Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1890-01-11
THE FARMING WORLD.
BENEFITS OF THING.

BENEFITS OF THING.
An Ohio Farmer Gives the Results OF Thor.
ongh 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 linearsrod of tiles drai1s
two square rods Of LAND; eighty rods
drain an acre; one mile dyains four acres,
therefore about twelve miles Of tiles
are buried on my farm. 1t cost some
money, not far from $500 all told, tile
and labor, including my own, for laid
nearly all the tiles with my own hands,
dug about one-third of the bitches, cut
nearly all the grooves in the bottom Of
the bitches to receive the tiles as
{ snug at, 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
benefit.
The first benefit was that 1t made till
age and rotation Of crops possible con-
tinuously. 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
1t possible to pillow and till large square
fields instead Of irregular kdolls or tri-
angular patches.
Another benefit Is that the "tiling"
has made the crops uniformly better
than on the parts not tiled. Some times
In the case Of wheat or potatoes the diff
I ference is one between q good crop and
\ almost an entire failure. This year the
difference in the clover and timothy was
very marked, both in quantity and quail
ity. had about forty-six acres OF clo-
yer and timothy, about half of iton tiled
land and half not The untitled land Is
more rolling, as rich naturally on the
average, and being nearer the barn and
road has had very much more man ure
in the past than the tiled portions, prob
ably fully twice as much on the average.
And still my judgment is that the
tiled portions yielded this year from
thirty to fifty per cen, more hay per
acre; certainly so il we except from the
Nuntiled portions some three acres quite
near the barn that for thirty years at
least has had much more than its share
of manure. Not only was the quantity
greater, but the quality was better, more
free from weeds, better headed and
more uniformly good. This was quite
noticeable in tho clover and timothy
seeded two years ago this spring, now
mostly timothy. One strip or plat OF
about ten acres furthest from town was
nearly all tiled. with little over AZ
acre not tiled. This part, TO my DER
tain knowledge, has had much the most
manure for thirty years, but the hay
from the tiled part am sure Mr.. Petley,
xr,y 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, uniformly
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
1t did not head. There was bad frost
and dry weather in May, and the untitled
land did not seem to stand either so
we'll as the tiled. The untitled parts
were more rolling, too; left without til
ing for that very reason. .
Still another advantage was manifest
this year. The rains had been heavy
down to July 4. The untitled portions
we're almost mud, the water standing in
iepressions. In many places the horses
sank over their hoofs, and wagon
with 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 working. But the tiled portions
of the field were firm and solid; ma
shines, 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 I'm.
tiled Clayey fields were so soft that in
some places Irvine binders could not be
ased.-Ohio Farmer.