The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1876-08-17

IN excellent and Il permanent drain.
a better drain is made by laying
flat stones so rs to form channel
and then covering with earth. Gen
orally, the best drain is made by
ordinary round No bottom) tile,
laid with no support under them in
the ground. The cost of these diff
ferent drains will depend on the
locality. If brush or stone arc in
abundance close at hand, one of the
first kind will be cheaper; otherwise,
tile vii be cheaper.
COST OF THING.
Two-inch tile can usually be bought
for $3.50 per thousand feet; they can
be made with good profit for $ll to
Sll.50 per thousand. With labor at
Sl.75 per day, in stiff clay, cutting and
filling will cost % cents per rod; tile
will cost Il cents per rod, makinga total
cost for Il twO-inch tile drain Of 46 cents
per rod. Ihrec-inch tile will usually
cost about SIG II thousand, or 2G cents
per rod, and the cost of u threc-inch
undcr-drain will he about 40 cents per
rod. Four-inch tile will cost not to en-
cecd $50 II thousand, or 80 cents per rod;
digging and filling will cost 80 cents
per rod; so that Il fOur-inch under-drain
complete will cost so cents II rod. The
three-inch drain will carry Il little more
than twice rs much water as the two
inch drain, and the four-inch drain will
carry four times as much.
POSITION OF DRAINS.
The best road would be made by put
ting one drain lcngthwise beneath the
center of the road, and to have slight
cutters on each side with tile or stone
drain below their lowest portion. /
have reason to believe II tle-drain laid
in the center Of the road, and i'm each
gutter a stone drain two feet deep, with
one foot of stone and one of earth, to be
best and cheapest: The stone drains ut
the sides of the road would take the
water off very quickly, and would not
be Influenced 10y frost. 1t has been fire.
Guently stated that longitudinal drains
beneath the surface are of no good, as
the top is impervious to water: such is
not the case. No road material has ever
been discovered but what water will
soak through. Even suppose the cover
ing to be imperVious, water would be
thrown into the side cutters only to
soak back under the covering and satu-
rate the soil beneath the. road, and as
soon rs that becomes muddy, the road
covering without proper support would
give way.
a single drain under the center Of the
road, and side cutters with no under
drains, forms Il comparatively dry thor
Oughiare, and is probably the only meth
Oh pccuniarily within our reach. There
It i,a h,I L., 4
on important thoroughfareS i'm Europe,
which consists i'm laying n main drain
in each gutter and from this running
out branches to the center of the road.
This method, on account Of the number
of joints and of the extra amount Of tile
needed, is much the most expensive
way,and could hardly be afiorded by us.
LAYING THE TILE
is ono Of the most important requisites
to the proper working of the drain.
The main points to be observed are,
first, that q continuous ascent be pre-
served from the outlet to the extremity,
though it is not necessary to be uni
form; second, every joint should be as
close fitti'g as possible and held in place
by a collar or n piece Of sod, grass side
down; third, the drain should i'm no
place be less than three feet deep:
fourth, the size of the tile had better be
too large than too small-thrcc-inch
tile will probably do for every section
not in n swampo or not over three-fourths
of n mile i'm length. The outlets will
need to he located in every depression
of the road, and in many eases will
cause more difficulty than all other
work; in most cases, however, IN out
let can be provided with little expense
by aid Of Il culvcrt. "A wire grating
should be placed over the mouth ofthe
culvert to keep out vermin. In case of
al outlet i'm II swamp, more difficulty
will be experienced, but the same eX-
pense that is necessary to make the
road in any way passablc will usually
provide Il good outlet for the under
drains.
There is another difficulty which will
doubtless occur to you all, and that is
our systcmlcsS method of repairing our
roads. 1t Is needless to cXpatiate on
this point, rs it is well known that our
method of annually changing road
overSccrS leaves our roads with no fixed
plan of Improvement, and really often
results in their direct injury. TO lessen
the effects of these evils we must first
agree to SOME plan of road improve
ment, and so work that, even though
it takes years in completion, the final
contamination of our plan shall he re-
allied. Our road law is not very favor
able for the purchase of materials for
road improvements; there Is, however,
nothing prohibiting the use Of the poll
tax for such purpose. Is it not possi-
bic in every road district to thus raise
ten dollars in money? With the ten
dollars forty rods of thrcc-inch tile can
be bought, and with the work assessed |
these tiles can be drawn and laid. In |
this way first improve the worst places
in the road district, then gradually cy-
tend the system throughout the district. |
This method Is certain to wonderfully |
improve roads whose soil is Of such u
character rs to be muddy at any portion
of the year. 1t il no more costly than
the method of aimless working now in
vogue, while its results will show one
more Improvement in our
roads, our farms, and our morals.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
TO OYSTER DEALERS.