C 76 ) 



rolling lands that are supposed to be dry enough. Not only are 

 the wet lands made dryer, but the dry lands made wetter. This is 

 effected by the soil becoming porous, so as to better admit the mois- 

 ture of rains and dews. It is made warmer, and consequently 

 frosts will have less effect, there being less moisture to freeze on 

 the surface. And besides, by being warmer the crops come on 

 earlier. 



Our northern farmers practice almost exclusively tile draining. 

 This is a costly mode, and if it were the only way our farmers 

 would be frightened at once from the effort. But so thoroughly is 

 this plan practiced, that it is no longer an experiment. Some coun- 

 ties in Ohio have spent the public funds in digging and draining 

 the mains, so that farmers can lay their drains into them. Wood 

 Bounty, Ohio, in 1867, spent in one year $500,000 in digging mains. 

 One drain was dng thirty miles long, and six feet deep, while the 

 districts dug four hundred miles more. 



The Agricultural College of Michigan, appointed a committee 

 to investigate the effects of draining. They bought twenty- five 

 acres of swampy land, covered with bog- grass, rushes, flags and 

 other worthless vegetation. They laid about 800 yards of tiles at 

 an expense of $480, and sowed it in grass. At the first cutting the 

 crop was sold for $1,570, leaving a clear profit the first year, over 

 all expenses, of $548.70, and the second year they cleared $975. 

 This was on land that before draining, produced absolutely 

 nothing. 



But a drain can be made in a much cheaper manner than by 

 tiles. Should there be plenty of surface rock near, lay one on the 

 bottom of the ditch, one on each side of the bottom rock, and cover 

 with a fourth. Or, instead of using four rocks, a very good ditch 

 can be made by tilting two flat rocks to each other so that a trans- 

 verse section will form a A shaped tunnel, and if there is a firm 

 bed to the ditch it will last an indefinite length of time, the water 

 carrying off the loose crumbs of clay. 



Still another plan is to use, instead of the rocks, poles of any 

 kind of wood, so they are straight. Lay two poles, say four or 

 five inches in diameter, parallel to each other, leaving a space of 

 six inches between them, and then lay another pole on the centre 

 space so that the edges will rest on the other two, leaving an open 

 space five or six inches in diameter. Then throw stubble, straw, 



