Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1864-07-26

one inch pipes being now nowhere used. lie
SAID he never had put into the ground pipe
II less than two inches IN diameter, and that he
always used collars IN laying hls pipes. This,
If course, involved extra expense but he
believed that il pipes were Well collaEed and
aid IN with the and OF spirit level at Il proper
and regular depth, and II the Out.fall were well
attended to- they would be as good at the end
| Jl fifty years as they were when first placed IN
chs ground The usual depth OF his dralns,
Mr.. ii. said, was four ieet and upwards accord
ing to the lay OF the land, aud the distance
| between the drains from seven u twenty-five
yards.
One remark was made by Mr.. Hobbs, which
It would be well for those Of US in this country
who may be about 10 drain their lands to CON
slider, namely, that drainage Is an art OF KIND
OF work which requires more than ordinary
alignment, skill and carelulness, and should
therefore, never be entrusted 10 wOrkmen desti-
ute OF these qualities. One cause Of failure III
draining is t1e having tb9 work done by un-
skIllul aud inexperienced persJns-a source Of
failure not uncommon 10 England, as landlords
are too apt to go upon the old system Of pro.
| gIdlng their tenants with tiles and allowing
| them to put them 10 as they pleased.
|
The use OF collars was very important, as 1t pre-
vented one pipe from sinAlng lower than
another, which often happened on mixed SOILS
As 10 the proper depth and distance VI drains,
this speaker remarked tpat he happened o
occupy "a stiff retentye clay, and he thought
chat drains tour feet deep ana eleven yards
apart would not do, as II was impossible 10 get
she Intervening spaces sufficiently dry, by the
want Of which considerable injury was Gone ~
the crops alter Ii rainfall. lie STATED that he
| had drained one part OF u field four feet deep
with an interval Of eleven yards, ana tho re-
manning part three feet, with an interval vi five
yards, and the latter was IN considerably better
| condition than the lOfmer. Since thus finding
that the sbdllower and more frequent drains
worked best on his stiff clay, he had carried on
Ms drainage with depth Ot Two and half or
three eet, and al intervals Oh four yards, and
they carried OIL the water perfectly Ills ex-
perience, therefore, led him to agree with those
who say that II Is impossible to drain strong
resentiye clays alta depth oi four leet and with
drains eleven yards apart.
Another speaker said he still remained of
opinion that minimum depth oil four feet was
Tie proper one. lie named the case OF LARGE
held OF wheat one-hait Of which had been
Famed al depth oil four fee, with intervals
Vi eight yards, and the other half al u depth oil
hree feet, with intervals Of 4eyen yards. The
wheat on the deeper drained hall was much
superior week earlier and free from mildey.
which bad attacked That on the shallower halt.
" he experience OF the last three years showed
that in great many cases the drains were
placed too lar apart, and that the objections
made to depth OF four irei by shallow drainers.
applied 10 reality not 10 tho depth, but to the
width between" Plastic class should in his
opinion, be drained with intervals OF not more
chan twenty one feet and in other soils the
distance between the drains should vary accord
lng 10 the more or less tenacity Of tho subsoil.
10 summing up, the chairman remarked that
he was convinced that no general rule could be
laid down us 80 the depth and distances OF
drains. On the best drained land on his own
larm the drains were six feet deep and seventy
leet apart On the other hand, ne had grown
crops where none had ever been grown before,
with the aid 0i drains three feet deep and thirty
three feet apart, and by putting one hundred
loads OF gravel to The acre. For more such
Land he would make the depth three feet and
che distance twelve feet. The general CON
c!usOn seemed 10 be that depth aud distance
must vary with circumstances and that depth
vi four feet cost about twice az much as one Of
three