282 
WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
UNDERDRAINS—HOW TO CONSRUCT THEM. 
BY ELI STILSON, OSHKOSH. 
The farming lands of Wisconsin that require draining, cov¬ 
er a greater area of the state than is generally supposed by the 
casual observer. While large portions of the land rest upon 
gravelly subsoil, already drained by nature, the amount of 
close or clay subsoil covers nearly an equal area, and requires 
more or less draining. Such lands when drained are among 
the choicest in the state. Underdrains are much superior to 
open ditches, for the purpose of draining these lands. The 
following are some of the most important of the many advant¬ 
ages which the first has over the other : The underdrains take 
up no portion of the land—the whole can be tilled ; they pre¬ 
sent no obstruction to the use of machinery in cultivation ; 
they have no banks to bake in the hot sun, and become imper¬ 
vious to water; they drain the land much more effectually; 
they render the soil light and porous, and allow the air to more 
readily permeate it, carrying warmth and fertility with it, and 
in times of drouth, oftentimes, sufficient moisture to carry crops 
through unharmed; they are rarely stopped up or injured by 
frost. 
That underdraining is very beneficial in times of drought 
may seem doubtful to some, but if such persons will call upon 
the writer in the fall of the year, or during a drought, and take 
a short ride over miles of these drains, he will soon learn to 
point out the location of each drain, with every angle, by the 
luxuriant and dark green, second growth in clover and timothy 
meadows; proving conclusively that the drains are not only 
highly valuable in wet, but also in dry weather. This is 
caused by their rendering the lands light and porous, and 
easily reduced to fine particles so as to be readily soluble for 
