1869, 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



575 



bank to the street, but with no permanent ad- 

 vantage. 



Having had a careful survey of my farm, in- 

 cluding the contOMr, I found that the best out- 

 fall for my drainage would be 750 feet through 

 my neighbor's land, on a brook leading to 

 Concord river, and that in the whole distance 

 on his and my own land, in all about 1200 

 feet, I had but 7^ feet fall from my pond-hole. 

 Starting the drains at at feet deep, I had 

 four feet fall, or an average of four inches to 

 the 100 feet. Fmding by digging a test-hole 

 that we came into flowmg sand and water at 

 the deepest point, I concluded to lay the tiles 

 to ihat point with a descent of three inches to 

 100 feet, making the drain 6h feet deep there, 

 and give an increased fall beyond, which would 

 much increase the capacity of the tiles to car- 

 ry water, without increasing the size. The 

 greater the fall, the more water the pipe will 

 carry, and as we had 4-inch tiles for the whole 

 750 feet, and they would be laid low enough 

 to take in water most of the way, this was an 

 important consideration. 



The Process. 



We begin to lay tiles at the upper end of a 

 drain, because if we begin at the lower end 

 ther« is danger of their tilling with the deposits 

 from the muddy water which flows through 

 them. But to do this, we usually open the drain 

 the whole length, otherwise the water cannot run 

 olF. Knowing that if we did so, the banks 

 would cave in and stop our work, I adopted a 

 different course. We first opened the 750 

 foot drain to the depth of about three feet, 

 which was as deep as we felt safe against their 

 falling in. Then at the upper end on our 

 boundary line, we dug and stoned up a well 

 about five feet deep and three feet in 

 diameter, the water rising in it to within a 

 foot of the natural surface. Then we opened 

 our drain to its full depth for three or four 

 rods, and while one man with a bucket dipped 

 up the water into a trough, which carried it 

 forward into the partially opened ditch, we 

 laid our 4-inch tiles in place, putting a strip of 

 tarred paper over the upper part of the joint, 

 and partly filling the ditch as we proceeded. 



When we reached the greatest depth, which 

 was 6^ feet, our troubles were many, and we 

 had a bard fight for some days. Alihougti Oii- 

 tober Wets as dry as any part of the season of 

 1868, we had a foot or more of water in our 

 drain whenever we ceased to throw it out, and 

 the sand seemed as fluid as the water. We 

 put in plank curbing with braces to su-tain the 

 upper part of the bank, and tried various expe- 

 dients to keep the sand from running in at the 

 bo'tom. We finally discovered that by thrust 

 ing down wide shingles, edge to edge, on 

 eaeh hi e at the bottom of the drain, we could 

 get three or four tiles at a time into position. 

 The b.tiik;s, however, caved in occasionally 

 by cartloads, stopping our whole work, so that 

 on our worst day, with live men, we got in but 



three tiles ! That was a bitter cold day with 

 a snow storm, the 17th of October. We re- 

 solved, however, to fii;ht it out on that line, 

 if it took all winter. In three days more we 

 got thxiciigh the worst, ai d opened the lower 

 end so that the water ran off of itself, and on 

 the 22d we laid the last tile in the main ditch. 



The cost of that drain was as follows : 750 

 4-inch tiles and freight $51.75 ; copper screens 

 for outlets, tarred paper and lumber $3 90. 

 Labor, excavating, filling, fixing well and out- 

 let, fifty days, $75 J)0, making in all $130.05, of 

 which my neighbor conrribued one-half. 



Thus far I had gained only an outlet for my 

 drains, as the main drain was all on my neigh- 

 bor's land. 



Then we opened a drain from the well 

 to the pond-hole, going, at the deepest, about 

 4^ feet, in very soft clayey subsoil. Through 

 the pond-hole and well up into the sloping 

 sides of it, we laid drains with 2-inch tiles, 

 fifty feet apart, from 2^ to four feet deep, as 

 the surface varied, and connected them with 

 the drain leading to the well, which was laid 

 with 3-inch tiles. We also laid other 2-inch 

 drains near the division line, and completed 

 the whole by November 16. 



The well is covered with a platform, which 

 opens so that we may see what is going on. 

 Three drains pour into it, and the main drain 

 flows out, and alter a heavy rain it is a pretty 

 sight to see. 



The ends of the tiles in the well are covered 

 with copper netting, to keep out fiogs and 

 mice, and anything that might obstruct. Some- 

 times the main runs full and the water rises 

 two or three feet above it, but only for a i*ivr 

 hours. Such an opening m well worth having, 

 in a system of drainage, to catch any silt that 

 may come from the drains above, to enable us 

 to inspect our work, and to show doubtful 

 neighbors what a livelv time the water is hav- 

 ing underground, when all is so dry and quiet 

 above. 



The Result. 



The pond hole which had been ploughed and 

 seeded to grass in a dry time in August last 

 year, bare this year the heaviest crop of herds- 

 grass on the farm, and a good second crop, 

 and is now covered with a good growth of 

 clover. The spot which was too wet to plant 

 with fodder corn last year, iu June, was set 

 with asparagus the past spr/ng, and is dry 

 enough tor any crop. The flat portion near 

 the division line and well, where water gener- 

 ally stood all the spring, was ploughed on the 

 7ih and 8th of May from ten to tvjelve inches 

 deep with four horses and a IMichigan double- 

 plough, and with ordinary manuring has pro- 

 duced good crops of carrots, Swele-i, Man- 

 golds and potatoes. The Mangolds on half 

 an acre yield at the rate of twenty tons to the 

 acre, and the carrots and Swedes not yet har- 

 vested are as good in proportion, which is sat- 

 isfactory for such crops on a heavy sod turned so 



