TILE DRAINAGE. 131 



them free from silt and mud I have constructed silt-basins. 

 Now, these silt-basins are a bad thing to plow around, and 

 they are a bad thing to plow over ; therefore we cover them 

 with a flat stone, having this stone down so low that the 

 plow will not reach it. The silt-basin is made of a piece of 

 large tile. The underdrain runs in at one side and out at 

 the other. As often as they become filled with mud or silt 

 ' they must be cleaned out. So far, so good ; but if you plow 

 and cultivate right over them, how in the world are you go- 

 ing to find them out ? I am ashamed to say that we have 

 some three or four that we can not find, or have not found, 

 for several years. Hereafter I am going to have some land- 

 marks indicating their locality, and have it put down in a 

 book. There is on our land one place where it is under- 

 drained, that has been once taken up and found completely 

 filled with mud. This was on our creek-bottom ground. 



" WET WEATHER " STREAMS. 



What shall we do with streams that exist only in winter 

 time, or during exceedingly wet weather, and disappear as 

 soon as the ground dries off ? This is quite a problem here 

 in Medina Co.. O. One such low place is on one corner of 

 our grounds. The water goes on to our ground from a sluice- 

 way under a public highway. When I first came on the 

 place I put in it four-inch tile, thinking it would enable me 

 to plow and raise crops over it. As it did not answer I put 

 in six-inch tile. This did tolerably well for three or four 

 years. Finally we had a very wet season, and my raspber- 

 ries, strawberries, etc., were washed out so repeatedly that I 

 became disgusted. A year ago I bought enough twelve-inch 

 tile to go clear through where the stream crosses my land. 

 So far it has carried all the water, and my crops over it are 

 uninjured. As it is some of my very best land, I feel sure 

 that I shall in time get back the money I paid for the twelve- 

 inch tile. In such a place it is quite important that trash be 

 kept from filling up these large tile. At present we made a 



