as he had never seen on my farm before, he went to 

 tiling, and he has buried four times as much money as I did. 



Mr. Briggs. — In a very heavy clay soil, how close together 

 would you have to put the tile, and how deep? 



Mr. Nicolai. — Where it is very stiff clay I would put the tile 

 down two rods apart and four feet deep, if you can get them 

 down so deep — if they have fall enough. 



Mr. Briggs. — Will the water ever soak down to them? 



Mr. Mcolai. — Yes, if they are covered with loose soil first. 



Q. — Don't you put something over before you put on the loose 

 soil? 



Mr. Nicolai. — No. If it is quicksand, I put marsh hay or straw 

 over it, simply to keep the sand from coming in after I have 

 covered it. Quicksand won't run unless there is some water. I 

 have taken up tiles that were laid in quicksand when I put them 

 in trenches where it was too wet, and in all the tiles I have taken 

 up I never found a tile filled with sand. If they are laid properly, 

 so there is a gradual fall, what little sediment runs in at the 

 joints the water will continually carry out at the outlet. 



Q. — Suppose the land is blue clay. W^ould you put the tile 

 down four feet? 



Mr. Nicolai. — No, I don't think it would be any advantage. 



Mr. Arnold. — It would not be worth draining if it were blue 

 clay, would it? 



The Chairman. — Yes, it would. I know of some land that is 

 blue clay land with a little black soil on top of it. 



Mr. Nicolai. — I would take that little black soil and shove it 

 down on top of the tile and fill the trench up with mixed blue 

 clay and black soil; that will drain it off in good shape. It is 

 the black soil that furnishes the good drainage above the tile. 



The Chairman. — Many people are skeptical about this thing, 

 just as I was. I had read a great deal about tile draining, about 



