1913. 
"THE RURAL, NEW-YORKER 
1379 
PRACTICAL METHODS OF TILE 
DRAINING. 
Part II. 
Tools. —The tools to use are as fol¬ 
lows : Post-hole spades, tile-draining 
spades, a long-handled, round-pointed 
shovel, tile-draining scoops or ditch clean¬ 
ers, a tile hook for laying tiles, and the 
plow. The post-hole, spades come in three 
lengths, 18, 20 and 22 inches. They are 
about six inches wide, and square-pointed. 
They are used to take out the top cuts, 
and if three cuts are made, the second 
cut. The tiling spades are round-pointed, 
and only about 4% inches wide at the 
point. They come in the same lengths as 
the others, and are used to take out the 
bottom cut. Either kind costs from 90 
to 95 cents apiece, according to length, 
at the large mail-order houses. There are 
shorter spades of these kinds, to be had 
at some places, but they are not as useful 
as the longer ones. Ordinary spades or 
shovels cannot be used to good advantage 
in tile draining, and if any amount of 
work is to be done the proper tools will 
pay for themselves in a short time. The 
18-inch spades are a good deal easier to 
use than the 22-incli ones, and are, in 
fact, very handy. But it is a great ad¬ 
vantage to take out the extra four inches 
in many places. The drain cleaners come 
in three sizes—four, five and six inches— 
for different sizes of tiles. They are con¬ 
cave scoops, 15 inches long, hung in the 
middle, and can be used either to push 
away or pull toward one. They make a 
groove in which to lay the tile. I have 
a carborundum grinder, and keep my 
spades and shovels as sharp as a knife 
when ditching. As a result, I never have 
to use a pick, as I have no stone to con¬ 
tend with, and I have never yet found 
clay so hard that I could not dig it bet¬ 
ter with a spade than with a pick and 
shovel. My tiling is done in the Spring 
and Fall, however, when the ground is 
wet. -In the Summer one might have to 
use a pick. The tile hook is a pole, seven 
or eight feet long, with a hole bored an 
inch from one end, into which a pin a 
foot long is driven. It is used to lay 
tiles from the bank. 
Digging the Ditch. —My method of 
digging the ditch is as follows: I stretch 
a chalk line at one side of the proposed 
ditch and dig close up to the line, keep¬ 
ing the ditch the same width by the eye. 
Many people prefer to take a spade or 
axe and mark both sides of the ditch by 
cutting along the line, and this is a good 
way, especially in sod. I make the ditch 
10 inches wide if it is to be three feet 
deep, or 15 inches wide for four feet, for 
small tiles. For larger tiles, as eight- 
inch, it should be 15 inches for S^-foot 
ditch. For a three-foot ditch I take out 
one cut with an 18-inch spade, which 
takes out about 16 inches. In digging a 
ditch there is a knack which helps great¬ 
ly. One should put the spade down diag¬ 
onally, first one way and then the other. 
This leaves one edge of the spade out, or 
nearly out, and thus there is only one 
side and the bottom of the spadeful to 
break loose. By pushing the spade for¬ 
ward a little this is loosened and the 
whole can then be quickly lifted out and 
thrown on the bank. The beginner will 
usually drop most of the dirt back for 
awhile, especially in certain kinds of soil, 
but after getting accustomed to the work 
one can get it nearly all out with the 
spade. One should be careful to get the 
ditch straight, as every crook and curve 
makes trouble. Then with a shovel I 
throw out the loose dirt and grade the 
ditch. I nearly always ditch when water 
is in the soil and use this to grade by. 
Some writers recommend grading by a 
line, but after having tried that method 
I gave it up. Where there is a reasonable 
grade, if water is running it is all that 
is necessary to grade by. If water will 
run in a ditch before tiles are laid, it 
certainly must afterward. I scoop out 
the high places until the water runs 
evenly from end to end of the ditch, as 
far as open. One should open as far as 
the lowest place before grading. The 
water should flow fairly evenly. This is 
a rough grading. Then I take a 22-inch 
drain spade and, digging in the same 
manner as before, take out the second 
cut. It is necessary to make the ditch 
a little wider than the spade in order to 
get the dirt out. I am very careful to 
hold the spade always at the same angle 
and to dig to its full depth. This keeps 
the grade the same as in the first cut. 
After digging back as far as I can reach 
with a scoop, I take it and, still standing 
in the same place, take out the loose dirt, 
pulling the scoop toward me and at the 
same time smoothing the bottom of the 
ditch. The ditch is left almost ready for 
the tile. After sufficient ditch is opened 
up for the day I go up and down beside 
the ditch and put the finishing touches 
on it with a scoop, working from the 
bank. The water must flow evenly from 
end to end, unless there is a change of 
grade. There should be no rapids or 
pools. This part of the work is very im¬ 
portant. On it depends the future action 
of the tile. In some soils rapids may 
cause the soil to wash out after being 
covered, but the most dangerous thing is 
to have a sag, forming a pool in the ditch. 
In such a sag the water will deposit any 
sediment which it may carry, and thus, 
in small tiles, as two-inch, a sag of one 
inch will greatly reduce the efficiency of 
the drain, while one of tw T o inches will 
eventually clog it entirely. The smaller 
the tile used the more imperative it is to 
have the grade perfect. Such pools should 
be taken out by scooping out from below, 
up wherever possible, although it may 
be necessary to put a little fine clay in 
the sag. One should guard against this 
necessity, however, as it is an unsatisfac¬ 
tory method. It will be noted that one 
never needs to stand in the bottom of 
the ditch, as one works from a point a 
foot and 'a half above the bottom, or from 
the bank, and thus the tile bed is not 
churned up to form mud. 
ALBERT DE GRAFF. 
*15 Profit 
on an $T50 
investment of I = 
No. 5—Just across the road. No treatment. 
Two-year rotation — corn and oats. Yield, 
31 bushels. 
No. 2—Ordinary treatment. Two 1000-pound 
applications of rock phosphate per acre. Four 
year rotation 24 years. Yield, 78 bushels 
per acre. 
The above statement and record of yield sound extravagant, but 
your failure to believe and profit by using Rock Phosphate will be 
your own loss. AVe are ready to name the owner and the farm 
where the above result was secured, and to furnish you further 
evidence to prove the following statement: 
Phosphorus is the limiting element in crop production on 90% of 
the farms in the Eastern and Middle Western States; and Finely 
Ground Rock Phosphate is the only economical source of Phosphorus. 
WRITE US TO-DAY FOR PHOSPHATE FACTS AND PRICES 
FEDERAL CHEMICAL CO., Ground Rock Department 
Box No. 13, COLUMBIA, TENN. 
Buying “ Cheap” Abandoned Farms. 
I am 25 years old, well and strong, 
spent 13 years of good hard service on a 
farm. I have a brother, 22 years old, 
just as strong, who has seen nine years 
of service at farm work on some of the 
best land in New York State. We are 
poor: perhaps both of us can get together 
.$1,000 and have two homes well fur¬ 
nished besides; two good, well-educated 
wives, and hard workers too. I have 
been reading about unoccupied farms in 
Massachusetts, Connecticut and New 
York that can be purchased for from $5 
to $30 an acre. Can you tell us where 
we can find these farms, so we may go 
this Fall to look at a few’? We want 
to see them before snow gets on the 
ground. We cannot wait until Spring, as 
I feel that my employer must know three 
months ahead of my leaving. Do you 
think with the hard knocks we are used 
to w T e can stand these poor farms? Do 
you think we can buy on easy terms? 
Seneca Co., N. Y. e. s. w. 
Write to Hon. Calvin J. Huson, Al¬ 
bany, and Wilfrid Wheeler, Boston, 
Mass., for description of unoccupied farms 
in New York and Massachusetts. They 
are Secretaries of Agriculture. Be very 
careful about buying these “cheap” $5-per- 
acre “farms.” You will not be satis¬ 
fied with anything at these low prices. 
There has been a good demand for these 
farms and they are now well classified 
as to price. A $10 farm is worth $10 
and no more as compared with $50 or 
$75 acres. You have a good working 
outfit and ought to make naturally good 
soil into good farm if you can master 
the patience to hang to it. Some of the 
papers have done great injury by “boom¬ 
ing” these cheap lands and inducing pur¬ 
chasers who are unprepared to try them. 
Sand for Filters. 
You cant farm rocks- 
Crush e d 
Limestone is 
better than 
kiln lime for 
your soil, and 
it’s much 
c h e a p e r . 
Then too — 
it’s great for 
go d road 
building. 
The Wheeling - Crusher 
kind of grinding gives the 
proper sized particles—an 
important element in fer¬ 
tilizing with this soil-food. 
The Wheeling Forced Feed 
Crusher is built of steel one- 
half as heavy and four times 
as strong as iron and will 
grind rocks as large as its 
feeder —4x12 inches. It re¬ 
quires but 8 H. P. to operate 
a farm size.We sell engines, too. 
Wheeling Crusher 
Sour soil 
fatal 
to crops. 
Ground 
linieston e 
corrects 
acidity. u 
WRITE TODAY 
WHEELINg 
Crusher 
-Built like a Battleship 
This Trade 
Mark is 
your 
protection 
for onr Book—“Mixing Brains with Farming/* showing big^profits from 
scientific farming. And remember this — wo save you 10 to 25 per cent on 
engines for all farm purposes Wo can do this because we sell so many. 
Wheeling Mold & Foundry Co., |30 Raymond St., Wheeling, W. Va. 
Makes them farm for you 
1/4 OF 
Learn from our Free book 
LIVE STOCK 
AND 
GROUND FEED 
how anyone owning a 
STOVER 
OR IDEAL 
FEED MILL 
can do it. This is a vain- 
able book, intended only 
for those interested. 
STOVER MFC. CO. 
188 Ideal Ave. 
Freeport, - III 
WeaUo build Alfalfa Grinder*, Hand Grinders, Samson 
Windmills, Pump Jacks, Ensilage Cutters. Freecatalogs 
A Farmer’s Garden 
tiimi iiiiijiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiimini mini iiiiiiiiiiiimiimiiiiiiiiiiiiv 
Helps his wife to plan her table in busy times. Saves work S 
and worry, saves buying so much meat, gives better satis- «■ 
faction to the help. A good garden will be almost impossi- s 
ble in your busy life without proper tools. They cost little z 
and save much hard work. z 
IRON ABE ns I 
will sow, cultivate, ridge, furrow, etc., better than you can 
with old-fashioned tools and ten times quicker. A woman, = 
boy or girl can do it. Can plant closer and work these hand z 
tools while the horses rest. 38 combinations 5 
from which to choose at $2.50 to $12. One z 
^ combined tool will do all of the work. • 
® Ask your dealer to show^ ^ them and = 
Drill write us for booklet, “Gardening z 
With Modern Tools” and “Iron z 
J" 116 Age Farm and Garden News” i 
Ho© "V —both free. 
BATEMAN = 
WF^SCQ. = 
■o* 1022 = 
Grenloch, N. J* = 
1111111111111111111111111 .. 
There is considerable demand for a 
quality of sand suitable for filter beds. 
These are used in many large cities and 
also in manufacturing plants for purify¬ 
ing water. Clean, white quartz sand is 
best. The Geological Survey prints these 
specifications for such sand: “The filter 
sand shall be clean sand, with either 
sharp or rounded grains. It shall be en¬ 
tirely free from clay, dust, or organic 
impurities and shall, if necessary, be 
washed to remove such materials from 
it. The grains shall, all of them, be of 
hard material which will not disintegrate. 
The effective size shall not be less than 0.25 
millimeter nor more than 0.35 millimeter. 
The uniformity coefficient shall not be more 
than 3.0. The sand shall be free from 
dust and shall not contain more than 1 
per cent finer than 0.13 millimeter, and 
shall be entirely free from particles over 
5 millimeters in diameter. The sand 
shall not contain more than 2 per cent 
by weight of lime and magnesia taken 
together as carbonates. In all other re¬ 
spects the sand shall be of a quality 
satisfactory to the engineer.” 
Quaker City Mills 
Grind Feed the Fastest and Finest 
Any of our 23 styles—hand power to 20 h. p.— 
shipped on 10 days’ free trial. We pay the freight# 
Prove to your own satisfaction that Quaker City 
Mills will satisfactorily grind anything— grind 
grain, separate or mixed, ear or shelled corn, husks, 
and from the coarsest to the finest meal of any 
grade. And our prices are 
the very lowest. 
F ree Book fuTfn U fo e r : 
mation and full particu¬ 
lars for the asking. Also 
write for book giving re¬ 
markable prices on labor- 
saving farm machinery. , 
The A. W. Straub Co. 
Dept. E Dept. I 
3740 Filbert St 3703 S. Ashland**., 
rtuladclphu. Pa. Chicago, III. 
Use Your Power 
on your meat cutter. Take off 
bundle, attach one of our pulleys 
aud have a power cutter. 
Made in two sizes: 
Weight Diameter Face Price 
S lbs. 12 inches iu. $1.35 
13 “ 16 <« 2ft> “ 1.75 
12-inch pulley shipped by Parcel 
Post into 1st and 2nd zones. 
Write for information 
LANCASTER PULLEY CO. 
Lancaster, p a. 
Equal To Finest Auto Springs 
rin principle, quality of steel and grade 
f of workmanship—in fact, made in a large ’ 
1 auto springplant—Harvey Bolster Springs can I 
not be excelled for resiliency, durability and | 
appearance. Get a set and save many dollars 
hauling your perishables. Beware of 
substitutes. If not at your dealer’s, write us. 
Harney Spring Co., 71617th St., Racine, Wis. 
OUARAhTtt^; 
IVEY BOLSTER SPRINGS: 
.13 Cents Per Rod Up 
Strongest, heaviest wire. Double $al- 
_ ;vanized. Outlasts others nearly 2 to 1. Low prices 
J direct from factory. Over 150 styles for every purpose— 
J hour, sheep, poultry, rabbit, horse, cattle. Also lawn 
J fence and mites of all styles. Mail postal for catalog and 
r sample to test and compare with others. Address 
THE BROWN FENCE & WIRE CO. 
Deoartmont 59 Cleveland. Ohio 
When you write advertisers mention The 
Rural New-Yorker and you’ll get a quick 
reply and a “square deal.” See guarantee 
editorial page. :::::: 
