1863. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



335 



ishecl, this oxyde of iron so obstructed the drain 

 that the water in the "peep holes" began to rise 

 above the tiles, and the evil continued to increase, 

 till, at the time of the fall rain, flie ground, for 

 the whole length of the main, except near the 

 outlet, was completely saturated with water, and 

 Btood in the "peep holes" about on a level with 

 the surface of the surrounding grounds ; showing 

 that the drains were nearly or (piite useless. 



They remained in this condition till last June, 

 and though this season was much dryer than the 

 last, the land which was in such fine condition just 

 one year before, had, for several of the spring 

 months, been covered with water, and was now 

 80 thoroughly saturated that a man would sink 

 ankle deep at every step in walking -over it. 



The experiment in this field seemed to prove 

 three things. 



First, — The unmistakable and beneficial effect 

 of tile drains when they are unobstructed. 



Second^ — That where water is impregnated with 

 iron, a rusty colored, slimy oxyde is rapidly formed 

 by exposure to the atmosphere in the drain. It 

 should therefore be discharged as soon as practi- 

 cable, for the longer the water remains in the 

 drain, the greater will be the accumulation of oxyde 

 fi'om it, which, if allowed to flow down a long dis- 

 tance, most of it will adhere to the sides of the 

 tile and soon entirely close them. 



Til i id, — That unless some remedy for obsruc- 

 tion from this cause can be found, the draining of 

 this six acres, in which neither pains nor expense 

 had been spared to do the work in the most sub- 

 stantial and thorough manner, would soon, if it 

 had not already, become entirely worthless ; and 

 further, — that there is little or no safety in drain- 

 iny lends of this description. 



The last conclusion has been adopted with great 

 reluctance, for, if correct, this difficulty will ])rove 

 a serious obstacle to the improvement of our 

 marsh lands in Michigan, a large portion of which 

 are of this character. 



The usual remedies mentioned in the books for 

 cleaning out this oxyde, were tried without much 

 success. Washing out, by closing the outlet for 

 a few hours, seemed only to affect it near the out- 

 let ; and the drains had been laid as deep, and 

 with as much fall as could be had with a free out- 

 fall at the lowest stage of water in the stream ; 

 and I would here remark that, where the fall is 

 as much as could be desired, there must, even 

 then, in my opinion, be a constant, though slow, 

 accretion of oxyde inside the tile that will, soon- 

 er or later, entirely prevent the passage of water. 



AVhere this difficulty does not exist, and where 

 the drains have sufficient fall and have been prop- 

 erly laid, they have, so far as my observation ex- 

 tends, invariably produced the most satisfactory, 

 and often the most surprising results. 



How to Bemove the Obstructions. 



Finding the main drain effectually closed as 

 above stated, which of course rendered all the side 

 drains emptying into it useless, there could be no 

 other conclusion than that if they were allowed 

 to remain in this condition, it was no better than 

 60 much money thrown away. 



An effort was therefore made to clean out the 

 main drain, and, after some experiments, I sub- 

 stituted a cast iron box (which is practically noth- 

 ing more than an iron tUe with a movable cover) 



for the tile, at intervals of about 100 feet the whole 

 length of the drain, placing them at less distances 

 where there were curves. Then took 12 "Bra- 

 zier's rods" (:i-inch round iron, 10 feet long) and 

 linked them together by eyes on the ends of each, 

 first drawing the end of the rod a little smaller, 

 so as to bend the point around the rod to prevent 

 it coming apart in the drain ; then bound two 

 round lamp chimney brushes together, to make a 

 brush of proper size, and fastened them with cop- 

 per wire on one end, and a swab of a ball shape 

 on the other ; then put the brush end into the 

 outlet and pushed it up to the first box, and from 

 that to the second, and so on the whole length of 

 the drain ; then ran it back in the same manner ; 

 the water in the meantime washing out the ob- 

 structions as they were loosened by the swabs ; 

 the ball on the back end allowing it to slide over 

 any ])rojecti<)ns of the tile. 



This left the drain perfectly clean, and the re- 

 sult in this respect was entirely satisfactory. 



As the.se drains are already laid, it will no doubt 

 pay, as a partial remedy, to swab out the main 

 every year, which can be done in a few hours, but 

 as the laterals can never be reached in this man- 

 ner, they can be of uo further use when once 

 closed. 



It is not supposed that any farming lands will 

 justify the laying of drains with a view to keeping 

 them open in this way, but there are sometimes 

 important drains from sinks, cellars, iSrc, /7tof ?«?«■< 

 he kept dear, and in such cases this mode may, for 

 want of a better, be adopted with advantage. 



These statements and suggestions have been 

 made ]iartly for the benefit of others, but more 

 especially in the hope that some effectual remedy 

 may be suggested for the difficulty to which I have 

 alluded. E. J. c. 



Jaclcson, Mich., August, 18G3. 



For the Aew En aland Farmer. 

 rVTT POISON— CAUTION. 



Mr. Editor : — In your last paper I noticed a 

 communication from Mr. Z. Brekd, of Weare, N. 

 H., recommending the chewing of the ivy leaf itself, 

 as a preventive and a cure for ivy poison. As a 

 "burnt child dreads the fire," and I must confess 

 I have been terribly burned by the experiment, I 

 feel it to be my duty to utter one word of caution 

 by relating my own sad experience. More than 

 fifty years ago, I was persuaded by some of my 

 kind and well meaning friends to try the experi- 

 ment recommended by Mr. Breed. I did so ; and 

 I cannot fully describe to you the dreadful effects 

 of the poison upon my whole physical constitu- 

 tion. Besides, the experiment did not prove to 

 be a preventive, nor a cure for ivy poison ; but 

 ever since, every time I have come in contact with 

 ivy, I have l)een poisoned by it. Why the exper- 

 iment should ever have been recommended, as 

 such, I know not, except it be on the supposition, 

 that "the hair of the same dog will cure." But 

 so far as my observation and experience extend, 

 the less hair any one takes, the better he is off. 



Mount Grace. 



Wai-wick, Mass., Aug., 24, 18G3. 



Tea Culture. — ^Mr. H. Sontag, near San Fra- 

 cisco, has put out one thousand tea plants, raised 

 from seed obtained from China. 



