FAKMERS' IXSTITUTES. 195 



evaporate during the early spring and summer. A fourth would perhaps want 

 now and then a small tile drain, laid two or two and a half feet deep, in the 

 smaller hollows, if the land were not an entire dead level ; Avliile a fifth would 

 not be satisfied with anything less than a good system of thorough drainage, 

 with tiles put in from forty to sixty feet apart, and from three to four feet deep. 

 The others would stand aghast at such an outlay of expense, and very skep- 

 tically declare, "I don't believe it will pay,"' 



We "svill start out with a comparison of an open drain and a tile drain of the 

 same depth (and it costs double to put down a tile drain four feet deep that it 

 does three feet deep, so that the disadvantage is on the side of the tile drain) : 

 First is the excavation. In a tile drain (fifteen inches being wide enough, and 

 four feet deep) we have to remove 3.056 cubic yards of earth, nearly, to the rod, 

 and replace it after laying the tile, making G.112 cubic yards of earth to be 

 moved altogether ; and every one knows that it can be put back as easily again 

 as it can be taken out, so that the work would only be equal to excavating 4.1 

 cubic yards. In the open drain of the same depth, viz., four feet, dug with 

 sides at an angle of 45° so as to stand, and one foot ^nde on bottom, there 

 must be taken out 12 2-27 cubic yards of earth, or about three times as much 

 work to dig the oj^en drain as to dig and fill a tile drain of the same depth. 



Then in order to have the land well drained, the open drains should be as 

 close as the tile drains to produce the same result. Suppose we take drains 40 

 feet apart, it will take 60 rods of drain on an acre ; and if, as we have shown, 

 it takes 12 2-27 cubic yards excavating against 4.1 to the rod in favor of tile 

 drain (and without saying anything about leveling the unsightly ridges that are 

 scattered over the field where the open drains are dug, before we can cultivate), 

 there is a difference of nearly eight cubic yards of earth per rod to move, and 

 on 66 rods this would make 528 cubic yards to move on one acre more than iu 

 putting down tile drain. If we double the distance between drains, then there 

 will be half this difference, or 264 cubic yards. The moving of 528 cubic yards 

 of earth, and leveling would more than offset against the ],089 (or in round 

 numbers the 11,000) 12-inch tile required to lay an acre, and which cost about 

 $11 exclusive of drawing. 



We will next proceed to consider the amount of land that lies idle in the open 

 drains. If we dig four feet deep and one foot on bottom, according to the rule 

 ^'To twice the depth add the width on the bottom for the width on top," it 

 "will give a ditch nine feet wide on top ; and add one foot more for margin in 

 cultivation, we have on one acre a strip of land 66 rods in length and 10 feet 

 wide, or just 40 square rods, — one fourth of the land. If the drains are 80 feet 

 apart, one-eighth of the land idle. 



But why drain so deeply? many will ask. A majority, perhaps, think it 

 nearly useless Avork, and not economy. Yet they Avould give their stock the 

 best kind of care and feed, forgetting that jilants must feed on deep, porous soil, 

 and soil that is not saturated Avith Avater ; for where soil is saturated Avitli Avater 

 the plants soon grow sickly and pale, and their rootlets do not go down and 

 ramify through three or four feet of soil if in that condition. Many of you would 

 be astonished, may be, if I should tell you that the students at our Agricultural 

 College, Avhile in pursuit of their studies, dug up cloAcr that had penetrated to 

 the depth of four feet in clay soil ; and wheat roots I saAV 3 feet and 2 inches in 

 length, and broken off at that. This Avas on a well-drained ridge, and Avhere 

 the roots had ample chance for feeding. Almost all our plants root very 

 much deeper than people generally suppose, and one of the best means of know- 



