St. Landry democrat., 1890-03-08
BENEFITS OF THING.
An Ohio Farmer Gives the Results of
Thorough Thing on Fifty Acres of
CLAW Soil

Thorough Thing on Fifty Acres Of
Clay Soil,
On my clayey farm nearly fifty acres are
tile-drained thoroughly, with mains where
needed, and with laterals thirty three feet
apart and about thirty inches deep. Each
linear rod of tiles drains two square rods
of land; eighty rods drain an acre; one
mile drains four acres, therefore about
twelve miles of tiles are buried on my
farm. 1t cost some money, not far from
5000 all told, tile and labor, including
my own, for laid nearly all the tile with
my own hands, dug about one-third Of the
bitches cut nearly all the grooves in the
bottoms of the bitches to receive the tiles
as snug fit, and made nearly all the
joints where the laterals join the mains.
This is good deal of money to put into
drains on fifty acres of rather compact
clayey land. 1t ought to show some ben
eft.
The first benefit was that it made tillage
and rotation of crops possible continuously.
Some years you could get hoed crops,
wheat and clover without tiles, but not
regularly. Some parts could never be
plowed without fearful wash in high
water. The drainage made it possible to
| pillow and till large square fields instead
of irregular knobs or triangular patches.
Another benefit is that the citing has
made the crops uniformly better than on
| the parts not tiled. Sometimes, in the
case of wheat and potatoes, the difference
is one between a good crop and almost an
entire failure. This year the difference
between clover and timothy was very
marked, both in quantity and quality. |
had about forJy-six acres of clover and
oh ho1f of; 1oI 1onI
half not. The untitled land is more roll
being nearer the barn and road has had
very much more manure in the past than
the tiled portions, probably fully twice as
much on the average.
And still my judgment is that the tiled
portions yielded this year from thirty to
fifty per cent more per acre; certainly so
if we except from the untitled portion
some three acres quite near the barn that
for thirty years at least has had more than
its share of manure. Not only was the
quantity greater, but the quality was bet
ter, more free from weeds, better headed
and more uniformly good. This was quite
noticeable in the clover and timothy
seeded two years ago this spring, now
mostly timothy. One stri p or plat of about
ten acres fuTthest from town was nearly
all tiled, with little over an acre not
tiled. This part, to my certain knowledge,
has had much the most manure for thirty
years, but the hay from the tiled part am
sure Mr. Petley, my farm manager, will
agree, was worth about twice as much per
acre as that from the untitled part, or as
that from an untitled ten acres lying beyond
the barn nearer town, On the tiled part
the timothy was heavy and long, uni
formly headed with very large heads. On
the untitled part and on the other untitled
ten acres the timothy was short,
heads small, and apparently more
than half of it did not head.
There was bad frost and dry
weather in May, and the untitled land did
not seem to stand either so well as the
tiled. The untitled parts were more roll
ing, too; left without thing for that very
reason.
Still another advantage was manifest
this year The rains had been heavy down
to July The untitled portions were
almost mud, the water standing in de-
pressions. In many places the horses
sank over their hoofs, and wagon with
q ton of hay would sink in five or six
inches, and it was almost impossible even
for strong team to draw the half loaded
wagon up grade with the hay loader work
ing. But the tiled portions of the field
were firm and solid; machines, wagons and
horses did not sink in, and the field was
in fine condition for blowing any day. On
my tiled wheat field, too, the Irvine binder
ran with perfect ease to the team, whereas
untitled clayey fields were SO soft that in
some places Irvine binders could not be
used Ohio Farmer.