336 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



place, and this cold water from below is brought up by capillary attraction to 

 take its place, and this process continues until the next storm. Note the dif- 

 ference ; tiie one process bringing up cold water from below keeps tlie soil cold, 

 Avhile tlie other carrying water from tlio surface downward warms it to a 

 greater depth. Suppose a drouth comes on ; the rootlets of the plant have 

 not gone below this water line and consequently are more liable to injury than 

 where uuder-drainage has prepared the earth to a greater depth for plant life, 

 and the rootlets may be found two or three feet below the surface. 



But in this age, arguments in favor of drainage can hardly be necessary. 

 Every man of any observation has settled that question and he has, troubling 

 him, only these ([uestions : How shall I drain, and can I afford it? ^Vill it 

 pay? Tliese are questions that every man of common sense and good judg- 

 ment must settle for himself after considering his situation. It is not every 

 man who can afford to under-drain his farm at once, and very many must con- 

 tent themselves with surface drainage until they can better their condition, or 

 jierhaps until the stumps are out of their farms, or until suitable outlets can 

 be secured, etc. I believe that under-drainage as a rule will pay twenty per 

 cent on its cost in increased production ; but notwithstanding that, I would 

 not advise farmers to run in debt for under-drainage, but would advise them to 

 keep it constantly in mind and as fast as they can, without incurring debt, put 

 it in practice. It would cost but little for one to determine a system of drain- 

 age for i)is farm, and that once done, work can be put in from time to time 

 as opportunity offers of working out this system, so that when it sliall be 

 linally completed it will be a perfect system of drainage for the farm. There 

 is nothing where previous calculation and systematic work pays better than in 

 under-draining. If one contemplates engaging in it I should say, first, buy 

 one or more books treating on that subject and study the subject. There are 

 three, perhaps more, good books on this subject within every farmer's reach, 

 at a cost of about a dollar or a dollar and a half each : French on Drainage, 

 Klippart, and Waring, and either one of them is a full instructor. If one 

 should buy all three iie would be likely to find some ideas in each not found in 

 the others, and it will be money well invested if he will study them carefully. 

 The next step is to settle upon the place or places for outlets and take the lev- 

 els of the farm. Where the services of a civil engineer can be secured it will 

 cost but a trifle to have those levels taken on cross lines, say every iifty feet, 

 and marked on a map. When this is done you know exactly what you have 

 to do. Your farm, so far as you propose to drain it, is mapped in fifty feet 

 squares, and the relative height of each is marked at the intersection of these 

 lines. When you come to dig your drains you know precisely the depth you 

 must go at each point to give a uniform fall, and the saving of labor and the 

 avoiding of mistakes by this course will make the leveling of the very first 

 consequence. 



In our clay soils, in digging the ditch to lay tile, I would advise three feet 

 as the most desirable depth. At tiio same cost, four feet would be better, but 

 the additional foot increases the cost, in my judgment, beyond the advantages. 

 If you conclude to dig three feet, make your ditch twenty inches wide on the 

 surface and four inches wide at the bottom. You will remove in opening this 

 ditch three cubic feet of earth for every one foot in length of the ditch. Of 

 course, you will use ditching tools. There is one which I have never seen on 

 the market, which might be called the finishing tool, and which I regard as so 

 essential that I will describe it. Supi)ose a length of stove-pipe four inches in 

 diameter, thirty inches long, cut in the middle longitudinally. The half of 



