1910. 
47 
A GREAT JOB OF DRAINAGE. 
The pictures, Figs. 14, 15 and 16, show some work 
we did last Winter in reclaiming a 40-acre swamp. 
The illustrations show the workmen excavating and 
the method of cribbing to keep the sand and gravel 
from rolling in, also the ditch after the sewer was 
laid and the cribbing pulled out. The sewer is fully 
10 feet under the bottom of the ditch, as shown in 
the illustration. The length of the main ditch is just 
one-half mile. The average depth of the sewer is 
15 feet, with over 500 feet of a 20 to 23-foot dig. 
Almost all of this distance was through gravel and 
sand, making it necessary to crib with two-inch plank 
16 feet long. The work was very dangerous owing 
to the treacherous gravel and sand and the immense 
pressure of same on the sides of the cribbing. It 
was necessary to resort to many different plans to 
accomplish the'work. 
The best bid we could get from a contractor for 
the labor alone was $6,000. We used 18-inch sewer 
pipe, which alone required 12 cars to haul it in. We 
considered the bids we had on the work entirely too 
high, and determined to undertake the work our¬ 
selves, which we did, and had it done by local helpers 
with a good foreman to superintend it, feeling con¬ 
fident that the work could be accomplished at a much 
less figure than the bids at hand. We accomplished 
the work, including cost of all sewer, drain tile, labor 
and everything, complete for $3,000, just half the bid 
for labor as made by our contractor. After the half 
mile of sewer was laid through the deep cut it was 
then necessary to run a system of common drain tile 
throughout the entire 40-acre tract in order to carry 
the water off quickly after heavy rainfalls. We used 
for this purp'ose 12, 10, eight and six inch tile. 
The system has worked perfectly, and we feel that 
it will be even better in the years to come than now, 
as the water will establish natural channels which 
will carry it off rapidly. The rainfall this year was 
far above the average, and at no time did we have 
any surface water upon the land. Without the tile 
we would have had at least three feet of water over 
the entire tract. We have a fall of seven feet for 
the one-half mile, which empties the water nicely; 
however, we have laid the sewer with a fall of three 
feet for the one-half mile. This brings us into the 
tract to be drained just four feet underneath the 
surface, giving us fine fall for all lateral ditches. 
The question that will naturally come up in the 
minds of your readers is whether the tract reclaimed 
will justify the enormous outlay. We had two prime 
reasons for attempting this work. The tract lies near 
our dwelling, and we did not consider it healthy to 
have this body of stagnant water so near; beside it 
was an unsightly place, covered with weeds, willows 
and rushes. Another reason was that it was con¬ 
sidered by everyone an impossibility to drain this 
particular tract, as it had been attempted several times. 
About 40 years ago it was undertaken by the town¬ 
ship, and an immense amount of money spent on it 
without accomplishing anything, as their efforts were 
a complete failure. Another attempt was made later 
but of no avail. So the matter was given up, and the 
tract of land was considered of little or no value. 
A e purchased it at a very low price, not with any 
intention of reclaiming, but because it adjoined our 
homestead and squared the boundary line. Strangers 
would often ask why we did not drain this pond. We 
had to answer and say that it could not be done; and 
after a time the desire to see this particular work- 
accomplished grew so strong that we had several 
surveys made, running lines in an altogether different 
'THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
direction than had ever been run before and over a 
course that was considered quite out of the question, 
owing to the deep cut, as before described. After 
finding we had the fall we were quick to make up 
our minds that we would attempt the work, feeling- 
sure that it could be accomplished. We began the 
job about December 1, and by April 1 we had it com¬ 
pleted ready for crop. 
The soil in this tract is of the very finest, as it is 
made up from decayed vegetable matter together 
with the fertile soil washed from the surrounding 
fields and farms. It will stand continuous cropping 
for many generations; and for the purpose for which 
we will use it it will be worth $500 per acre, as we 
intend to lay it off in small tracts and use for truck- 
DIGGING THE MAIN DITCH. Fig. 10. 
ing and propagating nursery stock. The tests we 
have made this year prove it to be very fertile, as 
the potatoes are yielding at the rate of 300 bushels 
per acre, corn 100 bushels per acre, and all other crops 
in like proportion. We feel highly elated over our 
success in this work, and think it will prove a paying 
investment from a financial standpoint. 
Clark Co., Ohio. w. n. scarff. 
A MICHIGAN ORCHARD PLAN. 
The subject of live stock in connection with or¬ 
charding is of much interest to many, but with me 
they are two separate affairs, and I do not approve of 
robbing a stock farm to feed an orchard. Neither do 
I want stock in an orchard, unless it is poultry or 
perhaps hogs for a short time in Summer to take 
care of the fallen fruit. We have about 10 acres of 
orchard scattered in small orchards over a farm of 2S0 
acres, and stock is allowed to run in these to some 
extent, but our main orchard of 70 acres has no stock- 
in it except work teams. Otir orchard is hilly, and 
thoroughly clean culture would result in serious ero¬ 
sion. Our system of working orchards differs from 
the common practice. We turn a shallow furrow 
toward every alternate row, and continue until we 
reach the next two rows, but leaving a strip about 
six feet wide in each row of trees. The next season 
the plowing is reversed. The third and fourth seasons 
work the orchard at right angles to this, thus crossing 
the strips that have been left. These strips that have 
been left should be seeded to clover and allowed to 
mature and fall back on the land. 
The plowed strips are well worked until about 
August I, and then sown to some cover crop, or 
allowed to grow weeds and pigeon grass, which will 
mature a heavy growth by cold weather. What we 
want is a large amount of mature vegetable matter 
to go back into the ground, which we cannot get with 
stock in the orchard. As soon as plowing commences 
in the Spring we throw a good-sized bank of earth 
around each tree, which is left there until about 
August 1, and then worked back away from the tree 
with light mattock or heavy hoe, at the same time 
cleaning all suckers. I his leaves the ground clean 
for from two to four feet around each tree. The 
clean cultivated strips seem to furnish needed mois¬ 
ture, and the humus is constantly increasing. We 
have one orchard of four acres where poultry is 
kept. This is worked clean until about July 5, then 
seeded to buckwheat, which as it matures furnishes 
a large amount of feed for the poultry. We have 
repeated this several years with good success. If 
fertilizers are needed in orchard we use acid rock and 
muriate of potash. This system of working orchards 
suits me better than clean culture or mulching, and 
we are not much troubled with washing of soil. 
Kent Co., Mich. * l. j. post. 
Austria proposes a tax on bachelors. It will bo 
levied on all unmarried persons, male and female, who 
have an unearned income and only themselves and one 
other person to provide for. It will also be levied upon 
childless married couples. 
American cranberry growers look ahead to a surplus 
when the crop grows larger. They are looking for outlet 
in Europe, but find that over there consumption of cran¬ 
berries is pretty much limited to American tourists. 
Oi.eo made in Norway contains 25 per cent of cotton¬ 
seed oil and nearly 10 per cent of peanut oil. In Europe, 
where the demand for the so-called “poor man's butter’’ 
is even stronger than here, the oleo laws are much stricter 
than ours. 
We have hoard of a farmer who insisted upon getting 
every bulletin issued by the experiment stations and col¬ 
lege. lie made life a burden to the director when he did 
not get these bulletins promptly. Yet he admitted that 
be had never read one in his life. lie ordered them 
because lie paid taxes and meant to get all that was 
coming to him. Thus he got the bulletins and packed them 
away to satisfy himself- not as a farmer, but as a tax¬ 
payer. Now, what about that spirit? 
THE CROPS GROWING AFTER DRAINAGE ON AN OLD SWAMP. Fig. 15. 
