DRAINAGE PROFITABLE. 767 



inexperienced in draining, but resolved to try my skill in the 

 business. The water would stand from six to eighteen inches 

 deep through the Winter, and some seasons nearly through the 

 Summer. In cutting the outlet I was obliged to dig through 

 stiff clay about fifty rods, thirty rods three feet deep, and 

 twenty rods five feet deep, and six feet wide on the top. This 

 cost me fifty cents per rod, and board. After getting into the 

 mire I did not go so deep, and it cost me about thirty cents 

 per rod. I cut them on three sides, the road being on the 

 fourth. After letting it lie for three years, I plowed it in the 

 Fall and planted to corn the following Spring. 



I have raised three crops of good corn in succession. One 

 year I had my land in oats, but just as they came up a heavy 

 rain arose which flooded all low lands, and the ditches at the 

 outlet not being large enough to carry the water off, 

 they were drowned out. Last year I raised a good crop of 

 Winter rye. While I have been cultivating it I have widened 

 the ditches so that I can cross at any place with a loaded 

 wagon or reaper. I advocate tile drains, believing they will 

 pay for themselves in two years at least. I shall commence 

 putting them in this .season. I can get the ditches dug and 

 filled for twenty-five to thirty cents per rod. 



JOHN WEIR, 



TERRE HAUTE, VIGO COUNTY. 



Rotation of Crops — Average Yield of Fields. 



My farm consists of eighty acres, and is divided into eight 

 ten acre lots. My house, outbuildings, orchard, and blue grass 

 pasture occupy ten acres. The remaining seventy acres I work. 



ROTATION OF CROPS. 



I practice rotation, planting first potatoes. As soon as 

 they are dug, I sow the same ground to wheat. As soon as the 

 wheat crop is off the ground, I put in wheat a second time. 



