1861. 



THE ILLmOIS FAEMEK. 



99 



Draining. 



The subject of draining has as yet been 

 little discussed, though a large amount of 

 talk has been had over it. The mole- drain 

 has been extensively tried and to some ex- 

 tent proved valuable. In all stiff clays, when 

 the descent is uniform, they have given good 

 satisfaction, but in the more loose soils, in 

 marshy and sandy sloughs, have proved of 

 little valne. This kind of drain can only 

 be made when the ground is filled with wa- 

 ter, and is hardly applicable to moderately 

 dry upland. It will therefore be seen that 

 it can be only used to a limited extent. 

 Northern Illinois presents the widest field for 

 its profitable application. Central Illinois 

 less so, and in Egypt it must be of doubtful 

 value, from the close texture of the soil, 

 which would in a short time fill up the drain. 

 Brush and wood drains have been used for 

 the want of tile, and in some places where 

 limestone abounds, that has also been put in 

 for this purpose. The difficulty in obtain- 

 ing tile at reasonable rates has been the great 

 drawback. Hundreds of thousands of tile 

 are wanted annually for the single purpose 

 of draining cellars and house groupds, to say 

 nothing of the amount that would be used 

 in gardens, nurseries, and on farms. Two 

 attempts have been made in the tile making 

 business, one at Joliet, and one at Glivea, 18 

 miles north of Chicago, but neither prove 

 a paying investment. The one at Joliet is 

 to be moved to Chicago, and by May it is 

 expected that it will begin to furnish the 

 smaller sizes of drain tile. Allen Howe, of 

 135 South "Water street, is the agent. So 

 soon as the tile are ready Mr. H. will notify 

 the readers of the Farmer of the size and 

 price at which they can be had. Early in 

 March we sent him an order for a thousand 

 pieces of two inch tile, but five hundred was 

 all that were left over of last year's stock 

 made at Joliet. These cost eight dollars a 

 thousand, and the freight to this place at the 

 same rate, being less than a car load they 



pieces, and weigh three thousand two hun- 

 dred pounds. Fifteen hundred will make 

 nearly a hundred rods of drain, as the pieces 

 are cut thirteen inches long ; this at thirteen 

 dollars a thousand will make the cost for the 

 tile alone twenty cents a rod, but if the de- 

 mand should become large, as we think it 

 must, it will not be long before tile will be 

 made at all important points in the State. It 

 is possible that the brittle clays of this part 

 of the State may not make the best of tile, 

 but we shall not despair of it altogether for 

 in some locations it makes a tolerable good 

 brick. The brick clay at the south is still 

 worse, but under the coal beds there is an 

 abundance of pipe or fire clay that must an- 

 swer an excellent purpose. Lands are now 

 becoming sufficiently valuable to warrant un- 

 derdraining, more especially for garden and 

 orchard purposes. The side ditches of all 

 our railroads should be laid with tile ; it 

 would not only make the road bed more solid 

 but at the same time reduce the expense for 

 labor to keep the track in repair at least one- 

 third less. The cleaning out the side ditches 

 is a large expense annually, and with tile 

 little of this would be required, besides, 

 when it was, instead of throwing out mud, 

 the friable dry earth could be thrown out 

 instead, as the bottom of the ditch will al- 

 ways be well drained, and the earth easy to 

 handle. It is a matter of surprise to us that 

 tile has not before been used for this pur- 

 pose. The I. C. R. R. are to try the ex- 

 periment early in the summer, and we doubt 

 not with complete success. 



The five hundred feet laid through the 

 lowest part of our garden continues to dis- 

 charge a good supply of water, though it is 

 not what is called a slough, but moderately 

 moist upland, being a simple depression of 

 not over a foot in the upland prairie it has 

 made the land on either side as dry as the 

 most rolling part of the prairie ; it is only 

 the slough and these depressions that need 

 draining. In draining, the first thing to be 



come at second class rates ; by the car load considered is a place to discharge the water, 

 they will cost about five dollars a thousand as it must run freely from the end of the 



