Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1885-09-03


HOW MUCH FALL is NECESSARY?
I Get all the fall you conveniently can,
as the greater the fall the smaller the
tile necessary to be used. Open bitches
require more fall than covered drains.
The writerknows of fseveral open bitches
that are doing good work, with fall of
1t inches to the 100 feet. A tile drain II
laid to a perfectly true grade will do
good service with fall of #. to the
mile, conse quently there is very little
land in this county that cannot be drain
ed.
1t is only in very rare instances that
two inches of water falls in "a hours;
this can all be carried off in less than
two days by three inch tile, with fall
Of three inches in 100 #. A rainfall of
one inch gives $500 cubic feet of water to
the acre, and as we have shown that less
than one-half of that amount is carried
away there will only be about 1900 cubic
feet of water to provide for. The above
named tile will carry 531S cubic feet of
water in "a hours. You see then that it
will carry off the surplus water from
about three acres, when well laid to the
above mentioned grade, in time to pre-
vent serious injury to crops.
Can stiff clay soil be drained by tile
when laid at depth Of four feet? Ithas
been successfully done in hundreds of
instances in England and this country,
and is therefore no longer a debatable
question. Yet ifproper care be not TAX
en- you may fail. Clay that is worked
or trodden while wet becomes puddled
and impervious to water. A pond that
is lined with half inch ofpuddled clay
will hold water like an iron kettle.
When clay land is much trodden while
wet it becomes puddled, and the water
will stand on the surface wherever it has
been so trodden, even over line of tile,
no matter what its depth may be. II
you think clay is impervious to water
try the experiment of digging hole in
the ground four feet deep during the wet
season and you will be likely to find that
water comes into the hole from the sur
rounding soil. How does it get there?
Dig another hole in the driest part Of
the season, you will find the clay dry.
How did the water get away? When
clay is wet it expands, when dry it con-
tracts. and then admits water and air.
When you dig up clay in dry time you
find it crumbles in little blocks. Heat,
air and frost will pulverize any clay. 1t
is good plan when circumstances will
allow to dig your trench and lay your
tile when the ground is wet, and let it
remain open until the sides begin to
crumble, then fill up with dry clay. By
so doing the tile will begin to do good
service much earlier. When tile is we'll
laid it will loosen up any clay soil, un-
less it is trodden into mortar when wet,
and even then the first dry weather will
crack it and admit the air;again. The
full benefits of tile drainage in heavy
clay soil will not be had the first year,
but improvement goes on for several
years, until the clay becomes porous and
is permeated by the roots of plants.
Does draining pay as sanitary meas
ure? Every one who has lived in Hen
ry county dozen or more years knows
that there is much less ague and 9th er
malarial diseases than there was few
years ago. Only ten years ago Wabash
county, Indiana, was noted for the great
amount of ague that prevailed within
its borders. They then began to drain
their lands. There are now in that Co.
about fifty tile mills in active operation,
and they can scarcely supply the de-
mand. The result is, that agueshas been
almost banished from the county. If
Henry county were thoroughly under
drained the decreased Doctors, drug
gist's, and undertaker's bills would
nearly pay the cost of drainage in doz-
en- years.
An advantage of tile drainage seldom
thought Of is, that you can have water
for stock at almost any point you desire.
Dig well at any convenient point on
the line of the tile, three or four feet
deeper than the tile, wall it up and lead
the tile into it on one side, and out at
the other, and you will seldom be with
out good water for the use ofstock.
ROADS.
In this county there is a scarcity of
material conveniently placed for the
construction of gravel or Macadamized
roads. A very good road can be made
without such material, by laying one or
more tile drains under the road bed, not
less than three or four feet deep, and
carrying them to good outlets. This will
keep the road bed dry, by carrying the
water from under it. At the same time
the bitches should be kept open and in
good order to carry away the surface
water. This is done successfully in many
places in Illinois, where they have
neither stone nor gravel.
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When President Cleveland was asked
to appoint Judge Tree to foreign mis-
sion he replied: 'Td just as leaf as
not" This gracious answer to the APP
plicatiOn was received with profound