246 



Bulletin 254. 



crop I never saw stand up. * * * The wet ground got from my 

 neighbor was the source of much curiosity to all around as none would 

 believe that wheat could be ripened on land so long saturated with water. 

 The result was a crop of wheat from that ground abundant in quantity 

 and excellent in quality." 



Such a combination of conditions is quite typical of much of the State. 

 The marshy land belongs to the first drainage division. When ]\Ir. Johns- 

 ton purchased his farm it was said to be " poor and worn " and the first 

 seventeen years of his experience with it were calculated to support that 

 conclusion since he confessed that he could make no money. But by 

 careful study, he perceived to what most of his trouble was due. He ob- 

 served the excess of moisture and the " winter heavinsj " which raised his 



Fig. 190. — The Jo!uisti.>i: homestead near Geneva, 



before 1825. 



i\'. F. Buiuiing,s creetcd 



crops out of the ground. He said in 1852, " I was, many years ago, satis- 

 fied of the necessity of removing in some economical way the surplus water 

 which saturated the soil and too often interfered with the growth or 

 maturity of the crop ; not only with wheat but also with grain and clover." 



The general necessity for drainage had been impressed upon him very 

 early in life by his grandfather in Scotland, who said to him " Verily all 

 the airth needs draining." On his way to America and before he was out 

 of his native land he observed the burning of tile for drainage purposes 

 and when he found his own soil " cold and wet " he apparently remem- 

 bered his grandfather's advice and the " crockery being burned in the 

 Scotch field," for in 1835 he imported from Scotland a few tile and 

 initiated the making of others. Through his efforts his neighbor, John 

 Delafield, imported a Scraggs tile machine from England in 1848. His 

 first tile were of the horseshoe and sole type. Later he used round tile. 



Unfortunately there does not appear to be any plot showing the loca- 



