TILE DRAINAGE. 7 



CHAPTER II. 



Why do we Tile-drain Land? The Theory. 



We drain land to remove surplus moisture, and to fit it for 

 tillage and rotation of crops and possible horticulture. If 

 there is no surplus moisture because the land is already 

 underdrained by nature, as in the case of sandy loams with 

 porous subsoil, then it does not need tile drainage. A letter 

 lately received says: " I don't understand. Does all land 

 need tile drainage V " This is no worse than Horace Gree- 

 ley, who evidently believed that u the pen is mightier than 

 the" plow or spade, and hence farmed and drained chiefly 

 and with best financial results with the former implement ! 

 He used to say, in substance, that " whatever land it will 

 pay to till, it will also pay to tile." By no means. You 

 might as well insist on picking off stones where there are 

 none, or grubbing out stumps on prairie land that never saw 

 a tree, as upon removing surplus water down through the 

 soil by tile drains from land where nature has already re- 

 moved it down through the soil without tile drains. Indeed, 

 Nature was so liberal with us in the creation of our great 

 national domain that probably present prices of land in Ohio 

 will not justify the thorough drainage (*'. e., with full system 

 of laterals) of more than a quarter of the farms in Ohio, un- 

 less it be for purposes of market-gardening or specially high 

 farming ; but a very large portion of the Western Reserve 

 needs it through depressions, "swales," "draws," or 

 " sloughs." It is the surplus water that needs to be removed 

 promptly, and it should be removed down through the soil, and 

 not along its surface. Each of these points should be clearly 

 understood; and so we will at once consider each separately. 



First, then, it is the surplus water that needs to be re- 

 moved to give best results in tillage, crop growth, and rota- 

 tion. What is surplus water? It is the water of heavy rains 



