1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



509 



stone drain cannot be laid without cement, or 

 hammered stone, so that moles and mice, snakes 

 and other vermin, as the English call such crea- 

 tures, cannot enter, and they all, at once, establish 

 communication between the drain and surface. 

 When such tiles are opened, the water runs in 

 from the top, carrying soil and sand, and the drain 

 is 611ed up and ruined, and it is often more work 

 to take it up and relay it, than to lay a new one. 



Tiles, it is true, are liable to obstruction. Sand 

 may find its way into them, even through the very 

 small cracks at their junction, and fill them entire- 

 ly. Frogs and moles may enter at an ill-secured 

 outlet, or a soft or cracked tile may fail, but these 

 obstructions are very rare, and very easily re- 

 moved. 



The water will show itself above the obstruc- 

 tion, and by thrusting down a crowbar along the 

 line of the drain, it is easy to ascertain, by the ris- 

 ing of the water in the hole, where the obstacle 

 begins. Then it is very little labor to dig down 

 to the tiles, and take them up, so far as they are 

 filled, and replace them after cleaning. Usually 

 these obstructions extend but a short distance, 

 and as there is nothing to be carried away or 

 brought upon the field, except perhaps a single 

 tile, the soil and -even the sod may be replaced 

 without injury. 



2. Tiles are cheaper even at $15 per 1000, than 

 stones lying on the field. This is a matter of cal- 

 culation, not of mere opinion. The saving in tile 

 di-ains is in the cost of excavation mainly. The 

 English workmen open four-foot drains, with a 

 mean, or average width of lO-i inches. We will 

 call it 14 inches, and the cost a third of a dollar 

 per rod for digging and filling. The tiles at $15 

 per 1000, cost 25 cents per rod, making the cost 

 of the drain 58J cents. 



Now a stone drain must be nearly double this 

 width, but we will call it only 21 inches, making 

 the digging and filling cost, at the same rate, 50 

 cents. The ditch \vill require two ox-cart loads of 

 stone, and saying nothing of the picking and haul- 

 ing, it is worth 25 cents per rod to lay them in 

 place, which makes the labor 75 cents per rod, 

 saying nothing of two cart-loads of surplus earth 

 to be hauled away. 



In other words, this, I think, is true, that the la- 

 bor of constructing stone drains will cost more 

 than the labor and tiles for tile drains. 



DEPTH AND DISTANCE. 



I advise laying drains as deep as four feet, not 

 only because they drain the soil better, but be- 

 cause they are more permanent, than when more 

 shallow. At that depth, the soil is little aff'ected 

 by vermin, or by the tread of cattle, or by the 

 plow, or by frost, and holes are not likely to be 

 broken through from the surface, to admit water 



and earth. I advise the use of two-inch tiles as 

 the minimum, not because a smaller bore would 

 not carry the water, but because it would be more 

 easily obstructed. The distance must depend on 

 the depth in part, and in part upon the nature of 

 the soil. I have never yet seen a failure in drain- 

 age, from drains at proper depth, too far apart. 

 From 30 to 60 feet may perhaps be given as ex- 

 tremes, in New England, where we have little 

 close clay. In England, tough clays are sometimes 

 di'ained as close as 16 feet. 



ENGINEERS. 



Drainage is expensive, and mistakes are too 

 costly for the farmer. A day's labor of a compe- 

 tent engineer will often save five times the cost. 

 No man can, by the eye, properly estimate the fall 

 in even a single acre, and a practiced hand can lay 

 out work far better than any unpracticed farmer. 

 The first step must always be to lay out the work, 

 and although I have had much practice myself, I 

 should not dare to attempt any extensive drainage 

 even on a five-acre field, without an engineer with 

 his levelling instruments. 



The autumn is a leisure and convenient time for 

 these operations, the only objection being that 

 there may be too much water before the tiles are 

 in, but we have usually many weeks after the mid- 

 dle of September for field operations. The sub- 

 ject is of great importance on all the old and valu- 

 able fields of New England, where there is too 

 much moisture at any season. 



For the Ncip England Farmer. 



AGBICUIiTURE IN OUB COMMON 

 SCHOOLS. 



Mr. Editor : — I read the communication from 

 Mr. Goldsbury upon the above subject, when the 

 Farmer of July 12 was received, and have perused 

 it with more care and attention since reading the 

 "strictures" upon it which appeared in your paper 

 of August 30. 



The clear and comprehensive manner in which 

 Mr. G. treated the subject under consideration, I 

 think did not indicate that his "'usual good judg- 

 ment" was "asleep," but that he was in the full 

 possession of all his faculties, though other per- 

 sons may entertain a diff"erent opinion. It seems 

 to me his objections are sound and sensible, and 

 show that the writer understands the object for 

 which our common schools are designed, is well 

 acquaiuted with their condition, either by experi- 

 ence or from observation, and knows their wants 

 and failings. 



If I am not mistaken, there is a general feeling 

 in the community, that for some years past, too 

 many studies have been introduced into our com- 

 mon schools, to be learned thoroughly, while some 

 of the fundamental branches, such as reading, 

 spelling and writing, are so much neglected, that 

 comparatively few boys and girls who arrive at 

 years of maturity can be called really good read- 

 ers and writers, at least so far as correct spelling 

 and composition are concerned. 



