The Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, Ohio) 1853-1861, 1860-11-22
ExpEnImENrs IN DmAINAGn.

We have long since experienced the imror-
tance OF draining TO Amciicon farms, aud be-
love that thotou h Draining acc.mp ni
by deep p'oUgilr., b7 t..H lui Hri ., .he
uteal mean o inY.va t0c ium} 90 .uls
,ouuNy u Ea-Mt a.'ifd ao1 on W
continent e.! EIrp; .'Isc Wpt. W,ul
have nutB car. ico uu., aUa h,vc ga ,X',rd-
ed sIl ,xpcc,rion, UvDu IN mos. arg Ia" o.
the fai net; aul he has received ts"y. ,c'u"
for lbs xpe, di,are, Ia the aa'icd uIU dis
tricls there, whore dIaiu,gr va rtqanei. II
has been done, and there jre nov Jut itN
farmers who have not draucd ,h,it anjs.
The following is the mode principally used
in England; bat with. thsir laOurprce Vt l'ud
abundance OF capital, and muy othor coa'it.
erations in their favor diiI ring 80 mnch from
us that the adoption of their method ~ Dram
are by our formers IN this country To th,lr
extent, may be considered Ne Of Doubtful u,il-
ity. It's doubtful, in ihe fret place whether
the generality of farmers have the copn To
spare to carry this out thoroughly, aud in the
second place, IL is question whether there
may not bC some other mode OF drainage more
suitable TO this county, ard which can b.
done at much cheaper rate.
The English farmer commences with the
main ditch or drain, which Is carried through
the lower end Of the field, and II the field
slopes from end to end uniformly ,oie Of theso
is found sufficient; this dram Il dug from
three To four inches deeper ban the smaller
drains, end gradually falling toward the end,
wholc it omptics itself into ~ brook, river of'
hedge ditch as may be convenient The
email drains are dug just wide enough to ad-
nit two aud halt Or four iuch tile, which
over is needed. The formef. unless in very
wet ground, will he found of suiiic eut diam
ater The drains are then Ii led up and whI,
we may say last forever. rhe moin ditch is
mostly laid Of six inch hlcs, And occasionally
with a double row but this is only whom lhtfe
is beyond an syera &c of water tl1vi1g from
the land.
Another method in usc thcre,is tn follow
ing: when the small drains are dug out, fit
them about foot or ten inches ~ith bus ca
we'll noIden down aud then plnce som wheat
straw on the top of them, filling uP ith tho
roll; this 10 not 10 lasting Il WY as the ON r,
though it answers while it lasts, an is muco
cheaper
The following are two ofsome experiments
tried in this country.
FIRST ExPERtMENr Our GIst Cxporml at
dark loan, then n heavy cl y: We made ihr
ditch from Eighteen to twenty four irctes wide
at the top, santlng down to seven inches az
the bottom made the drain three feet. ana fill
cd il with stones gathered oil tho form TO the
depth of about eighteen inohes;wc used small
stones in this instance, as Ne required the lar
ger ones for building purposes. Wa thcn
placed some turf, also y few bushes over ,hr
stones, and filled in with soil which Was dug
out. The aan drain We laid with double
row Of four aud six inch pipes.
SECOND ExrERIMESr.---Our second expert
ment was on u four acre field he ftl oi Which
was on gradual scpe and the soil clay
We laid tho main ditch through the lowest
ground, and the small drains pqral, TO il.
ten yards n part; the small drai were cut
twenty-five inches deep at the battom he
loose dirt we remove with hoe, which lett
the bottom smooth aud level for he uie The
tiles were two aud u half inches in diameter
with soles: after laying the tiles we throw 10
some clay, which we pressed down light with
woodeu ramner. Where the smnll d,ains
connected with the man,we placed Hat stones
over and under the tiles. tn guatd against
any dirt getting into them. We used for the
main ditch six-mch horse shoe tiles. The IN
tire cost we found to be from thirty 10 fifty
five cents per rod.
AS to the result, our land ia nearly double
in value to what it was before, AMI as pto
ductve as we can wish We fad the latter,
(although u little more expensive a. first to
be the best plan for the farmer, and N the
end the cheapest, We often hear farmers
say, "As soon as get some spare money. !
shall commence drainage" but we know e
no better way TO get spare cash. than 60 dom
the land, Ten loads of manure We use ON
drained land, is as good as three times that
amount on wet land.-H. Il A. West, New
Haven Homestead.