1913. 
THE RURAb NEW -YORKER 
177 
DRAINAGE QUESTIONS. 
JJ. F. H., Morristown, N. J .—In tile 
draining heavy clay land with sticky, fine 
grained subsoil and some hardpan, should 
ditches be dug more than 30 inches deep? 
Is it necessary to have lines as near as 
every 30 feet to obtain results? Would 
the expense of covering tile with salt hay 
and coal ashes or cinders to a depth of 
two to four inches before filling ditches be 
justified? Are ditching machines practical 
on such land? How many horses are nec¬ 
essary to operate? 
Ans. —Fine tight soils like heavy wet 
clay offer great resistance to drainage, 
but after draining they are retentive of 
moisture, drought resisting, very pro¬ 
ductive and valuable. This class of soil 
should be thoroughly and systematically 
drained. Thirty inches deep is consid¬ 
ered standard depth for clays. The dis¬ 
tance apart for lateral drains depends 
considerably on the kind of agriculture 
practiced. For general farming laterals 
are placed 35 to 50 feet .apart, while for 
truck growing and intensive farming 20 
to 40 feet is the rule. The writer’s 
choice for similar conditions would be 
laterals 40 feet apart, 30 to 33 inches 
deep, four-inch round tile and primed 
with top soil. Four to six inches of 
coal ashes, cinders, gravel or fine crushed 
stone on top of tile will greatly increase 
the power of the drain to relieve quickly 
the soil of the excess water. As a rule 
vegetable matter such salt hay, straw, 
etc., should not be put on tile, as the 
tendency is toward coaxing too many 
of the crop roots to and around the tile, 
thereby courting a possibility of tile 
stoppage by root growth. The Cyclone 
ditcher is a six or eight-horse ditcher. 
It is a well-made, practical machine. 
Under fairly favoring condition, not too 
many stones, it will easily cut and grade 
complete over one mile of 30-inch deep 
ditch in 10 hours, costing three to five 
cents per rod for the trenching. 
T. E. MARTIN. 
QUICKSAND AND DRAINAGE. 
A. J. S., Lee Center, N. Y .—I have a 
ditch dug about 25 rods long. There is 
quicksand at the bottom of the ditch, or 
some call it clay loam. When wet it runs 
with the water, and 1 am afraid it might 
fill the three-inch tile I intend to lay. Some 
of the way the fall is good, and I think the 
tile will keep clear. I have cut the ditch 
deep near the level spots to try to make 
it clear, but the sand lodges there. Will 
it do to put tile in there, or what better 
can I do? The ground bears a good 
quantity of grass but poor quality. 
Ans. —Quicksands are one of the real 
formidable ghosts in drainage work. 
The best time for handling such cases 
is during the dry period of the year, 
when little or no water is flowing. If 
the ditch is already dug down to the 
grade line and bottom is soft, unstable, 
l^rhaps it would be well to_ go three 
inches deeper, which should give a firm¬ 
er soil, both for the grade and tile. 
Never walk or even step in the bottom 
of such a ditch when approaching the 
grade line, as this makes matters worse. 
With a four-inch push-and-pull tile 
scoop this can be accomplished by stand¬ 
ing on the tile and working tile scoop 
ahead, say three or four feet, then more 
tile laid. With this tool the ditch bot¬ 
tom can be kept clean and in fine shape, 
and a half round straight groove and 
grade is cut in which the tile lie fault¬ 
lessly. 
In quicksands it is safer to lay tile 
down stream, rather than up grade, but 
in extensive drain systems this is usu¬ 
ally impracticable. A good grade should 
always be the coveted goal. A fall of 
12 inches in one hundred feet (1% 
grade) is considered heavy, usually 
much less fall will keep a tile line free 
of sediment if the work was properly 
executed. In quicksands especially the 
grade should be carefully distributed. 
Every low place in the flow line may 
become a catch basin for sediment and 
a menace to future utility. Tf the drain 
is to be permanent, which is its only 
and proper office, no boards or planks 
should ever be put under the tile. In 
extreme cases and bad quicksands and 
when reinforcement is necessary, a little 
concrete judiciously used in the ditch 
bottom (using a four-inch round pole 
as a form for tile to lay in after “set- 
ting”) will cheaply and effectually cor¬ 
rect such difficulties. Long tile or two- 
foot lengths of sewer pipe, seconds, 
which have a socket and collars on one 
end, are serviceable and valuable. Being 
longer than tile they lay more firmly. 
Through treacherous soil the tile 
joints should be nearly perfect and 
close, without large openings, especially 
on the upper two-thirds of circumfer¬ 
ence, and these tile joints should be 
covered with a strip of burlap (bag¬ 
ging) in size about three by eight 
inches. No quicksand should ever be 
used for priming (covering) the tile. 
Use the top soil or draw fine gravel and 
cover tile six inches deep. For springs 
and excessively wet places, coarse grav¬ 
el, cinders, etc., placed on the tile will 
increase greatly the power of a drain 
to absorb and discharge the surplus 
water, which is invariably a damage to 
all Soils. T. E. MARTIN. 
Nursery Fakes Once More. 
S. R. H., Jerseytoicn, Pa, —Myself an<l a 
whole lot of others around here feel that 
we were defrauded by J. C. Shaffer, a man 
who is working for the Rice Bros. Nursery 
Co. I gave him my order for some peach 
trees; he told us that they were to be 
rooted on hard wood that would stand our 
climate and grow and bear for 30 or more 
years, and charged us .$25 a 100 for them. 
We have learned since that there is no 
such peach root. We have countermanded 
our order by writing a businesslike letter 
and sending it to them by registered mail. 
They absolutely refuse to accept counter¬ 
mand. My order is $105. The orders are 
from $12 to $500. 
Ans. —We exposed this Shaffer and 
his methods on page 1114 of last year’s 
volume. Our reports indicated that this 
man has a tongue well rooted in in¬ 
destructible oak and a conscience so 
tough that no borers can ever get at it. 
H. M. Whiting is the champion guff 
manufacturer, but Shaffer beats him on 
downright plausible lying. Our informa¬ 
tion is that Shaffer admits telling these 
fool stories in order to sell the trees, 
and that Rice Brothers Co. promised 
to permit the countermand of all orders 
obtained under such circumstances. We 
think they will do this when they under¬ 
stand the case. Our general advice is to 
live up to a contract scrupulously, but 
in such cases as this we advise those 
farmers to get together and fight. It 
was clearly a case of misrepresentation, 
and we consider that cancellation is jus¬ 
tified under the circumstances. That is 
the way to show these fakes that they 
cannot play their game without a good 
battle at least. If you can prove what 
this Shaffer is reported as saying this 
nursery firm will know better than to 
try to enforce payment for trees ordered 
on the strength of lying stories. 
Burnt or Ground Lime. 
P. B., Kingston, N. Y .—Which is the bet¬ 
ter to use ton for ton, good burnt lime 
from the kiln, or ground limestone? 
Ans.— It will depend mostly on the 
cost per ton of actual lime delivered on 
your farm. Ask the manufacturers for 
a guaranteed analysis of both burnt 
lime and limestone.' Suppose the burnt 
lime runs 70 per cent, of lime. That 
means 1,400 pounds of actual lime in 
one ton. What does a ton cost, includ¬ 
ing freight? Divide 'this amount by 
1,400 and you have the cost per pound 
of lime. Probably the ground lime¬ 
stone may run 50 per cent, of lime or 
1,000 pounds to the ton. What does a 
tor. cost delivered? Find in the same 
way the cost per pound. For equal re¬ 
sults you should use twice as much 
limestone as of burnt lime. 
GET THIS 
'Its a 
DOLLAR 
SAVER. 
By our new, short cot mail order plan you buy these 
goods direct, with all the middlemen’s 
profits cut out 
Agricultural Implements Paints 
Buggies 
Bicycles 
Clothing, Men’s A Boys’ 
Dairy Supplies 
Engines. Gasoline 
Electric Light Plants 
Farm Machinery 
Fencing Wire 
Furniture 
Hardware and Tools 
Harness 
Haying Tools 
Mechanics’ Tools 
Pipe and Fittings 
Poultry Supplies 
Pumps, Water and 
Spray 
Roofing Material 
Rugs and Carpets 
Sewing Machines 
Shoes 
Stoves and Ranges 
Wagons, Farm 
Wall Board 
Washing Machines 
Wind Mills 
And thousands of other Household and Farm articles 
MANUFACTURERS DISTRIBUTING CO. 
Dept. 21, Pittsburgh, Pa. 
A Fertile Farm 
A Full Harvest 
A Full Profit 
iTAA)! 
<^\QUAUTY / r ^‘ 
o. s. pat> 
All these are possible 
by the liberal use of 
good fertilizers, the 
kind in available forms 
that will support the 
crop all through the 
growing season. Good 
seed and constant cul¬ 
tivation are necessary, 
and good weather means much, but with¬ 
out fertility no farmer can make his acres 
do their best. With a big demand and a 
good price for every farm product, why 
not get all there is in it? 
The chemists we employ give their 
greatest attention to availability. They 
want the fertilizers they make to roll out 
the bushels at harvest time, and they do. 
We have a number of factories, all located 
at convenient points, and wherever you live, 
we can reach you with the right fertilizer, the 
right service, and the right price. Write today 
for copy of “Plant Food,” a practical hand 
book on fertility. No advertising in it; sent 
without cost, while this edition lasts. 
Agents wanted in unoccupied territory. 
Liberal terms and goods that sell. It pays to 
sell oiir fertilizers as well as to use them. 
Ask for agency proposition 
The American Agricultural Chemical Co. 
Makers of brands with fifty years of qualify and results behind them. 
925 Rose Bldg., Cleveland. 
1230 2nd. Nat. Bank Bldg., Cincinnati. 
1018 Fidelity Building, Baltimore. 
5 Rector St., New York. 
132 Lewis Street, Buffalo. 
95 State Street, Boston. 
f he best cultivating tools are 
Planet Jr 
V They do the work of 3 to 6 men—quicker, better, cheaper. 
They put old-time methods “out of business” because they can’t compete 
with Planet Jr labor-, time-, and money-savers. 
| No 8 1 Planet Jr Horse Hoe and Cultivator plows to and from row, hills, fur-^J 
rows, etc. Can be equipped with all steel wheel discs and plow attachment, ne-ju this V 
year. M 
11 No 251 Planet Jr Combined Hill and Drill Seeder, Doable Wheel Hoe, fl 
"y^ultivntor and Piow has automatic feed-stopping- device, and complete set of 
^J^cultivator attachments. Indestructible steel frame. VI {g ■ 
An instructive 64-page illustrated cata- Iw 
logue ! Write postal for it today. 
S L ALLEN & CO 
I’ll Refund Your Money if You Don’t Get 1-4 More Sap With 
GRIMM SAP SPOUTS 
Grimm spouts more than pay their cost in one season. I will send 
you a full size sample spout free. Grimm spontsare perfect¬ 
ly round and smooth and of such a taper as permits their use in vary¬ 
ing sized bores so as to allow reaming of the bore. The spouts are so tapered they’re 
held by the outer bark.and will carry a full bucket without being driven hard enough 
to split the bark. No. 4 spouts (using a 7-lti bit) for$2.75 per hundred, including hooks. 
Griium Improved Evaporator will Evaporate one-fourth more sap than the oldstyle. Improve¬ 
ment can be used with the latter. Grimm tin sap bucketsare guaranteed not to rust. Syrup 
placed in Grimm cans will not ferment. Write for illustrated booklet E— G. II. GRIMM, Rutland, Vt., and liuO-ou. 0 
Only a Few Weeks- 
Then Spring 
How about your 1913 Crops f It’s time 
to begin planning now. Let us help 
you. We have studied fertilizers as 
applied to scientific farming. Our 
knowledge plus your experience will make a strong combination. 
Write today for our booklets, “Soil Fertility,” “The Grass Crop,” and “The 
Apple,” and for Hubbard’s 1913 Almanac, which contains much valuable infor¬ 
mation about soil, fertilizers and other farm subjects. Sent free to any address. 
THE ROGERS & HUBBARD CO., Dept. A, MIDDLETOWN, CONN. 
