Tafio  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
519 
A  Few  Drainage  Questions 
Drain  in  Sandy  Soil 
Can  yon  inform  me  how  to  make  a 
success  of  laying  tile  in  sandy  soil?  I 
have  laid  some,  hut  i.t  fills  up.  I  usod 
the  best  of  care,  covered  the  joints  with 
burlap,  laid  tile  true  to  grad1,  etc.,  but 
they  are  not  satisfactory.  w.  e.  ri. 
Bay  City,  Mich. 
Fine  sandy  soils  and  quicksands  are 
the  ghosts  of  tin*  drainage  man.  Drain¬ 
age  work,  in  and  through  such  soils,, 
should  he  done  during  the  driest  portion 
of  the  year,  if  at  all  possible.  The  dram 
at  the  bottom  should  be  dug  about  10 
inches  wide,  for  1-inch  tile,  nicely  graded, 
so  it  will  not  he  necessary  to  cut  the 
groove,  with  the  tile  scoop,  more  than 
l1/^  inch  deep,  in  order  that  this  trouble¬ 
some  sand  may  forever  be  kept  away 
from  the  remaining  two-thirds  of  the  tile, 
especially  at  the  tile  joints.  As  soon  as 
groove  and  grade  are  right,  lay  in  the 
tile  and  joint  them  as  close  and  tight  as 
possible,  cover  joints  with  burlap  and  put 
on,  around  and  over  the  tile,  about  six 
inches  of  goo'd  (ini'  gravel,  or  very  coarse 
sand,  tramp  and  ram  i(  down  firmly  and 
immediately  place  about  six  inches  of 
top  soil  directly  on  top  of  gravel  and 
tramp  this  down  well  also.  Have  gravel 
on  the  ground  in  crates  or  wagon  ready 
for  use.  A  yard  of  gravel  will  cover  33 
feet,  more  or  less. 
The  clogging  of  former  drams  is  due 
to  the  sand  particles  being  so  very  fine, 
that  they  move  along  with  the  water,  on 
its  way  to  and  through  the  tile  joints. 
The  fine  gravel  well  rammed  down,  with 
surface  soil  on  top,  packed  down,  holds 
the  sand  permanently  away  from  tile  and 
tile  joints.  If  a  good  job  is  done,  prob¬ 
ably  very  little  sand  will  ever  work  into 
the  gravel  and  reach  the  inside  of  tile. 
A  properly  installed  drain  removes  water, 
but  no  soil  with  it.  T.  E.  M. 
Monroe  Co.,  N.  Y. 
What  Size  of  Tile  ? 
T  wish  to  drain  a  piece  of  sandy  loam? 
What  size  tile,  glazed  or  unglazed?  T 
have  nothing  to  fill  around  pipe  except, 
same  soil.  x.  Y.  z. 
Authorities  on  up-to-date  drainage 
work  are  agreed  and  recommend  nothing 
less  than  4-inch  round  tile  for  all  drain¬ 
age.  This  size  is  usually  large  enough 
to  handle  the  drainage  waters  from  three 
to  four  acres,  with  but  one  outlet  of  sane 
size.  Also  the  capacity  of  a  drain  to 
gather  and  discharge  water,  depends  on 
the  character  of  the  soil  and  subsoil  and 
the  fall.  Aeration  of  the  land  is  another 
important  and  valuable  point,  accom¬ 
panying  the  drainage  of  lands.  Four- 
inch  tile  gives  nearly  double  the  aera¬ 
tion  as  well  as  about  twice  the  wafer 
carry' tig  capacity  of  3-inch  tile.  With 
lateral  drains  placed  50  feet  apart.  S71.2 
lineal  feet  are  required  per  acre,  or 
2013.6  feet  for  three  acres.  If  total 
drainage  exceeds  this  amount  very  much, 
the  main  should  be  increased  to  a  5-ineh 
tile.  There  is  probably  very  little  dif¬ 
ference  between  glazed  and  uuglnzpd  ti'o. 
where  the  unglazed  are  put  helmv  tin* 
frost  line.  The  writer  has  over  10  miles 
of  drainage  installed,  since  1894.  The 
bulk  of  tile  tire  unglazcd.  A  few  feet 
of  glazed  tile,  or  sewer  pipe  should  he 
used  at  outlet.  Tile  were  invariably 
printed  (i covered)  with  'lie  top  soil  and 
well  tramped  down.  If  the  top  soil  and 
subsoils  are  of  a  shifting  nature  (s’milar 
to  quicksands)  then  the  tile  should  he 
covered  with  coarse  gravel,  crushed  stone 
or  gravel.  Grade  ditch  carefully  and  lay 
tile  ends  clone  together  and  tirrfit. 
T.  K.  M  AUTIN. 
Wooden  Drains  in  Clay  Soil 
T  have  a  lot  300  feet  long  by  30  feet 
wide  with  a  descent,  of  eight  or  more 
feet  the  longest  way.  ground  heavy  clay 
with  hardpan  subsoil.  I  wish  to  put.  two 
drains  each  300  feet  long  through  it 
about  two  feet  deep.  1  eunnnt  get  the 
clay  drain  tile  anywhere  in  this  vicinity 
and  the  salt  glazed  tile  are  too  expensive 
but  1  can  get  what  is  known  as  pecky 
cypress  hoards,  used  by  greenhouse  men 
on  their  benches,  in  0-inch  hmirds  at 
$22  per  1000  square  feet  1  have  been 
told  they  would  last  under  ground  15 
years  or  more,  f  thought  of  using  three 
of  those  nailed  in  triangular  shape  for 
the  main  ;  this  would  take  000  square 
feet  for  the  two  runs  of  drain  and  cost 
about  $20.  As  1  only  need  such  a  small 
quantity  I  thought  this  perhaps  the  best 
way  out.  Do  you  consider  it  advisable, 
and  if  so  should  the  “V”  of  the  drain  be 
down  or  should  it  he  set  on  the  flat  side? 
►Sparkill,  N.  Y.  ,j.  v.  c. 
For  one  drain  300  feet  long,  the  three 
0-inch  hoards  nailed  together  in  triangle 
shape  would  require  450  square  feet  of 
lumber  and  cost  $0.00  at  the  price  men¬ 
tioned.  The  ti,me  and  nails  required  in 
the  construction  and  getting  the  thing 
into  the  ditch  in  proper  grade,  together 
with  the  annoyance  of  dirt  and  stones 
falling  into  the  ditch  at  just  the  wrong 
time  will  not  be  discussed,  as  this  would 
probably  offset  in  good  laying  and  joint¬ 
ing  of  ti.le.  Many  years  ago  the  writer 
helped  construct  and  install  a  continuous 
square  box  ( four  6-inch  hemlock  boards, 
that  would  last  forever,  in  the  ground, 
where  kept  constantly  wet)  slop  drain, 
about  100  feet  long  on  a  heavy  4%  grade 
which  discharged  into  a  cesspool.  Less 
than  10  years  after  he  saw  the  whole 
thing  condemned  and  torn  no  and  for¬ 
ever  abandoned  because  it.  did  net  work 
except  to  dog  up  and  contribute  t>  the 
worst,  stench  and  mess  of  rotten  wood 
and  stuff  imaginable,  a  combination  in¬ 
describably  nauseating.  Which  would  he 
(lie  better,  to  lay  the  triangle  “V"  down 
or  the  flat  side  down,  is  a  question.  Per¬ 
haps  the  fiat  side  down  has  more  advan¬ 
tage.  The  capacity  of  this  triangle  fig¬ 
ures  out  12  square  inches  area.  A  4-;.ueh 
round  tile  has  12.56  square  inches  area. 
Anything  in  the  nature  of  perishable 
material  should  not  be  considered,  or  used 
for  drainage  work,  hut  severely  and  un¬ 
qualifiedly  condemned,  first,  last  and  all 
the  time,  because  drainage  is.  or  should 
lie  a  permanent  and  profitable  improve¬ 
ment;  300  feet  of  4-inch  round  tile, 
weighing  about  2.100  pounds,  ought  not 
to  cost  over  $30  per  1,000,  or  $0  deliv¬ 
ered  at  railroad  station. 
This  parcel  of  land.  30x300  feet,  con¬ 
tains  0.000  square  feet  area  (25-121). 
or  .2066  acres  of  land.  The  usual  field 
practice  for  average  soils  is  to  place 
lateral  drains  50  to  60  feet  apart.  With 
drains  placed  55  feet  apart,  792  lineal 
feet  are  required  to  drain  an  acre.  For 
the  case  under  consideration,  the  owner 
proposes  to  put  600  lineal  feet  of  drain¬ 
age.  in  about  one-fifth  of  an  acre,  or  at 
the  rate  of  2,904  feet,  of  drainage  per 
acre,  and  about  3%  times  more  drainage 
than  is  usually  considered  practicable 
and  profitable.  Yet  there  are  special 
Conditions  where  excessive  drainage  is 
necessary,  for  thorough  work  and  best  re¬ 
sults.  Whether  or  not  to  drain  so  thor¬ 
oughly  in  this  case,  depends  on  the  char¬ 
acter  of  soil  and  subsoil,  kind  of  water  to 
be  removed  and  the  crop  to  he  grown. 
For  maximum  results  in  clay  soil  and 
hardpan  subsoil,  the  two  lines  of  drain, 
placed  15  feet  apart  and  7 %  feet  from 
either  side,  should  produce  ideal  condi¬ 
tions  and  returns.  If  surface  or  seepage 
water,  in  damaging  quantities,  ootnc  fro  n 
adjoining  lands  then  two  drains  w<  uld 
he  advisable.  In  this  ease  one  of  the  drains 
should  be  located  close  to  the  upper  side 
of  the  lot  where  the  trouble  is.  This 
would  become  an  intercepting  drain  and 
capture  the  surplus  waiter  before  it  had 
an  opportunity  to  cause  damage  or  assist 
in  making  the  land  cold  and  backward. 
However,  it  is  strongly  recommended  and 
advised  to  use  tile,  whatever  the  cost, 
within  reason,  and  but  one  drain  only, 
centrally  located  and  installed,  accord¬ 
ing  to  up-to-date  methods  and  not  less 
than  30  inches,  or  more  deep  even  in 
clay  and  hardpan.  remembering  Alfalfa 
is  a  popular  crop  and  roots  go  deep.  The 
fall  mentioned  is  heavy  or  about  a  3% 
grade.  Make  the  grade  uniform  and 
joint  the  t  ie  close.  Fur  heavy  soils  and 
clay  or  hardpan  subsoils,  for  quick  and 
effective  relief  of  the  soil  from  the  sur¬ 
plus  water  evil  place  on  the  ti.le  say  six 
inches  in  depth  Of  line  clean  broken 
stone  or  coarse  gravel.  This  greatly  and 
wonderfully  increases  the  efficiency  of  a 
drain  to  receive  larger  amounts  of  ex¬ 
cess  water  rapidly.  About  three  yards 
of  the  fine  crushed  stone  or  gravel  would 
be  necessary. 
In  the  nature  of  things  and  the  con¬ 
stantly  changing  of  prices  on  commodi¬ 
ties,  it  is  almost  useless  to  attempt  an 
estimate,  as  l>>  the  probable  cost.  Yet.  ap¬ 
proximately  six  cents  per  lineal  foot,  for 
the  completed  drains  may  be  a  fair  pre¬ 
sumption,  as  the  cost  of  average  drainage 
work.  T.  E.  MARTIN. 
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