The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1886-10-09

l
late to SOW anything else, we planted
it to cucumbers in hills, fivefeet apart.
| We kept them we'll cultivated and
hoed them once or twice around the
| hills, and | never saw a more luxuri-
ant crop of cucumbers. There is
nothing new, or strange, or surprising
in all this, except that | should not
have done the same thing before. 1t
would be good thing for some of us
if we would let our cultivated land lie
| longer in grass, and devote more time
to clearing up and cropping the waste
places that often abound in unusual
| fertility.-American Agriculturist.
| Farm Drainage
We have received from Prof.
Geo. E. Morrow, of the University of
| Illinois, an advance sheet or a publ
| cation containing his able and valua-
BILE paper on EARN and Road Drain
age" which was presented at farm
ers' institute, held at Mattoon, I'll.
We Gull the following paragraphs:
The first work preparatory to tile
| Dir ainage is often IN opening, straight
ening, deepening or widening open
bitches on or near the farm, to serve
as outlets. On many prairie farms
| there are sluggish sloughs with q
tortuous course, which, if Strengthened
and cleared, would be Of great help in
| the work of undertaking. The dis
lance the water must flow, may often
| be made not more than one third that
necessary if it follows the winding nat
ural channel, thus increasing the fall
threefold, and removing the resist
| ance to the free flow of the water
which every curve in the channel
| makes. A tree outlet is go essential
to the highest success of the drains,
that expenditure of time and money
| in opening the roadside bitches, or
| those on the land of neighbors, may
often be well repaid. These open
bitches should, with rare exceptions,
be made with comparatively narrow
bottoms and quite sloping sides. A
ditch three feet in depth should be or
| dinarily at least eight or ten feet in
| width at the top.
In most cases, the main drains
should follow the lowest lands, except
where this would make many curves,
and greatly increase the distance.
Lateral drains should, in almost
every case, run up and down the
slope, rather than diagonaily across
this. When the saturation comes
| from g. pond or marsh, on somewhat
higher land. line of tile across the
upper end, intercepting this flow, and
| conveying the water to the main, will
often be as effective as q considerable
number OF drains extending entirely
ba I'd 1a,-ol
the water ooZes at or near the base of
a hill, large or small, and then satur-
ates the level land between this and
the natural water channel or main
drain, it is usually best to run the
line of tile near the place where this
oozing appears, rather than to at
tempt to carry off the water only
after it has crossed the lower level
land. In the case of wide sioughs, it is
sometimes better to have drains near
either side, but ordinarily, one drain
in the center is sufficient, For the
drainage of small ponds, line of tile
should 60 to them and through them.
sometimes with little reference to the
drainage of the remaining parts of the
surrounding tract.
On our level prairie lands, often no
better rule can be given than to get
all the fall that is attainable, but
never to stop because this is slight.
A well-laid drain, absolutely level,
with good outlets, would carry off
much water. A drain with very
slight fall, carefully laid, will be every
greater fall, but this unevenly distrib-
NJ
the rate of fall, but it should not be
decreased unless absolutely essential.
The decreased fall will check the flow
of water, making more probable the
deposit of sediment and q stoppage of
the tile. A fall of l in 500 will be
found sufficient to secure good results,
if proper care can be taken in execut-
ing the work. A fall not half so great
has been successfully made use of. In
case of very slight fall, it is wise to
sacrifice something in depth at the up
per end of the drain. 1t is never wise
to secure increased fall at the expense
of free outlet. 1t is better to bring
the tile at the outlet to even within
eighteen inches of the surface, rather
than to run risk of having the flow of
water checked at this point, from any
cause.
A few years since g. very common
mistake was in laying tile OF too small
size. Something of reaction has
come, and now in good number of
cases, tiles OF larger size than is needed
are used, especially at the upper ends
of the lines. In almost all cases it is a
mistake to lay q long line with tiles of
the same size. II this be large enough
at the lower end, it is larger than is
needed at the upper. AT the upper end
of many drains there's no reason why
tiles two inches in diameter should
not be as effective as those of any
larger size. 1t is not designed to en-
courage the use of very small tile. 1t
is better to err IN the direction of hav-
ing them too large than too small, but
very often the use of smaller tile at
the upper end of the drain, and the ex-
penditure of the money thus saved in
buying large tiles for the mains, would
give far better satisfaction. Tiles car
ry water in proportion to the square
OF their dlameters, except that the
larger the tile the less the resistance
from friction. 1t would ordinarily be
safe to discharge five lines OF five inch
tile into q main of ten inches, if the
latter does not collect much water,
simply carrying that brought to it by
the laterals. Twelve three inch tiles
may safely empty into one ten inch
tile. 1t is not wise to attempt to pro-
vide for the carrying-off at once,
through the tile, of the water from ex-
cessively heavy rainfall. In one case
under my observation, over three
miles of tile from three to seven inches
in diameter and extending over much
OF tract OF 100 acres of land, find an