■.-,- ■-~.%v.',-,.f^'''?T 



170 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEE. 



June 



much to develop the resources of the broad 

 acres that he owns. His farm improvements 

 in various parts of the State are extensive 

 and so far as we know judicious, and we 

 have every reason to believe that the farm 

 management in this county has been efficient, 

 and on the whole as profitable as of any class 

 of farmers. We have no great faith in 

 these overgrown farms, but of this our read- 

 ers may rest assured that under the charge 

 of the Messrs. Sullivants, father and son, it 

 will be made profitable if the thing is possi- 

 ble. Ed. 



Draining. 



In our last we promised to pay some at- 

 tention to draining, and we now proceed to 

 the tii^k. 



TILE DRAINING. 



This is the mode now the most universal, 

 and of practical application, under any and 

 all circumstances, and will in the majority 

 of cases supersede all other modes. In 

 draining, the first essential is a place to dis- 

 charge the water ; it is useless to talk of 

 draining without this can be accomplished ; 

 the water must have a free outlet or the 

 drains will soon become clogged and useless. 

 The main drain must be either an open 

 ditch, or sufficiently large to carry ofi" the 

 accumulations from the side drains. A cov- 

 ered drain will carry off a larger amount of 

 water than an open one of the same size, as 

 the sides become more smooth, and there- 

 fore present less resistance. The sides of 

 an open ditch is always more or less abraded 

 by the action of frost, and the bottom be- 

 comes clogged with the falling earth. Not 

 80 of a covered drain, the sides of which 

 are not acted upon by frost, and if the bot- 

 tom is of gradual descent, however small, 

 the bottom presents a smooth, unobstructed 

 passage to the water, hence is capable of 

 more efficient service. Therefore, in making 

 an estimate for the discharge of water this 

 ehould be taken into the account. A nar- 



row slough runs through our farm near the 

 centre, in which there is an open ditch a 

 mile long ; before this ditch was cut the wa- 

 ter, in time of heavy rain, was nearly a foot 

 deep over its surface, presenting a respecta- 

 ble stream. At the point where the road 

 crosses we put in a culvert two by four feet, 

 but this was of little use in time of floods, 

 and much of the roadway which served as a 

 dam to force the water through the culvert 

 was carried away ; but since the cutting of 

 the ditch it has been ample, and the big 

 slough is at at all times, save when clogged 

 by " tumble weeds," kept within its banks, 

 and this ditch is only two feet deep, three at 

 at the top and one at the bottom, but it so 

 thoroughly drains the slough between the 

 times of heavy rains, that the spongy soil 

 takes up an immense amount of water, 

 which is given off as the flood recedes. We 

 have, therefore, come to the conclusion that 

 fewer open drains are needed than is gen- 

 erally supposed. We have no doubt that a 

 six or seven inch sole tile would discharge 

 all the water except, perhaps, in times of 

 extraordinary rains, the exeess of which 

 would do little or no damage, and in a day 

 or two be all right. We have a serious ob- 

 jection to open drains ; they take up the 

 land without any corresponding benefit as 

 against covered drains, and the annual ex- 

 pense of keeping them clear is no small 

 item, besides, the side drains running into 

 them are liable to be clogged up by the 

 earth washing in from the plowed land. As 

 a general thing our soil is not verj impervi- 

 ous, and a drain will dry it for a long dis- 

 tance, and therefore we shall need a much 

 less number of drains to the acre. In fact 

 we think there is little land that will need 

 over forty rods of drain to the acre, and if 

 we put the cost ol this at forty cents the 

 rod, which is a liberal estimate for main and 

 lateral drains with tile, we have a cost of 

 sixteen dollars the acre. Now we would 

 ask if there is one tract of land in twenty that 

 would not pay a large interest in the way of 

 increased crops on land thus treated ? 



