128 LIVINGSTON COUNTY,JLLINOIS. 



each other in rapid succession until, by the failure of crops, 

 many liave become discouraged, and thousands have " gone 

 west." Yet my faith in Providence is so strong that I never 

 admit that He made such a rich belt of land that those 

 who live upon it should suffer from poverty and debt, unless 

 owin"' in a great measure to their own utter neglect of the 

 use of common sense. My remedy for most of the ills to which 

 farmers are heir in Illinois 



IS TO COMMENCE TILING. 



My attention was more particularly called to the use of 

 tile by frequently observing that in certain localities of the 

 State the crops never failed, houses were good, barns and 

 out-buildings in order, farmers rode in carriages, pianos and 

 organs gave forth their music, silks took the place of calicoes, 

 every sign of prosperity obtained, and there I always found the 

 free use of tile. After much preaching and writing about it, I 

 made up my mind that the accepted time to commence using it 

 myself had come. I forbear, for the sake of the community in 

 which I live, to relate how I was laughed at and what a " use- 

 less expense " every one said I was going to. Many said I had 

 " not enough fall ; " others, "Where will j'ou get an outlet ? " 

 I am satisfied that the day will come in Illinois when we will 

 see the 



LARGEST SIZED TILES LAID ALONG THE ROADSIDE, 



both as a road improvement and into which to connect our 

 farm drains. But first, a word in regard to open ditches. I con- 

 sider them a perfect nuisance. They cut up your fields, and 

 mast be cleaned out every other year to do any good. I have 

 been putting down, one foot below the 



BOTTOM OF MY OLD OPEN DITCHES, 



a six-inch tile, and filling up the open ditch. It is not the 

 surface water that does so much injury to our crops, it is 

 the water which soaks into the ground and never leaves it except 

 by the slow process of evaporation. No more open ditches 

 for me ! I have sunk hundreds of dollars in them. I had a 



