The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1880-05-15
HOUSEHOLD AND FARM.
An Essay by W. l. Chamberlain, OF summit
County, Ono,
,OEs TILE-DRAINAGE PAY?
From the Chicago Tribune.


wheat any good, II was, however, surface
drained very thoroughly, which partly saved
it from wintcrkllllng But ii did wlntcrkIll
badly, and in April 1t didn't look M If it would
yield five bushels per acre and the May drought
prevented it stooling out But 1t was then
thoroughly narrowed with the Thomas smooth
ing harrow heavily loaded, and, although
light in straw it formed enormous heads and
astonished me by yielding 90 bushels per acre.
From the eight acres drained (mostiy) which
had the Hungarian grass, | hope to get next
year 40 Bushels per acre of wheat. The chan.
Ces are better now than two years ago, and
will agree to report after thrashing.
TuE-DRAINAGE AND HAY CROP.
| will now give a single example to show
the benefits Of tiedraining on the grasscrop,
especially in helping the ground to stand
drought. Three years ago seeded two fields
to timothy and wheat One of them, my own
land, not underdrained, but summer tallowed
= and heavily topdressed with manure all oyer
the other, Mr. Williams land, directly across
the road tile drained thoroughly fifteen years
ago, and bearing "A heavy crop of Hungarian
grass in place of summer following like the
other and having a top dressing Of only one
third of the field. The previous condition OF
the sol as to fertility of each, was about alike,
certainly Mr.. Willams's lot was not supc-
rior to mine, except In the matter OF drainage,
by the extra manuring that mine received
along with the summer following. The wheat
crop was about equal to both, also the grass
the first year (Which was a wet one, but some.
what heaviest on the drained land. But this
year the severe drought of April and May told
the difference On the tile.dralned land the
qraSS started Rcarlg trO reeks edrlicr than on
the either, and had so good a start before the
drought WAS felt that ii matured magnificent
of No nt ~
ly at all TIL the late June ram came and final.
" yielded about half crop. Several well
known farmers of the neighbOrhOOd, nClud-
ing Mr.. Straight of the cheese-hOuse, walked
together through the two fields just before cut
ting, and gave it as their unanimous opinion
that the crop on the drained land wasst least
twice as heavy as that on the other, and know
of no possible reason for the difference except
the tile.draining. So for glass only, and as
protection from dtOugH, TILEDRAINAGE PAYS!
But not to multiply these examples as might
be done, these prove most conclusively to my
mind the following propositions:
|. That mixed farming, in connection with
darying will pay better than exclusive dairy
ing, even on our clay soils and without under
draining
2 But it will pay better still rim Uadu.
d,uiHiag, for thus our clay farms can be made
as productive, if properly maHagcd, any
grams grasses and vegetables suited to our
climate
The best grain, fruit and grass farms in New
York state are the tic.draincd clay farms OF
Cayuga and adjoining counties; and my o"n
observation and experiments on my own farm
convince me that when drained ard properly
farmcd, under good rotation of crops for
few years our clay lands Will fully eqHal in
fertility the best of the more sandy and gravel
e. .I,r l..,;,
ing our clay soils show the effects Of manure
properly applied a. PLAINLY and more lastin@]y
than sandy soils On my farm were three fields
of two or three acres each, which, when Il boy,
helped my father to cover heavily with ma
nurc. They yielded fine crops of corn and
wheat Immediately after the manurlng, and
the remarkable thing is that those three pl0ts
have, for these thirty years, clearly shown the
effects of that manurlng in heavier grass than
the adjoining land. But, you VIII say, If your
father got fine crops without understanding
and left such lasting effects of manurng, why
do YOU underlrain the same landy ] reply
the wheat crop Just mentioned Was the only
good one that we had in fifteen ycars-all fall
ing below twenty bushels per acre and he had
three or four almost failures from winter-kllI-
ing, while the average OF my last three con-
secutve wheat crops on tile-draned land has
been 3G $40 bushels per acre, and have never
had the least touch of wintcrkiling or Hes.
Sian-fly ON such land, though adjacent land, not
drained, has been badly affected with both.
Three years ago | had n marked example:
hat.acre of my ClawSon extended beyond the
line of the lir.draincd land Here the wheat
wintcrkiled badly, and what was left crinkcd
down 50 badly with the fly that | Judged it
did not yield over ten bushels per acre, while
that ON the adjoining drained land rave over
thirty-two,
HOW IT WORKS AND ENnCREs.
But, may be asked, how Is 1t that simply
tiledraining produces such marvellous results?
| answer that it renders the SOH moorC ioDSC
and Ngit, 0Hd rorm. Experiments with the
Thermometer show it To toe from 10 10 de
grees warmer in spring when drained It
makes it fit to till and plant much earlier IN
spring and much sooner after heavy rains II
prevents the immense waste OF manure 10y
surface wash. | estimate that over one-haIf
the value of the drOppingS and urine left on
the surface by cattle winercd at the stack IN
the oldiashioned way Is lost by washing from
the frozen ground. Draining als1 prevents the
manure and the ground itself from being
KILLED by stagnant water or by hard-hakIng
of the soil. But VIII not the soil dry up more
in time of drought where undcrdrancd:' Not
nearly so badly. OF this have had frequent
and undOubted proofs. The case already gwen
of the grass on Mr.. Williams drained land
standing me drought ldr Dctcr IMAM on my
own undralned land adjacent, ard actually
yielding double the crop, is one out of many
that could name that have come under my
own observation. The philosophy OF it,
think, is this: The tiles only remove the sur
Plus water beyond the point of SdtuTdt{0H.
This surplus is always injurious. 1t packs
clay ground into mud SO that it dries slowly
and then hakes down So hard that roots cannot
penetrate it, and great cracks are formed at
the surface. Tile drained land retains just
enough wet and is left loose and porous, so
that plantroOts can spread through it, and the
fnrtlll2nn rnses LaYn accn.s 10 lhnm L i. |