108 TILE DRAINAGE 



worked well for many years.! This plan makes a regular 

 channel. Stone drains do p?etty well if each has its outlet, 

 but you can not well lay out a system of mains and laterals, 

 as with tiles. I bury hundreds of loads of stones in excava- 

 tions in sidehills, and grade and plow over them to get them 

 out of the way, and use only tiles for drains. 



ROOTS IN TILE DRAINS. 



W. B. Hall, of Strambury, Pa., asks about proper depth, 

 distance apart, and whether roots from a vineyard will ob- 

 struct the drains. Depth, 21 to 3-J- feet. Distance, 2 to 3 rods 

 in compact clay ; further in more porous soils. The question 

 of roots in drains is an important one, and I can not do bet- 

 ter than to quote from an article by myself, in the Country 

 Gentleman for June 17, 1880. with such notes as later experi- 

 ence seems to require. 



IS THERE DANGER FROM ROOTS? 



Yes, and no. No, under ordinary circumstances : yes. under 

 occasional conditions. It does not seem to be, on the part of the 

 roots, a question of ability, but of desire. They can enter the 

 tiles without the least difficulty, but they do not usually desire to 

 do so at least, so as to obstruct the drains. 



As to the ability of the roots, even of wheat and clover, and 

 other cereals and grasses, to enter the drains, I have not now the 

 slightest doubt. I formerly supposed the cases given in the 

 books, of wheat roots, etc., growing to a depth of three feet, and 

 even four, were somewhat exceptional, or applied only to mellow 

 subsoil, and that in a very hard, stiff clay they would not extend 

 so deep. But I have lately finished laying about three miles of 

 tiles, three feet deep, in a wheat-field where wheat grew last 

 year too; and every spadeful that I took the trouble to examine, 

 even from the bottom course, had very many tine, live wheat 

 roots all through it, and many nearly decayed roots of last year's 

 wheat. How much deeper than three feet they went I did not 

 dig to ascertain, except that our drains sometimes, from uneven- 

 ness of surface, went as low as three and a half feet, but never 

 below the roots. Though not in my present line of thought, I 

 can not but notice the wisdom of this provision of nature. The 

 surface was very dry no rain for four weeks; but the subsoil at 

 the depth of three feet, or even two, was quite moist, and these 

 roots pumped water to keep the wheat from withering. Wheat, 

 we all know, stands drouth wonderfully, especially on clayey 

 loam, and the reason is plain. 



