104© 
»HE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
ixovemher 12, 
great that -the Department can afford to stand the 
loss on the comparatively few long hauls. The same 
thing holds true -of packages. The Short haul is profit¬ 
able, as it is in fetters;; and the long haul : is una- 
proStable. 'The -mail rate for a four-pound package 
is 6 # cents. At half this rate this package would the 
extremely .profitable on .a haul from New York to 
AN ALABAMA SOY BEAN CROP. Fig. 444. 
Washington, D. C., but unprofitable on haul from 
Boston to Riverside, Cal. It is plain that if the 
short-haul packages alone could be handled the profits 
would be enormous. This is precisely what the ex¬ 
press companies do. They secure the short haul by 
making a lower rate, and avoid the long haul by mak¬ 
ing a higher rate. This explains the vicious, unscrup¬ 
ulous and effective fight the express companies have 
heretofore made against parcels post. 
Fortunately the remedy for this case is plain. The 
Post Office Department should take charge of the en¬ 
tire package business. We already have rural deliv¬ 
ery, and in this respect the plan could be put in opera¬ 
tion without the expenditure of a single dollar. Some 
of the post offices and railway post offices would have 
to be provided with greater facilities for handling after 
the plan was thoroughly in operation, but the expen¬ 
ditures would not amount to one-tenth of the extra 
income. The plan could be put in operation on (the 
existing rural routes for local traffic only, then ex¬ 
tended to all the routes in the State, and eventually 
from one State to another all over the country.. 'To 
fulfill its mission it must not be hampered fby restric¬ 
tions of any kind, or express companies will imme¬ 
diately take advantage of them to their benefit, amid 
we have had ail we want of ifibait and to spare. The 
above plan for putting in operation would prove tfihat 
the statement that mail-order houses would .alone 
benefit by this parcels post was only ,an argument for 
selfish motives by express companies. This question 
is up to the people. If your Senator <or Representative 
is not right .on this point he should be made to under¬ 
stand your position at .once- 
'‘‘Victories that; .are easy .are cheap.. Those only are 
worth having which come as a result <©f Shard fight¬ 
ing.’”—Beecher.. « tc. ssvans. 
Maryland. 
SOY BEANS AND A MULCH. 
The Soy beans shown at Fig. 444 were grown on Sand 
Mt., Ala. The soil here is sandy mulatto, with a red 
clay subsoil, about 200 feet above lime rock. The 
beans were not fertilized except what they got from 
the preceding potato crop. They are of the Mammoth 
variety and required only too days to make seed. In 
height they ranged from 40 to 52 inches. They were 
planted in drills about 30 inches apart and from eight 
to 12 to the foot in the drills scattered broadly. When 
about a foot high the ground was covered with forest 
leaves to the depth of two inches, and when half 
grown the beans covered the ground completely. I 
am a crank in regard to using forest leaves on the 
farm, and have .a good chance here to indulge in my 
crankiness. The soil here is inclined to form a hard- 
pan just below the plowed surface, and I find that by 
using forest leaves plentifully the hard-pan disappears, 
while the crops are immensely benefited from the con¬ 
servation of moisture. w. h. m. 
Long Island, Ala. 
ANOTHER GOOSEBERRY CROP. 
We are interested in the report of Mr. Collin’s 
gooseberry yield. In 1884 I received from Puyallup, 
Wash,, 800 Champion gooseberry plants. These were 
planted in good soil in rows eight feet apart and the 
plants five feet apart. Good cultivation was given them 
through the -season, and in the late Fall a mulch of 
straw was placed around each plant. The next season 
(18:85) we gathered 16 bushels of berries from the 
800 plants, an average of pint to the plant. This 
year cultivation was given and a by-crop planted be¬ 
tween rows. They made a very fine growth, and 
again were mulched with straw in the late Fall. The 
yield for 1886 was 5,070 quarts, an average of OJ /3 
quarts to the plant. From two extra fine plants 19 
■quarts were taken in the presence of some Indiana 
nurserymen. The crop that year brought $516.90, and 
'deducting all expenses, $85.70, left a net income of 
;$231.m No crops since then have equalled these two, 
but -still they do fairly wtell. .Some of the oLd plants 
in this lot .are still in bearing. As to cultivating the 
‘gooseberry, we believe it .to he an injury to the fruiting 
qualities. The -constant tearing* loose of the young 
apotlets which extend quite far from -the .-stock do 
fliamm. After ?tbe fourth year we kept a heavy mulch 
around every plant and that renewed .annually. An 
acre of gooseberries properly cared for will equal an 
value any of the small fruits. Fig. 447 shows a num¬ 
ber of clusters of the Champion grown this season. 
The severe frosts of May greatly reduced the number 
of berries on the branches. j. h. iiayxes. 
Indiana. _ 
THE PRACTICE OF TILE DRAINAGE. 
Part I. 
It is well to consider, in the first place, that drainage 
is a permanent improvement, and that if drains are 
well put in they will last, if not for all time, at least 
as Jong as any other improvement on the farm. Care¬ 
less work or makeshifts ought not to be allowed. 
Then, too, they are expensive, and of such a nature 
that a little lack of attention at one point may impair 
the usefulness of the entire drain, or perhaps the whole 
system. There is scarcely any work upon the farm in 
which attention to detail counts for more in the long 
run than it does in draining. Generally, where the 
WATER RISING FROM BELOW. Fig. 445. 
areas to be drained are small .and the fail! is sufficient, 
(the farmer .cam supervise -or do Ms -own work;, but very 
.often, where tdbe ansa is toaige and fiat, it wal pay to 
•employ a .eonqpeteitt -engineer to (locate line ditches^aaad 
determine lihe grades. For .finishing the ditch .and fay¬ 
ing the tile, it will often ihe wise to .employ .a reilaaMe 
man -of experience. It Is an old saying that “Aonyouae 
..can dig ibntt .gnasly an -expert caan dftdh.” A maalorm 
grade and a smooth (bottom are essentials. As to faff, 
get all you can, but do not foe disocumged if it -seems 
little. There are drains m Ohio doing good work that 
are on a dead level. In such .a .case very accurate work 
is necessary. 
TILE.—Only the best tile should lie used. They 
DRAINAGE OF SPOUTY HILLSIDE. Fig. 44(5. 
should lie hard burned and give a clear ring when 
struck together. They should be smooth and straight, 
with square-cut ends, so that close-fitting joints may 
be made to exclude mud and silt. The size of the tile 
will depend upon the area to he drained, the depth of 
the ditch, the fall, and the porosity of the subsoil. It is 
seldom wise to use less than three-inch tile, and if the 
subsoil is a close clay, and fairly good fall can be se¬ 
cured, there is no advantage in a larger one for 
laterals. On the other hand, if the subsoil is loose, so 
that water will pass through it rapidly, and there is 
clanger of silt being washed into the drain between 
joints, and especially if the fall is poor, larger tile 
should by all means be used. On some loose flat lands 
it is not wise to put in less than six-inch tile. The 
deeper the ditch the smaller the tile that may be used, 
because when the soil has been broken up and loosened, 
there is a larger body of it to absorb water and hold 
ic as film water, and there will be less to reach the 
tile and be discharged from the drain. Then, too, the 
drainage will not all come with a rush, but will be 
distributed over a longer period of time. 
DEPTH OF DRAINS.—The depth at which tile 
should be laid is a much debated question. I am sure 
that thousands of farmers are farming too little land. 
They are farming a few inches only of the surface 
while they hold the title to the land clear down and 
•have the right to use it. In undrained soil the roots 
or most farm crops use practically only the soil that 
is stirred and aerated by the plow. Yet it is well 
known that if it is in the proper condition they will 
go down into and feed from the third and fourth feet 
o* the soil. Clearly the drains should be deep enough 
to secure ample feeding ground for our plants, I am 
cc nvinced that much of the draining that has been 
dene has failed of its highest usefulness and been a 
partial disappointment because it has been so shallow. 
On the other hand, most soils that need draining are 
too wet only i;; the Spring, and the water table all 
too low at other times. In such a soil tile placed 30 
inches deep will dry it sufficiently early for ordinary 
farm work, and if placed deeper than this they will 
not only cost more brat wall serve to bring the water 
table down early in the -season to such a depth that the 
crop will get less advantage from it, by reason of its 
rise by capillary action into the root zone. It may 
help us to consider how the water gets into the tile. 
Many people have the idea that it flows from the sur¬ 
face directly down into the top of the tile. This is 
clearly an '.error. The water nearly all comes nip into 
the Pile tram bdosui The water table is held down to 
the bottom of the drain. Water standing higher than 
.the tile and to one -side does not flow laterally toward 
the tile, but presses down upon the 'volume of soil 
w ater, and this pressure forces at through the soil and 
up into the tile from below, the same as wafer poured 
into one arm of a V tube will rise to an equal height 
in the other arm. 
PRINCIPLES OF DRAIN AGE.—Let us suppose 
two drains in a normal soil, one directly over tlie other, 
one two feet deep, the other three feet deep. Which 
will flow first after a rain? Three men out of five 
will say the top one, A, Fig. 445. But it is not true. 
Suppose the ground to be dry at the beginning of the 
experiment. When rain comes it begins to percolate 
clown into and dampen the soil. It reaches A. Does it 
flew? No. It continues logo down and dampen the 
dry soil. Neither will it flow from B on reaching it. 
It will continue to go down until it meets an imper¬ 
vious stratum; then it will begin to accumulate and 
a water table is formed, which will rise until it reaches 
the bottom of B, and if B is large enough to carry the 
water, A will never flow. But now suppose there is 
an impervious stratum near the surface, say at '20 
inches or two feet. It may not be wise to go much if 
any deeper than this stratum, for the water cannot get 
through it to the tile. There are wide areas which can¬ 
not be drained very deeply because of this very condi¬ 
tion. It is one phase of this problem that presents 
itself in the drainage of a spouty place on a side hill or 
slope. An impervious stratum of soil has arrested the 
downward flow 1 of the water and carried it to the out¬ 
crop on the slope. Now if drains are put through 
the spouty ground B only the result will likely lie dis¬ 
appointing. But if a ditch is put above the spouty 
ground at a point A and lengthwise of the slope so as 
to Intercept the water brought to the surface by the 
impervious stratum "C, it is likely that the work may 
be done much more clteaply and satisfactorily. The 
illustrations may .serve another purpose. If we admit, 
as shown in Fig. 445, that water enters the tile mainly 
from below, it as evident that it is useless to fill the 
ditch pari full of broken stones as some recommend, 
thirnkiag' thereby it© Fasten the -work -of the drams. It 
•does not hasten at at all, ibtit adds greatly to the ex¬ 
pense and may <d© positive injury. F©r where the sur¬ 
face wash -can pass rapidly through this loose material 
into the rile, it is very apt to carry- with it sand and 
salt that will eventually fill up the drain. However, in 
.a case -such as is suggested by Fig. 446 where it is dif¬ 
ficult to determine just where and how deep to put the 
.drain afoove the .-spouty place, it may Ibe of great ad- 
YaraLage partially to fill the ditch with broken stones. 
DISTANCE BETWEEN DRAINS.—No fast rule 
•cairn foe given as to the distance between drains. That 
must foe determined foy the .character of the subsoil and 
tire depth at which they are placed. Of course if the 
subsoil is fine and close in texture, the flow of water 
through it will be slow, and drains must he closer to¬ 
gether than if the soil is more open and porous. It is 
sometimes stated as a general rale (although there 
can foe no rate about it) that the water table rises one 
foot for each rod from the drain, Fig. 445. This is 
due to the difficulty the water has in passing through 
the soil to the drain. It is dear therefore that the 
deeper the drains the farther apart they may be, and 
still hold the water table to a reasonable depth. Some 
soils are so open that drains 350 feet apart wall do 
the work thoroughly. On the other hand some are so 
dense that drains must be as close as 20 feet to do 
good work One thing is sure, there is no danger of 
A CLUSTER OF GOOSEBERRIES. Fig. 447. 
overdoing the work, for ali the zvater that can be 
drained from the soil is useless. And no amount of 
drainage can take the film zvater out of the soil. It is 
clear from the foregoing that one must be pretty famil¬ 
iar with his soil before he can determine how to drain 
it the most economically. On our own farm, of rather 
close clay subsoil, we have placed the tile 30 inches 
deep and 33 feet apart. We find that this leaves little 
to be desired in the way of drainage. F. i„ ai.len. 
Ohio. 
