'Tile Drainage. 103 



Mr. Nicolai. — No, I stated that less fall may do. 



The Chaii'inan. — One inch to the hundred feet will do, if you 

 have fine work enough. 



Mr, Arnold. — In tiling, will the siphon principle work — is it 

 tight enough? 



Mr. Nicolai. — Yes, in clay land, you can get it tight enough to 

 draw out water, but it won't do you any good. You let in the 

 air, and it will spoil your crop before you can get the water out. 

 I have seen it worked in tiling with clay. 



Q. — Didn't you find it essential to lay the tile so that there will 

 not be any depression where the water will fill up? 



Mr. Nicolai. — I never laid any where I had depression in the 

 tile.. 



Mr. Wing. — In Ohio, when we trusted to the colored brother 

 to lay tile, he would have a low place in the ditch and the water 

 would stand clear up; if you don't see it in time you will have 

 to dig it out. It does not hurt so much where there is a strong 

 current, but where there is just a little shower that will carry 

 in a little earth, after a while it will harden there and fill it up. 



The Chairman. — You don't want any willow, cottonwood or 

 elm trees growing near your tile. They will get in through the 

 small openings and obstruct it. 



Mr. Nicolai. — Hadn't you better include all trees? 



The Chairman. — Maybe, but oak won't bother. 



Mr. Arnold. — Is not underdraining just as good where it is 

 made out of stone as out of tile? 



Mr. Nicolai. — Yes, but it is a great deal more expensive. The 

 first drainage I did was of stone, and it cost me about a dollar 

 a rod, but it was done in good workmanlike manner, so it is a 

 good drain to-daj^ and I think it was put in eighteen years ago; 

 before we had any tile factories in our section. 



Mr. Wing.— Hasn't that drain got lots of fall? 



Mr. Nicolai, — No, it has no more fall than my tile, I don't 

 think more than half an inch to the rod, and some places not 

 that much, but I can tell you how I put it in. It was a low, 



