Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1883-07-25
Tile Draining.

The following hints as to the laying OF
tile drains are furnished to the C0untr,
Gentleman, by Mr.. T. B. Terry, in answer
to some queries of a farmer CORRESPONDENT
us to the possibilities of shallow DRAINAGE
by tie use of tile. Some of our own
readers, who have met with precisely the
same difficulties, will doubtless find some
relief to their own perplexitics, inreadino
Mr.. Tcrry's very practical suggestions.
He SAYS
Your correspondent, S b. r.. asks
what action frost will have on file drains
when pipes come to within twelve inches
of the TOP of the ground at the upnpr end
of the drain. You very properly advise
him to Law his tiles three feet deem
beyond the reach of the frost. 6nt there
are some cases where this is not praclic,.
Bile, as YOU know. of course. hut still
where it will pay to drain. Perhans vour
CORRESPONDENT case nav he of this t;nd
For example. to drain one basin IN NJ U
farm of onlv about one ouarter of an ,cre
in extent, it required drain of sixtv roda
long, and a cut mart of the wav tiva foot
deem and tbon whorn tho ~, ,as.aI
through the centre Of The basin thew ware
only fourteen inches bcloy thr snrf,ne IF
the Ground Where the drain wos 60 Nav
the surface. hard burned fou. incb ti,as
were used. and hi1 in , oro,vo nf s a,li
clnv. The resi- Of ,ha dr,in wos I,id T "i,b
thee inch njnes, This drain be-. h,n,,
working well for wears and bns mora than
raid for itself hnt if would hnvn L1oa
utterly imnr,ctic,hlo IN h,ve laiI i t,vn
feet deeper. on account Of tho inc"oas mJ
cost. and in this n,rt;cul,r case II norlI
not have becn dana ne tboro ,,,os no,
sufficient fall. I have a number Of Of ber
drains with equally shallow snots in ,hnw
and all work well. bnt thew aro iaiI
whenever thew come nearer tho enrf,nn
than two and n half feet with rl,ynd tiloS
or very hard burned ones |''01
Your correspondcnt also sno,Es of u.,or
runninc throuoh The drains III ,ba ,i'oo
As he nav have tronbl.. from, rno,, ,,o ,'nu
into the tiles. 7 will Give him , mi, ~
my experience. in THAI line. We have
some drains that carry sprinp water and
are seldom div. Last Nav one Of these
began to show sipus of stopnino nm The
field that it was in had n crnu of wheat in
it. Bv the middle of limo , strn,u, -,
water only about the size of nv FINGER oot
through the three inch tiles, when, after a
shower, they ought to run full. I duo
down in three or four places. and fonnd
the tiles full of wheat ioo,s. and pulled
out strings four feet long. 1t seemed rs
tbouoh the drain wonId bavo to ha ,,lon
up and relaid. pei hap, with SOCKET file.
and cemented ioin,s, to make a success Of
it. But after the wheat was cut. more
water BEGAN to find its wav throngh tho
drain, and soon the roo,s ro,tel and the
sediment washed out.
For laterals any tile is bio enouph nro.
vided YOU have plenty of Them. Have :,
good and sufficient outlet, If vour n.io h.
bors will not give YOU one make one fnr
Yourself. 1t il only once 10 mt in and
though, on your ncighbor's land, it is yours
for ali time to come, Have a reonlur f,u
however small. and YOUR tile will never
fill up
The depth-No tile should be less than
three feet in the ground. and four il ,e,.
ter. The greatest mistake made nv onr
farmers in this community is that thew do
not tile deem enouph | do NO, beliepe
that our AVERAGE il over twen,v inches
whereas it shouId he Mt least ,wire 40
much. Your plant roofs will 90 10 the
water level which in thorou,hIV Jr,inod
land is a, the dcn,b of the lila Tbis will
give:
/. A much LARGER amount of plant food.
three feet in depth oivino three times ~
much as one. =
3. 1t will give three times as much
moisture to draw from in drv seasons. ven
more, as the ton is the parr drie on. bv
the sun,
3 Ar deposits mojstur. on cool sur.
faces. rs Won have often Witnessed in nal.
lars. on ice boxes elc Hence tho noras
in well dr,inod land rocoiya a donov,t NJ
moisture in rot weather enahlinp ne IN
raise good crons. bnt shallow dr,inage
can never have ,his ctf.ct I'm, WON vii