FARMEES' INSTITUTES. 199 



extent. The tile should be sufficiently large to carry off the water. I lay my 

 tile from eighteen inches to three feet under gronncl, and abont four rods apart. 

 I had one field that was imperfectly drained. I sowed to wheat, and got al:)out 

 three bushels to the acre. I never had got a crop on it that paid for the labor. 

 I drained thoroughly, and planted to corn about the middle of June. I then 

 sowed to wheat, and got 27 bushels to the acre. Care should be taken to not 

 lay three-inch tile Avliere six-inch are required to carry off the water. 



J. ^y. Helm, Adrian. — Six or seven years ago I went about half a mile from 

 the city and purchased a piece of land on the bank of the river for a fruit and 

 vegetalDle garden. Tliis field of five acres descended towards the river, and the 

 highest portion of the ground was tenaciously hard clay. I drained this ground 

 thoroughly, and I found that in the hard clay it increased the earliness of the 

 vegetables in my garden from ten days to two weeks. In addition to the drain- 

 age I manured this ground highly. Furthermore, I tried to see how much I 

 could raise on this ground. I set my apple trees about three rods apart. 

 Then pear trees about twenty feet apart. Between each pear tree I shoved in 

 a peach tree, between each peach tree a Concord grape, and between these black 

 raspberries ; and between the trees I cultivated vegetables. AYhen my apple 

 trees got to bearing the result was ten or fifteen barrels of apples, twenty-five or 

 thirty bushels of raspberries, and two tons of grapes. The vegetables which I 

 grew there were immense. I think that a great deal of my success came from 

 tiling. It not only enabled me to get my vegetables in earlier in the season, 

 but it prevented the manures from being washed off from the top by the heavy 

 rains. The water would settle into the drains and come out clear. Just as 

 quick as the frost is out of the ground the water finds its way into the drains, 

 and my garden is ready for the plow. 



L. C. Drake of Madison. — The question with most of us is not one of per 

 cent and profit, for we have been satisfied in regard to that for some time ; but 

 it is a question of labor, — how we can get it done at all. In the section where 

 I live very few men are al)le or willing to dig ditches. Wliile good farm labor 

 can be procured for one dollar per day, it is impossible to get effective workers 

 to dig ditches, even at two dollars per day. 



Mr. Helm. — I will state that I put down my own tile. I first ran a furrow 

 with the plow, then turned and ran a furrow the other way. I made the ditch, 

 about two feet deep, and then there was very little digging to be done. 



Mr. Ingersoll. — In regard to filling the ditch. Prof. Gulley uses a broad 

 scraper made of plank, with which one man with a team can do more filling 

 than six men can with shovels. 



Mr. Moore. — I would ask how much fall is necessary in order to have a drain 

 work well? 



Mr. Drake. — If I could get a fall of a foot or two to the mile I would drain, 

 provided I had an outlet that would not dam up. 



Burton Kent. — My experience has been mostly confined to drainage in the 

 city, and we consider if we can get a foot fall in 450 feet that is a pretty good 

 fall. I have no doubt that a foot to the mile would be sufficient to drain our 

 farm lands, because you have the pressure from above. If you put your tile 

 down four feet, you have the pressure at the surface, which is equivalent to four 

 feet fall. 



Calvin Craine, Adrian. — I have had veiy little experience myself in tile drain- 

 ing. Am of the opinion, however, that the laying of tile may be made very 

 profitable to the farmers who have low lands which need draining. In fact I 



