182 MERCEli COUNTY, ILLINOIS 



inch tile, the whole work costing me one hundred and fifty dollars, 

 or one dollar per rod. This proved a success, as I could then 

 plow over the slough, making me a square forty acre lot with- 

 out a foot of waste ground. I soon found that four inch tile 

 would answer as well as six inch, and save one-third in the 

 cost. A four inch tile will carry off all the water that a three 

 inch tile will carry to it. We have very few slouglis that a 

 four inch tile is not large enough to drain thoroughly. I have 

 since put in nothing over four inch and nothing under three 

 inch. Last Fall I put in two hundred rods ; forty of four inch, 

 at a cost of twenty dollars per thousand, and one hundred and 

 sixty-three of three inch, at a cost of fifteen dollars per thous- 

 sand. 



To dig the ditch three and a half feet deep, costs twenty 

 cents per rod exclusive of board. By this drainage, all my 

 sloughs are now dry. I have some flat land that I intend to tile 

 as fast as practicable. Many of our old settlers claim that we 

 ar6».going to ruin the country by draining off all surface water, 

 thereby causing a drouth, but I fear nothing of the kind, as in 

 a wet season, we have plenty ot water, and in a dry season, as 

 in 1879, we can find no water at the depth the tile is laid. 

 How, then, can the tile make the land any worse ? One of the 

 best counties in Illinois is Mercer. The prairies are large and 

 generally rolling, soil rich and deep and well adapted to raising 

 corn, oats, grass, and wheat crops. Where there is no running 

 water, plenty can be had by digging ten to twenty feet deep. 

 Along the streams is timber for fencing and fuel, and the wood- 

 land, when cleared, is good for wheat, oats and grass. Our 

 titles are good and land can be bought for from fifteen to fifty 

 dollars per acre according to improvement. 



