(92) 



lie funds ia digging and draining the mains, so that' farmers 

 can lay their drains into them. Wood county, Ohio, ia 

 1867, spent in one year |500,000 in digging mains. One 

 drain was dug thirty miles long, and six feet deep, while 

 the districts dug four hundred miles more. 



The Agricultural College of Michigan appointed a com- 

 mittee 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 cntting the crop was sold for $1,570, 

 leaving a clear profit, the first year, over all expenses^ of 

 1548.70, 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 bot' 

 tom 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 transverse 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, weeds, leaves or 

 cornstalks over the poles, and indeed over the rocks atlso, 

 and there will be a good ditch without the outlay of any 

 money. Of course the loose dirt will be thrown over either 

 the rocks or logs. Timber under ground in this way will 

 last a long time. 



