TILE DRAINAGE. 123 



APPENDIX BY A. I. ROOT. 



As early as I can remember I had a particular liking for 

 water and every thing pertaining to it. My early home was 

 on one of the hills in Mogadore, Summit Co., O.; and at the 

 base of these hills, beautiful soft-water springs broke forth in 

 abundance ; therefore my childhood plays were largely con- 

 nected with building dams, constructing little water-wheels, 

 carrying water along the sides of the bank in little races, 

 ditches, etc. And during the forty or more years that have 

 passed, running water has had a special fascination for me. 

 Perhaps this may account for the fact of my having had so 

 much to say about springs, artesian wells, irrigating plants, 

 etc., during my travels. The problem of getting water where 

 we want it, and when we want it, and getting rid of it when 

 we don't want it, has been a most interesting one to me. Al- 

 most the first useful work I did in my childhood was to make 

 garden ; and with my good mother for a teacher, it is not s t trange 

 that, in later life, I turn again and again to the garden for 

 both relaxation and enjoyment. One of the first problems in 

 gardening was to get rid of the water we did not want; and, 

 later on, another problem has been a fond one- the getting 

 of water for irrigation when we do want it. This latter, 

 however, will hardly come within the scope of the present 

 work. The former is, however, just what we do want. Just 

 as soon as spring opens we want to get rid of the surplus 

 moisture ; and even to this day there are few things 1 enjoy 

 more than making little open ditches to let the sin-plus water 

 run off. It is the first work I do in the spring, whenever 



