50 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Oct. 



because in this country, drains have been made with- 

 out any support for the tile, where the- bottom has 

 been a hard clay. This practice does well for a few 

 years, but it must be evident, that if the drains ever 

 carry a rapid run of water, the tiles must inevitably 

 sink, more or less, by the wearing of the bottom, and 

 thus in time destroy the drain. To prevent this 

 mischief, soles are made of convenient widths and 

 lengths on which to set the tiles, taking care to 

 :. . id placing the joints in contact, by which arrange- 

 ment the tile has a firm and uniform bearing. 

 Having your tile conveniently placed along the 

 trench, they must be laid with due care, first cleans- 

 ing the trench, so that the soles may lay solid. The 

 tile being laid, it is best to cover the whole with a 

 1 1 sod, and till the trench with your plow or shovel, 

 a^ may be most convenient. Many use straw to 

 cower the tile, but a turf cut about 18 inches long 

 and i:i inches wide, will just fit and perfectly cover 

 them, with the grass side down. The larger and 

 answer drains are all thus constructed, and when 

 properly made, will never need repair or further 

 attention. 



You must have noticed that for thorough draining 

 the trs&ehes are directed to be dug at distances thirty 

 feet apart: and this is probably the greatest distance 

 at which drains will act so as to draw the water 

 from the earth; in this respect we must be guided 

 by the character of the soil, and- experience will 

 probably teach us that a distance of forty feet is an 

 extreme limit for very thorough draining. 



This is the method of draining now so extensively 

 used in other countries, and about to be extensively 

 a iopted <:i our own; and these tiles are found to be 

 far superior to masonry, to stone, to wood, or any 

 other kind of drain hitherto tried. It is this sys- 

 tem or method which has enabled the farmers of 

 England and Scotland, of late years, to raise twice 

 the nuspfber-s of bushels of wheat from an acre, more 

 than v» .■ da. It is true, necessity has claimed from 

 them great exertions to feed their over populous 

 islands, and necessity being a sharp master, has 

 elicited, and will continue to bring forth, every talent 

 useful for the comfort of man. Let us for a moment 

 examine the action of this master motive among 

 English Farmers; and we learn from our talented 

 i untrj . ... Pr< fessor j\ t orto> t , now attached to the 

 chemicail and agricultural department of Yale Col- 

 lege, that he spent much time in Great Britain ex- 

 amining their agricultural systems. Since his 

 return, lie tt lis us he visited the farm of Mr. Dudg- 

 eon of Spylaw, at Kelso: the surface of his farm 

 was stifij the subsoil a close clay. Mr. Dudgeon 

 had drained aboul 900 acres!! making a distance of 

 drains ©qua] to 300 miles ! he erected a tile work 

 on i.i . .t farm, which turned out not less than 

 400,000 tiles in a year. The drains which he laid 

 rail d the r< ntal of his bind immediately, from •■ 



or acre, and after enumerating other suc- 

 cessful results from tile draining) Mr. Norton says, 

 "I have known instances in Scotlan I, where the first 

 crop repaid the whole expense of the improvement." 

 And again, at an agricultural meeting held at the 

 farm of Sir Robert Peel, a farmer declared that '-he 

 could sot-afford to deprive himself of the benefits of 

 drainage; for he had drained portions of his ground 

 at a cos! i f from ••- 8 to $12 per acre, five feet deep, 

 and the very first crop of w hem 

 ! him forthe wholecost." Soalso, close 

 at home, gentlemen, we have an instance of very 



successful drainage; one of our own enterprising 

 farmers has done nearly as much in point of value, 

 though less in extent. 



The inquiry as to the expense or cost of these 

 drains, now demands our attention. Not long since, 

 pattern tiles for drains were procured from Great 

 Britain, and tiles of two sizes have been made and 

 used in Seneca county. The cost has been at the 

 rate of twenty cents per rod for the smaller size, 

 and forty cents per rod for the larger tile; soles have 

 not been used. 



We have seen that thorough draining requires 

 drains at parallel distances of 30 feet; let us say 

 of two rods or 33 feet, then an acre would need 

 seven drains of 13 rods each in length, in all 91 rods; 

 this at 20-100 for the tile gives, say - - $18 20 

 Add for discharge, laying, he. 18-1 00 per rod, 16 38 



£34 58 



Making the lowest cost per acre, . - 

 and 3S*ccnts per rod." 



Beiore we proceed, let us examine and compare 

 the cost of making a common stone drain, the stone 

 being on the field to be drained. Thus, a man and 

 team will draw stone in one day sufficient to build 

 about 5 rods of drain, ------- $1 50 



Cost of laying the stone at 6-100 per rod, - 30 



Cost of the trench at 18-100 do. - 90 



Cost of 5 rods common stone drain, - - - $2 70 



or 45 cents per rod, thus shewing a difference of 

 16 cents per rod in favor of the drain tiles. To 

 facilitate your calculations of cost of the tile, I 

 would state that for every acre, drains cut 



12 inch tiles. 13 inch, li inch. 15 inch. 



A.t 15 feef apart, require, 2,904 2,681 2,489 2.32:3 



30 do. do.' 1,452 1,340 1,243 1,162 



33 do. do. 1,320 1,213 1,131 1,056 



3G do. do. 1,210 1,117 1,037 968 



The great cost per acre under either of these sys- 

 tems, requiring capital for the outlay, and notwith- 

 standing the rapid return of the cost by the addition- 

 al products, presents a serious impediment to their 

 general adoption, and compels us to seek some meth- 

 od for the more economical supply of tiles. This 

 can and will be done, and in the course of another 

 year these tiles will be afforded at a cost of 15 cents 

 per rod or less. This is to be accomplished by ma- 

 chinery, and I am pleased with the authority to say 

 that a machine is now making in England for use in 

 this county (Seneca) which will make from 8 to 10,000 

 tiles per day of perfect form and solidity. The most 

 eminent agriculturists of Great Britain have been 

 consulted in reference to this particular machine, and 

 no doubt is entetaincd, but it will lead the way to an 

 economical supply of tiles for draining. Labor in 

 this country is too costly in proportion to the pro- 

 ducts of our farms. We are now, and for a long time 

 will be, compelled to tax our ingenuity to place the 

 farmer on a level with other pursuits, w here the prof- 

 its are larger, admitting higher prices I'm- labor. Let 

 us however, be thankful and content, for if our profits 

 are not so large, we have reason to believe they are 

 more sure and enduring than is derived from other 

 professions. 



Machinery is to accomplish our much desired ob- 

 ject, and we will close this too extended notice by ex- 

 hibiting a few results to be derived from it. Suppo- 

 sing that as farmers we are as intelligent as the En- 

 glish and certainly not less industrious, if, then, we 

 determine to drain bv means of tiles, a field of ten 



