62 ILLINOIS STATE DAJRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



make from eight to ten rods of such ditch a day ; making 

 the cost within twenty-five cents per rod. On lands 

 where httle but surface water is to be carried off a shallow 

 ditch of this character will do, and it can be seeded to grass. 



If the lands adjoming the deep ditch are springy and 

 need further draining I then use tile drains, laying them 

 never less than two and one-half to three feet deep, and at 

 nearly right angles with the main drain, from five to ten 

 rods apart, as the lands are more or less wet and springy. 



The first field of ten acres drained with tile by me was 

 favorably located for draining, and was done at an expense 

 of ;^5 per acre. The tile was laid in the spring and the field 

 plowed and sown to oats and seeded to timothy and clover. 

 The crop of oats was one of the largest ever raised by me, 

 and was so badly lodged that fully one-half of the field was 

 cut with a mower ; yet the additional value of this crop 

 over any heretofore raised on this field more than paid the 

 entire cost of draining it. The next crop of hay yielded 

 over two tons per acre ; and the portion of the field which 

 was heretofore wettest, and almost worthless, yielded fully 

 one and one-half tons of fine timothy and clover hay per 

 acre. 



The second field, drained with open drain and tile, not 

 so favorably located for draining as the first, cost ^lO per 

 acre to drain, but was more perfectly drained than the first. 

 The drains were laid in the fall and the field plowed ready 

 for spring. The crop first raised on this after draining was 

 oats, and yielded over forty bushels to the acre, of good 

 quality. Two such crops would fully pay the cost of drain- 

 ing over the value of any crops heretofore raised on this 

 land. 



Tile drains laid with two-inch and three-inch tile cost 

 me as follows : 



i6x2-inch tile, at ^12.50 per m. here, cost per rod , 20c 



Digging tile drain 2}^ to 3 feet deep, " " loc 



Cost of 2-inch tiles and digging drain, per rod , 30c 



i6x3-inch tile, at ^22. =^0 per m. here, cost per rod 36c 



Digging tile .drain 2^ to 3 feet deep, " " loc 



Cost of 3-inch tiles and digging drain, p/er rod 46c 



The laying of the tile, after the drain was ready, and 

 the filling of the drain, was done very rapidly by my own 

 men, the filling being done with team and plow, and the 

 expense of laying tile and filling drain would be from five 

 to eight cents per rod. 



