Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1886-07-01
THE NORTHWEST
SIZE OF TILE.
BY DIR. T. C. HUNTER. C. E.

One class clalInS I1dG the Ilic CduuOt oe
too large, another, while not going to
the extreme of the former class, strong
ly favor large tile, and still another
class who maintain that the tile should
be neither large nor small relatively,
but should conform mathematically to
the work it will be required to do.
A man about to select a steam engine
to run certain machinery, first esti-
mates the power that will be needed
to do the work we'll and economically,
and does not buy 100 H. P. engine to
run a wood saw. Such an engine
would do the work, but it would be
very bad economy. If he is wise he
will buy one that has somewhat more
power than he will usually need, as it is
not good economy to keep an engine to
its greatest power all the time. So with
tile or sewer-pipes, they should be
proportioned to the work they will
have to perform with small reserve
capacity for extraordinary occasions.
Nearly all of the drainage tables
give the number of acres that may be
drained by tile of a given size, laid to
a given grade. Now this draining of
q certain number of acres is altogether
too loose q term to use for scientific pur-
poses. 1t depends entirely on the
amount of water that falls on an acre,
which is an extremely variable guam
tity, In southern California the an
nual rainfall is only or inches, while
in Florida it Is as many feet. In Wa
bash county, Ind, kept careful re-
cord ofthe rainfall from Sept. 1876 to
July 'S5 and found the average to be
about 38 inches per annum. do not
remember a single day when there
was as much as inches of rainfall
and very few when there was as much
as two inches, during all those years.
Yet once knew 10 inches to fall in IL
happen once in life time and cannot
properly be taken into the account.
The annual rainfall varied during my
observations in Wabash Is inches or
near so per cent per annum. Let the
capacity of the tile be expressed in
cubic feet in "a hours then knowing
the extremes of rainfall, in your local.
ity, you are prepared to select the size
of tile suited to the work required of it.
Prof. Carpenter in note to his tables,
says that no tile less than inches in
diameter will be effective if laid to a
grade of foot In 1000, or about one and
a quarter inches in hundred feet. The
learned Professors theory 10 not sus-
tained by the facts of experience. The
writer did the civil engineering for
many miles of open ditch in Wabash
Co., where the greatest fall that could
be obtained was #. in 1000 or 5.28 #.
in mile. There bitches were some of
them very large, long and expensive,
and if they had failed to serve their pur-
pose, both the pockets Of the taxpayer,
and the reputation of the engineer
would have suffered. They are all per-
fectly successful, and are draining a
large amount of valuable land, which
was before of very uncertain worth.
Now no one disputes the fact that open
bitches are less effective than tile, on
account of the lessoned friction of the
latter and the concentrating the force
of the water and thus increasing its We
locity. A very large portion of the
land in North Western Ohio and
Northern and Central Indiana, does
not have so great a fall as foot in 1000.
A great deal ofit having less than in
1900 #. This according to Prof G.
would require all their tile to to be
more than inches in diameter, even
for short laterals. The experience of
too many persons is against the Prof.
If his ideas were correct it would pro-
hibit great many men from attempt
ing to drai1 on account of the expense
There are many intelligent men who
lay all their tile to level grade, on ac-
count of the ease in following the level
of the water and its being very difficult
to lay any other grade by the water.
They claim that their plan works we'll,
and are satisfied. I think however,
that it is only question of time when
tile laid to level grade, will fill up and
cease to do its work. believe that
tile laid to fall of one-halfinch to the
hundred feet, will never fill up ifwell
laid. This no professional ditch digger
can do, with the water for guide. He
will very confidently assert that he can,
but if you rely upon him, you will find
it to be very expensive experiment to
you in the end. Employ competent
civil engineer to prepare the work and
then get man to dig it who does not
claim to know more about bitches than
any engineer but who will follow the
directions given by the engineer and
let him be responsible for the results.
I have had several bitches spoiled by
these "intilligint gintlemen" Gom Cork.
None of the tables in my possession
give the capacity of tile in cubic feet at
a less grade than three inches in hund-
red feet which makes them of little val
ue in this locality. reducing the
capacity of 5 and 6 in. tile as given in
the tables to q curve and then tracing
the curv back to zero, obtain the
following approximate results: A 81
inch tile laid to a level grade will de-
liver about 1000 cubic feet of water in
"a hours, with a fall of in. per 100
feet it will deliver about 200 cubic feet
and with a fall of 2inches per hundred
feet it will deliver about $500 cubic feet.
A 6 inch tile laid level will deliver
about "a, 900 cubic feet in "a hours, with |
a fall of inch per hundred feet, 26,OOO
cubic feet and with 2 inches fall, 2S,OOO
cubic feet in the same time. I have
not reduced the curves of any other
sizes and their results are only approx |
mates, but they may for the present |
serve as guides. A drain is said to be |
effective when it will remove 1915
cubic feet of water from an acre in a |
day. An inch of rainfall gives $500 |
cubic feet Of water to every acre. OIL
this amount more than one half is taken |
up by the soil to be used by vegetation,
some ia lost by evaporation. and a small
per cent is drank by animals, leaving
perhaps 40 per cent to be carried away
before it would injure crops. If the |
drainage is good it will remove the sur
face water in one day and in two days
-