62 
ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 
make from eight to ten rods of such ditch a day, making 
the cost within twenty-five cents per rod. On lands 
where little but surface water is to be carried off a shallow 
ditch of this character will do, and it can be seeded to grass. 
If the lands adjoining the deep ditch are springy and 
need further draining I then use tile drains, laying them 
never less than two and one-half to three feet deep, and at 
nearly right angles with the main drain, from five to ten 
rods apart, as the lands are more or less wet and springy. 
The first field of ten acres drained with tile by me was 
favorably located for draining, and was done at an expense 
of $5 per acre. The tile was laid in the spring and the fielo 
plowed and sown to oats and seeded to timothy and clover. 
The crop of oats was one of the largest ever raised by me, 
and was so badly lodged that fully one-half of the field was 
cut with a mower ; yet the additional value of this crop 
over any heretofore raised on this field more than paid the 
entire cost of draining it. The next crop of hay yielded 
over two tons per acre ; and the portion of the field which 
was heretofore wettest, and almost worthless, yielded fully 
one and one-half tons of fine timothy and clover hay per 
aC re. 
The second field, drained with open drain and tile, not 
so favorably located lor draining as the fust, cost £>io pel 
acre to drain, but was more perfectly drained than the first. 
The drains were laid in the fall and the field plowed ready 
for spring, d he crop first raised on this after draining was 
oats, and yielded over forty bushels to the acie, of good 
quality. Two such crops would fully pay the cost of drain¬ 
ing over the value of any crops heretofore raised on this 
land. . 
Tile drains laid with two-inch and three-inch tile cost 
me as follows : 
i6x2-inch tile, at $12.50 per m. here, cost period...^ 
Digging tile drain 2*4 to 3 feet deep, “ “ .. 
Cost of 2-inch tiles and digging drain, per rod.. 
i6x3-inch tile, at $22.50 per m. here, cost per rod.. 
Digging tile drain 2^4 to 3 feet deep, “ .. 
Cost of 3-inch tiles and digging drain, per rod.46c 
The laying of the tile; after the drain was ready, Lind 
the filling of the drain, was done very rapidly by my own 
men, the filling being done with team and plow, and the 
expense of laying tile and filling drain would be from five 
to eight cents per rod. 
