TILE DRAINAGE. 59 



1 am convinced that I can take the average slightly rolling 

 shale-clay lands of Northern Ohio (and similar latitudes and 

 conditions), and, by tiling and proper tillage, and use of clo- 

 ver, manures, and superphosphates, within five years bring 

 such land up profitably to a capacity of 30 to 35 bushels of 

 wheat per acre, and clover and other crops in proportion. I 

 have many times had from 30 up to even 46i bushels of 

 wheat per acre, on ail the land that was both tiled and ma- 

 mired or superphosphated, and the crops the first three years 

 on the average have paid for the tiling and the fertilizers, 

 and sometimes much sooner than that. I feel sure, there- 

 fore, ,/irsJ, that the tillage of a part of our farms pays better 

 than exclusive grazing and feeding, on all soils fit for culti- 

 vation. Second, I believe it pays to fit for cultivation by tiling 

 portions of each clayey farm not fitted by nature. Tiling 

 is the first step toward agricultural and financial success on 

 thousands of clayey farms in many parts of Ohio and other 

 States, and especially on the " Western Reserve," most of 

 whose soil is like mine. Still further, I believe that the dif- 

 ference in actual average selling price between these clayey 

 farms and those of the naturally drained kind, of the Miami 

 and Scioto Valley counties, if expended judiciously in tiling, 

 fertilizers, and clover seed, will make these farms pay as 

 well PS those, and immensely better than now or formerly 

 under exclusive dairying or sheep-farming. 



There are other large areas of a different sort all over the 

 land that need either partial drainage or systematic drain- 

 age, but at wider intervals than the compact clays require. 

 First, as to partial drainage : All over the rolling prairies of 

 Iowa and bordering prairie States, and even of the sandy 

 loams, are "swales, "or "sloughs," and " cat-swamps," or 

 small wet " pockets " that neerl perhaps one or two good 

 four-inch drains put through them to make them arable and 

 most produtive. Without such tiling they often produce 

 little but swamp grass. They have crooked margins or 

 boundaries, and are a serious hindrance in the tillage and 



