Tile Draining. 79 



put in in his. county. Had several miles then . Does not think they 

 do any injury in a dry year. This was the way the testimony all 

 ran. Again, drainage deepens your farm, gives you another farm 

 down under your old one, deepens the feeding ground for your crops. 

 With this done you have but to follow up with good culture, often- 

 times, to get greatly increased crops. At our experiment station 

 grounds at Columbus, Ohio, the average yield of wheat in 1889 on 

 unfertilized plots where the land was drained was 43 bushels per 

 acre, showing that on such clay land all that was needed was to 

 get the surplus water out, to get a good crop, if the culture was 

 right. This land was drained 3 feet deep with 3 inch tiles, 36 

 feet apart. The soil is what is known as a cold, wet clay. If 

 I remember correctly they got 37 bushels per acre on unfertilized 

 strips the next season. Oh, there are vast stores of fertility lying 

 dormant on many clay farms that might be turned into money 

 and make the farmer well-to-do, if this necessary foundation step 

 was taken. Also, clover can go down and collect and bring up 

 fertility better when the land is well drained. It cannot do its 

 best on clay land until it is tile drained. Surface drainage will 

 not answer at all for this purpose, for deepening the farm. Of 

 course, also when water goes down freely, instead of being evapo- 

 rated from the surface, air follows it down and this does good. 

 My friend Everett, of Westerville, Ohio, claims that air goes up 

 the drains from the outlets and passes up through the soil, and 

 the soil being cooler it deposits moisture as it passes up and 

 thus helps the crops. Mr. Everett uses larger sized tiles than 

 are needed to carry the water on this account. He has made a 

 grand success of tile draining, as facts and figures given at our 

 institutes last winter show. Just how much there is in this pass- 

 age of air upwards I do not know. Three conditions are neces- 

 sary to best success in agriculture, certainly. They are air, 

 moisture and warmth ; drainage helps us towards getting all of 

 these, the warmth and air in particular and the moisture in the 

 proper quantity, not in excess. 



Drainage prevents surface wash somewhat, but not entirely 

 always. In a very hard shower water will run on the surface 

 on my best drained soil, whether drained by nature or with tiles. 

 In a dry year draining certainly helps the crop in one way. 

 We can get on the land to stir the surface after a shower quicker 

 and thus sooner check evaporation and save moisture for the crop. 

 If my land had not been well drained I never could have got the 

 yield of potatoes I did that dry year, 1881. A great rain came 

 in June, practically the last that season. I was able to stir the 

 surface very soon after it and save many tons of water from 

 unnecessary evaporation. Of course, it was the tillage in time 

 that did this, but the tile draining where needed gave me the 

 chance to do it in time was the real foundation. Turn back 

 and look at the figures, $1,438 from nj4 acres ! And this was a 



