FARM DRAINAGE. 61 



slow in the spring to fit them for the growth of plants as early 

 as they ought to be planted. Without drainage there is often a 

 temptation to plow and cultivate them too wet, and this results 

 in poor crops and permanent injury to the soil. I have little 

 doubt that it would be found profitable to drain all lands having 

 a stiff subsoil in which, during the spring, or after a rain, the 

 water collects if a hole two or three feet deep is dug. It 

 will often be found profitable to underdrain even rolling lands. 

 It is, of course, wise for the farmer to drain first his wet- 

 test lands, such as without drainage will not produce grain at 

 all; but after this is done he should experiment with his drier 

 lands, and see if he can not invest his money better in draining 

 them than in something outside of his business. 



The size of tile to use is a matter which will require good 

 judgment, and I do not think any general rule can be laid down, 

 for where there is a heavy fall a tile will carry considerably 

 more water than where the fall is slight. If the tile is laid 

 deep it will not need to be so large as if shallow, for the land 

 will hold a large amount of water, which will not, for a time, 

 interfere with the growing crops, and we can, therefore, take a 

 longer time to remove it. 



From Mr. Billingsly's work on drainage I copy the following : 

 "For drains not more than five hundred feet long a two-inch tile 

 will drain two acres ; a three-inch tile will drain five acres, and 

 should not be of greater length than one thousand feet ; a four- 

 inch tile will drain twelve acres ; a five-inch tile will drain 

 twenty acres; a six-inch tile will drain forty acres; a seven- 

 inch tile will drain sixty acres." This calculation is made for a 

 drain three feet deep, and for flat lands, with three inches' fall 

 to the hundred feet. Where a fall of from eight inches, to a 

 foot could be had in this distance, the carrying capacity of the 

 drain would be increased one-third or more. The longer the 

 drain the Larger tile will be needed, the grade being the same. 

 The size of the tile may diminish toward the upper end of the 

 main drain, as the amount of water will be much less. In deter- 

 mining the size of tile needed it should be borne in mind that 

 the capacities of tiles laid upon the same grade are to each other 



