The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1880-05-08
HOUSEHOLD AND HARM.
DOES TILE-DRAINAGE PAY:
An Essay by w. Chamberlain, of summit
County, OhiO.
From the Chicago Tribune.

ago sold nine acres off the west side OF my
farm to man who resod it to Mr.. McCaulcY.
|. was the sticst clay, and the --LATEST, wcttest
part of the farm ana the most unferte, and
had neither time nor money then to reclaim
IT, Mr. NJ fenced it into two lots, used SIX
acres of il ~ permanent pasture, plow"d three
acres of ia" best land and seeded II with tno-
thy and clover, and undertook to keep on Inc
nine acres a dairy of two COWS, hut IKE MIS-.
Partingtons feelings, which were too much
for her" the COWS proved too much lor the
pasture and their owner had to bring bundlcs
of hay or pals of slop to them daily from his
house and in the fall NOV the second crop OF
clover pIecemea 10 satisfy their hunger. Eight
years ago bought back the nine acres, powed
| the pasture lot, and put on 1t 800 worth OF
manure, and ule-draincd two acres OF the wet
test part at an expense of $50, and seeded II
with clear timothy in September. The ma
nure was spilled as top dressing after piow'
ing and before sowing the graSSsecd, then mar
: Vowed TIL it was well Incorporated with the
fine soil The draining WAS done Just AFTER
the top dressing WAS finished. While the
bitches were open, the tile not laid, heavy
rain washed much of the manure from the
higher to the lower portions in "A darkcolorGd
| LIQUID | FASTENED to lay the Tile and fill the
dltches with earth, and then Tins dark liquid
settled into the soil but did not filter through,
| as the water that flowed from The drains was
| as pure as that from spring. The next year
and for four years the hay crop was good, but
far the heaviest on the tiledrained portion,
where little but swamp grass had grown be-
fore the draining. have usually sold the nay
crops from tins niDc acres and kept record oi
the sales The largest gross sales we're two
wears ago, S970, or $50 per acre for the nlne
acres, six acres then being timothy hay and
three acres wheat This year six acres were
in wheat and three III timothy, and, notwlth-
standing the low price OF wheat and llght crop
of hay from drought the cash receipts Tor both,
including the straw, were $3.50, or S2l per
acre, which | find has been the average rate
for five wears past This, ! think, is pretty
well for land that would not keep two cows
on nine acres. In fact, the Assessors returns
show that a large portion Of the dairy farms
of this section do not maintain more than one
COW to every eight or nine acres,
In this, my second experiment in tie-drain
N1g, only two or three acres were drained ont
of nine, and tins portion which was almost
worthless before has since been the most pro
ductive Of all, and the drainage of this rem
dercd possible the cultivation of the rest; 50,
in this case, tledrainagc does surely pay
TUE BANNER WHEAT CROP OF ONO
Nv third experience IN draining was On
larger scale and | was led 10 1t 10y repeated
failure OfCrOpS from OvcrwutncSS OF the ground
The field in whish my house stands contains
sixteen acres including house garden, etc. IT
iso fnn rnIIinr lind With rood fall for sur
face dr,iparr in several directions, and is one
M tho last folds Won vonld saw needed under
draining. In 1916 had ccvCA acres oil 1t IN
potatoes, which were simply ruined by excess
of wet They died of consumption caused by
cold and wet feet. Immense rains after plant
ing made mud Of the entire field. Then the
Zoos r,,,,IJ oniv groN, ON the back burrows and
,,ndor thn yoiin% annie trees where the hirh
noes of thn rround and the Growth of the trees
ban, t,n ,,rnnnI drvr,. and preyentcd its baE
~ TIT almost totol failure and several par.
tjal ones nrevious prompted me to tledrain
eleven acres of the field THIS work was done
in three weeks IN November and three weeks
enc ,bo u,yt Anril TIE files were laid two
and La,f feet deem rLrcc feet would have
hnon hattar, and thr drains two rods apart. The
,o,o1 oo.t was goa ner acre The Ground WAS
dr,, onl h,rl whom tbp Gitchinu was finished
ana II nIoyed nm IN hnue COMPACT lumpS,
Which ,,d NOT nuiycrize tuIlv in working, and
which prevented the propcr termination aAd
,rrnwtL of thc IJuugarian grass which was
lsovn In Auru,t the crop of Hungarian
At,o.,l,, .h,rn gT.ss") was moved and the land
,Iou,a3 for wheat omitted to saw that the
rarronrd wo. mnnured nlow,np in twelve loads
Gov or, ,oG,rn tho Uunrarion was sown The
hooyv and frnnuent rains during the summer
,,d tha drains dischnrCe freely and com.
nletolv nuIvrr,zed the nmps, and the land
rnIouc1 nm beautifully for wheat The Weld
nfubnat ~ most of Won know. was Goriy.slN
,G Isirhu.hnIs nor acre marhipc measure
tI'n lonJ hn,n,, measured carefully The hes,
,hron arrrs Of thc field were cut separately and
iaIIoI .ivtvonn hrsheIs ner acre Bear in
mind that had inst had two almost total fail
n,,, M ,ort? frjd-ono of not.toos and
~ IInn,,,r,an Grass. for thnriph tbc latte,
,ra. so,,n af,rr the draining was done, tho
c,oddv condition of the ground. which the
Jr"irJ -, ,,n, had NOT timn ia change was no
Gi"'I9 ~ ',, - ,ha t,il,,ro ITcro ,hnp Il