The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1875-12-10
DRAINAGE.


from DIR. Geo. b. Loring's EARN Yard
Club of Jotham," in the Boston Globe:
81 would not be understood as saying
that an :ndiscrininate application Of
thorough drainage to all soils is 20 be
recommended There are soils which
do not require drainage. Heavy clay
soils are bane TO the farmer without it
"a blessing with it. There is large
quantity of what is called cold, springy
Iand-land in which the water percoiat-
ing from the billsides Is caught and held.
and in which the springs thus fed are
constantly seeking an outlet on the sur
face for the want OF any other mode OF
escape, which would be made highly
valuable by thorough drainage.
81 am frequently told that the pur
chase of tiles is an unnecessary expense,
inasmuch as nature has provided most
of our farmers with materials for drain
age close at hand, in the stones of their
fields, and that they can be made to
answer the purpose of tiles themselves.
1 am aware that it is good plan to bury
the stones which interfere with cultiya-
ton. But | doubt the economy of en-
deavoring to convert them into drains,
except for the purpose of constructing
a large free water passage, tapping a
copious spring, or furnishing culvert
for rapid stream. / should never ex-
pect thorough drain with stones; and
| should consider it misfortune to find
enough in my land to tempt me to use
them. Stone drains cannot be construct
ed as economically as the tile drains
They require vastly more digging, and
they are bulky and heavy TO transport.
They cannot be laid so as to prevent the
particles of earth from entering their
crevices; and their walls offer retreats
for moles and mice too comfortable to be
neglected. Owing to their liability to be
obstructed, they are not permanent; and,
except as conductors for rapid streams, |
doubt it they ara ever effectual.
This brings up for consideration a
point frequently brought forward in all
discussions upon thorough drainage with
tiles. Place a tile in the hands of any
man, or show him tile drain laid and
ready for covering, and he will almost
invariably ask you how the water enters
the pipe. We are told that five hundred
times as much water enters a drain at
the crevices or joints, as through the
pores of the tile. This may be so. But
one thing should be remembered-that
no crevice should be large enough to ad-
NIT particles of earth with the water, if
the water passage is to be kept free from
obstruction. The great advantage OF
tiles over stones is that they strain the
water out of the soil without admitting
any particles along with it-an operation
impossible in stone drain, and unless
the crevices or joints are close enough to
perform this duty, the drain must be a
failure. Now take any number of feet
of two-iRch pipe, properly laid, with the
joints carefully adjusted, and the space
occupied by the crevices is very small
in comparison with the cubic inches oi
the bore. Yet fron, this pipe will be dis
charged at times a stream of its full ca
pacity. Would not crevices large enough
to admit this volume of water endanger
the drain? / have no doubt that tiles
act as strainers all along their course
May not the very philosophy of tile drain
age consist in this: That Oh every square
inch of its Iface are multitudes of orr
fees draining the water away from ada
cent soil, and acting as outlets for the
porous earth as the water is distilled
away from it? Else how is the tile drain
SO much more effectual than any other
drain ever invented2 Crevices and joints
do not account FOR this
l trust that You will not forget that
thorough drainage does not belong TO
pioneer farming. II is no part of the
work of clearing the forests and eXpell
ing the wild beasts Neither does it he
long to what j. called fancy farming
alone Every man in the region of the
town and country, who can keep his farm
through care and industry and thrift, can
Just as well afford to drain n portion of
it as he can afford to fence aud manure
it. If lie can afford 10 do the one, he
can afford to do the other. IL he applies
his industry to the one, he can better ap
ply it to the other. For he may build
the most substantial walls around fields.
loaded with manure, and yet find him
self enclosing nothing but ''vexation Of
spirit" and a reproach to all his labor,
b .cause he has failed to lay the founda-
tion of his agriculture on a well drained
SOIL Every mechanic who owns his cot
tage and few adjoining acres, will do
well to begin az the bottom 0f his soil, if
he hopes to reap the reward OF the farm
ing which he snatches from the bench
and the workshop.