Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1892-11-18
THE FARM AND HOME.
VALUE OF UNDERTAKING. ON
CLAY SOIL.
How It Increases the Yield-Grooming
the Farm Horse-Eggs AS Food
Must Cultivate--Farm Notes
and Home Hints.
Profits from Undertaking.

Profits From Undertaking.
drained last spring a rolling field
OF eight acres putting a tive-lnch
main angling through it to the nortn-
west and then six laterals OF three
inch tile running due north into the
main. There was fall OF l. feet or
more in % rods but we located the
laterals so that the natural flow OF
the water would not be directly over
them. May proved to be excessively
wet and July and August (three
months in which our corn crop Is
made) excessively dry. We cut up and
shocked 60 rows of corn running di-
rectly across the lateral drains. and
very heavy corn, noticeably heavier
than the average OF the field. grew
along the line of each drain. and the
entire field showed up we'll A neigh
Dor put the field in on shares. and ne
says that on all the best dram part
OF it the crop was as heavy as he ever
grew. and he farmed several years on
one OF the best bottom farms Of the
Miami valley. We could not have
raised bushel OF corn TO the acre on
the part drained by the fve-inch main
and now We have had an estimated
yield of 50 bushels. A neighbo whose
farm Joins mine and who could only
drain by an outlet through my farm
asked the privilege OF running a sin
gle 3-inch drain into my main which
l granted. and on passing the field
with him later he called my attention
to the fine corn growing along the
drain. and he said he was satisfied
that the increase from this single
crop would pay back every dollar mis-
drain cost.
On our Ohio upland clay soils
there is no improvement that pays so
well as thorough understanding, and
there are scores of farmers owning
one or two hundred acres of land
who would maze more money and do
their work with far greater ease If
they would sell half their land and
put the money received into under
draining the remainder. | have had
personal experience with under
drains ever since | began farming
writes Waldo +. Brown in the Coun-
try Gentleman. and my apprecia-
tion OF their value Increases continu-
ally. 1t is a great thing TO have
land on which you can feel certain Of
o fair crop whether the season is
wet or dry and this is practically
what undertaking does on our
soil. Its good effects are usually
more noticeable in year OF drouth
than when the season IL wet through
out for if the land is not drained n
wet spring compacts it and runs it
together in such manner that when
the rains stop we cannot get
it In condition TO endure
drouth in time 10 save the crop;
while with underdrains of sufficient
capacity TO carry oil the water the
surface quickly dries SO that We can
work it fine making an earth mulch
which retains moisture. and periects
the crop. l have often been sur
prised that writer with so much in
telligence as your Illinois correspon-
dent Is. +. J.. should expend so much
energy and ink. in denouncing tile
drainage. and / can account for it
only on the idea that the peaty
prairie soils OF his locality are differ.
emily affected by undertaking. from
our clayS and that he has had no ex-
perience on such soils as we cultivate.
There is no more question of the
profit and value of undertaking on
such soil as is found in more than
half the area of Ohio than there is
that IL pays TO use a modern pillow in.
stead Of one with a wooden mold
board. or forked stick as they do in
some countries OF Asia aud IL Is n
fact established beyond question that
our most thoroughly drained lands
are the ones that hold the most mois-
ture during continued drouth The
fault OF our farmers is not that they
have spent too much money in drain
ing but too little and that in too
many cases the work has been done
haphazard without any general plan
or system. Our wheat crops are
usually injured more by wet weather
than are the summer crops and in
stances are not rare when $40 an acre
expended in drainage has been repaid
from the first wheat crop grown.
Whenever the time arrives that our
population is so large as to consume
all our wheat we can here in Ohio
increase the yield not less than fifty
per cent by a thorough undertaking
of our land.