1880 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
229 
An Experiment in Deep Drainage. 
Four years ago we laid a side-hill drain through 
a small pond hole at the depth of 15 inches, which 
was all that the fall allowed of at that time.. The 
drain worked well, and carried off all the surface 
water that gathered, but failed to give maximum 
crops. Every season the area of shallow drainage 
has been marked by a stinted growth of cabbages, 
potatoes, beets, and carrots. The adjoining area 
which admitted of three feet drains, has given as 
good crops as could be desired. This spring we 
have dug a greater distance for an outlet, break¬ 
ing through the rim of the basin that held the pond, 
and have put down tiles three feet, which works 
like a charm. The ground is cracking for several 
feet on each side of the drain, the water has dis¬ 
appeared, and the air has gone down after it. This 
ameliorating process going on above tile-drains is 
one of the most beautiful sights a cultivator can 
behold. Drains two and a half to three feet below 
the surface are a good investment in all wet or hard- 
pan soils. We notice, with great satisfaction, the 
rapid spread of tile-draining in some of the older 
Western States. Recent meetings of the tile man¬ 
ufacturers there show that in Ohio, Indiana, Mich¬ 
igan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa, they have 1,140 
tile factories now, instead of 400 in 1870. During 
the last year they turned out 175,000,000 tiles, worth 
$2,812,500. The average depth of laying the tiles is 
33 inches, and the cost of digging is from 15 to 30 
cts. a yard, but in the yield of crops the increase is 
from 25 to 100 per cent. The cost of tiles is $6.25 
per thousand, which is much below the prices we 
have to pay in the East. A stronger argument for 
thorough drainage by tiles than these brief statistics 
could not be presented. Even in the new States, 
where the soil is far from being exhausted, it is 
good economy to put down tiles. The good seed 
sown in the American Agriculturist from the record 
of Tim Bunker’s Experiments in the Horse Pond 
Lot over twenty years ago, to the present, is spring¬ 
ing up and bearing fruit. Connecticut. 
Keeping Off tUe Bugs.— We have frequently 
advised the making of frames to be covered with a 
pane of glass, for use in forwarding cucumbers, 
melons, and other semi-tropical plants in the garden. 
We have found these frames to serve a double pur¬ 
pose, in keeping the striped bugs from the plants 
as well as in keeping them warm. A correspond¬ 
ent, “ C. W.,” uses similar frames for the insects 
alone. He writes : “ The best investment I ever 
made was a few cents for mosquito netting last 
season. I had tried almost everything before rec¬ 
ommended as infallible protection against the 
Striped-bug on vines by practical gardeners—dead 
clams, quassia water, soot, ashes, plaster, lime. 
Miserable comforters were these all. Heavy rains 
would wash off the upper sides of the leaves, and 
the under sides would always be exposed to the 
ravages of the bugs, so that eternal vigilance and 
much use of thumb and finger was the price of 
every squash, melon, and cucumber grown upon 
the place. But a few cents’ worth of netting drawn 
over my bottomless box, or frame, large enough to 
cover the hill, makes light work of growing melons 
and cucumbers. Plant the seed as usual, and when 
the plants begin to make their appearance, the 
frames covered with netting are put over the hills. 
They need only be removed for the purpose of cul¬ 
tivation, until about the first of July, when the 
bugs disappear. Any store box, such as soap, 
starch, canned fruits,etc.,are packed in, will answer. 
The Temper of the Horse. 
In a prize essay upon the English Cart Horse, 
published in the “Agricultural Gazette ” (London), 
the author treats his subject under ten heads, as 
follows : “1, the size—2, the carcase—3, the back 
and loins—4, the shoulders and fore legs—5, the 
feet—6, the hind quarters—7, the head and neck—8, 
the color and skin—9, the action—10, the temper.” 
We quote the remarks under the last head, because 
they apply as well to our farm and other horses as 
to cart horses in England. “ A really vicious stal¬ 
lion or mare should scarcely be devoted to the stud. 
We ought not needlessly to risk the lives of our¬ 
selves or the attendants, and we should not there¬ 
fore run the risk of breeding biters and kickers, 
for, without undervaluing the late Mr. Rarey’s sys¬ 
tem, which we believe to be good, we yet prefer ad¬ 
hering to the principle that ‘ prevention is better 
than cure.’ Of scarcely less importance as regards 
utility, although not dangerous, is another fault 
which has been stigma¬ 
tized as a vice, and which, 
in purchasing a cart 
horse, we guard against 
by the proviso that the 
animal must be warrant¬ 
ed a good worker. We 
allude to a hot or fretful 
worker. We may endure 
such fault in a hack or 
single-harness horse, but 
in a hunter or a cart¬ 
horse it is a sin which 
cannot be forgiven. Such 
an animal is an eye-sore 
to the master, and an an¬ 
noyance to the attendant. 
When at work he is al¬ 
ways fretting and sweat¬ 
ing, and when at rest 
looks mean and misera¬ 
ble. Jibbers and restive 
horses are of course to be 
avoided; the former vice is more likely to be he¬ 
reditary than the latter, which often springs from 
bad management or rough usage, but the want of 
stanchness to the collar, which is understood by the 
first appellation, is frequently innate—hereditary.” 
A Rail Holder. 
Robert Erdly, Snyder Co., Pa., who “ finds in the 
American Agriculturist nearly all kinds of drawings 
Fig. 10.—THE “ LAWRENCE ” IN USE. 
and descriptions of machinery that are needful 
upon the farm,” wishing to contribute his share, 
sends a sketch of a Rail Holder, which he has used 
for eight years and finds very useful. 
Directions for the construction of the machine: 
“The piece A, is made of 2-inch plank, 6 inches wide 
and 4 feet long with a pin hole at each end, as shown 
in the engraving; B, is of the same material, 8 er 9 
inches wide, 41 feet long; C, is a 3 by 4-inch scant¬ 
ling about 51 feet long, and D, is of the same 
material about 3 feet in length. The piece E, is of 
1-inch board, 3 inches wide, 31 feet long, with a 
cross-piece on top. F, is 3 by 3 inches, about 16 
inches long ; O, is 11 by 2 inches, 4 feet long. The 
iron rod H ., is « of an inch thick; a chain will 
answer the same, if being about 21 inches long ; 1, 
of 1-inch board and 3 inches wide, about 31 feet 
long with small holes. J, is an iron pin ; K, an 1- 
inch board about 16 inches long, 3 or 4 wide ; A, is 
1 by 3 and 7 long; M, a curved brace about 16 
inches long fastens with hinges to B; N, W, chop¬ 
ping blocks ; O, the fence rail; C, and D, are made 
with sharp iron teeth in them, 11 inch long, to hold 
the rail in its proper place, as shown in the engrav¬ 
ing. In using this machine four stakes must be 
driven into the ground, one through the holes at 
each end of A, and one on each side of B, near 
the end at M, to keep the machine at its place. 
When a rail is ready to take out, draw out the pin, 
A MACHINE FOR HOLDING RAILS. 
J, raise up the lever, take hold of the beam C, and 
raise it up and place M under it; shown by dotted 
lines in the engraving; the rail is then loose, and 
the machine is ready, with its mouth open, for the 
next rail. This machine is also very useful for 
