60 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



When to Drain. On most soils the best time to drain 

 will be in the early spring, when the land is wet enough to 

 spade easily, and the water will follow in the drain, but the 

 work may be done in autumn, or at any time during an open 

 winter. When draining is done in the winter care must be 

 taken to lay the tile and cover it as soon as possible, or the freez- 

 ing and thawing of the banks will cause them to cave and ob- 

 struct the drain. 



What Lands need Draining. The first land the far- 

 mer should drain, if he can not be at the expense of a general 

 system of drainage for his farm, is the swales or low places 

 through his cultivated fields. On many of our best upland 

 farms these are quite common, and they usually angle through 

 the fields, making them a bad shape and causing quite a loss of 

 time in cultivating, and become nurseries of foul seeds. These 

 swales are often found on farms which are otherwise comparatively 

 dry. There is usually sufficient fall, and they can be cheaply 

 and easily drained, and I have often known the entire expense 

 paid in a single crop. There was on Eastview Farm when I 

 bought it one hundred and fifty rods of these swales, too wet 

 to be cultivated, and in the spring of the year often too soft to 

 cross with a wagon. They grew only flags and sedges, and as 

 they angled through my best fields with a width varying from 

 two to six rods, it is easy to see how great a disadvantage they 

 were to the farm. By draining these, from three to four acres 

 of the best land on the farm was rendered productive, and as, 

 in favorable years, it has produced thirty bushels of wheat, or 

 eighty of corn, to the acre, and the entire cost of draining was 

 less than one hundred dollars, it can be seen that it has been 

 largely profitable. Before laying tile in these swales, a careful 

 examination of the adjoining lands should be made to decide 

 whether, at some future time, it will be profitable to drain them 

 and use these drains as mains, and if it is probable that this will 

 be the case, tile large enough to receive all the water that is 

 to be brought to them should be laid. 



Most flat lands under cultivation, which are not underlaid 

 with gravel, will pay for draining, as the natural drainage is too 



