The Portland daily press., 1891-12-26
How Ohio's Progressive Farmers Changed
Wet Soil Into Fine Wheat Land.

Wet Soil Into Fine Wheat Land.
Mr.. Terry, writing to The Rural New
Yorker, expressed his respect for tiles as
blows: 81 have some land that was
naturally cold, wet and hard. From
.ong experience find that tile draining,
good tillage, rotation with clover and
light manuring will make such land
bring good crops of wheat and clover.
In fact, on what was once the poorest,
hardest clay spot on the farm, had last
year as fine wheat as / ever grew; but
these places will not produce large crops
of potatoes. If my land were all of that
character l would never plant any. 1t
would be wiser to grow what the land is
better fitted for. 1 have reduced these
hard places to such condition that they
are not eyesores when the field is in po-
tatoes, as they once were. In riding by
they would not particularly attract ones
attention; but the digger would perhaps
find 800 bushels per acre on the natural
potato soil, whereas when it struck these
spots there would be only 100 or less.
''Now, the above is the practical part
of it. The question is, whether it is
possible would hardly want to say
no to that, as man can do almost any,
thing. With tile draining and an unlim-
tied supply of manure, and clover grown
and plowed under, it is possible that the
natural condition Of the soil could be so
changed in time that great crops even of
potatoes could be grown on it; but it
would not pay.
"The time was when man could af
ford to go to great expense to grow a
crop in locality where the soil was not
naturally suited to it; but that day has,
as rule, gone by. Transportation is
cheap now, and the raising of special
crops in localities naturally adapted to
them has come to stay, and this practice
will steadily increase in the future, be-
cause it is business, and our farmers are
gradually becoming more brsinesslike."
varied experience of forty years with
undertaking, gives his experience with
tile draining and permanent timothy.
He says:
One strip Of 10 acres had about 81
tiled and the rest not, until last winter.
Six years ago it was seeded down to
clover and timothy with wheat; and
phosphates were used costing four dol
lars per acre. The clover (best on the
tiled part) nearly all "went out" after
two years and left clear timothy. On
the tiled part the timothy has fully held
its own and even increased year after
year, but not on the part not tiled. This
year [ cut forty immense loads from the
10 acres-loads, I say, cooked overnight
and drawn chiefly on a hay rack III
feet long, and loaded heavily because it
had to be drawn about half mile. One
average load well cured weighed 2,46O
pounds on the scales. But the point is
this-while the timothy on the tiled part
has held its own or increased year after
year, that on the part not tiled has
grown thinner and shorter, and weeds,
coarse grass and especially that miser-
able pest plantain, have come in. This
year the hay on the tiled part was easily
twice as heavy as on the part not tiled
as strong, clean timothy as 1 ever saw,
with no plantain or weeds in it. The
timothy was so dense that it shaded the
weeds to death before they got real
start.