304 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



various means supplied by nature for disposing of the surplus water have been 

 exhausted, there yet remains a large portion of our agricultural lands, which, 

 either from the nature of the soil, or the land lying so level, or other causes-, 

 that are too much saturated with water for the growth of vegetation, and 

 which require some method of artificial drainage to make these lands remu- 

 nerative to the agriculturist. 



There is a certain amount of moisture necessary to the early growth and 

 maturing of vegetation. When lands retain beyond that amount, they 

 become cold and sour, and seeds will not germinate and grow. The quicker 

 and more thoroughly you can dispose of the surplus water, the sooner your 

 seeds will grow and mature. You can not under-drain land so much that 

 there will not be moisture enough left in the soil for the growtii of vegetation^ 

 If you should take a quantity of dirt and place it on a wire sieve, or screen, 

 and thoroughly saturate it with water, then let it drain all it will, it will 

 then be in just the right stage of moisture to receive the seed. Land becomes 

 too dry from evaporation caused by the heat of the sun. You can not make 

 land too dry by under-draining; on the contrary, land that is well pulverized 

 and thoroughly under-drained, will hold sufficient moisture for the growth of 

 vegetation much longer than where the water is allowed to stand until it. 

 evaporates. 



From the above facts we learn that it is of the greatest importance to 

 remove, by some artificial means, the surplus water as quickly and thoroughly 

 as possible ; and, also, I want to impress upon all farmers the importance of 

 thorough cultivation, the necessity of often stirring the soil, and keeping it 

 well pulverized, thereby assisting nature to retain moisture in the soil. The 

 best method of disposing of this surplus water must largely depend on circum- 

 stances. In some instances an open ditch might be best, but it is generally 

 conceded that a system of under-draining, or of blind ditching, is more prefer- 

 able. The amount of ditch necessary to drain land must largely depend on 

 the nature of the soil of the land to be drained. Some clay soils might require 

 a ditch every two rods; in other soils a single ditch might drain a field of five 

 acres or more. Ditches should be near enough together to drain the land 

 thoroughly, and of about three feet in depth, and where it can be obtained, 

 round tile from three to six inches in diameter should be used for the water 

 course; boards and stone are frequently used, but are not as durable. Boards 

 will soon decay, and stone cannot be so laid but that in a few years they will fill 

 with dirt and require taking up. A very little fall will carry off the water, or 

 even a dead level with a good outlet will drain land. Yet, it is of the utmost 

 importance that the bottom of the ditch be made on a true line, with no dips 

 or sags for sand and dirt to collect in. With the right kind of tools a ditch 

 may be made about sixteen inches at top, and just wide enough at bottom to 

 receive the tile. The tile should be laid straight, and joints kept as perfect as 

 possible, so that dirt will not work in. Fill in ditch about six inches with any 

 soil but sand, and pack it thoroughly around the tile, then the ditch may be 

 filled in any manner that it can be done witli the least expense. 



I have put in about two hundred rods of tile the past year; about seventy of 

 it was to drain low places in a heavy, gravelly clay soil. The tile was laid from 

 two and a half to four feet deep, and it has thorougiily drained the land. The 

 balance was laid to drain a marsh of about two acres. I had to make an out- 

 let of about twenty rods from two and a half to five feet deep, then I run a 

 ditch about three feet deep around the marsh near enough to the edge to- 

 secure a hard bottom for the tile. It has drained all the lower part of the 



