120 TILE DRAINAGE 



inches, and find that seems to do just as well. Below 30 

 inches our clayey soils, in Ohio at least, are very hard to dig, 

 and very slow to filter the water. In the deep black porous soils 

 of Iowa, with deep freezing, 4 feet is none too dee]) for later- 

 als, and 4i for mains, and 4 or 5 rods apart will do. 



CHAPTER XII. 



Conclusion. 



The little book is done. It has been lovingly and enthusi- 

 astically written. I believe in drainage, especially for the 

 rather flat and slightly rolling but very cold, tenacious, and 

 naturally rather irresponsive and unproductive clayey lands 

 of ^Northern Ohio and other sections like it. I believe that 

 tiling properly, and then tilling properly, with manures, fer- 

 tilizers, clover, and rotation, will make of such soils a very 

 garden for fertility, excellent for wheat, oats, clover, corn, 

 and even potatoes. I should like to persuade my brother- 

 farmers to take the road that has helped me pay my debts 

 and reach a far better net income from the farm. I know 

 that I have written rather as an advocate than as a judge ; but 

 I have tried to write with truthfulness and fairness. I have 

 no personal pecuniary interest in leading a single man to lay 

 a single tile, or to plow more, or to use more manures, fertil- 

 izers, or clover. I am not financially interested in any way 

 nor in any degree in the manufacture or sale of tiles, clover 

 seed, or tillage implements; but I am greatly interested in 

 the great problem of making our clayey farms more produc- 

 tive, and their owners more prosperous. The sandy loams, 

 the limestone soils, the black soils, all reward the labors of 

 the farmer more abundantly at first. It takes more skill to 

 make a good living out of the clayey soils, hitherto given over 

 almost exclusively to grazing and meadows. Tile drainage I 

 believe to be the basis of successful tillage on such soils. 



