LECTURES A:ND ESSAYS READ AT INSTITUTES. 301 



In scientific research, or ancient or modern experience, nothing has been 

 found so effectual as artificial drainage in some form or other. Tlio soils of 

 this county are quite variable in their surface texture, but the substrata is 

 almost universally clay, and whatever the surface developments are, they 

 usually hang out their sign of distress when they are, in nautical parlance, 

 water-logged, by a stinted growth of water weeds, or wild or water grass ; or 

 in time of drouth, by a shriveled and gaping surface, often in a stitf clay soil, 

 opening cracks sufficiently broad for small animals to fall into. 



These defects in nature are largely remedied by what we call artificial 

 drainage. Drainage may be and is performed in various manners, with more 

 or less success. On the level prairies of the west, where the grade and fall are 

 uniform, drainage is quite successfully performed with what is called a drain 

 or mould plow, so constructed that with sufficient force it can be drawn 

 through the earth at a depth of two feet, more or less, leaving a perforation 

 of two to three inches for the escape of surplus water, whicli is said to do quite 

 good work for several years. It is also practiced in some localities by the use 

 of the common plow or spade, or both, in opening up a trench which is filled 

 partly full of small stones or brush, or both, as the case may be, and then 

 covered by returning the eartli originally thrown out. Such drains, when 

 proper care has been taken to have a continuous fall with a good outlet, have 

 been known to do effectual work for quite a term of years, sufficiently long at 

 least to amply pay for the cost of construction, for we assume that such 

 drains will not be constructed except where small stone are found plenty, and 

 then the drainer realizes a double profit by making a drain and getting rid of 

 the stone. 



They may also be constructed in another manner quite cheaply where timber 

 is plenty, by digging the trench to within six inches of the required depth, 

 sixteen inches wide, taking the last spading out of the center of the trench, 

 leaving a shoulder of five inches on each side, which can be covered with 

 shakes or shingles split for the purpose and laid crosswise over the last open- 

 ing, and then covered over or re-filled by returning the dirt originally tlirown 

 out. 



But by far the most practical system of drainage, in our opinion, is that 

 performed by the use of tiles made from the very soil most needing their 

 extensive use. Having had some experience in the manufacture of tile, I 

 think I can safely recommend thetn for general use when properly manufac- 

 tured. There are drains in my neighborhood that were constructed twenty 

 years ago by using horse-shoe drain tiles of my manufacture that are doing 

 even more effectual work than when first constructed. 



The cost of draining an acre of land rod for rod with horse-shoe tile or 

 round or sole tile will vary but little, as the digging and covering would be the 

 same in either case; the final results might be different. It is our opinion 

 that a drain made of horse-slioe tile will absorb and get rid of a given quan- 

 tity of water quicker than any other kind ; but it is claimed by those having 

 used the other kinds, namely, round and sole tiles extensively, that they take 

 the water quick enough to effectually relieve the soil of all surplus water 

 within their reach. The cost of draining an acre of land must depend upon 

 the kind and condition of the soil, and the depth of the drain, very stiff clay 

 requiring drains to be more frequent than more open or porous soils; but for 

 ordinary practical farming purposes where the soil may be relieved soon euougli 

 to avoid injuring any ordinary crop, allow me to read an extract from a 

 paper on drainage, taken from the report of the Michigan Board of Agricult- 



